ELF Swift vs Flysurfer Soul & Sonic

[@kentackerman6333]

RIP Jason Maloney number 1 of 2700 riders on Woo. And a man who was my best friend and I his. We rode for 14 years and God took him to a better place last November 15th at Cherry Beach, Toronto. We miss him every day. Excellent job Yuri and Lauri. I write this with tears in my heart and in my eyes. With Love Kent

[@OurKiteLife]

RIP Jason, we are still in disbelief ourselves! we lost a top level rider and a good friend.

[@ryderahmir6820]

You all probably dont give a damn but does anyone know a trick to get back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid lost my account password. I would love any assistance you can give me.

[@crewriver7956]

@Ryder Ahmir Instablaster =)

[@ryderahmir6820]

@Crew River i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@ryderahmir6820]

@Crew River it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thank you so much you really help me out :D

[@elfkite]

RIP Jason Thanks for the great review guys. Very professional as always. We are working on quality!

[@robinmordasiewicz]

Oh, loved seeing Jason in there. Amazing video.

[@flamewave0]

Very professional of you that neither of you had commented on this swift ELF kite since you are ambassadors for Flysurfer. Comment about mitigating risk from this kite poor quality bridals is not valid as you can't expect to see every wear in lines before they snap. This kite seems great and maybe show Flysurfer that there is a room for another foil kite which is between Sonic & Soul

[@jeffholt5783]

Nice review Laurie and Yuri, Nice to see you in this video Aleks! Looking forward to trying the ELF.

[@alekseydes]

Nice to hear from you Jeff!

[@hmepasG]

Russians in Canada reviewing russian kites. Fun stuff :D

[@Pahabarabaha]

Хернёй занимаются от нечего делать. Как можно нахваливать продукцию с таким пиздецом по качеству?

[@mikes_machines]

Great review !!! Very informative. Prior to this video I was not aware of any Russian kites, and thanks to you, I will now begin watching their progress.

[@jyk4]

Love the guy using a 10 years old cabrinha (caliber?) kiteboard at your kite spot!

[@canolando3499]

I bought a couple of elf racing kites v4 last year a 9 and 11. I loved the 9, it turned just as fast as a lei but went up wind at extreme angles at a much higher speed. Was really surprised at hangtime.

[@OurKiteLife]

Nice - good to know!

[@Lack0]

I've missed the Kitech brand from your video. It's a really good priced freeride softkite from Europe, with very good flying characteristics.

[@OurKiteLife]

A few people have mentioned Kitech in the comments - we are going to look into it :) thanks!

[@TylerKaraszewski]

Looks like a reasonably nice kite for the money. Personally, I’m not particularly budget driven in my kite choices and would rather have what I view as the “best” gear both from a performance and durability standpoint. I’m going on a 4-month boat trip next week and I’ll be bringing gear I trust - flysurfer Sonics and a Mike’s Lab foil (and an Ocean Rodeo Flite for where inflatables make more sense). It’s not worth swimming in cold or remote locations to save a few bucks to me.

[@pointfortytwo]

Very informative, thank you. I never heard of the ELF kites until now. Will definetly keep an eye on them. The problem with the bridles should be fixable, if the company takes note of it.

[@OurKiteLife]

They are already working on improving and polishing the bridles. This is V1.0 of a kite - we believe these issues will be resolved in the future

[@pointfortytwo]

@@OurKiteLife Then there should be a lot of potential given your impression of the kite.

[@DmitriyLaktyushkin]

You gotta try Aeros Navy now :). Similar price point, better bridles. I have V2, its faster than Soul but less grunty. Weaker loops than Soul, but flies closer to window edge. Relaunches by itself in consistent wind, however mixers can get tangled during light wind relaunch. LW version felt lighter in the air than Soul in

[@OurKiteLife]

We’d be up to give it a try! 🙂

[@ilyasknauf777]

Like the all videos! So good for the beginner and advanced kite community. Is there ever gonna be an ozone foil kite review? Comparing an A brand to A brand would be interesting.

