Yesterday I got to demo the FS Pulse2 8m. The conditions were terrible. The wind was very very gusty and at times would swing to cross offshore. There was also a big hole in the wind near the shoreline so getting back to dry land was always a bit of a challenge. Here's all the stats:
Wind: 14-27kn
Water: Choppy.
Board: FLX 148x46
Rider: About 80Kg
OtherFS kites i own (or have flown recently): Speed2 19 Silver Arrow, Speed2 15, Psycho3 13, Speed2 10, Psycho3 8.
Considering that this was the 8m these awful conditions weren't actually that bad... if i was to buy an 8 these are the kind of crap conditions that i would buy it for. Well that and those solid 25knot+ days. The first things that I noticed about this kite was the depower available at the bar and the turning speed. You can push the bar out and this kite really does spill a lot of power. I got gusts up to 27kn and was riding the big board. I only ever pulled the depower strap a fraction and that was not so much because i needed to but more because i was scared of a 35kn bullet coming through. This kite would easily handle 35kn but i think you'd want the strap pulled in. :)
The turning speed of the kite and how fast it flys through the window is excellent. This is bit of a double edged sword. Obviously it is excellent for putting the kite right where you want it but if you mess up things can get out of shape pretty quick. It took a little while to get used to but the speed of the kite can be used to generate good pull in the lulls. It does have quite good bottom end as long as you keep moving and don't oversheet it. In the luss it can stall a bit. Once you stop it can be a bit hard to get up again. I feel that the Psycho3 8m might actually pull you out of the water a bit easier. The flip side of this is that i reckon the Pulse2 8 would have at least 5 more knots of top end.
In comparison to the P3 8m the Pulse2 is more stable. The P3 definitely feels a bit more twitchy and certainly doesn't seem to like it as much when you turn downwind and ride towards it. The pulse2 was very good in this regard. That, combined with the turning speed would make it excellent as a waveriding kite.... if your into that kind of thing. If you mess up and take your hands off the bar it doesn't auto zenith like a PL but if you let it go at 12oclock then it stays at 12oclock (even in the gusty crap i tried it in). The jumps from the pulse2 are pretty good but in this regard the P3 is better. The P3 yanks you into the air harder and floats you down a bit more gently. This issue (IMO) is size dependent: a 6 or 8m kite will be flown in 20-40kn so how much aggressive lift do you want? a 10 or 13m kite will be flown upto 25kn so you usually want as much lift as possible.
Most of the above is what it says on tin anyway but at least i can confirm that it does what FS says it does.
I did try a couple of kiteloops with it (I am trying to master these at the moment) and it did very well. It whips around pretty fast and isn't stupidly powered up when it does so. I got one where i only sat back a bit and splashed my ass on the landing and then rode away.... that's the closest i've come so far to landing one clean. If you knew how to do kiteloops (better than me anyway) i'd say that you could whip this thing round and get it to catch you (be at 12oclock again) before the landing.
As said before, this kite would be good in the surf, would be good in the smaller sizes for nukin winds and would definitely suit an aggressive freestyler would likes to really throw the kite around for all it is worth.
A bit more on the surf thing... i dropped it a few times and when i did drop it LE up it relaunched itself. LE down was a stupidly easy relaunch too but you do actually have to do something in that scenario ;)
mike
