cjay

+1 vote for the Widow NG. I am a beginner, and have only flown 3 dual line kites, but the Widow NG steers and tracks better than anything else that I have tried so far. I find it really fun to fly.

Sure, thanks. I need more practice to match control movements to desired kite movements.

The Widow NG is a much better flying kite than anything else I have tried so far by a large margin, It turns and tracks really well. I cant wait to try it in lower wind. I will adjust it for sure the next time I am in that strong of wind. I really like that skybond line also. It had a good feel to it, and is so much easier to see especially in foggy or grey sky conditions like I get at the beach a lot of the time. I will be getting some other sets of it for sure. It is stronger than I thought too.

I sometimes zone out and forget about what I was trying to do, and end up just enjoying the environment, and feel of the kite in the wind. Good times! The precision flying looks like fun also.

Yeah that's what I remember. Hard to explain about the control and keeping track of how the kite is turning and hand position. I was used to flying using pull turns before, and the kite moves in the reverse direction doing push turns. So this makes it more difficult to keep track of, and become instinctive on the controls. I simply couldn't fly in a square pattern using push turns. That is good to know. Yeah, I was focusing on turns, and trying to get control and accuracy during flight. I practiced quite a bit of stall flying before and it seems much easier for me than keeping track of the hand movements and controlling the kite for turns.

Took a trip to Ocean Shores today, and flew the Widow NG for the first time. And it is awesome! Flew it on the Skybond 100# x 100'. Then I decided to switch to the factory 150# x 85' lines so I didn't break the skybond lines. Put those Skybond lines to the test though, if they weren't pre stretched, they are stretched now! I could notice the difference in response between the 85' and 100' lines. I think the wind was on the high side for that kite because I could lean fully back and away against the pull of the kite and I weigh 200#. The wind speed was supposedly about 8-10 mph, but I think it was more like 10+. It roared as it went across the window, and pulled with authority ! I am going to have to watch myself with this one as I have a back disability, and I messed myself up playing hard with the pull. I am thinking it would be more suited to 5mph or even a little less. The E2 pull was more reasonable in the same wind. Maybe I need to do more adjusting on the NG bridle. I had it set how it arrived. Compared to my E2 it Turns much more precisely, and tracks better. My woman thought so also. There is a little more delay in response to inputs than with the E2, so the timing is a little different but not in a bad way. That might be due to the weight also. And I could tell that is a spot where tricks can be done, cause I accidentally did a few. Had the best day flying yet!

I was finally able to get out and fly at the beach the other day for about 3 hours. I took my E2 out this time. Put a real beating on it and crashed many times, but didn't break it. The wind was awesome, smooth and steady at about 8 mph. I am still working on basic control. It is hard to keep track of movement and hand position when it is moving that fast. Also I watched Dodd Gross videos and don't really understand punch turns vs pull turns. I mean either way the same hand is farther forward than the other so I don't see why it matters which method you use. I found the kite was pulling too hard in the window to hold the handles at the waist in a neutral position for very long, so I had to fly with my arms extended most of the time.

I found out some information the other day about some Widow NG fixes from Fun With Wind. Turns out there are 2 main things that people fix. One is the female end of the lower spreader breaking at the T. The other is the lower spreader popping out of the T. One fix for the lower spreader popping out of the T is the C clip bungee solution discussed earlier which holds the rods in the T. The other option is to use an HQ Excel cross connector T size .240, part#17-160070-10. The Excel T has longer ends so you eliminate the male piece. You cut off the male end of the lower spreader and glue it in the female end that breaks to reinforce it there. You then have both ends of the spreaders with solid rods glued inside at the T to reinforce them. The Excel T is said to be very sturdy. I think that C clips and a bungee would still have to be used to keep the rods in, as the T ends aren't very long. The other thing I read that happens, is the spine slipping to the side in the pocket and the weight can fall off and get lost. The simple preventative solution I came up with for this is to wrap a male piece of Velcro around the weight facing out. Since the whole pocket is female or soft Velcro, this locks it in place. It weighs next to nothing. It is also very thin and not really noticeable. I removed the Premier rubber patch. Also my tail weight is actually 14g, not 16g. Fun With Wind had a going out of business sale on the Widow NG that I missed. They were going for about $80.

Have a Shanti Skybond 100# x 100' line set on the way. Will see how it goes.

I am going with 90# or 100# line, because that is what is available close to the weight I want. The Shanti Speed and Skybond are 100#. LPG is 90#. The skybond 100# is said to be the same diameter as the LPG 90#. Skybond and LPG are both coated line, where Shanti speed line is not. I guess it comes down to not knowing if I should get coated or uncoated line.

I don't know whether speed line or skybond is the one for my application. I would be interested to know which shop does the best quality work on the sleeving.

I think the e2 lines are either Dacron, or spectra. the Widow NG lines are supposedly spectra. There is a kite shop near me called the kite shoppe that custom builds sleeved line sets. They are said to do really nice work. I guess Shanti does that also. I was looking at the Prism Synapse 140 or 170 when I was at Prism kites. I don't know anything about what size or choice would be good for a high wind beater though.

Nice critique Breezin, good information as usual. Another nighthawk, over an addiction even? You prefer the Flexi foil psycho over the addiction? I am not really up on those older kites, the dot matrix kite looked interesting and has nice colors. The older trick and track colors look nice. No worries RobB, I get it, if I had the cash and skyburner still made the WM, I would like to buy a custom color one.

Interesting. I know I want 100' lines, not sure what weight of lines to get. Thinking around 100#. Not sure if that gives me a good wind range with the big kites or not though. I probably don't want to fly my kites much over 15mph, I will get a beater for that like an HQ Ion, or foil of some sort. Didn't you used to have a nighthawk, or have one already?

That is interesting. I will have to check those out. I am thinking about a line set. Like skybond. I think the Widow NG comes with 85 ft long line that is 150 pound. I have read that 100 foot line with 95 lb weight is a better option. I think that would work good with my E2 as it also came with 75-85 foot line 150 lb test. Funny thing about the weight is that Premier claims the Widow NG comes with a 16 gram weight, but mine weighs 14 g. Some people prefer a 10 g weight. I want to figure out how to keep the weight and spine in the pocket.