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13m sonic 2 review

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fogmeister
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13m sonic 2 review

Postby fogmeister » Sat Oct 08, 2016 1:55 am

Just Received my 13m sonic 2........I ride sonic1 18 15 11 and speed5 9 and 11


wind speed 8-12 kts then 10-14 kts (6 hours riding)




This is not the same kite as sonic1, it is a total remake!!

this kite launches very easy without any dramatic downwind pull like that of sonic 1

the power control is more intuitive and like most kites , sheet in for power and sheet out for no power. In sonic 1 there was always power and you could only reduce it by choking kite, if you sheeted out, power would build. The old sonic had to breath more, The sonic2 is more sheet and go

this kite cannot be choked off like the previous version, i was only able to feel slight hints of that behaviour with extreme upwind angles with kite at edge.

the power spike by sineing the kite was very noteworthy, its huge compared to before and the apparent wind kicks in quickly. I was on the water at the same time as an 18m speed 5 in 8-12 kts and easily ran circles around the other rider (both of us on flyrace), sine the kite once, twice with tremendous power development and off i was while the 18m was still turning (so it seemed)

the sonic 2 is infinitely more stable......again infinitely more stable!! the shape of the kite just remains, even with loose steering lines. The sonic 2 just floats along amazingly!

in the air the sonic2 feels much lighter, actually like a lotus, its amazing how just a little bit of that material changes the feel and float of the kite. the kite in general feels lighter than the weights listed, the feel reminds me of the other high end race kites. I believe the 3 centre intakes also aid in this new lightness and stability.

In the air the 13m sonic 2 turns fast and smooth and reminds me of the 11m sonic 1, one needs to be carefull when redirecting the kite after a jump, as when one finally turns it up again and you let it breath too much it wont turn, you need a little tension in the lines and then no problem. the old sonic turned with loose steering lines the new one doesnt. (and i mean only when absolutely sheeted out on an upturn from water)

I put the sonic into the water to see relaunch, and when the kite got directly downwind of me the wind opened the kite and it automatically hot launched off the water without input. Luckily when sheeted out there is no power and i was not ripped 10 feet out of the water like would happen with sonic 1 if you didnt choke it. Previously i had only seen the lotus hotlaunch itself without input. In high winds this can be expected but today was pretty light.

on another water launch i dropped it in a wind shadow, it took me a while to get it up while standing, but impossible with the previous sonic, but sonic 2 eventually came up even with water in it. My friend who came over to help me dropped his new 13m R1v2 into the water and had to relaunch at shore, i am not saying one is better than the other ,but it sure was nice to see the sonic 2 come up in this situation.

this kite jumps different than all other flysurfer models, sofar i have found it best like a tube kite, just sheet in as much as you can handle speed and tension wise, then turn kite with tight steering lines, a brief sheet out before final sheet in and your up up and away. If anyone has figured another technique it would be nice to hear.

in the air you can really hear the kite rushing along, a cool sound and feeling

in the air you know exactly where the kite is and what it is doing, the hangtime is noticably higher

the steering is very direct but not as direct as before, it feels closer to speed 5 directness

in the end the sonic is a turbo charged speed 5 , easy to handle and forgiving with very good stability

bravo flysurfer......everything good about the sonic was kept and improved, while all of the short comings were fixed!!!!

I can highly recommend the sonic2 over the sonic1 as now the sonic2 is in line with other high end race kites, and in my mind as easy to use as a speed 5, however with tremedous speed and power on tap! There will still be some differences in stability but they are getting awfully close. Also this is a race kite and the speed 5 will have better durability.


cheers
Last edited by fogmeister on Sat Oct 08, 2016 4:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PBKiteboarding
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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby PBKiteboarding » Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:27 am

Fantastic!!! So glad you loved that 1st Session on your S2 13m!! I I got to see all the Fun and Skillful Boosting and Relaunching!
Many more Sessions to come! To the Moon! :D :rollgrin:
Paul
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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby windrider1 » Sat Oct 08, 2016 4:04 am

Nice review. any video footage of your session. would love to own one of these.

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby Adventure Logs » Sat Oct 08, 2016 12:06 pm

How's the wing tip tucking? Biggest complaint I had on my Sonic 11 was I had to tune the bridle to keep the damn wing tips from constantly collapsing and ended up losing lots of it's grunt. Was thinking of just getting a Speed 5 this time around and wait for further refinement. Interesting to see that it turns now like the original Speed 4 8,10. Glad they improved the relaunch.

