Hi just wondering if anyone knows a site that does a decent kite review. By review I mean a shootout or test by a variety of riders all testing the current crop of kites in the same category. Like a shootout between the top 2012 delta's, or C kites etc.
I can't seem to find anything decent outside brand propaganda. You buy a motorbike bike mag and they all have shootouts between the top bikes in each category, on same day, under same conditions. This is very informative in choosing what to go for. Can't find this for kites.
It sounds like a great idea.
Im not sure many of the brands would like it though and they keep the mags going. Closest i have seen is the KW reviews.
George from Kite Mag should do it!!
The UK kitesurf mag usually does a good comparison of kite types under test conditions. Get it at the newsagent!
Yeah it's quite frustrating. You decide on the kite style you're going for but there's a whackload of kites on offer in that category. At present all the reviews skirt the edges and no one seems game enough to stand up and say 'right, let's get all the current medium aspect bow kites together, get a bunch of recognized riders on the same beach, same day, same conditions and do a shoot out'.
If there's nothing on the net like this is there a popular kiteboard mag that does it - properly?
Mags belong to the past.
Mags are officially history.
Mags are freaking junkmail brochures.
lol.
Its great in theory but never works in practicality. There are too many variables and you really need to spend a fair amount of weeks on a kite to work out things like durability.
The reviews I've seen have always been advertorials or if they are full reviews, the guys don't bother to understand the kites properly before using them so they complain about issues that don't exist and praise things on the kite that are actually issues.
Wouldn't say mags belong to the past waveslave otherwise there'd be nothing on the shelf at local newsagent.
Saffer, how can there be too many variables? Same day, same beach, each rider has an hour on each kite. How can that be flawed? You could say the same for sport bike reviews. 'oh, but there was a bit of rain when I rode that bike and you had just sun.' Bull****.
Anyway I'm not here to argue the merits of my point but a simple question of whether kiteboarding had matured enough to produce this level of review. It seems not. It should have after 10 years or so in the arena. So I guess I'll just have to keep trolling through endless brand blurbs, look at which color is the prettiest, and cop what advice diehard kite owners on the beach dish from their own kite of love because outside that it seems there's nothing objective to inform me.
kiteworld has good unbiased reviews , if you get online you can track the brand and read the review , they usually test the kites and boards at the same venue and wind conditions
Great reply Saffer...
I'd say go and demo as many kites as you can, try to test them all in the same spot to keep at least one things constant in your test's.
Most shop guys will give it to you straight up anyhow, listen to them they know what they are talking about, then go try the kites, and come back and tell us!!!
we tried a shoot out up here with as many kites as possible over a week. Everyone seemed to learn a lot about what they liked but at the end everyone had different preferred kites and almost everyone changed their mind about what kites they liked throughout the week. In the end there were no definite conclusions. All you can do is try different kites yourself and find what feels natural then stick with it.
One thing though was it was a fun week.
I Know what you're saying Saffer but you could say that for shootouts/reviews of almost any product. It is precisely those points you make that ARE what a shootout is all about. Remember I'm talking about kites in the same class, not c kites versus high aspect bow's so any huge differences in speed or power or turning would be very much of interest to readers. The point is a shootout is a collection of opinions from experienced riders. Sure it's not perfect but it has proved to be an excellent medium in sport bike and other 'high tech' sports to lay down the differences - back to back.
Yeah there's potential for gusty or different conditions but I can't see why the location can't be chosen in a mostly steady and predictable place.
Same with durability you say. So what, you say we can't test because we don't know how long a kite will last? Mate we can look at build quality. You may as well say forget testing sportbikes back to back because we don't know how long a ducati will last compared to a GSXR. Silly.
I'm sure a hell of a lot of people will read carefully a kite shootout.. including you guys...
Hey turtlehunter that sounds really interesting. Was it formal or just a bunch of mates swapping kites? Maybe you could expand on your experience i'm sure people here would be interested in the outcomes even if it is just opinion/experience. You say most people changed their opinions of what kites were better, or they liked. Was that in relation to classes of kites or brands within a class?
I'm also quite interested in kite wind range. There's big debate out there about what kites can cover the widest wind range. But there's also a lot of contradiction too.
Imagine:
September 2012 - 4 of the worlds best freestyle kiteboarders get together on Kaula beach Hawaii to test the latest crop of medium aspect bow kites back to back and give their impressions. One perfect day, 4 killer riders and 8 of the hottest kite brands. Cabrinha, Naish, Ozone, Slingshot, Best, Crazyfly, North, Airush.
Which kite will take the title for 2012 kite of the year?
No Saffer you are right. This would be a totally pointless, boring excercise that would be ignored by the entire kiteboard fraternity.
... there is another factor alot of people forget in testing kites and thats prejudice and long term effects.
example: I had Naish kites (ARX, X2) for a few years but all the valves came off so I hated them saying I'd never own Naish again. Then I borrowed one, Helix and didn't like it for no particular reason but over a week it grew on me, well sort of. In the end it didn't have the zing I wanted so it went off my list of favourites. Problem now is when I see Naish kites I immediately think of a polite stable kite without the punch I want so I have my prejudice against them.
example 2: I got a Core XR, loved it initially but after a few weeks I started to dis-like it and actually went to another kite feeling not sure why I didn't like it, then one day I pulled it out again and loved it all over again and did so for the next year til I got rolled in surf and split the leading edge. So it was a love, hate then love again story.
How do you know if its a good kite or like me change opinions given time, through a short test or over time?. Mind you, if a feature you love is really great, you can over look the small imperfections but the next person feels that small fault is huge.
Some times you don't know what you want til you have it and then you can't live without it!
cheers,
Robbie 
Yeah Saffer I agree. Maybe less kites and more riders. Also not riders aligned to any brand. The thing would be to make sure each kite is out on the water at the same time. So you get say 6 riders and six different kites, all out on the water and then riders swap kites around every hour or so. That way each group of riders is comparing the kites in exactly the same conditions. If it picks up later then it doesn't matter coz all the kites are out there battling the same weather each time.
There shouldn't be too much difference in kite/bar setup either because we are comparing the same kite category and honestly, there's not too much difference as far as I can see. At least any decent rider should be able to accommodate this pretty easily. If we're talking same category then we should really be talking same size too - give or take a meter at most. That's doable.
Look no one is suggesting it will be flawless but you got to admit the exercise would be far more honest and informative than the current propaganda or even single kite reviews. At present every brand claims to be the BEST. The worlds best C Kite. Worlds Best hybrid. There's no independent cross industry test to say let's PROVE IT.
Kiteboard champions is like Moto GP. You can't compare brands really because the winners are the companies with the best riders and the most cash. This does not necessarily translate to the real world.
I Like the SBC reviewshttp://www.sbckiteboard.com/2012-kite-reviews
They try and bunch them into deferent categories
ei: All terrain, Freestyle SLE, head to head in the surf, Free style wake.....they even did a beginner shootout...
and give 2 or 3 of the stand outs in a particular style for example....
the best kites if you want to boost are ...etc etc
the best for depower are....
They cant test all kites available but its an interesting read 
Thanks Allano. This is the closest I've found to what I was after - head to head kite tests.
