Flysurfer Speed II vs Ozone Manta

Cut&pasted:

Boost of the Titans.

In a kite world with so much choice in design manufacturers, colors, styles and quirky names, it can make your head spin, especially when new models are appearing each year with either just color changes, quirky little trinkets hidden in the bottom of your kite bag, or a new model that is far removed from something you loved from the year before.

Either way, you have choice, and choice is a great thing till you say to yourself on a dusty field "oh bugger this is going to be very expensive on my hip pocket"

There is something bordering on paranoia about using a water kite on a dry lake, I guess it pays to be prepared in case the lake fills up while you are there, although this thought just entered my mind while writing this, no floaties were required.

I think most people are passionate about the kites they own for one reason above all else "that it suits their flying style" that priority is above performance or what its intended use is, think about that for a moment! so when I was presented with the opportunity to do a back to back test between a 10 meter Ozone Manta & a 10 meter Flysurfer Speed II for a moment their I thought I really shouldn't do this as I may not like the result....... sometimes the truth really does hurt, the bank balance anyway.

Locked and loaded.

The wind was variable at about 0-14 knots the 14 knots was fun, the 0 knots involved being swarmed by flies & believing I was an abandoned sausage roll left on a park bench. I was flying my beloved 10 meter Ozone Manta, which has always taken me to new heights and given me the ability to pull off big moves high above the ground, I know and trust that kite and it has never let me down. Up and down the strip on lake george I was boosting happily nothing to big but it was still fun.

The kitepower van was right behind me since it was a demo day I thought I would push the friendship and ask for a test drive of the Flysurfer Speed II, after some tips on inflating, yes I did ask for a pump, much to the amusement of on lookers even more amusing than my red hair. Inflation took only a minute and I sent it to the top of the window easily.

At this point I want to say that the wind conditions were exactly the same as what I had been flying the 10 meter Ozone Manta in just 5 minutes before.

My only session on a Flysurfer Speed II was with Mikes 15 meter in about 11 knots of wind (video in the 15 meter session thread if you have not seen it) I had not made a comparison between the 2 kites as it would be hugely unfair as the Flysurfer was 5 meters bigger than the Manta.

Yet now, I had 2 industry giant killing 10 meter kites in the same wind conditions.....

Game On!

I gained some speed redirected the Flysurfer and up I went, I hung in the air for a moment still with momentum and then floated back down, I could have landed on egg shells and not busted one.

This is ridiculous I was saying to myself, maybe it was a fluke and a solid gust I had not had with the manta so I repeated the exercise and threw myself into a reverse 720 aerial, this time even higher (as you can hold an edge better going in reverse with your two rear wheels anchoring you to the ground) floating around with time to think about what I felt like for dinner tonight and then realising it is time to land again as my wheels touched terra firma again.

I am sorry to say the Flysurfer Speed II is head and shoulders above the Ozone Manta in both boost and more importantly float on any jump you can possibly imagine.

The bar on the Flysurfer is longer than the Manta bar which I am not a fan of, the crazy part was I did some forward 540's under the kite with ease, I usually save these for coastal conditions as they are really technical to do on a bar as you cannot swing under for e.g. handles on a blade. I'd had limited success with these on the manta, the flysurfer how ever I was pulling these on command it just wasn't making sense at all.

The wind had picked up a bit now the boosts just got higher and floatier and I was seeing dollar signs flashing before my eyes and who the lucky owners of my Ozone Mantas at a fire sale price would be.

I had been warned about the thermal willy willy winds on Lake George and had yet to see or experience one, I was told to ditch the kite if you get caught in an updraft as it will launch you into the air (secretly that sounded better than some random hottie sitting on my lap for no particular reason just because she felt like it)

I went for a boost, loaded up the kite felt the wind picking up, pressure on the bar, redirected and launched, by the time I blinked I was far above the earth, and I mean FAR, I floated back down I had to redirect once as it was really high (I don't mind going high but at my discretion not wayward thermal updrafts) I landed, the ground has a crust as it is a dry lake, my wheels went through he top layer and over I went snapped my lap-belt (its designed to give way in situations like this) and I stood up.

Most people including me would say, thats enough for the day, you lived used up one of your 9 lives. Go relax..... I couldn't get back to base camp quick enough to grab another buckle for my lap belt and get back out there. People asking me are you ok that was pretty insane, the insane part was I was stuffing around with my lap-belt replacing the broken part when I wanted to be out there doing it again.

Technical Notes

Forget build quality they are both great, the Flysurfer is built like a tank. The Ozone manta has it hands down on the bar and lines set up over the Flysurfer, the most annoying thing for me was the Flysurfer chicken loop, this really should be addressed by them it is absurd to have such an amazing kite with such antiquated line set up and chicken loop you need small fingers to re attach the chicken loop its the most disappointing part of the kite bordering on frustrating and asking the question can I whip my chicken loop off my manta an put it on this one easily for now.

The Flysurfer is in a league of its own when it comes to pop and float, the Manta cannot compare on either and make no mistake the Manta ROCKS at both those things, the flysurfer just leaves it in its wake rather unceremoniously.

It may not be fair, but I still think flysurfers look like inflatable beds with attitude yet for an inflatable bed with attitude I was stunned at how high I could point into the wind with this kite, much higher than the manta, I am getting disheartened with the gear I own more and more by the minute.

Believe it or not, the flysurfer is quicker through the air, I went for one speed run with Troy who was using a 6.5 blade and had borrowed Ben (ACT's) libre wide axle buggy, believe it or not, I was matching troy for speed with my flexi buggy and a flysurfer, something the Ozone Manta could not do (as I tried it earlier)

One thing the Flysurfer does that annoys me apart from the line setup and that chicken loop is the amount of bar travel, my arms are not that short but I struggle to push the bar right out to de-power it all the way. The manta setup is much better and wins that test.

Reverse launch tests, jeeze give me a Manta any-day, you need some serious shoulder muscles to reverse launch a flysurfer that is really hard work. It also needs a cross over line like the Ozone gear on the rear lines so that you can pull it from a central point to land and reverse launch easier, I am surprised flysurfer has not added this to this kite and is the first thing I would add myself if I owned one.

What to buy.......

If you can live with the quirky, badly designed chicken loop, reverse launch brute strength you will require and trying to pack away an inflated kite that wants to stay inflated the flysurfer wins hands down on performance, it goes up wind much higher, is faster through the air boosts like nothing I have ever done before with such ease and control and the float, god put a price on that (they did its F&%^&* expensive), yet its addictive even with the ferrari price tag.

The manta is an epic kite its a polished product in every aspect, but I just can't go past the pure exhilaration of the Flysurfer Speed II, this kite will be the future of extreme buggy freestyle and is my preferred choice for any video session. If you are game.... you will leave any buggy free-stylers in your wake with a Flysurfer Speed II

If anybody shot any video or has photos to illustrate this article please post them up, thanks in advance

Rocket