[@OurKiteLife]

Thanks! We would love to do a review like that, but it’s not always easy to get our hands on a new kite to review.

[@KL-ju2co]

Great review from the best riders out here or there ^ I wouldn’t get this kite based on what happened to it due to low quality

[@OurKiteLife]

If they improve the bridles would you reconsider?

[@sergemann5951]

Great review as always. I tried a slingshot foil couple years back. I was told it was made by the same guys. Not sure if it was the same kite but it was pretty fine tuned.

[@OurKiteLife]

No idea that slingshot made a foil kite - will have to look into that

[@pro-kite]

@@OurKiteLife в моем разговоре с Романом немного касались темы того как другие бренды с ним взаимодействовали. А вообще Роман работает над многими проектами. Например уже несколько моделей крыльев рдб под его авторством.

[@pro-kite]

@@OurKiteLife да слингшот это были эльфы

[@sergemann5951]

@@OurKiteLife kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5WqfXmIm9-co6s

[@AdamHiltonChannel]

Great video! I enjoy your informative videos the most. I'm a newbie so any tips are super appreciated. Maybe consider changing up your music, I hear this track on so many videos, it's very repetitive 😂

[@OurKiteLife]

thanks, the video took about two months to make, so by the time we finished we didn't pay much attention to music as we just extended it through the whole video - will make sure to vary it in the future.

[@sauce729]

"No Foil kite is 100% relaunchable", the FS Hybrid is nearly 100% relaunchable. The only time I haven't been able to relaunch it is when there's less than 4 knots of wind. It will relaunch and drift launch in lighter wind than an LEI kite. It's so relaunchable that I drift launch FS Hybrid all the time (both deep water and shallow water).

[@OurKiteLife]

Good to know that the Hybrid is so relaunchable 🙂

[@tomek_kot]

Try KiteTech. I have old model fly! 4 15m. Nice kite for snowkite.

[@OurKiteLife]

Haven’t heard of these kites before but we will look into them now!

[@OurKiteLife]

@@tomek_kot thanks Tomek, we are waiting to hear back from them

[@wiktordowgird8637]

Nice video, thanks! Why didn`t you tug this poor guy back to the shore, 1.5km swim in such cold water is scary :D

[@OurKiteLife]

we did, we just didn't capture that part on film as we were busy helping him.

[@deldenk2666]

A year later ... what are your thoughts about it? Did some of you switch from flysurfer to ELF?

[@OurKiteLife]

We were borrowing the kite for the review so we haven’t flown it since, and no one from our crew switched from Flysurfer to ELF

[@joaquinzurita7721]

Loved the video

[@SailingREHAB]

If u guys want an AMAZING Kite for Foiling try Kitech FRS models. Best Ram air kites in the world. We Kitefoil everday and they rock. Float for 30 min or more if crashed in water. U cant beat them. We live in New Zealand and kite very gusty conditions often. The Kitech eats gusts! Best jumping hang time, lightest bar pressure, fastest free ride turning kites on the market.

[@OurKiteLife]

Thanks for the suggestion - we will look into them. Haven’t heard of the company before.

[@SailingREHAB]

Ha well you guys havent yet experienced the best ! Seriously I found these online and started importing into New Zealand for friends etc. We all think they are the best for Kite foiling over any other kite tgat we have ever used. My friend just sold ALL of his Flysurf Souls to upgrade to Kitech FRS kites. They are hand made in Hungary eith lots of care and attention to detail. They now use the same materials as FS from beginning of 2020. Get in touch with Attila at Kitech. He is the owner.

[@OurKiteLife]

@@SailingREHAB thanks will do

[@OurKiteLife]

@@SailingREHAB just wrote them an email

[@neowonder]

on the elf are the air intakes closer to the belly of the kite on the leading edge or are they pretty dead center, curious how much faster it takes on water than the soul

[@OurKiteLife]

Good question! We didn’t test for that so couldn’t tell you

[@Jadan888]

I just read about the loss. Condolences to all who knew Jason. 😰

[@OurKiteLife]

Thank you

[@berkkadakgil3083]

Great video guys, how about hang time between Soul & Elf? any noticeable difference?

