Tedrick

I had a Seduction some time ago. I can confirm that the outer SO's are the 2mm rods, and it will have significant curvature when installed correctly. As kitepilot correctly points out, the SO fitting should be fairly close to the LE fitting, such that the curved SO meets the LS at approximately 90 degrees. Good luck with your Seduction. I'll be very curious to hear how you get along with it.....I didn't connect with mine very well.

This is not necessarily the case anymore. The latest generation of "French" kites have managed to combine excellent precision AND freestyle characteristics in the same design. Kites such as the Masque, STX 2.3, and Nirvana were among the first true "all-round" kites that minimized the compromises. These were followed by kites such as the Transfer, Viper, Machine, BMK Mantis, and the Prism Quantum Pro. In fact, the proliferation of these well-balanced all-around kites has resulted in a shift in kite design away from the dedicated precision kite, because frankly most of these newer designs fly as good or better that the old skool precision-only kites. The two most recent "benchmarks" for precision that I can think of were the HQ Tramontana and the CdC Shiva. Most, if not all, of the kites listed above will outperform the Tram for precision, and the Machine, Viper, and STX 2.3 are equals to the Shiva, which IMO is the best pure precision kite ever made. Yet ALL of the kites listed above will out-trick the Tram or Shiva by a mile. If you want to design a precision-only kite, I suggest you study 4 or 5 old-skool precision kites to quantify how they were similar. Consider such things as wingspan (larger generally equals slower and more precise), leading edge shape (straight vs. curved), tunnel width and depth, trailing edge shape, aspect ratio, bridle design, etc. Then use those characteristics to come up with a design. From there, it's pretty much trial and error until you get something that you're happy with. Good luck!!

I stand corrected on this. I seemed to remember someone else mentioning this was a decent all-round kite, but after reading that this is the vented version of the Easy/EasyLight series, I would have to agree. Precise?? Hah!! One really shouldn't even mention precise and Psycho or Alien in the same sentence. These two kites are fast, oversteering, and border on unstable. BUT, both are highly trickable, easily recoverable, and just tons of fun in big wind when you just gotta get out and fly. I would say that the Alien is a little more predicable in its tricks, a little easier to set-up for tricks, and easier to link combos together. On the other hand, the Psycho is one of those pull-a-line-and-something-will-happen, drop-your-jaw-as-you-wonder-what-just-happened kinda kites. Both are pretty durable, but the Psycho does have a tendancy to pull LS's out of the center-tee during harder nose plants. Not a problem really, as the standoffs will push the rod away from the sail so little risk of puncturing the sail. For my $$, I like the Psycho more than the Alien just because of that wow-what-just-happened character. Completely agree with this statement. The Shiva Full Vent comes about as close as any vented kite I've flown to handling and feeling like its non-vented version (RonG's Machine, and ShawnT's Viper are two others). Too bad there aren't many other kites about which that statement can be made.

In high wind tricksters, I've owned a Psycho, Alien, and Dot Matrix. I prefer the Psycho, followed closely by the Alien. So from your list, I'd so go with the Alien. It's for sure a fun kite in big wind, and has very light pull. It's easy to spin stall, and it can be tuned to do lots of tricks. If you're not too concerned with tricks, you might consider a Full Vent Shiva, which has variable venting and can be tuned to fly in winds up to 30 mph or so. I know where there's a used one in tip-top condition for sale at a very good price. You might also consider the Level 1 Easy Vented, a very affordable vented kite that supposedly is quite capable of both nice tricks and decent precision (I can't say for sure as I havn't flown one yet).

Once I've selected my music, I listen to it over and over again and play out in my minds eye what moves or tricks work best with the opportunities that are presented by the music. By opportunities, I mean crescendos, a cymbal crash, change of tempo, a pause, a drum hit, guitar riff, or whatever that can be a cue to do something. After I've mapped out what moves I want to do at the opportunities, it's a matter of creating the choreography that links the moves together. Some of this I will do in my head, and the rest I work out on the field while flying to the music. Once I've got it all together and it seems to flow ok, I usually try to draw it all out on paper so I don't forget (my most recent ballet is not written down yet, and I've flown it in competition now 4 times ). For pairs flying, we do a fair bit of finger flying at night, or maybe just before we take the field, but I never finger-fly my individual routine; I do better visualizing it in my head while listening to my music.

