I've managed to finally get my XS out of the bag and test it. So I'm gonna write my first impressions, what I did like and what I didn't. Mostly I'm going to compare it to my FS Soul 12m, which was my main kite so far.
Kite size: 14m
Wind conditions: 10-18 knots
Surface: Snow, quite thin layer, but enough for "moving the lawn" and not scrape the ground.
Riders weight: 102kg (225 freedom units)
At first glance it's a well sewn kite, plenty of reinforcements, manufacturers decided not to go for lightweight trend, yet for 14m it weights 4.5 kilos, which I think is good. There are some bridle adjustments, I put them on "Freeride" setting, because in manual it says it provides the best depower.
Self launching is easy. From the ground it doesn't look like that much of high aspect kite, not that flat as Edge, Boost or Hyper, closer to Rebel, Switchblade or Orbit I guess. I was really cautious about my first moves with the kite, since I didn't handle LEI's in a long time, especially high AR ones, so I didn't know what to expect from it, how much power it would provide. Took some time, but I began to ride and, oh boy, the upwind on that thing is amazing. This kite is quite demanding, tends to backstall if I choke it with the bar for too much, the habit I formed with Soul, it would just provide power if fully sheeted in, but not this kite, or maybe wind wasn't enough. Power delivery is somewhat rubber-ish, requires work, no "sheet and go" stuff. Bar pressure is lighter than Soul's, I can control it with one hand, which I couldn't do with Soul, but bar pressure is still quite significant. Relaunch is easy, which had me worried buying high AR kite. Did not try to jump it much, maybe later when I will get confidence with controlling that kite. Self landing is sketchy, but doable.
And now for some negative moments. This kite whistles! I don't know which part, lines, pulleys, stopper ball, no bloody idea. Not sure which will happen first, whether I will get used to it or it's gonna drive me nuts! Next, when I fell a couple of times I had a line snag on the wingtip, sending the kite for loops. I thought there are protections against that, but seems like they don't work fully, so I had to yank the lines. Or maybe it's fine for LEI's, my previous ones didn't suffer from that. Then I expected more of depower on that kite, I had to trim at the wind speed I didn't need to trim with Soul. The top end was way shorter than Soul's as well. Even fully trimmed at wind around 18-20 knots it tended to accelerate me way faster than I wished to. Totally not a good drifter, going downwind might be sketchy, prepare yourself for backstalls and other shenanigans.
Overall I like it at most, but I need some more time and practice with such kite, cuz it's not that easy to use as three strut "do-it-alls", it's quite demanding in controls.