Any body outh there got any comments|reviews on the new bandits . Am currently looking to upgrade from older octanes and fuel. delta c from c kites. Look like the fuel has not changed alot this year from last (colour and funky chinesey looking decal). I have heard that the bandit generates similar power to the fuel but with better drift in the surf. what have f-one done with bar is it any different to last years? also any coments on which kite is better for big air? 
The B4 bar looks the same there were rummers around that they would be going to a moulded rubber on the bar but haven't seen it yet, apart from a better handle on the QR, last years UPS was great so no real reason to change it. It is now a 3 strut kite with wing tip battens. This is meant to give the kite more flex as last years kite was very stiff.
The wing tips have been squared off more, and there is two adjustment points on the wing tip to change turning speed. All the larger sizes 11,12,14 have been improved in the low-end to replace there equivalent sizes from the B3 so the 12 replaces the 13m. I would think the 9m would still be the best kite of there range as the 9m is the one they test over and over to get the kite right. Then adapt the rest of the range to suit.
Not sure how it will go until we get to ride them, there is some info on the M8 website, from the dealer conference last week and also some vids on youtube.
Give it a couple of weeks and hopefully both kites will be around for demo. Then you can see for yourself and make the best choice.
i few the bandit 4 fo 10 min on beach . i have flown all the bandits as a shop rider the b4 is faster about 30% lighter on the bar 20% more responsive 30% and 10% more pull the best yet by far sick kite
I am borrowing a mate's bandit 3 at the moment. I like it, but do they really need to have so many pulleys. In theory i like the rally, taboo, rebel due to no pulleys, but after using the rally for an hour yesterday, you can tell the lack of pulleys makes it slightly more off/ on power wise. After coming from Rev's, loving the up wind abilty of the delta kites. The bandits have some serious pull dont they.. now i just need to jag a session on the taboo and i'll be as confused as f&&K.
I just had a session on a 8m taboo but the wind wasn't quite strong enough, the small amount i did ride on it through the gusts felt good but it just doesn't have that power of a delta kite. The B3 definitely needs the pulleys i had one jam the rope so it was fixed in one point and the kite was a dog to fly, that was on a dos but the have been upgraded since then. One option if you don't like the pulleys is to change them out for the steel rings like the ones they use on the cabs and best kites.
Hi guys ive ridden the b4 11mtr and 9mtr now , had them out in both flat water and small surf, in stronger wind and light. So can give you my opion , there quite different to last years much morer stable in the window again (which is impressive because last years was pretty stable), they feel more like a c shape to me than last years but still seem to have pleanty of depower, the 9 i felt was a lot better in light wind and not quite as sudden in stronger wind , not to say it was slower because it wasnt it just felt smooth and fast instead of sudden and agressive ,(will be great unhooked ) relaunch was as good as last years didnt have the new bar so cant say how saftey works ( ive been told the new bar is great but lets wait and see ) big diff with this kite was when it was less than 13knts my 10year old son was riding it no problem, last years 9 does not work for him at all.
The 11 didnt feel as strong as last years ( rode one alot last year loved it ) but unlike most deltas this years b4, when your riding it, didnt hunt the bottom of the window it just sat where you put it, it ate up the gusts and pulled smoothly good hang time easy jumping, but had to get your timing right to jump big
Hope this helps and only my veiw
George
Sounds good, i think we have the 9m heading down our way for the weekend so hope to get to give it a go.
Hey George, can you talk a bit more about how you thought the 11 did not feel as strong as last years. I currently have a 12m DOS and looking to update to something with a better top end. I had a quick go on the 10m B4 and was really impressed. It had a lot of power for a 10m and was nice and fast. Intersted how these three strut designs go in the larger sizes though.
Ok robbyb but havnt had the 11 b4 out in enough wind at the top end to know how much more it has over the b3 .But will say both the 11 and the 9 didnt feel as grunty as the dos , dont know if this means they will need a bit more wind at the bottom or not, but ide expect a bit higher top end out of them. As i said, havnt had the 11 out in more than 23knts so cant say for sure but will say they both absorbed gusts and felt reel smooth in the air,
The 9 wasnt as agresive as last years ,but definatly flew better in light wind, so may not have as much power in light wind but was able to fly when last years would have struggled, so ide say for myself that the 9 has more at bottom and probably at top too or at least its more fun at both ends . Hope this is of intrest to you
Have Fun
George
Why are you comparing the B4 to the dos, e.g. bandit 2 aren't you missing a year??????
