Rider: Weight 85Kg 12m kite in far north queensland ,Level intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf, Freestyle
Weather: 15- 25 knots
Build Quality: 8/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
My Comments: Hey guys, just started riding the 2015 naish park, first naish kite pretty impressed so far! Rode both under and over powered and have had a good time so far !however not overly impressed with the re-launch and the swivel for the centre lines. To be fair though feel really confident with the kite travelling distances and boosting with it is awesome! haven't done much unhooked with it just yet ! hopefully soon i will be able to test that out
overall pretty stoked !
hows everyone else finding it? keen to hear some other opinions ! cheers !
Rider: Weight 100kg
Level: Intermediate
Style: Freestyle and Wave
Weather: 13-22 knots over 5+ sessions
Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: Pay for all my gear and no affiliations.
My Comments: I purchased the 14m Park nearly a month ago I demo'd this kite for 3 sessions before I purchased it, have ridden the kite numerous times since then and I am extremely happy with the kite so far. This kite replaced my 14m Best TS 2012, so I also looked at the North Dice as a suitable replacement as Best no longer do a 14m and go straight to a 15m LW version of the TS. I favoured this kite over the Dice for a few reasons, it had an unreal bottom end and is extremely comfortable to ride till the early 20knot mark. I felt the Dice lacked a little in it's bottom end.
Pros:
- excellent power at bottom end of wind range
- very stable at top end of wind range
- the inflation system, large valve for pumping (I know most models have this now) and the octopus inflation system
- big hang time
- stable when unhooked
- bar control system, very customisable and most things are nice and close.
- drifts well
- protection on the LE around the struts. As I often self launch, this protects against the wearing on the main LE material.
Cons:
- swivel on the centre lines, it's too far up the lines compared to the Best system I used and still do on my 10m
- the colour on the bar. The dominate colour (yellow) is to indicate the right hand side, which is opposite to any other bar on the market. It's not a huge issue, but when you're reacting to your kite falling out of the sky and grab the wrong side from trained instinct it's slightly annoying.
Overall:
The Pros far out weigh the cons and it's an excellent looking kite as well. If I was looking at replacing my TS 10m I'd be hard press to walk away from the Park.
grimlock, i totally understand the yellow on the bar thing. If you think about it, all bars are different on the right hand side, it's normally the left that is red as kind of an industry standard.
If you think that's confusing, try back to backing a North & Naish bar. North has yellow on the left. Naish has yellow on the right. but once you ride it a little bit, it becomes second nature and you won't even notice it's not red on one end.
Getting a sliding stopper is definately a good option especially if you're unhooking our sheeting out in a hurry. If you are riding the kite and let the bar go, the kite sheets out so far that it almost hindenbergs. For a couple of dollars, throw a sliding stopper on and it will make life a bit nicer when letting go of the bar a lot.
Drew
p.s. 10m park pumped on the grass just waiting for knock-off time so i can go and play!!
Interested to hear if there are really significant differences to 2014 (beside the great looking new colour schemes)
Select to expand quoteWA Surf said..
grimlock, i totally understand the yellow on the bar thing. If you think about it, all bars are different on the right hand side, it's normally the left that is red as kind of an industry standard.
If you think that's confusing, try back to backing a North & Naish bar. North has yellow on the left. Naish has yellow on the right. but once you ride it a little bit, it becomes second nature and you won't even notice it's not red on one end.
Getting a sliding stopper is definately a good option especially if you're unhooking our sheeting out in a hurry. If you are riding the kite and let the bar go, the kite sheets out so far that it almost hindenbergs. For a couple of dollars, throw a sliding stopper on and it will make life a bit nicer when letting go of the bar a lot.
Drew
p.s. 10m park pumped on the grass just waiting for knock-off time so i can go and play!!
which side is the new Cab bar? i noticed that it was yellow... strange change to a standard convention
Select to expand quoteWA Surf said..
grimlock, i totally understand the yellow on the bar thing. If you think about it, all bars are different on the right hand side, it's normally the left that is red as kind of an industry standard.
It's very confusing, as my Best bar is black on the right hand side with red left and now my Naish bar is dark gray on the left hand side and yellow on the right. I just go for the bright colour!Select to expand quoteDirkG said.. Interested to hear if there are really significant differences to 2014 (beside the great looking new colour schemes)
Other than a slight change in the profile and the colour scheme the only big change is the high flow valve. Being a 14m kite and having a small valve on my last 14m. I justified buying the latest model because the though of pumping up a 14m with a small valve for the next 3 years was maddening!
Select to expand quoteDirkG said..
Interested to hear if there are really significant differences to 2014 (beside the great looking new colour schemes)
If you read all the advertising blurbs they don't really mention much of a performance change from last year.
However after flying them for a while and with other Park fliers trying it this is what we have found-
- More power
- Bigger jumps
- More aggressive in the loops.
Other than that the feel is the same as last years.
Jas
Hey guys,
Just wanted to add to this. I've ridden my 14m Park 4 days in a row now in a variety of conditions. Including overpowered and in the waves and it's performed fantastically in all. First session of the week was overpowered and boosting huge was heaps of fun, very lofty and nice soft landings. Second session the wind sweel had kicked in the kite was drifting beautifully. Third session was an unhooked session, in which I landed my first Raley. It was nice and stable and I never felt hugely overpowered onced unhooking as I have on previous kites.
For me this is really a great do it all kite that I can't recommend highly enough.
Bring on summer!
