F. One Bandit size

[zoharl]

I currently have Bandit 2010 9m. Lately, I've been feeling overpowered with it (Wellington, NZ), and I thought to buy a smaller one, and upgrade on the way. Initially, I thought about a 7m, but after some thought I decided to go with Bandit 2016 8m (found a good deal too). I'd like it to be my main kite, and I thought the 7m would fit only extreme days.

My only concern was that it's only 1m difference from my 9m, and intuitively it feels like I'm buying the same kite making the other obsolete. According to the manual:

7m fits 25+ knots
8m fits 20-35knots
9m fits 15-30knots

My 9m does something like 17-28knots, and according to the manual, this 1m should make all the difference.
I'm in the process of finalizing my purchase, but I still would be happy to hear some opinions.

[igoryak]

old kites fabrics stretch, bridle's length changes, they lose their original qualities, and also olds kites have less performance.
new kites in same size, bandit more than so, has a better windrange in its upper end. people here use the new 9m bandits in crazy winds.

[jeromeL]

It really depends on riding style, I have friend that take out their 7 as soon as it's upper 20 and other that keep their 9 until 35.
as noted above the new bandit have huge wind range. my 12 goes to 25 knots, my 9 to 35 with gust of 40.
i own a 7 bandit but never used it because those 40 knots day are usually gusty with bit wind range so I just use my 9.
I have tried 8 and 10 which are nice too.
Note that if you depower a bandit 12m it performs well but I feel like the 9m and 8m depower are not that fun to use.

I guess if it's your main kite and don't plan on kiting 40knots + I would go with 8m and ditch your 2010 or keep it as backup, I have a friend that has a 1 kite quiver and it's 8m.

Later you can complement your 8 with 10m.

If you plan on going out on those 40 knots day, then perhaps you can just go with a new 9m, and get a 7 used for the big days.

[zoharl]

It sounds like they made the kite smaller and advertised it as high upper end. So basically I bought an equivalent of an old 7m

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the crazy days of the 40knots. I'm more a freestyle rider, and I don't like too much power when I try to unhook. But there are enough nice strong days with gusts over 30 that my 9m can't take. It sounds like the 8m should be just at the sweet point. I got the kite already, and I'm eager to try it.

1 kite quiver sounds perfect. I used to have 3, and it was annoying switching between them or deciding with which one to go. I was quite happy to get used to a single kite. So, yeah, I'd be happy to keep my 9m as a reserve, especially since it started falling apart lately (I don't know why, but I threw on it 150$ already for fixes).

What did you mean by the 8-9m depower aren't that fun to use?

[jeromeL]

What did you mean by the 8-9m depower aren't that fun to use?

I used to have only a 12m so i would depower it 1 or 2 knots down on center line and i would increase wind range a lot, and kite still responded well and wouldn't notice significant loss in perf.
Though on 9m if I depower the kite doesn't turn and react well. You can still ride it it won't be fun.
Bandit has such a nice feel and steering but when depowered it's not fun.
Anyway what I meant to say is that bandit have huge wind range but don't count on depowereing you kite and still enjoy the session.
Now I rarely depower except on big gusts and still have my 7m waiting for a big day...