Buddy and I fly 2014's and 2015 Switchblades. As far as back stall on 2014's, I can pull any kite out of the sky so a little rear line tweaking and I find the 2014's are perfect. Somewhat comical that this is a desirable feature that I definitely want and I use this on other kites such as the Flysurfer Chronix and my Ozone Chrono's... Back stalling is a sign you have taken all the lift the kite can possibly produce and more, so tweak back line pig tail positioning, or in light winds, time to add a little depower. Carbinha bars have a very narrow range of operation so using other bars with long throw (CompStick etc) will expose the Switchblades full range of operation without iterative set and test.
IMHO, I have friends who don't consider that lines stretch and kites need tuning. They set to factory settings then fly and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We have riders who would purchase new kites/lines as opposed to going through the process to adjust their existing lines/bridles.
2015 bar was an improvement over the 2014 bar finally going to identical front lines and attaching the flag out line to the bottom of a front line, although the one big problem I found was you are unable to reset the bar after flagging out due to the front line and flag out line bungy getting stuck inside at the internal swivel. I took it apart and found tolerances between the swivel and "uni line" really tight so I replaced the chicken loop and depower system with an Ozone Race chicken loop and kept the adjustable bar itself. Look for a change on the 2016 bar
Don't believe me? Flag your kite out and let me know how long it takes to reset. Others have reported the same issue.
Buddy purchased 2015's and is somewhat disappointed. Negledgable difference in kites and he feels one kite in particular does not pull evenly (pulls to the right) so I need to look at his bridle settings. With the kites on top of each other, I'm struggling to see any difference in 2014/2015 so I plan to stick with what I have got.
In general, the switchblades are bulletproof kites and the perfect quiver for me is 12/9/7. I have a 14 but IMO its a really heavy 14 (it's a big boys 12M) and I believe I would be better off with a 14 in a Drifter (3 struts). If they made a 13M, I would look at switching my 12/14 with 11/13. The feature that stands out for me is their ability to soak up large changes in wind speed. I feel confident being over powered on a switchblade and its ability to depower/handle the gusts. Awesome kites. Average bar (again). Hoping Cabrinha sorts the kinks in their bars by 2020.