15 replies to this topic

[shanobi187]

Hi all, I am seriously thinking about getting a silver fox 2.5 std in the next month and thought I'd see if anyone had any negative or positive experiences with them. I can't find anything that says they are anything less then an extremely well made quite espescially for the money. Any feedback is helpful, and once again, thanks in advance for the help!

[John Barresi]

They're a little on the heavy side, spars are *tad* more flexible than I like... But of course, it's under $200!

An excellent value, and great fliers in their ideal wind range.

[ant man]

as always great flying john

[Hedgewarden]

I'm not very experienced - just learning to axel semi-consistantly with my better kites. But I've tried a lot of kites less expensive than the Silver Foxes that are pretty good fliers, and a couple a bit more expensive.

I love the Silver Foxes - a great kite to learn tricks on. Axels are easy. Setting up a fade is easy (I still haven't learn to control the kite once in a fade, so can't comment on that.)

My impressions:

They are slow (good for learning). They fly at least as precisely as some more expensive ballet kites, IMO (e.g. HQ Gallego). Slow, precise, you might fall asleep flying 140' lines across the wind window.

They react predictably to commands. As far as I have been able to push them, they follow the instructions in the trick manuals.

I have all three 2.5s. The standard is great in standard winds. I was totally shocked when the vented behaved exactly like the standard when the wind picked up around 20 mph and a bit above. Stalls and axels in a heavy wind without extreme effort!

The ultra light is not terribly ultra. It was the only disappointment. But there is a wind range that it will perform better than the standard - it is just way above the advertised 1 mph in my ability.

Try the standard - a great kite for the $$, compared to all other kites in the price range, IMO.

If you like that, be assured the vented will take you into the higher wind range with the same feel and responses.

The ultra light might be your third choice, only if your winds are just slightly below the standard's range of competence.

I have not yet tried the "radical" bridal settings. I cannot comment on them, but have seen comments that pilots have not noticed any significant difference - take that with a grain of "maybe".

They are worth the money, and probably as good or better than anything else in their price range. Far better than most.

Oh - just one problem I had with these and with some other kites, the rubber tips on the standoffs tend to fall off. Get a few extra tips (or be very careful when breaking down), and a little glue. I've had this experience with more expensive kites, so I cannot downgrade the Foxes very much for this.

Hope this helps.

[John Barresi]

I like the SF's ease of transition between tricks... Flic flacs to backspin to inverted rollup to unroll and backspin the other way into an upright roll up and lewis... Sea Devil has that same smooth and forgiving transition (a little better even), something I really like in a trick kite.

[shanobi187]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'm now totally sold on it. I'm going to order through midwest kite because i've heard only great things about them and talking to them via e-mail they were the best by far out of the few people who carry them.
So in a little less than a month I should be in the air with it. Thanks again everyone.

[JoneZ]

Kitelife, on Mar 16 2009, 03:30 PM, said:

They're a little on the heavy side, spars are *tad* more flexible than I like... But of course, it's under $200!

An excellent value, and great fliers in their ideal wind range.

What length and # lines are you using in that vid John? Great flying.

[John Barresi]

90# lines, probably about 75'.

[JoneZ]

Shanobi, we need to both go see Theresa some weekend, or afternoon, and you can browse through some of her kites. The amount ($150) that you want to spend is right at that threshold of getting a higher quality kite than the silver fox. In the upwards range of $20-30, we're talkin about here.
Could always get a Widow. o.0 hehe. Maybe an E3? L'Atelier Cesium Access?
I'll talk with ya more about it in person, but the SF might not be the route you want to go down.

~Jon

[Baws]

What is the difference between the Silver Fox 2.3 UL and the Silver Fox 2.5 UL? I'm considering getting one of these. The 2.3 for $125.00 and the 2.5 is $140.00