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Reliability and quality of Elf kites

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Indulang
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Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Indulang » Tue Jun 29, 2021 4:53 pm

I'm looking into buying an Elf Swift as my first foil kite for some fun twin tip boosting and occasional foil riding. I haven't seen a lot of reviews for these kites online.

I would love to hear the experience of owners of Elf Swift or Joker kites. Thank you.

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Peter_Frank » Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:12 pm

I have had good experiences with ELF Joker kites, can not say anything bad about these - last for years and years also :D

8) Peter

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby deniska » Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:34 pm

PM aleks on this forum...
he definitely does some crazy boosting on swift.. I am pretty sure he puts it through hell (swims, etc)

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Nash556 » Tue Jun 29, 2021 8:17 pm

Indulang wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 4:53 pm
I'm looking into buying an Elf Swift as my first foil kite for some fun twin tip boosting and occasional foil riding. I haven't seen a lot of reviews for these kites online.

I would love to hear the experience of owners of Elf Swift or Joker kites. Thank you.
I was literally about to ask the same question 🤔🙂

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby kitexpert » Tue Jun 29, 2021 10:19 pm

I've done some repair work on Joker, it was Joker 5 if I think. Build quality is decent but fabric was a bit weird having unsymmetrical rip stop pattern and not so high quality feel. Bridle attachment points were simple, not much reinforced (I repaired few of them and some seams).

Specs of the kite were very impressive though, very high cell count and mini ribs etc. Bridle was thin and it was attached to the kite with knots (overhand knot loop with a stopper knot). I'd say it is primitive but on the other hand it works and makes line repair work simple.

I tested 6m Joker5 and it was quite impressive kite in its own kind, a small high aspect race kite. Definitely not a beginner kite.

So quality is clearly below FS standards but IDK how much it matters

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Regis-de-giens » Wed Jun 30, 2021 11:04 am

Peter_Frank wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:12 pm
I have had good experiences with ELF Joker kites, can not say anything bad about these - last for years and years also :D

8) Peter
Same for me, with my Joker5 that I have in 7m, 11m and 15m (on sell) ; good stability and lift still after years, no need to correct the briddles ; the 11m was previously owned by the champion Mazella, hence some intensive use during its first year, and still flies perfect, no damage, one of my best kite today ...

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Indulang » Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:24 pm

Initially, I was a bit concerned about the quality based on our kite life's comparison video, but these posts give me some confidence to go for it. Thank you all for your feedback

I'm also wondering how the wind range of foil kites like Flysurfer Soul and Elf Swift compare to Tube high-aspect kites (like Rebel). I'm debating what size foil kite would be good for me (65kg) with 18-25 kts winds. I typically use a 9m Rebel for that.

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Nash556 » Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:50 pm

Does anyone have any experience of the the Swift? It looks awesome! I'm very tempted to grab a 15m for some lightwind foiling.

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby derek440 » Fri Jul 02, 2021 8:32 am

I have looked into these kites before too and I reckon they look like good quality, we have a local racer who has Jokers and seem good quality but yeah Joker is "advanced". The "Our Kite Life" video said the swift bridles were low quality but it looks like they weren't sent a production kite, they did their testing on a prototype kite with adjustable bridles with little bits hanging off everywhere which is totally safe and fine, but I'm pretty sure the production version won't have those adjustable bridle lines, the Joker doesn't. Anyway I reckon Elf are good quality and I am not favouring the brand as I actually sell Gin and Flymaax (also great quality btw but again people do wonder when they haven't seen them in the flesh).

At the risk of derailing the thread, Gin Flymaax (merged now) have a kite coming out soon that is similar to Swift but closer to Sonic3, its called ToonMaax (AR of 6.1 to 6.6 depending on size) and details are on ginkites.com, kites arriving at dealers in a few weeks but have been delayed by COVID. And yeah quality is top notch as made by Gin Gliders in their factory where they make top notch paragliders. I was going to buy Swifts and then decided to become a Gin Flymaax dealer and am very happy with the kites so far but I tink I would also have loved swifts, especially the new black colour.

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Re: Reliability and quality of Elf kites

Postby Nash556 » Fri Jul 02, 2021 7:57 pm

derek440 wrote:
Fri Jul 02, 2021 8:32 am
I have looked into these kites before too and I reckon they look like good quality, we have a local racer who has Jokers and seem good quality but yeah Joker is "advanced". The "Our Kite Life" video said the swift bridles were low quality but it looks like they weren't sent a production kite, they did their testing on a prototype kite with adjustable bridles with little bits hanging off everywhere which is totally safe and fine, but I'm pretty sure the production version won't have those adjustable bridle lines, the Joker doesn't. Anyway I reckon Elf are good quality and I am not favouring the brand as I actually sell Gin and Flymaax (also great quality btw but again people do wonder when they haven't seen them in the flesh).

At the risk of derailing the thread, Gin Flymaax (merged now) have a kite coming out soon that is similar to Swift but closer to Sonic3, its called ToonMaax (AR of 6.1 to 6.6 depending on size) and details are on ginkites.com, kites arriving at dealers in a few weeks but have been delayed by COVID. And yeah quality is top notch as made by Gin Gliders in their factory where they make top notch paragliders. I was going to buy Swifts and then decided to become a Gin Flymaax dealer and am very happy with the kites so far but I tink I would also have loved swifts, especially the new black colour.
Thank you for your input. I did look into the Gin kites they also look like an excellent alternative. Roll on next payday so I can put an order in for one of these amazing flying machines.


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