OK Robbie I will try to give some indication to your questions best I can.
The Edge is my most used kite of recent times in 7,8,10,13 and 19m, so comparisons relate mainly to this kite.

"Did you find you needed to get a bit of speed before the Boost got its power and did the power remain steady as your speed increased or decreased?"
The Boost had good power/grunt at the low end and built constantly as speed increased probably due to its higher AR it did remain steady through out.

"Do you get any power spikes or power changes from an upstroke or down-stroke while signing the kite?"
Found it had steady power on the up stroke but more aggressive pull on the down-stroke didn't feel spikes as such.

"Do you reckon the Boost is a more freeride than the Edge but without it being too freeride like the Infinity/Fatlady type of kites?"
OK not flown the Fatlady or the Infinity so cant judge against these kites but would say the Boost has a better freeride application than the edge, it will turn better and drift better than the Edge IMO (jumping see what EPPO has to say he now has the Boost to test).

"Is the steering reasonably direct or is there any inherent "bridle kite" feel or lack of a better word, spongey?"
Found the steering to be direct but did feel it a little spongey if I aggressively fully sheeted out, this was only momentarily as the kite re-tensions the back lines and this may have been more to do with my lack of time/timing on this kite to be fair.

Hope this helps

There will be a couple of riders who boost better than me to try as well. Let ya know the hang for old school tragic board offs As that's me done and dusted

wind permitting...it's hit and miss right now.

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Puetz said..
... Hey Pilotpete, nice little review.

I have a couple questions, (etc)

Robbie

Hey Robbie,

Hopefully Pete's answers have helped you.

You may not have seen this video as it was only posted a couple of days ago, but it may help you also. You can watch here or over on YT in HD too.

It's been well put together for a video review. From watching the video (only, I've not flown the kite) I would agree with Pete that it does seem to be less 'single minded' than the Edge also. Def worth a demo - but there's your conundrum..

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Subculture said..

Puetz said..
... Hey Pilotpete, nice little review.

I have a couple questions, (etc)

Robbie

Hey Robbie,

Hopefully Pete's answers have helped you.

You may not have seen this video as it was only posted a couple of days ago, but it may help you also. You can watch here or over on YT in HD too.

It's been well put together for a video review. From watching the video (only, I've not flown the kite) I would agree with Pete that it does seem to be less 'single minded' than the Edge also. Def worth a demo - but there's your conundrum..

I don't mean to ask this stupid question, but does the Boost come with a User Guide that we could check out (PDF?). Looking at that video, it looks like they've imprinted the entire guide on the kite itself!

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Subculture said..

Puetz said..
... Hey Pilotpete, nice little review.

I have a couple questions, (etc)

Robbie

Hey Robbie,Hopefully Pete's answers have helped you.
You may not have seen this video as it was only posted a couple of days ago, but it may help you also. You can watch here or over on YT in HD too.
It's been well put together for a video review. From watching the video (only, I've not flown the kite) I would agree with Pete that it does seem to be less 'single minded' than the Edge also. Def worth a demo - but there's your conundrum..

... interesting, thanks! If an 18m is ever being past around, fling it to Darwin!

Manuel is here : flysurfer.com/project/boost/

(scroll down to the spec table)

New vid from the FS team... going large !

some nice topics here. what about bar pressure. light, heavy, medium?