We had a chance after work yesterday to fly the 16m Answer and the 15m Flexifoil ION back to back. Wind graph attached. We started right around 6pm, and stayed out until around 7:45pm. When we first started, the wind was around 7-12mph...then it picked up to around 10-16mph. We were on Slingshot Glides most of the time, and then I switched to a SX 151 when the wind came up to the 10-16mph range. Winds were Sideshore, with a pretty strong current going with the wind(so that didn't help us at all). Here are some comments:

Low end: About the same..we really couldn't tell if one had more power than the other. Both as powerful as a probably a 17m, maybe an 18m C shape kite. Not as powerful as a 16m Crossbow or 16m Switcblade. Those feel more like a 20m C shape at full power

High end: Winds too light to tell...

Speed: Both way faster than most kites in that size range. The Answer was just a little faster, especially when doing a bottom turn. Speed when flipping the kite for a jump...about the same..

Bar Pressure: Again, very close... The Answer maybe a tad less...but not by much. Both very light compared to other bow kites. Sonic, still the lightest of them all. Crossbow, Turbo Diesel, Switchblade, etc.. all heavier than these..

Unhooking: ION fealt a little more stable when unhooking. Not that the Answer was unstable, but it was more solid and just kind of stayed there. With the Answer, it was stable too...but you needed to depower it a little more(pull a few more inches on the depower strap) before unhooking. Both good for unhooked stuff...ION just a little more stable...

Jumping: both good...can't pick one over the other...

Overall....tough call....both great, and we can't really pick one over the other... The Answer seemed a little more like a front line flier(liked a little more front line tension)...and the ION more like an equal line flier...could of been the way we had it rigged it, but that is how they fealt...so, if you like a front line flier, the Answer is a little more closer to that feel... if you don't, then the ION. All in all, either one works.... more to follow when we get more time on them...hopefully this weekend!

more pictures...wind graph, etc..

u have tried the 12 in similar conditions (not the really lowend but 10-17mph)

can u make some comments on the comparison?

is the lowend a lot bigger, does it feel slower (if so, a lot?)

Ion 12= 14-15m Cshape tube

Ion 15= 17-18m Cshape tube?

I have no experience with bigger tubes (infact anything over 12, as I come from flying foils)

Can u try to fly the 15 at its topend for me please? (need to know about depowerability, as I want it to make a quiver together with a 9 Ion)

The day I rode the 12m the first time, the winds were light, but we had an oppossing current, so that always adds a few knots. When we rode the 15 ION and 16 Answer a few days ago, the current was going with the wind...so that took a few knots away... Either way, a lot depends on the board you will be riding. With something like the SS Glide, you could ride that 12m in 14-15mph winds, no problem at all. If you want to ride a small twin tip all the time with it, then the winds will need to be closer to 20mph to have a good time.

If you are definitely going to get a 9m, then a 15m may fit just right...I would think the comfortable high end for the 15m will be into the low 20's... and I'm pretty sure you could get on the 9m and have fun once the winds start blowing in the low 20's...so, overlap should be good. Again..the board or boards you will be riding make all the difference in those ranges...

I hope to try the top end of the kite soon...just need the wind to do it!

I'd love to know the topend of the Ion 15m as summer conditions are pretty light (20knots max?) so I'd wait to buy a 9m Ion till the the summer if I go on vacation to a windy spot

I'm expecting it to have a lower lowend than my Flysurfer Speed 10 and more useable topend in chop/waves (it claims 22knots normal topend but at 60kgs I'm overpowered at 17knots steady wind)

Thanks for the advice, I wish u had a shop in Belgium as definitely buy from u

not that my dealer is bad, he has good advice and opinions but having demo-kites available on the shop (not from the brand tour coming by) is really cool. I don't think u get the time to really test it much anyway with all the crowd standing around on those days!

a 9m and 15m Ion it is, now to get rid of those flysurfer bags

We ship to Belgium
Seriously, we can send them to you and even take care of shipping costs if you get 2 kites....

Flexifoil is distributed to a large part of Europe from Belgium, by Mellow (www.mellow.be). They have a shop in Oostduinkerke (www.flyhigh.be), where you can test the Flexifoil products. I had the opportunity to try the Ion 15, 2 weeks ago, even before thy are distributed in Belgium. They expect them to be in the shop by the beginning of May.