You say the B4 doesn't have as much grunt as the dos but neither did the B3, and to tell the truth the B1 was full of grunt, more than both of them, but the B3 was a better kite and was more predictable in the top end and rarely felt overpowered, better for unhooked moves and rarely hindenburged compared to the Dos, the B3's larger sizes were better tuned to bigger riders where as the Dos stalled a lot in the bottom end and had a lot of bar pressure, but was fine for lite riders who could use the bottom end without stalling the kite. The 12m bandit Dos would have to be one of the worst kites i have ever owned(thats my opinion), where as the 13m B3 is still my favourite kite and i will take it out from 14 to over 25kts. The best kite i have ever owned is the 7m bandit 1, it was sick and i wish i still had mine
I haven't ridden the new bandit yet, but will next week, but i would think making a comparison to a kite and missing the best kite they have ever made as a all round kite being the B3 would be a mistake, as people would think the kite hasn't changed from last year, or at least not enough to upgrade.
If you still prefer a kite that has grunt over better performance you may as well get a Best Kahoona which really is like a bandit 1 in a lot of ways, but a **** load cheaper and the performance isn't that bad, more like the B1.
So you think the B4 doesn't have the power and is not as aggressive in the light wind but has a better bottom end? really????? get on the M8 site for a no BS review...LOL, made me laugh heheheee......
Hey Waxman, George is comparing the B4 to the DOS because I currently fly a DOS, have for the past two years. I have to say that the 12m DOS has served me well doing a mix of freestyle and both strapped and unstrapped surf from about 12knts (tide assisted or downwinder) through to 25knts (flatwater boosting) which for me (95kg) covers the majority of kiteable days on the sunny coast. In my opinion it is still a better all round kite than a few 2011 kites I have demoed recently. Anyway this review is not about the 12m DOS.
I am interested in better performance over grunt. It is however in my experience always a compromise as to get better performance you usually have to sacrifice wind range which I am only prepared to do to a point.
George I think I misinterpreted your original post. I read 'strong' as meaning good performance but correct me if I'm wrong but you mean strong as in grunt. Have you looped the 11m B4 in a decent wind? Any canopy flutter that some people are reporting on the other 3 strut kite of the moment?
Thanks for your advice Waxman and George
That may be why they put in the battens near the wing tip, to stop the flutter???.
From what others have said the B4 has a smoother power band compared to the B3 which they said was like a on off switch, which i didn't find at all, I found the B3 to have a very smooth controllable amount of power the whole way through the range, and really being a park and ride kite it would have to be smooth. The only time the B3 was like a on off switch was when swinging the kite up and down in the bottom end, they hated it and would pull then stop and go again. So hopefully the review was referring to that aspect of the kite.
I got a call from the local kite dealer yesterday, they have a 9m demo B4 so I am definitely itching to try it out. I don't have a small kite at the moment so will need one soon before the seabreeze's really kick in
Hi robbyb, i too had a 12m dos and am deciding over b4 sizing. I think the 12 dos was a good kite you just had to tune it properly (a lot of people never did).
Think the 11m b4 may not feel as grunty as a b3 but am sure the bottom end is still there due more response/apparent wind however should have more top end, probably closer in power to 10m dos but more range. I'm looking at the 12m, power should be close to 12m dos as is supposesed to replace the 13m b3, maybe not as much raw bottom end though but should have better top end again. Also i'm pretty amped on the 14, could be the ultimate lighter wind weapon, especially for bigger guys, the 14 dos is still the best light wind kite i've tried.
Anyway thats my 2cents
I agree with that, the 14m Dos was a light wind weapon and a well tuned kite strait out of the bag, and really if i could have my time again on the DOS i would have got a 14 and 9m quiver instead of the 12-8m. I still have my 13m B3 and am still sitting on the fence wether to replace it with a 12 or 14 B4??? or something else.
I have ordered a 11m kite that will be better for wakestyle this year, just cant decide on the rest of the quiver. Will be hard to beat the bandit 3 with my style of ridding most of the kites i have tried so far don't stack up. Not even close.
