Best Kites for Durability

[Royce]

Man Should have called this whats your favorite kite or what do you sell. Firstly, many 2002/03 kites have battens ripping off the wingtips and several of the same problems you are explaining. There are hundreds of kites both 3003 and I am sure the 2004 kites that live through powered up dives into the water but unexplanably or not when you fly your kite powered up into the water its going to break sooner or later no matter what kite it is. Wow someone saw some kites live through going under waves in sa. Thats incredible. I too have seen this amazing demonstration of strength, of course I have also seen exactly the same kite you talk of go through a small wave and come out shredded. Liquid Force? WHo the hell put that one there? Sheesh. The material is extremely light on those things. Want a strong kite for certain? Then wait 6 months until all the problems with next years kites come to light and decide from there. Otherwise you'll end up with a kite that someone has reccomended with obviously very little experience in choosing a strong kite.

Go to the beach, find the guys that fly there the most and look at their gear. Check the battens, attatchments, lines bar bladders etc. Then go to the next brand of kite and do it again. No warranty covers damage during use so if you fly your kite straight down get ready to go buy a new one and it will not matter what you buy because sooner or later you fly it down like that it'll rip. And that the manufacturers guarantee.

I love to see those without a doubt posts. I guess that guy has tried all the kites that the 52 kite manufacturers are mking this year huh?

Get Real.

Aloha
Royce.

[EdDy_DiFfUsIvItY]

spot on Royce. after having many dura probs I dont know which way to go anymore.

gutted with F.one

My old 2001 rhino has gone through loads and still rocks, a timeless classic imho.

[G-Unit]

without doubt the new naish titanium nitrite coated kite is the most durable......i believe NASA is helping them with it?

WHAT?

[F12-Flyer]

I laugh at you.
End of story.

Rod

[S.A.]

Royce,

Read my post again. Opinion asked by "Andrew", and opinion given by me in answer. Where's the problem...?

I did say

If you can, take a look at one yourself, and of course, try it out ...

I did not say, 'take my word for it and ignore any other opinions posted, and make sure to rush off now and buy a whole quiver'.

My info is based on my personal observation and experience of kites around my local area over the past three years. In order of durability, as the question was posed, I would rate them as follows:

1st Caution
2nd North
3rd Naish/Cabrinha
4th Wipika
This includes, surf abuse, wear and tear, etc.

Other makes are not really represented around here in any great numbers at the moment.

This is my opinion. This is also why I generally don't participate on the forum ... because there's always a counterpoint to just about everything ...

[Mr Mcloop]

Naish, Cabrinha and (strangely of all) Wipika rated above Slingshot for durability - I don't think so!!!!!!

[ZenWind]

Well I don't understand why anyone bothers to post any information on this thread other than Royce. He seems to be the authority on what is Real. Are you 12 years old? My impression of an open forum is that people contribute to a thread from their personal experience in order to share information with each other. Respecting the opinion of others goes a long way in creating a friendly open forum for people to participate in. But do as you please, I guess you KNOW what is happening and the rest of us are idiots. I don't sell LF or Caution kites, and I have in fact seen many different brands have problems over the years, including the brand that I fly. Who knows what year LF you saw rip? The older LF kites before the Apexx were Wipika kites, and were not very durable. Doesn't matter as the type of attitude you post is nothing more than a pissing contest, so I will make it easy on you, you win! My attempt was to respond to Andrew's post, and give him the feedback he was asking for from my experience. Well Andrew you can just disregard my original post and this one too, as I am just a kook and Royce is the Real authority.

[Thatspec]

Andrew,
Thing to do is call one of the larger repair shops like Airtime in Hood River. Airtime repairs all brands and sells none so you can be guaranteed of an unbiased opinion.

I won't mention the brand they say they've seen the least of but will say Royce rides them. Kudos to him for not mentioning which...

Seriously, give em a call,
MT

[S.A.]

For Messrs McLoop & Thatspec.

If you are unable to read a thread and retain what you have read for more than 10sec before lashing out at your keyboard in revenge, I'll try to make it easy for you, as follows:

My info is based on my personal observation and experience of kites around my local area over the past three years.

This is a fact that you have no influence over. Deal with it and get on with more important things.

Slingshot are not mentioned because:

Other makes are not really represented around here in any great numbers at the moment.

Can't quite see where they're rated better or worse than anything? They simply don't feature because there aren't any around TO feature and I don't see where I intimated that this was an all encompassing, definative, and absolutely irrefutable list on kite durability.
I have "heard" that SS are durable, as I have "heard" that RRD ar durable, but I aint seen them over any period of time around here so it wouldn't be fair to comment on them, would it?

I won't mention the brand they say they've seen the least of but will say Royce rides them. Kudos to him for not mentioning which...

Why not? That's the objective of Andrews question ... If you have personally experienced aspects of whatever brand you use to be particularly good, let's have it. It's all helpful as long as it's not simply a "mine is better than yours" scenario.

I agree that calling your local repair shop MAY be an indication of what's out there. it may also just be an indication of which kites there are MORE of at your particular spot.

I know it's really difficult, but try to be constructive in your input. It really is way more pleasant.

[Thatspec]

S.A.
You make some valid points, Andrew is looking for an opinion. I do question the value of many of the opinions around here, at least on a topic such as this (and you should all question my motives as well). I should give him the credit of being able to diferentiate fact from fiction and just give him what he asks for. Instead I chose to look at the larger picture by suggesting an avenue to pursue where he could get some real world data.

Airtime does the largest volume of kite repairs in the US. People send them from all over the country as well as the world so all brands are represented.

Andrew, my opinion based on observation and real world repair data;
RRD is the best constructed kite however, they too have some room for improvement. A thin reinforcing strip of 3oz dacron runing along the batten attatchments would go a long way towards easier panel repairs. Several brands are doing this, notably Slingshot, and Globerider. In a high speed leading edge first crash, battens (bladders) will tend to zipper off leaving a batten length slit in the sailcloth. Then you are swimming. This happened to me once with an Airblast (which have about a three month lifespan). Keep away from 'marketing' companies that don't even design their own kites'.

There you have it, an opinion, and worth every penny you've paid for it

MT