HQ Neo 11m
I has a chance to get the new 11m HQ Neo out on demo after flying them out in Denmark with HQ in June 2008 for a week, the kite arrived in a rather Irish green colour, which grew on me rather quickly but looked shocking when opening the bag for the first time
I will say this bit now in case you get bored reading and want the gist of the kite.
Its the perfect cross over solution to fit in between a Peterlynn Arc and the Ozone range, whilst being cheaper than a Flysurfer if you can sacrifice the build and very high end...
First off the bag; Its massive.. could easily fit in two kites, maybe too big for an everyday kite bag though! in it you find the new bar which is already attached to the kite for you. You also get a generic HQ manual (Montana 4 IV/Apex2 and Neo) and a ground stake. on the bag front, its a bag...its not going to win any awards and next to the Ozone bags its pretty poor BUT we fly the kites not the bag.
The new bar is quite simple and is a definite improvement on the old bars.
Landing on the safety = http://vimeo.com/1874920
An important saftey issue: The bar comes with an optional safety attached, 90% of flyers should take this off before launching the kite for the first time, it attaches to the higher tophat release and is fed through the bar. The idea is all well and good BUT the line is too tight and the slightest knock will release the safety, even worse unhooked with the chicken loop against the bar and your hands. So, after a few easy knocks it came off and went in the bag - if it wasn't a demo kite it would have gone in the bin! Took it off and jobs a goodun, you have a decent re-ride safety system that works and that you cant accidentally release.
See yellow line on picture below
Setting up the kite is the same as a frenzy, unwind the bar and lines and stake them on the rear lines, unpack the kite and sit it dead downwind of you. I think the kite does require an amount of preinflation and will make for a more controlled and safer launch (im sure many have launch under inflated arcs/flysurfers and know what i mean) to inflate the kite I just hekd the top cells into the wind for a minute and shook the kite (make sure you do the zip up aswel!)
In the air the kite is VERY stable, i will wait for higher and worse winds before making any big claims against Arcs, you can let go of the bar and it will sit quite happily above your head for abit before drifting to the edge of the window, the bar throw is quite big on the Neo and you can feel even in less winds the amount of depower it has. The kite is much faster than the Frenzy FYX, and because of this i think the 14m Neo maybe a better kite to compare it too, Dispite the large amount of depower the bar gives good feedback and you can feel the kite load up for a jump. Getting off the ground is easy with this - it has a suprising amount of pop and good float on the way down!
Relaunch is the same as most depower foils, put tension on the back lines, stall the kite into the air and then pull one side of the bar to spin the kite on the spot, let the bar out and the kite shoots to the zenith. Admittedly the wind dropped off as I packed up but even when the wind was up and down and stronger the kite didn't try and loft me once, have any signs of tip tuck or do anything else kites like to do in bad inland sites. The FYX is a very stable kite for an open cell, maybe getting as stable as the access but it requires more rider feedback and bar movement to keep it stable, because of this I think the Neo will have the appeal of a more Arc safety in terms of learning with the sport but has a higher performance more like the Ozone range for more experienced flyers to get off the ground and get some big air!
Neo Plus Points;
- Price
- Closed cell / water relaunchable - will work as a great cross over from land to water/vice versa and should also work well on snow.
- Stability
- Turning speed
- Pop vs hangtime
- Arc like with ease of frenzy like ground handling
Comparisons;
- Ozone have a higher quality bag
- The Ozone bar is of much higher quality over all
- Ozone have a much higher reputation for depower foils and people have more faith/trust the brand
So if people are willing to accept that HQ have produced something with a lot of appeal and at a very affordable price for quite a wide market then get out and try one, you can go and buy an ozone expecting it to be good without even trying one, but don't knock it till you have tried it!
I has a chance to get the new 11m HQ Neo out on demo after flying them out in Denmark with HQ in June 2008 for a week, the kite arrived in a rather Irish green colour, which grew on me rather quickly but looked shocking when opening the bag for the first time
I will say this bit now in case you get bored reading and want the gist of the kite.
Its the perfect cross over solution to fit in between a Peterlynn Arc and the Ozone range, whilst being cheaper than a Flysurfer if you can sacrifice the build and very high end...
First off the bag; Its massive.. could easily fit in two kites, maybe too big for an everyday kite bag though! in it you find the new bar which is already attached to the kite for you. You also get a generic HQ manual (Montana 4 IV/Apex2 and Neo) and a ground stake. on the bag front, its a bag...its not going to win any awards and next to the Ozone bags its pretty poor BUT we fly the kites not the bag.
The new bar is quite simple and is a definite improvement on the old bars.
Landing on the safety = http://vimeo.com/1874920
An important saftey issue: The bar comes with an optional safety attached, 90% of flyers should take this off before launching the kite for the first time, it attaches to the higher tophat release and is fed through the bar. The idea is all well and good BUT the line is too tight and the slightest knock will release the safety, even worse unhooked with the chicken loop against the bar and your hands. So, after a few easy knocks it came off and went in the bag - if it wasn't a demo kite it would have gone in the bin! Took it off and jobs a goodun, you have a decent re-ride safety system that works and that you cant accidentally release.
See yellow line on picture below
Setting up the kite is the same as a frenzy, unwind the bar and lines and stake them on the rear lines, unpack the kite and sit it dead downwind of you. I think the kite does require an amount of preinflation and will make for a more controlled and safer launch (im sure many have launch under inflated arcs/flysurfers and know what i mean) to inflate the kite I just hekd the top cells into the wind for a minute and shook the kite (make sure you do the zip up aswel!)
In the air the kite is VERY stable, i will wait for higher and worse winds before making any big claims against Arcs, you can let go of the bar and it will sit quite happily above your head for abit before drifting to the edge of the window, the bar throw is quite big on the Neo and you can feel even in less winds the amount of depower it has. The kite is much faster than the Frenzy FYX, and because of this i think the 14m Neo maybe a better kite to compare it too, Dispite the large amount of depower the bar gives good feedback and you can feel the kite load up for a jump. Getting off the ground is easy with this - it has a suprising amount of pop and good float on the way down!
Relaunch is the same as most depower foils, put tension on the back lines, stall the kite into the air and then pull one side of the bar to spin the kite on the spot, let the bar out and the kite shoots to the zenith. Admittedly the wind dropped off as I packed up but even when the wind was up and down and stronger the kite didn't try and loft me once, have any signs of tip tuck or do anything else kites like to do in bad inland sites. The FYX is a very stable kite for an open cell, maybe getting as stable as the access but it requires more rider feedback and bar movement to keep it stable, because of this I think the Neo will have the appeal of a more Arc safety in terms of learning with the sport but has a higher performance more like the Ozone range for more experienced flyers to get off the ground and get some big air!
Neo Plus Points;
- Price
- Closed cell / water relaunchable - will work as a great cross over from land to water/vice versa and should also work well on snow.
- Stability
- Turning speed
- Pop vs hangtime
- Arc like with ease of frenzy like ground handling
Comparisons;
- Ozone have a higher quality bag
- The Ozone bar is of much higher quality over all
- Ozone have a much higher reputation for depower foils and people have more faith/trust the brand
So if people are willing to accept that HQ have produced something with a lot of appeal and at a very affordable price for quite a wide market then get out and try one, you can go and buy an ozone expecting it to be good without even trying one, but don't knock it till you have tried it!