rnelias wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:22 pm
I'm looking for more info about the Maverick XT.
I own one in 10 qm. I had a bit of a hassle with the manufacturer (he sent me a leaking kite and I had to pay for the repair myself).
That's by far the thinnest leading edge I've seen so far. This makes the kite quite sensitive to pressure. You need to pump it up really hard until the valve seems to be popping out. If it's not pumped hard enough it will fly like a sponge and it hardly relaunches.
On the plus side, the kite is very light and it stays in the air quite long. Longer than a single strut I don't know and I don't think so, but maybe comparable. Definitely longer than my three strut kites. The kite flys fast and turns fast, it creates power through movement which is advantageous on a foil. The kite likes to be flown on its lower end and is overpowered very quickly. You can depower it, but it quickly gets hard to steer without enough pressure on the steering lines.
Do I like the kite? Some days yes, some days no. I don't fly it often and it flys differently from my normal LEI kites, so I always need to get used to it. And I don't always pump it hard enough because I'm worried it will explode, then I have this sponge in the air and it's not fun flying a sponge
.
I have the bar as well, don't buy the bar it feels more like someone assembled it in his garage than actually a professional product. And the quick-release is near to impossible to re-assemble in deep water.
Would I buy the kite agein? No, because of the hassle with the manufacturer and due to its flying characteristics. But it doesn't fly so bad that I have the feeling I would be better of with a one-strut kite that much.
Probably good to know: I only use it with a hydrofoil and not with a directional.
@rnelias hope this helps. Obivously highly biased...
If you happen to speak German there's a long thread in the German kite forum about the kite. With a lot of details about the flying characteristics and all the problems, people have with the kite and the bar.