[@OurKiteLife]

More hang time on elf as compared to other two kites. Sonic is smaller however

[@berkkadakgil3083]

@@OurKiteLife Do Elf kites have markings on the bridle for mixer tests?

[@OurKiteLife]

@@berkkadakgil3083 I was told that they do, but personally I forgot to check for them during this review

[@alekseydes]

@@berkkadakgil3083 They do - I asked Elf to put mixer test marks on all kites they send to Canada

[@MatDGVLL]

Interesting

[@pontes1]

Nice video. Sorry for the terrible loss of a friend of the kite community. I'm looking for the first foil kite but our brazilian currency worths nothing compared to dollars nowadays, so gear are really expensive. I've read about Pansh kites. They had a bad reputation in the past, but lately looks like they really improved their kites, just asking for bridal adjustments. Please, have you or other close riders ever tried Pansh kites? Looks like great bargains for the price. Thanks.

[@OurKiteLife]

thanks Rodrigo, yes we have tried pansh kites and few others own them here. If you like playing around with bridles, trying to tune them, yes it is possible to make them work. Out of the bag they will get you on the water, but it may not be the most enjoyable experience compared to other brands. I would personally rather consider older kites if you are on a budget, like speed 5's or even speed 3's as they would probably work better.

[@ianbardon8581]

@@OurKiteLife I've a 18m Pansh & is useless, tried shorter lines all one length, the original has power lines 20cm longer than the back lines, it flew better with all same length 23 slingshot bar.

[@abacaxifamily]

Hello there, long time no see! Are you doing well? Missing new content 😉

[@OurKiteLife]

Doing well and new video coming soon 🙂

[@abacaxifamily]

@@OurKiteLife 🫶🏼

[@KristanDL]

Next up, test out Paraavis kites, preferably Drive 2.

[@OurKiteLife]

we actually have one rider on the beach who has it

[@pro-kite]

@@OurKiteLife soul vs smile will be interesting review

[@normsbigwindow9379]

Sad for your loss.

[@sergeypavliuk2634]

Try any of last Jokers (the ELF) They are ultimate racing machines

[@OurKiteLife]

isn't it just for racing? to be fair none of us really race, so would it be a fair comparison?

[@sergeypavliuk2634]

@@OurKiteLife yep, it is :)

[@mikesmirnov1976]

​@@OurKiteLife i have elf joker version 5 15 meters was made in 2015, AR = 7, freeride lightwind machine kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2W9iqiMobuabrc

[@ianbardon8581]

I got speed 3 it's hard to crash, my pal had soul same day and could not perform, speeds for me thanks.

[@OurKiteLife]

Soul is Speed6 :)

[@tomek_kot]

Speed 4 12m plus strapless wave board 30l. Fun for me from 10 kt 😍

[@alexsanz6850]

I want to try .. send one to Spain

[@Alexandr_Kud]

Search "elf kites" on Facebook/Instagram

[@DaveSails7]

Elf's support has been horrible in the past. They don't even have bridle lines plans on their website. The video makes it seem like Elf is just starting out. This isn't the case, they've been making foil kites for many years.

[@maximrogov7667]

I'm Russian.

[@Pahabarabaha]

I wrote about SAFETY, but people didn't understood the point. I didn't discuss flying performance of tube kites vs. foil kites. Everybody choose their own way to die or to survive. I prefer to have tube kite as my second SAFETY floating unit instead of heavy bunch of wet mesh of lines and cloth of foil kite turned into an heavy anchor. Why don't you understand this? If you're dead you're don't care how compact you might pack your kite isn't it? I don't see any reason to get risk.

[@OurKiteLife]

Do you wear a life jacket when you kite?