=J-

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby fogmeister » Sat Oct 08, 2016 12:36 pm

i did not notice any tip tuck the entire time, the increased airflow and tightness of the lotus cloth seem to prevent this. the couple of times i would see the wingtip fold was the instant you skimmed the water with it but then right back to normal. the previous sonic because it liked to breath a lot more and was more technical to fly, it was easier to get wing tip tuck with looser steering lines and a less than perfect mixer. i had that wing tip issue often on my 11m sonic1 until i shortened bc, but the sonic2 as of yet has showed no such behaviour. But my 15 and 18m sonic1 didnt have wing tip issues either unless the mixer was off. unfortunately if the mixer is off you can get the wing tip tuck on any foil kite, guys at our beach check mixers evrytime out to make sure its perfectly tuned........or wait for the first wing tip tuck and take it as a sign your mixer may be off. the thing with the mixer when you make azbc equal is that when bc tighten after you made the new knot will be off so i always make them up to 1mm shorter.(if you didnt absolutly reef them super tight)

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby Adventure Logs » Sat Oct 08, 2016 12:50 pm

fogmeister wrote:i did not notice any tip tuck the entire time, the increased airflow and tightness of the lotus cloth seem to prevent this. the couple of times i would see the wingtip fold was the instant you skimmed the water with it but then right back to normal. the previous sonic because it liked to breath a lot more and was more technical to fly, it was easier to get wing tip tuck with looser steering lines and a less than perfect mixer. i had that wing tip issue often on my 11m sonic1 until i shortened bc, but the sonic2 as of yet has showed no such behaviour. But my 15 and 18m sonic1 didnt have wing tip issues either unless the mixer was off. unfortunately if the mixer is off you can get the wing tip tuck on any foil kite, guys at our beach check mixers evrytime out to make sure its perfectly tuned........or wait for the first wing tip tuck and take it as a sign your mixer may be off. the thing with the mixer when you make azbc equal is that when bc tighten after you made the new knot will be off so i always make them up to 1mm shorter.(if you didnt absolutly reef them super tight)
Yea my 18 never had the issue but my 11 was horrible at tip tuck right out of the bag new. My first FS that wasn't great out of the bag.

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby Jzh_perth » Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:08 pm

Interesting comments about tip tuck on Sonic 1's and 2's. My customers have had continual tip tucking on their Sonic 1's - especially the 11, when set with a neutral mixer. They have just taken delivery of their new Sonic 2's in 11 and 13 and have been raving about the new kites - not 1 tip tuck, more stable... interestingly our new kites were delivered with b &bc set to -2.5cm. I contacted FS to verify this and Armin confirmed this was fine, as all knots should be equal under 5kg load (which we did not use). We will retest again once the kites have bedded in to get a reference of our factory setting, but needless to say the customers are very happy .

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby Adventure Logs » Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:15 pm

Jzh_perth wrote:Interesting comments about tip tuck on Sonic 1's and 2's. My customers have had continual tip tucking on their Sonic 1's - especially the 11, when set with a neutral mixer. They have just taken delivery of their new Sonic 2's in 11 and 13 and have been raving about the new kites - not 1 tip tuck, more stable... interestingly our new kites were delivered with b &bc set to -2.5cm. I contacted FS to verify this and Armin confirmed this was fine, as all knots should be equal under 5kg load (which we did not use). We will retest again once the kites have bedded in to get a reference of our factory setting, but needless to say the customers are very happy .
My Sonic 1 came with the mixer set with b&c both at -1cm. Had to take in another 2cm on b to keep the tucking to a minimal and have the issue time to time. At first I also thought the kite needed some time to bed in but it never went away. I lost a lot of my confidence in the kite which is a shame because my Sonic 1 18m has been my favorite flysurfer kite so far.

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby foilonfoil » Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:56 pm

I have the 9/11/15/18 Sonic FR1's and just received a new 11 FR2 but waiting for the right wind - All my Sonic 1's have behaved well out of the bag (no tip tucks) although as a big guy I could easily oversheet the smaller Sonics. I purchased the Sonics after Chrono V1's and absolutely fell in love with them and could not imagine a better kite - So much looking forward to the FR2's. IMO, my perfect quiver would be the 11/13/15/18's.

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Re: 13m sonic 2 review

Postby foilonfoil » Sun Oct 09, 2016 7:04 am

Took the 11M FR2 for a spin today - I was perfectly powered at the beginning of the session in about 17kts and as the wind slowly dropped to 12kts, I also got to experience it's light wind performance.

- The kite demonstrated a wider power band than the FR1 which made sine'ing water starts and down loop starts easier on foil. I felt more control input and not difficult to adjust power with bar input.
- I say inflation was about the same as my FR1 11M.
- Very stable kite in the air and slack line performance was great with the kite just drifting back in the window.
- Overall for me, it was nothing too different than than the FR1 although the wider power band improvement all by itself is a nice improvement.

As a side note, I started my session on an FR1 18M and has issues with right tip tuck. After relaunching, a bunch of sand dumped out of the tip valve and the kite was perfectly behaved afterwards.


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