Рет қаралды 824
This is another inexpensive kite from the Yonglian store on Aliexpress:
www.aliexpress...
At 3m wingspan it’s a big kite and must have been very labour intensive to make since it’s quite a complicated shape and is constructed from around 50 small pieces of fabric. Considering the size and the amount of work involved, the asking price of around $25 seems remarkable, but is it any good?
In a word -Yes. It’s clearly a copy of the George Peters ‘Cloud Bird’ design which is made by IntoTheWind.
intothewind.co...
Being almost a tenth of the price, the quality is obviously not going to be in the same league, but it’s not bad. The spars are all fibreglass, as expected, and the fabric is not the best quality, but it’s well put together and looks very imposing.
What matters is the fact that it flies well, very well in fact. Without a tail fitted it will fly vertically overhead and give you a stiff neck in no time. In the right conditions it will also readily over-fly you and then flick into a spin. So far it has always recovered before hitting the ground, but I prefer to fly with a tail attached to prevent it happening. Stability is very good as well and with a tail fitted it is rock steady.
Niggles? Well, in order to reduce the shipping length, all 6 of the spars are jointed, but only the spine and spreader need to be removed again once the kite is assembled.
There’s no option to choose a specific colour scheme and they seem to be sent out at random.
And orange edge binding; why do so many Chinese manufacturers insist on using bright orange edge binding!? It just makes the kite look cheap and nasty. Black would look so much better. Luckily it’s not really that noticeable in the air.
Summary: Great value, flies very well and looks very imposing in the air. Destined to be one of my favorites, I think.
Music: ‘Sing Aa’ by Kaj Roger Willumsen (Jamendo.com)