[@Leowavekid]

@@OurKiteLife I find your response a bit argumentative... ..do you ever kite in 25-30+ knots in open ocean conditions?.... with big Swell and 4-5 foot relentless breaking chops everywhere where your dropped foil will get munched up in seconds, let alone the break zone) ... if u did you would realize how much more safety an inflatable kite offers one as opposed to foils. It is not just about staying afloat and keeping your head above the water( most impact vest will offer that anyway) .. .. its also about how often u will encounter a situation like that where u will need to swim back with a heavy, messy collapsed water soaked/filled foil gear.. or even having to dump the gear and hoping u will be able swim back safely ( which may take hours ) in conditions i described above ..... and all that in the presence of the BOSS. Add on top all the lines and possibilities of getting tangled up in them and the kelp! Also the violent reaction of foil kites to turbulent air.. (collapse in holes with massive explosive pop when a gust follows... inflatables are not subject to that as much.. they maintain their structure).... Furthermore with inflatables, self rescue is much much safer as one can ride the kite.. rather than get dragged by the kite with most of the body submerged in the water (again ..while every breaking chop further collapses the foil ... leading to having to swim back with a collapsed, messy, rolled up, heavy foil... or no kite at all) Yes Foils have their advantages in performance in the right conditions... but safety is not one of them. There is Zero question that inflatables are safer.. in multitude of ways ....Life jacket or not.

[@OurKiteLife]

@@Leowavekid fair points, can't really argue as we mostly kite in flat to small chop in winds of up to 25 knots. Even if it is 25 knots, here in rest lakes all the wind is upstairs meaning not much shore break. Foils work for us, and I can picture them not working that well in high waves if u drop them. Good point

[@Pahabarabaha]

I can't understand why you use foil kites on water instead of inflatable kites? It's obviously safer and no trouble! Swim 1,5 km at 8 degree water more than hour... does it worth it? There's a lot of big size inflatable kites on every taste and riding styles. So for me it's a big stupidness to go on snow in flip-flops and on hot summer beach in warm uggy - that's what you try to promote. Why don't you explain to the community that foil kites on 95% is a dedicated hard surface kites and on 5% is a race kites for hydrofoil in good (not light) wind. For light wind on water there are bunch of strutless, mono, etc. kites. Safety first!!! Otherwise natural selection kicks your of of the sport.

[@OurKiteLife]

Foil kites have been around since the very beginning, and only recently have they started being used for hydrofoiling (last 5 years). We've used foil kites since 2007, Speed 1s, Speed 2s, etc... Later we switched to North Rebels till about 2017. We had 3 16m kites for low wind. Eventually, a rider on the beach bought a 15m Speed 5 which completely outperformed Rebels as compared to older versions. The Speed 5 had very nice handling and faster turning speed. A month later we switched from Rebels to Speed 5 15 for low wind kite, but we still used rebels (7, 9, 12, 13) for everything else. Then the Soul came out, and completely outperformed Rebels for our style of riding. Fast forward to today and most of our local riders have switched to foil kites. If anything, there's a perception in the kiting world that all kites have to be inflatable on water, which is false in our view. With regards to safety, foil kites can be more difficult to swim with, if you don't know what to do - but same can be said about LEI's kites. It comes down to personal preference, and here in Ontario, where the wind is typically low, foils make sense to us. What kites do you fly Travel Guide and why?

[@alekseydes]

That is an extremely outdated point of view. In many cases current foil kites are safer in light wind and even easier to relaunch than inflatable. And performance inflatables in big sizes is not even close to the foil kites - foils have much better upwind, hang time, and jump height!

[@neowonder]

Give the new foils a go, a few of us flew foils, and this summer more flew foils. After watching me pop a foil kite that was down for 30 minutes or so back into the air, a few more souls started appearing. Foil kites stay in lighter air and do handle mountain gusts better than tube kites. In the end, if there are so many people flying these sleeping bags, they might be onto something, give it a go and make your own opinion. Btw my 15m and 8m bar and lines pack up into the size of a 12 m tube kite, and I wear flip flops in the snow.

[@Leowavekid]

@@alekseydes yes.. ...but no where near inflatables as far as safety is concerned.. and i think that is what Travel Guides main point was.

[@Pahabarabaha]

@@Leowavekid exactly right!