Rider: 85 kg, intermediate
Style: Wake, Freestyle
Weather: 20-27 knots
Location: Altona, Victoria (low tide, flat water and waves)
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10

From the manufacturer:

Rock solid stability, directional float, pivotal turning and effortless re-launch highlight the Envy's "beyond delta" design for all around performance.This ultra lightweight three- strut platform gives light, responsive bar feel with impulse pivotal turning.

What I liked:

Whilst i don't necessarily appreciate what pivotal turning vs. non-pivotal turning is; or what directional float really means (perhaps referring to its characteristics unhooked whilst hitting kickers/sliders etc.), what I can say is this kite completely blew me away. It was just an all round fun kite to fly and ride, in every category such as speed of turns, pop, hang-time and performance whilst unhooked (low downwind pull and no inkling of a back stall).

The Envy is an excellent performer on both flat water and in the waves. It also has a perfect amount of bar pressure, such that there is enough feedback to know where the kite is; but not too much where flying the kite becomes unwieldy (using a 3rd gen 10m RPM as my reference kite, I was left with the feeling that all that additional bar pressure just seemed superfluous). The Envy just seemed that much more agile and intuitive than the Slingy, which was really frustrating as I could no longer enjoy my RPM's, which is way I subsequently got rid of them!

As for the design and construction, i think this years colour scheme will sell kites alone, and in my opinion is their best looking kite in the range, if not on the marker. LF also hasn't held back on the amount of Dacron throughout this kite, particularly on the wingtips where you would expect, but with a generous helping on the trailing edge too, whilst the canopy is Teijin's 9600 rip-stop. Lastly the profile has been tweeked since last year, such as reducing the weight and increasing its performance through turns and improving how consistent this kite boosts.


What I didn't like:

Not a great deal to mention here, but LF's solution to a swivel can be described as decorative at best, whilst enclosed bearings seem to be one of the better swivel options out there, they too still are liable to fowling up with salt/sand so definitely not a show stopper. Also, hooking in suicide to the centre rope can yank on too much depower causing the kite to stall, and perhaps requiring you to relaunch the kite (in a worst case scenario) were you've let go of the bar unhooked.

Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements:

If you're wondering who's this kite suited to, well unless you're into the whole freeride scene, course racing or just like to boost massively for some old school fun, this is probably not your cup of tea. But, if you're beginner through to advanced; ride wake, park or freestyle; or alternatively like to shred it in the waves (as this kite is a standout performer unhooked) then this kite is for you.
Thanks to Steve Dyson over at Altona KSS (http://www.kssaltona.com.au/) for doing me a sick deal and setting me up on my new quiver of 7, 9 and 12m Envy's to replace my 3rd gen RPM's (which were only 3 months old!)


Check out the videos:

'If you're wondering who's this kite suited to, well unless you're into the whole freeride scene, course racing or just like to boost massively for some old school fun, this is probably not your cup of tea.'
does that mean its good for massive boosts or not??

What about its high end.... Did you get to test it?

Was it nice and stable and holding its shape well?

Im usually 100-110kg dry and like to ride powered so will this be nice for high winds?

Cheers

Doesn't boost massively - just take a look at the profile of it compared to the NRG (their answer to a crossbow or an edge etc). It's got more arc than your standard bow/sle kite which makes it less suited to going massive. What you do get is sweet hang-time (not quite sure what design feature gives you this, perhaps fuller wingtips?).


2012 Envy


2012 NRG

As for top-top end I haven't really checked it out - hopefully tomorrow morning. The windiest it got was 29 knots, but that was only briefly during a gust, and I didn't feel like I needed to go down a size at any stage. Compared to the RPM's top end, I didn't feel as powered as I was on the 10m - perhaps the slight difference in size, or the lighter bar pressure of the Envy being a little deceiving? Not sure.

I'm 68kg and riding a 10m NRG.
My only kite, and have been riding from 14knots to over 30. the most versatile surf/wake and race kite i've ridden. Is real stabile and won't backstall..Like the envy has a simple bar with alot of depower..Have been riding this kite since August. Took it to Cairns and loved it. Now back on the goldcoast. Keep a lookout for me if your are keen to try.. My colours arent so flash. tan/red/black... 8yrs exp

High end was 25ish knots after a re-test at Altona, and it was gusting to 30 knots quite frequently- during which it become a real handful. Didn't have the 7m Envy at the time, whilst going down to the 8m RPM only offered a slight reduction in work load. I did let a 100kg plus rider use it during this time and he seemed a lot more comfortable than I did with the 9m Envy.