Rider: 90kgs, intermediate.
Board: 141/43 Wide Spleene board
Style: Freeriding, Freestyle, Some surf but not much, my reference brand: Ozone.
Weather: announced 13-24 knots for 75kgs TT rider, me @ 90kgs 17-26
Build Quality: 8/10 not as good as other but decent for the price
Satisfaction: 7/10 once again not as good as others but the price...
Ridden for over 6 months now.
My Comments:
Right, first off I'm not affiliated with Switch, the web is littered with reviews from their: “team riders” basically you get 25% off your gear and have to write nice things about them quite often and let complete stranger try your kites (why not the missus while you're at it!), so there's a lot of hype about them, so much that the cred might not be justified...
Secondly i only bought the kite. In my opinion the bar (there's a new one in the works, may get better) is subpar: seen it on the beach the grip peeling off and the central rope prone to self destruction by friction. I've had that problem before with old Naish and Royal kites and this is why I have chosen to use my Ozone 2010.
Buying: really easy and cheap: they've done a very good job with that, 690$ for kite only with pump, bag, repair kit and delivered WOW. Delivery, perfect couple of days, no issue well packed. Out of the box: it was folded in a way that I don't fold my kites... pretty messy but no damage so i guess alright.
The kite is a 3 strut design but it's quite heavy compared to Ozone, perhaps an extra 1kg. Wing material felt dangerously thin but after 6 months of use and storage in the car in high heat, still no problems. Stitches have not come apart nor the color despite being black which can be problematic in the hot sunny weather in WA.
It has a complex bridle and the quality of the rope perhaps not as good as my reference brand still and despite having metal sliders, no wear and tear so far. I have to say that those metal sliders are quite amazing and would have saved me from replacing my Royal Era's bridle 3 times!
The bridle's attachment to lines is the opposite to Ozone's and most manufacturers' (I didn't know, it was not a pleasant surprise on my first outing) with pigtails on the directional lines instead of the outside ones, i just made knots to the bridle attachment points to fit my lines accordingly and it works fine.
So how does it fly? Well it took me some time and it was not love straightaway after a break of a couple of month without kiting, fair to say... but now I'm starting to like it's raw power. I was a bit on edge in my first few outings with this kite, not too sure what was happeningat first, very different from my previous kites.
I can kite comfy 17 to 26 knots: below that it's sluggish for my heavy self, above there is a lack of depower (this may be down to the Ozone bar having a shorter throw of a couple of centimeters) It's a powerful kite that makes sense in that small window for my weight. In low winds it went Hindenburg on me once and as it pulls well the recovery was muscular, It does not like to be fully powered in low winds.
Now that power once you are comfy with it is good, it jumps well and it's good for unhooked stuff even if the jump timing when going big takes practice as this kite is pretty powerful going upwards in the wind window, I find myself using all my weight with the kite at 11 to get the best of its undeniable upwind capability.
The touch is pretty heavy, it's not a light kite but it turns well for its size, handles the gusts reasonably well but once again it's not as good as other kites asking for an above average amount of input to keep consistent power. Water re-launch is easy as, now that is a given, that kites does not like water, it sits and waits for you to take control, very stable when self launching too, attached to a pole or rolling it over.
So all in all it is not a bad kite, it's an average kite. Targeted at beginners because of the easy re-launch, but to learn it may be a bit physical in my opinion but then again I learnt on the old C-kites that had no depower and were unpredictable so it's ok. t has power and so far the wear and tear has been very good compared to some big brands' latest releases.
The price is justified in my eyes, It's what you pay for, have I had the money i would have bought a new quiver of Ozone kites but I didn't and this kite does basically all I need as an intermediate and I feel confident that it will help me progress further. For the money I paid I am satisfied but I just wished the hype was somewhat toned down because it's not the best and just built expectations that this cannot deliver. I also think that the business model set by Switch will eventually take over as the savings are pretty big so this very young brand is worth keeping an eye on...
My 2 pennies worth...
Good job mate, a real honest a truthful review. Refreshing to say the least. Its a decent kite for a very decent price. Excellent.
Or lets run your review against this that I just read...
Smooth, constant power during your turns without any hesitation or back stall will allow you to choose the perfect line rather than experiencing an unpredictable kite that rips you off your board.
Hooked in or unhooked the Method has unparalleled stability and drift so it will always be ready for your next move.
If sheeted in or out the direct bar response keeps you in full control and you always know precisely where your kite is. The adjustable bar pressure and turning speed options allow you to fine tune your Method's response to your personal preference.
A new design feature taken from our race kites is the unbeatable upwind performance that effortlessly gets you back to the point for your next wave.
Rounded off with instant re-launch the Method will always be ready to get you back into action.
Improvements from the previous version
We kept all the features that were loved by the original Method users, such as constant power through the turns, smooth power control from full power to complete depower within the bar throw, unreal upwind performance and instant relaunch.
By modifying the kite's outline and relocating the bridle attachment points, we were able to drastically increase stability in gusty shifty offshore winds. These changes also decreased the bar pressure and resulted in a tighter turning radius. We've also listened to your requests and added 6 and 11m sized kited to our line up.
The 13m was designed with our heavier customers in mind that need that extra power to make it safely through the wash. It is not the answer for light wind down the line wave riding for the regular guy in below 12 knots. Unfortunately we can't change the physics of that equation, and a 13m won't help you riding glassy waves in a light breeze.
Yep realised that, was the first post on the kiteforum so chucked it in here, just showing the angle they come from.
