gilrain

I just wanted to let you all know that Corey, at WindPower Sports, responded and will be giving me a refund. He says he buys all of his NTK kites new, directly from NTK. He doesn't get a chance to examine each one, which is understandable, and so it was shipped on to me in the state it came to him from NTK. In the case of my kite, that was as photographed above, and should never have made it past a thorough process of QA. I don't hold WindPower Sports to blame for any of this, although a quicker email response would've been awesome. Corey, as I understand it, is a solid member of the community and, indeed, I have enjoyed several of his articles in Kitelife and his videos on YouTube. I want to make sure this thread doesn't reflect poorly on him or WindPower Sports. My criticism, then, must turn toward NTK. I assume, and hope, that my kite was an unfortunate exception to a usually good track record of QA. I won't be able to help but be a little more wary about buying an NTK kite in the future, however, and that's a shame.

No response yet to my three emails over the past three days. If there's no response today, I'll try calling tomorrow. This is very disappointing.

Thanks for the advice and offer, windofchange! I ordered the kite from WindPower Sports (no kite shops in my town). I am pretty sure they are reputable, but am still quite new to the hobby. No doubt it was just a mistake. I have an email into them to see how they want to handle the situation. I'll keep the thread updated.

I have some dacron sleeving material that might work to tension the edges. It seems weird to have to scrounge up my own materials to assemble a new kite, but no big deal. I think that part'll be manageable. Thanks for the diagram! Is this a common technique in more advanced kites? I'm used to the elastic on my Q. I am much more nervous about the bridle. I can't see, off-hand, how to copy the right with what's on the left... and even if I did, I am concerned it'd be off-balance, or something. I know that bridle adjustments are very sensitive, so I can only imagine tying my own bridle would be even more sensitive. I guess that means sending the kite off, though. I'll contact NTK support.

Hello folks, I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of my Desire UL, and it finally arrived this afternoon. And it's been light, 1-2 MPH winds all day, so great timing, right? Yeah, well, maybe not... There are no assembly instructions or, indeed, any kind of manual or paper at all! And there are a few things very different from my only other kite, the Prism Quantum. I think it may even be broken? I actually tried to post this over at the official NTK forums, but their boards are for some reason locked so that only moderators can post new topics. Maybe they're doing some maintenance on their forums, or something. The kite itself looks beautiful, so hopoefully I am just missing something obvious that you guys can help me with. I removed it from the bag (love the padded, full-length bag), thought it odd that there was no manual or other instructions, but assembled the leading edges anyways. Then, I noticed that there doesn't seem to be a way to tension the leading edges. No elastic, like on my Q, and no extra line or anything else. I have no clue what to do, here. There doesn't seem to be any way to tension the leading edges, right out of the bag... do I need to buy some rubber bands, or something? The left tip. I next noticed that the left bridle appears to be in two parts. The right bridle appears to be whole, although I can't find a pigtail to attach lines to. That they're different indicates to me that the left one is broken right out of the bag? Is there a way for me to fix this? I don't have experience tying bridles... The left bridle. The right bridle. A close-up of the left bridle, where it should probably join. A close-up of the right bridle. Where is the pigtail? The NTK site has downloadable assembly instructions for some kites, but not this one -- and their generic instruction set in no way resembles this kite. I am very surprised a kite billed as a beginner's UL came in this shape! I can't wait to get it in the air, but there are no instructions, no obvious way to tension the leading edges, a probably-broken left bridle, and no clear way to attach a line to the right bridle. What the heck? On top of that, after registering on the NTK forum, I find that I can't post a new topic. Am I missing the obvious, here? Or is this kite incomplete? Edit: by the way, this kite is brand new from WindPower Sports, not used.

Hmm, maybe it would be a better investment to spend a bit more? I notice the Silver Fox 2.5 UL isn't too bad, pricewise... would it be a better choice? Is it's rated 1 MPH for reals, or generous? Edit: actually, reading through some very positive comments and reviews about the Desire UL, as well as checking out the videos available, have convinced me it'll be just fine. Thanks for the recommendation!

I am looking at the Prism 3D. They say 0-10 MPH. Is that reasonable, or are they exaggerating? The price is about right... is it a good for tricks? Its small wingspan seems suspect, but I don't know much of anything, yet. Edit: one more thing. I have some 50# spectra on the way. Will that make a noticeable difference, on my Quantum, compared to the 85', 120# factory line? Would that make my Quantum acceptable in 2-3 MPH?

Hello folks, My eagerly anticipated Prism Quantum arrived today and, so, despite very light winds, out I drove to a high-school football field to try it right the heck out. I removed the metal clips, assembled carefully, and waited for a bit of wind. I had a great time, despite the wind never creeping above 6 MPH. For the most part, it was between 2 and 4 MPH, with occasional forays into blazing 5 and 6 MPH. The longest I was able to keep the kite up was about four minutes. I am happy to say I only once crashed through fault of my own. For those few periods of sustained flight, I really felt like I had great control of the kite, and practiced figure eights, snap turns, and squares. I can hardly wait for better wind! And that brings us to my question. Y'see, the above wind describes about 95% of the days, here in western KY. I look forward to better winds, but they'll be few and far between. Therefore, I feel sure that my next step should be to purchase an ultralight that can fly well in 1 MPH. I mean a practical, real 1 MPH, not an optimistic, factory-rated 1 MPH. The Quantum is rated for 3 MPH, but even with the bridle adjusted for light wind, it only felt steady in 5 MPH. I don't want to spend more than $100, if it can be helped. If there's a huge jump in quality just above that mark, or whatever, then it might be possible. I won't actually be flying indoors, but the wind around here often amounts to that. What is the best ultralight for the above described conditions in that price range? I want something that will be useful through my beginner phase and right into intermediate and advanced, trick-wise. Suggestions?

I am very much looking forward to reading the "Milking the Wind" articles! As a newcomer to the hobby, I have a lot to catch up on as it's made available. Thanks for your hard work!

Thank you very much. That's what I needed to know.

Hello folks, you've got a new, absolute beginner, here. I've long been vaguely interested in kites, and now intend to turn my interest into a full-blown hobby. Frustratingly, I just moved away from San Diego, to western KY. Yeah, so, moving from the ideal to the barely adequate. I think the wind here will be okay, but very light and more turbulent than ideal -- around 4-6 MPH, most summer days, with heavy tree lines surrounding every nice clearing. I'll make do, but might need to fly lighter kites? More to the point, I have a Go Fly a Kite "Storm Typhoon": This has been in the closet forever, and never actually flown. I attempted it a few days ago in 4-5 MPH winds, and couldn't get it to fly longer than ten seconds. Today, I adjusted the bridle forward, to (apparently) point its nose more into the wind and allow it to fly in lighter winds at the expense of responsiveness... I'll try it out this weekend. I also have a Prism Quantum on order, that should arrive on Monday, to serve as a more serious start in the hobby. I can't wait, but am worried it won't fly in these light winds and I'll need to wait for one of the rare days we get higher winds. Anyways, my Typhoon, and, I think, the Quantum, use a swivel-and-clip setup on the bridle to attach the lines. I understand this is less than ideal, and one should take those off and convert them to a lark's head setup. I haven;t seen an easy-to-follow explanation of how to do this conversion, though. Any help? Or should I just not worry about it, yet? I notice the lines for these kites are a not-insignificant amount of money, so I'd hate to break one if it's avoidable. I'd appreciate help with that, and any other advice you folks can offer based on my circumstances!