I'm intermediate level, tweentip cruising/wave riding. My potential option is liquid force solo. Had seen lotsof positive reviews. Are there any good reasons for NOT buying it? If it has no weak sides - why most kites are still 3 or 5 struts? Would be most grateful for the comments.
Eugene
I would demo one first before buying (as with any Kite). You may really like the Solo but for me, I found it very slow & quickly overpowered (2015 model) - med to high bar pressure.
Way too slow for riding waves imo.
Try the WOW- wow by name & nature!
Just swapped over from Core XR to the Wow & loving it. Awesome in the waves, perfect for foiling and has a mean boost that was unexpected for a wave style kite. 3 struts nice and light, a super small LEI which flys straight to the wind window edge. But just that little stiffer for higher winds then a solo. Worth a trial to see if it suits your riding.
I found the bar through was pretty short on them, you had to ride with the bar mostly in, too far out and the kite fluttered and stalled
I personally found mine to be a bit too delta shaped. Great for the low end but the bar pressure just built and built as the wind picked up (reminded me of the pre 2013 Evos). They are on the slower turning side so the big sizes (12m) aren't really going to work brilliantly for waves (I'm not a wave rider).
Otherwise - Decent enough kites. Work alright for my gusty conditions. You can rig small and let the low end carry you through the lulls. I was less of a fan of the top end.
I've been using a 2016 15.5 Solo a lot in a gusty inland river spot (in Canada) with twin-tips, surfboard, foiling and teaching students (I work for a kite school).
Positives= huge wind range, they stay in the air in very very light wind, comparable to a foil kite. This is mostly useful in gusty light wind, while it will stay in the air you might not be able to ride with it- unless you are foiling. But it does keep your kite dry in between gusts while everyone else is washing their kites in the water. And the 15.5 can be used up towards 20 knots. (I haven't ridden any smaller than 15.5 so i don't know about the 12 and below).
=Drift really really well, so great for surfing in light wind.
=great build quality. Tripple rip stop, which stretches less than double rip stop- this will be important as the kite ages because they do flap a lot due to only having one strut. (They still use double rip stop on the Envy because even though it technically has less rip protection, it flexes more and they didn't want the stiffness for the Envy).
=Pack down very small due to only one strut, so good for travel.
Negatives= water can pool on the canopy after a hard crash, (also due to the one strut design) which can be hard to get off in light wind for a water relaunch.
=the bags in 2015 and 2016 were a really cheap pull string design that sucked.
=they are a bit harder to fold up with only one strut. But if you fold the sides in half first this makes it a lot easier.
Other points- as other reviews mention, the bar pressure is affected by the flapping of the canopy when depowered. I don't consider this a negative since its part of the design and you get used to it and it still flies well, but some people don't like this about the Solo.
That's my 2 cents in brief, there are other better reviews out there. If i lived in a coastal region i would probably only buy the 15.5, because in stronger winds I would probably prefer a 3 strut or more strut kite. Unless i was planning to foil all the time in which case I would probably also like the smaller solo kites for their superior drift down wind.
Samuellae has a very good review of the Solo. I have the 15.5 and I agreed on everything he has written. If the wind is light in you kite zone then this is a kite to consider. cheers