Stefan

got to ride my 12m answer today in 20mph gusting to 28mph. totally blown away! it almost felt like a new sport to me. like going from driving a dump truck to driving a new porche. turns like a 6m 'c' kite. i personally prefer that it doesn't give me that 100% depower of other bow kites. more like 80%. despite gusts to high 20's (i weigh 200lbs & have been kiting for 6 years) i never felt overpowered. stupidly huge jumos that actually scared me! i have been riding cabrinha nitro's, north rhino's, flexifoil storm II's & none of them jumped half as high. kite loops very easily, some might say too easily but you can do them more powered up if you prefer. not too much bar pressure. i'd say around the same as the waroo or sonic. way less than the cross bow. awesome in the waves. i like the way it maintains power through the bottom turn yet you can still dump plently of power. overall i am more than stoked. i rode for about 1 1/2 hrs then passed it on to a friend who was equally blown away. i am still getting used to having so much more performance. i already felt like i was riding better than ever. this kite is an unfair advantage for kiters who are just starting. i've been around since the days of two line foils & this kite makes everything just so stupidly easy & fun! i will write more when i've tried the 16m & gotten more used to such a pimped out ride!

I rode my 16m answer today in low teens-mid teens with gusts in the upper teans. I weigh about 200lbs & was on an 06' 132 Underground FLX.

The 16m turns extemely fast for a 16M & is so much fun to ride! A far cry form what i am used to in 16M kites. It probably turns like a typical 05' 12M 'c' kite which is a good thing. No where near as fast as the 12M Answer but much faster than any 'c' kite in that size. It was very easy to generate apparent wind during lulls. I never had any probelm going up wind. This kite loves to cut fast upwind. I was never overpowered during gusts. I think Caution have found that sweet spot in depower ability.Not too much, nor too little. The kite turns very quickly & i was cutting powerful transition turns like i'd never done before. I can't wait to get it in the surf. I also rode unhooked a fair bit & found it way more manageable than any 'c' kite I'd ever ridden unhooked. I looped the kite during turns & it was very smooth although it did generate a lot more power looping than the 12M did which is to be expected in a larger kite. This kite is super easy to fly & pretty much does everything well.

A couple of negatives though. The kite does have a tendancey to overfly & it did 'hindenburg' on about three jumps (out of many jumps) & completely fall from the sky which sucks! I did not have this problem with the 12M but will be on the look out for it. I corrected the problem by making sure i retained tension in the lines if i missed on a jump. I didn't notice this on the 12M but it is an issue with the 16M. Maybe it is something that can be remedied through some sort of bridle adjustment but i'll leave that to someone more techincally minded than me. I don't think the Waroo has this problem though some people i've spoken to say it does. Anyone are to comment?. Once i did get used to jumping the problem was less & less apparent & by the end of the session it wasn't much of an issue at all. Still though it would nice not to have to worry about it at all & i'd have to agree now that the Waroo might be a better choice for a beginner because of this. This is the type of thing beginners don't want to have to worry about but for an advanced kiter this won't be much of a problem.

One other BIG negative was an inversion. I screamed when it happed & couldn't believe it as i was way off shore. I laid up for a jump & the kite 'hindenburged' & flopped forward then flipped under itself then relaunched completely inverted. It then started spinning out of control until it hit the water's surface after looping about five times all the while dragging me down wind. If i had been near shore it could have resulted in a bad accident. There was almost nothing i could do to relaunch. Finally a friend rode up & i asked him to flip the kite over. It was a bit of a risky gamble but it paid off. The kite hot launched but i was able to gain control. I rode to the beach & pumped up really hard. The leading edge bladder hadn't been hard enough even though i thought it had been. I think a slightly soft leading edge bladder may have been the problem. I friggin hope so because it wasn't an amusing experience. Make sure you pump the leading edge as hard as possible. I think this will lessen any chance of an inversion. The Ozone bow has a firfth line to prevent inversions & i'd be willing to consider installing one on this kite if the problem persisits. I'll report back after i (hopefully) ride the 16M again this weekend.

Despite these two negatives i still love this kite! It is a super fun kite to ride & the performance qualities are similar to the 12M Answer only in a larger size. By the end of the session i had the tiny quirks figured out anyway and i wasn't dropping the kite while jumping.

A side note here...After my session i went out on a friend's 06' Rhino II 16m. I hate to say this but the kite just felt so dead. It was totally unresponsive compared to The Answer. The 06' Rhino didn't turn even a 10th as well, go upwind as well, jump as well, loop as well or depower as well as The Answer. It just felt totally lame. I would avoid this kite at all costs. The only good thing i would say about it is that it is very predictable (Read 'boring' & 'lifeless'). After riding the Vegas i wonder why North even bothered to put this permforanceless kite dead fish piece of high tech boredom. The 04 Rhino is a much better kite. I felt bad for my friend who saw how much fun i was having on my Answer as he was regretting having bought the 06' Rhino.