Sorry Robbyb first time ive got on the computer in ages been kiting or teaching or sleeping. And yes when i said strong i meant grunt in my opinion they will all have a bit higher wind range than the b3 or b2 and my 11 doesnt flutter when looped in 23 knts ,may in more wind but it hasnt yet .I was worried that it may have lost some bottom end (light wind) but had it out today in 11knts for a down winder and sure wasnt supper powered , but didnt struggle so maybe not .Ill have stock and kites going out tomorrow or next day, so next windy day should have other guys feed back and opinions then
Have Fun
george
Hey wax man have you used the 9 yet
No wind
, should have the 9m for the weekend, but still may be to light, some othere sizes are coming in next week so given some wind, should get out hopefully test out the 12m as well. Might have to take your word on the loops at the moment, my physio thinks i need to give it another 4 weeks until i can just get out and go for it. A bit more grunt wont be a bad thing, you really can never have to much power, looping my 13m last year was some of the best fun i had, especially when all of the other riders have stopped unhooking. That was one of the best things about the B3, if you were out there ridding you could unhook easily the whole way through the wind range, there seemed to be a sweet spot you could drift it back to and it was on. I hope the B4 is every bit as good.
I got to ride the 9m for a while yesterday in around 22-25kts. I was on my 13m B3 with it de powered on the centre line and almost fully de powered on the strap, just cruising i was fairly happy there wasn't any big gusts. After a while i swapped kites and got on the 9m B4 and man does it have some grunt i had it about 1/2 depowered and it was crazy.
This is a fast kite, as soon as i swung the kite and parked it the thing was hooking where the B3 would take some time to get up to speed, the steering is a lot faster than the B3 and the kite had a very direct feel, there is no dead spot in the steering this year every little movement has the kite twitching around in the air, the kite also has a better neutral feel so it doesn't try to fly towards the water and you don't need to have any top hand pressure on the bar, which will take some time to get used to for me.
It is a smooth bit of gear, the depower and steering is very smooth and very precise and the speed at which the kite flies across the window is amazing, the wave guys are going to love this kite it is the fastest bandit i have ever flown.
The pop generated by the kite doesn't feel as aggressive this year, last years kite when loaded up would just about slingshot you in to the air. The b4 just felt nice and smooth and still achieved the same amount of lift it gave you a bit more time to concentrate on using good technique with the board than just yanking you up.
Unhooking, initially i thought the kite had a lot of grunt so de powered it a fair bit to get the bar feel i like, ridding fast and unhooking was as easy as any kite i have tried,popped in to a little raily and was surprised at the lack of power even though it felt more grunty, I kept increasing the power of the kit until it was 3/4 powered up and the thing came alive, it didn't get any harder to unhook but when you loaded up and popped it took off and at times had to be careful not to get lofted to high it still wasn't super aggressive like past bandits but it got me up there and felt a lot easier to pull up towards the bar, where past bandits would have you with your arms strait just holding on for the ride. So i can see this as a plus for anyone that is a mad freestyle ridder. Landings were good the kite didn't try to take off fast and kill you i could easily just pull down the bar and hook back in, no need to grab the chicken loop to depower the kite.
On the B3 i used to like being overpowered with the kite fully powered up then struggle to unhook and just blast off the water, getting a crazy amount of hight and distance with a raily then landing at warp speed, i have had some nasty crashes and even have a big scare on my back to prove it, so eventually even though with the kite powered up to 3/4 i was well and truly powered up i had to give it a go so kept powering it up until i got to about the last 2-3 inches, unhooking felt a lot harder and as i loaded up i got almost no pull from the kite, l landed back on the water and looked up at the kite that had obviously stalled and was shocked to see it flying backwards at full speed, the fastest i have seen a kite go backwards ever. i went for the chicken loop but the kite started to turn so decided to just let go of the bar and flag it out to the safety line i got dragged along by my leash backwards a bit until the kite hit the water, by the time i got up the kite was sitting at the edge of the window on the wing tip still flagged out on the safety, i waited for a bit for it to fall over which most bandits would but it continued to stay there, i grabbed the bar and let out the safety line and it was back in the air. So i was fairly happy with that, i thought the new wingtip shape may have caused issues with the relaunch but it seems to have made it better.
All up i was happy with the kite, the back stall isn't really a issue as it should be able to be tuned out so will adjust the bar to suit today and see how it goes.
Even though so much has changed on the kite you still know you are ridding a bandit, no matter what model bandit you are ridding now you will instantly feel similarities on this kite and appreciate how refined they have made it with this model it's very smooth and very fast. I need to spend some more time on it to get used to it and try some loops to get the most out of it but that's normal for any new kite. Hanging to try the bigger sizes now, there might still be room for another bandit in my quiver, will just have to wait and see, there is still some other new kites i want to demo. What they say about it once you have ridden one it is hard to go back is very true.