Machine Standard Machine UL 75x110', 140x125', and 140x80' lines (all with handles and leaders installed); 1 extra LS, ULE, and LLE for each kite; and a small tool kit (CA glue, half-dozen C-clips, 2 spare yoyo stoppers, CT for Standard, couple of endcaps, hacksaw, sandpaper, 4 ferrules, and a small tape measure). I plan on spending as much time as possible in those open fields if the wind is blowing and there are minimal trees/hills/buildings to wreck it . .

Ok, now that we have that cleared up, here's the rest of my collection: HQ/BV Pi Shiva UL Shiva Comp Shiva Full Vent STX 2.3 Standard STX 2.3 Comp (3, total of 4) STX 2.3 UL (total of 2) STX 2.3 Vent Flexifoil Psycho HQ Jam Session Classic HQ Babytana (original version - Extinct) L'Atelier Impact Mullins Area 51 (Extinct) R-Sky Krystal R-Sky Frenezy Skyburner ADX Skyburner Delta Drive Skyburner I-Nak WSD Sweety Rev 1.5 SLE All-cloth Rev 1.5 UL Rev 1.5 Vent Bunch of single-line kites and laundry I bought the N-Joy for my son; he doesn't fly it, so it's been drafted for teaching duties. I also kept the Jam Classic to teach with (rather than selling it), but use it more for adults. Both these kites were purchased to fly, and were drafted to teaching duties once they were superceded by other kites in my bags. I don't see the logic in spending extra money just for a teaching kite. Incidentally, I've flown/owned a lot of L1 kites; I flew JITB a couple of times and didn't care for it too much.

I use IE 'cause it's what's installed on the laptop that my company provides me.

My A-Bag: Machine (2) Machine UL Machine Industrial (vented) STX 2.3 Comp STX 2.3 UL STX 2.1 STX 1.9 UL STX 1.8 UL DFM (STX 2.5) X-Masque Rage Level One N-Joy (for teaching) Now John, that's WAY more than will fit in one kite bag .

All my lines are sleeved to allow for rapid lineset changes. Also makes identifying left and right a cinch, which to me is very important, especially under competition conditions.

Well, as you've seen, everyone has an opinion on kite lines . In my experience, BB is FAR superior to LPG. I fly mostly at the beach, so everything I fly is subject to get some sand in or on it. I've had sets of BB last for more than a year of regular flying. The few sets of LPG that I have used frayed, started binding sooner when wrapped, and wore out way faster than any other type of line I've used. Plus, LP always insisted on using sleeving that was way too big and wouldn't hold a knot, meaning the lines required constant re-equalizing. When my LPG linesets wore out (which they did quickly), I replaced them with BB. In my opinion, that kite vendor did you a huge favor .

Nice choice on the Cesium. I don't think you'll be disappointed, and the Cesium is a kite you can pretty well learn all of the current crop of hot tricks with.

My favorite affordable indoor kite is the Sweety from Wolfang Siebert. It's tunable, can be tweaked to be more tricky, and can also be flown outdoors as an SUL on those no-wind days. It's also well made with a very durable frame, making it an excellent choice for learning. I much prefer the Sweety to the Indoor Wren. It flys nearly as easily, but has a stiffer frame with more mass which makes tricks much easier, and also means you can do more that just axels and 540s indoors.

Of the ones you list, I'd go with the Big Bang. It's very pitch friendly, meaning it will easily yoyo, multilazy, wapdoowap, etc. The BB also does pretty easy backspins and jacobs ladders, and decent flatspins as well. I found it's capabilities to be very accessible, and the kite comes ready-to-fly and includes a nice weight set as well as yoyo stopper. The Level One Easy is a nice kite with great flatspins and backspins, but is somewhat limited for pitch tricks. I did not like the Phoenix at all. Others will say thay like it a lot, so it's clearly a matter of taste and style preferences, but for me the Phoenix had too much oversteer and too little drive. Yin Yang is fairly limited to flatspins (axels, half-axels, cascades, 540s, and flicflacs). It does have an extremely stable pancake, but I found the YY to be more of a novelty that wore off fairly quickly. I have no experience on the E2, but I have not connected well with other curved LE Prism's...again, just a matter of taste. Now, if you're budget can accomodate the Quantum Pro, well then... .

I've flown in one HTS that was judged by spectator response, and the result was not indicative of what really happened on the field...the audience was just not savvy enough to know what they are seeing, much less to know good tricks from flailing. Judging by knowledgeable fellow flyers is the ONLY way to do this and get the right result until the general public gets more educated about trick flying. Plus, I like keeping all the competitors on the field for the entire HTS, because it helps to keep the spectators interested when they see a bunch of people on the field behind the flyers who are obviously involved in what's going on (as opposed to seeing them drifting off the field one by one to go do other things).