I have a 9m ION that is killer, but so far I've found the 15 a little slow. I'm flying it on the smaller bar, so that may be part of the problem. Thanks for the feedback!

Pacific,

First off I think the bigger bar would help. I have set up my 15 ION for lightwind using some info from the Flexi forum. This new setting will speed up the kite and generate more light wind pull/grunt but will sacrifice a bit of depower. Some people have set all of there ION's up like this....up to the individual.

"The ion comes with the bridle set on slow, so anyone who is not that advanced can live with the kite that little more easily, so if you want to speed the kite up and make it fly further into the window for better upwind performance then undo the bridle connection from the leading edge and reattach to the other empty connection tab 4 inch’s away, then to bring the bar in closer reduce the power line length by 2 inch’s, undo the bowline knot under the neoprene cover and retie, don’t cut the excess away as it will push neatly under the cover, it is important to shorten the mini 5th line by the same amount, simply tie in another knot and leave the excess hanging,

The rear turning pigtails/toggles on the kite need to be adjusted by tying a extra knot 1 inch up from the free end, the point should be used in light winds, and the end knot in stiff winds,

Test the setting by flying the kite directly overhead and pulling in the bar to maximum and holding it there for 10 seconds, if the kite fall back even a little then pull in a tiny amount on the depower to stop this, At no time should you be able to pull in the bar and the kite drift back into the window, this will make the kite feel very on off in power delivery."

For people with short arms this will bring the bar closer when fully sheeted out. I have also installed the smallest chicken loop you can get from Flexi which reduces the length by another 1 to 1.5 inches.

Hope this helps you out.

I emailed Flexifoil a while back and got this back from Peter Trow.

Brian,

Good to hear your enjoying the Ion. There is a simple modification that you
can do to improving the quickness of your Ion, it also powers up the kite
more.

Move the forward bridal attachment point to the back setting. That is, the
pigtail that connects the front bridal to the kite, move the pigtail to the
back setting (the one closer to the tip). This will speed up the turning and
give you more low end.

Let me know if this doesn't make sense and I'll try and explain it more
clearly.

Cheers, Peter

Peter Trow
Flexifoil USA

Today I tried moving the bridal attachment points to the other setting and it did turn a little quicker and also added extra power with less depower. Peter didn't mention shortening the center line so I just tried this first. It's nothing major but it's a notable difference. I love this kite even more now.

Brian,

I was going to try that yesterday. I will try it today if there is wind again.

In terms of the low end of the 12m hybrids, of the 4 that we have the most time on (in moderately light winds for 12m kites) the order on the lower end of the kites appears to be:

12m Hypertype/13m Waroo Pro(too close to call)
12m Atom
12 Link

With the best low end being the hypertype/Pro and the least low end being the 12m Link.

Since these are 12m kites, I am not sure low end was a "goal" for each kite, but this may give us a reference point for the future.

I am interested to see the low ends on the 15m size in each kite, since this is where it will matter more.

I agree the low end on the 12m Link wasn't even close to the 12m Ion's. We should have a 12m Hyper in our midst tomorrow, hopefully we'll get some wind and we can compare it to the Ion with the bridal mod.

I'm surprised the Contra did'nt make it in with these kites for low end, or is it not a fair comparison?

I consider the Contra a bow kite not a hybrid. (I think it might be in it's name even).

Secondly, the 12m Contra is possibly the biggest " 12m" kite I have ever seen. I haven't taken the time to actually measure it (someone else can do that if so inclined) but the kite simply looks big in the sky compared to most 12 and even 14m kites. This might be an optical illusion, but several kiters have said the same.

Hey Scott,

What does the meter designation of a kite mean? 16m,14m,12m, I assumed it was square meters of surface area of the kite.

Thanks

Square meters of material is right. Most companies round it off now. Some up a little, some round down a little.
Remember when kites said 8.3m or 11.8m on them? I remember getting a 7.2 and an 8.4 of different brands. The 7.2 had more juice

It's not meant to be an exact number, basically just a reference.
Obviously projected area and cut affect the feel of the kite.

That's one reason I made that post was to give a reference (at least for low end of the 12s) of those brands.

My latest kite, the dragonfly wing flapper from hell, has a surface area of 1.2m, but pulls like a freight train