Get out there and demo one if you get the chance
Nice review, got mine in HK on friday and will have them out in cape town next week ..... havent got the new bar unfortunately but sounds like its arriving month. Anyone got any tips on what settings we should use for the B4 from the old bar ?
Few guys tested out the B4 in HK this weekend in this typhoon and i have heard nothing but good things (very similar to your review waxxy) Happy days , can t wait to get it out there !
Good to hear you liked it thought you would .Hoping to have mine out again today and i agree the kite just feels smooth and fast in the air.
Have fun
George
Had a good run on the 12m this arvo. Am really happy with how the kite performed. Tested it from the low end up into some decent wind. Happy with the bottom end in this kite as i weigh bout 93kg and didn't really want to go bigger than 12. Definately more responsive than last year good for a 12. Got some high and incredibly floaty jumps even with moderate power. Very stable both in gusts and to overflying. The thing i liked is unhooking needs no or very little trim and unlike past bandits and deltas you could be riding around with a decent ammount of power and unhook without getting smoked. Also in the top end you could depower the kite to unhook comfortably and the kite was still nice to fly, not to depowered and sluggish. Will agree that it's smooth and fast. Can't wait to try the 9
Waxman or anyone, can a Bandit III kite be used as a second kite on the Bandit IV system?
I was looking at buying a new 10m Bandit IV and then thinking of getting a cheaper Bandit III 8m to cover all wind ranges when they start comming on the market due to people upgrading to IV.
I am 85kg who has been flying a very old Cabrinha CO2. Have just got back into kiting after 3 years because of shoulder. All fixed now though good as new.
Is there anywhere I can find all the distributors of Fone Kites.
I know SHQ do them in Victoria.
Will the prices be the same through out Australia on the new Bandit IV due to Fone stating a recomended price.
Is it worth ringing around or do I just have to buy it at what ever my local guy tells me to pay.
Also do most shops allow you to at least have a fly of one on the beach before buying.
Everyone says demo as many kites as possible. How many kite shops are there in Victoria to do this at?
So far I am simply trusting all your great advice, which probably means more than me pretending I know how to kite.
Hi skindog yes bandit 3 and 4 can use the same lines and ide say in vic a 10 and 8 would be a great quiver and the price is pretty well the same everywhere ,but only some people will have stock as there selling fast.
Have fun
George
It's getting hard to call the bandit a delta especially the 12m, looks so different from last years kite. There is still a few more kites i want to demo before i decide what to get. The bandit hasn't blown me away so far this year to want to upgrade my B3, but i haven't ruled it out. To many good kites this year, i just wan't to try them all.
An intermediates review 
105kg 140/44 T555
Sangate/Brighton beach Qld solid 15knts
Have just stepped up from a Bandit 3 13m to a new B4 12m "after a very professionally handled warranty claim "
The first thing I noticed is the B4 fly's alot more like my old 09 revolt than my B3, definitely has more off the bottom than the B3 13m to the point of during my first session on it attempting a turn I pulled the bar in to sheet it and weighted my rear foot to find it turning upwind and chugging like a old Massey tractor rather than stopping !
I found the B3 hard to handle in gusts loosing ground down wind, the B4 felt so controllable to the point of picking what line to take through the Traffic "****loads" on Sunday then heading back upwind.
The speed of the B4 matched the B3 in every way, If any thing I think I was going faster due to the ability to hold an edge so much easier.
I honestly think you are buying confidence with this kite at an intermediate level, I'm not talking as a team rider or expert Just an average punter having Fun.
Thanks Fone for producing such a great intermediate kite that I can grow into
cheers
Richard
managed to try b4 12 metre on sunday, w\nw on and off 13 -18 knots farm beach. bandit is smoooth.has much better bottom end than 11m fuel that I am used to. jumps lofty and smooth. light bar pressure but can't feel where the kite is ( Found myself having to keep 1 eye on kite in patches instead of ignoring, probably because I am not used to it.) above the bar depower also had me leaning forward to trim. Kite pivots exceptionally well on its axis even in lighter wind. drift is also good. relaunch p.o.p. also tried kahoona 7.5. not enough wind but seems a fast stable kite , well powered for its size. looks like a well constucted kite for price
still kene to try rally before new quiver 2011 .
