Most of the 'alternative' brands are built better than most of the big brands... And performance wise... don't forget it's Takoon that started with bow-kites. Most of the bigger brands have a longer history in watersports, thus an established reputation and a big distributor network. But smaller brands are often started by people with a lot of experience in the sport too.
'Last year's model' is not an argument. You can buy last years model from the alternative brands too. I got my Legacy V1 2016 14m brand new for 500,-. Outperforms the Vegas at half the price. Hantu outperforms the Dice.
Don't be scared. Small companies can't afford bad quality, whereas the big names can. Just look at Cabrinha not giving a crap about snapping lines, until people started to get hurt
Just look at Naish with the octopus system. Slingshot with the crap TE's. F-One with splicing kites and breaking boards. Year after year. Great quality, let's keep buying those