Rider: 82kg, intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf, and Freestyle
Weather: 5 to 10knots (static flying review for now)
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 8/10
Disclosure: nah, just a poor man with a desire to kite as many different kites as possible.

Ok. It's obvious most of us shun at cheap rip-offs or cheap kites, especially made from China or Taiwan, and yet most of our kites are guess what? Made in China or Taiwan!

So I thought... well what the heck. I had spare cash for a 2nd hand Flysurfer Speed 2 or 3, or a HQ Matrixx or Neo. Those two were my top priorities. I was also thinking maybe I should have gone for Elf or even the Ozone Chrono, as that kite is coming down in price by the hundreds almost every 3 months now.

Basically I wanted a light wind foil kite. I've got enough LEI kites and frankly, I am a bit bored with them to some extent, plus the pumping required.

I wanted something that I could use on land and water, put into the boot of the car without fear of delaminating the valves or other sticky parts, and a compact package I could take anywhere with the kids and wife.

Suddenly the money hungry tsunami of being my son's school programme, sports and bills came looming, so suddenly my budget went from over $1K to under $500!

Come in PANSH! (www.panshkites.com)

As some of you know, PANSH has been around for over 10 years now and have had a pretty bad reputation back the beginning, with plenty of disgruntled customers the world over (check out foilzone, powekiteforum, etc). Their kites back then, with the exception of the Ace I believe, were pretty poor when it came to high profiles, up-wind ability and general kite control and stability.

Well this is now their 15+ year and their R&D has come a long way.

Yeah sure maybe they are the "bootleg" of kite makers at the moment, as some claim they've ripped off Flysurfer and HQ designs (don't ask me how!). But I am a bit more optimistic and leave it to the fact they were **** back then, why suddenly are they good now? Well like I said, R&D. Not all Asians are rip off artists, and I am saying that from experience in China and Hong Kong.

I digress.... (GET ON WITH THE REVIEW!!!)

Ok.

The PANSH Aurora and most recently their PANSH First models are the closed-cell, self-inflatable kites that many of us are used to from Flysurfer, Peter Lynn, etc. Their other models are open-cell variaties and they are only suited for static or land kiting with a buggy or land-board. They are also fixed bridle, meaning there is no depower option.

However their Aurora and First models are full depowerable kites, with a high profile arc, front and rear 4-point connecting points and closed-cell, meaning you can use it over water or land.

I bought mine 2nd hand from a QLD local, and he only used it 3 times but decided it wasn't worth keeping it collecting dust as he's a mad Flysurfer kiter. At first I thought, don't sell me a crap kite. But after checking out PANSH all over the internet and talking with people, like I said, they've come a long way.

Their 2015 PANSH Aurora is sweet as!

It's very similar in performance to my Speed 3 12m kite (which I still have), but the advantages are as follows:

* Faster inflate
* Faster deflate with four small zippers on the underside and a deflate port in the middle
* Ronstan pulleys (2 on each side) and super smooth
* Silky smooth, Lotus treated kite material. The SAME as what Flysurfer have used on their Speed 3 deluxe models. Well it looks and feels the same to me.
* Light weight (without bar - under 3kilos, with bar around 3.5kg)
* Self inflates and flys in under 5 knots!! **THIS IS WHAT GOT ME FROTHING**. My Speed 3 cannot even come close in anything under 8knots. Even my Naish 15m SLE cannot fly in under 10 knots! I am referring to static flying only at this stage. I'll do a review of it after kite surfing when we get more favourable winds.
* Thin lines and bridles
* Use with any 4-line bar. I flew mine straight out of the box with my Flysurfer Speed 3 bar.

I'll round up by saying this kite is very close to the newest Speed 3 deluxe kite of similar size and perhaps even outperforms the 15m.

Don't believe me? Check this video (of the 22m - their biggest in hardly a breeze!).
ps: What is that? A twin-tip keel!?



Here is a similar review...

http://masskiting.com/kiteboarding-forum/pansh-kites-some-brief-impressions

EDIT: The guy in this video doesn't realise that you power-up foil kites by letting go of the bar, not pulling it, which is why the kite seems to stall.

If you're budget consciouse like I am (kids and mortage) then I highly recommend you look at PANSH. Give them 2-5 more years and I reckon they'll be up there with the best.

Cheers

Thanks \\\
I have a 5m Ace in a shed in Norway, I used skiing back in 2007-9, good when not too gusty
/NB. that video was very boring....

Except that the Aurora is a depower (closed cell) foil so you power them up like a regular kite by pulling the bar in. The Pansh Ace is the most recent (?) foil they did that flew off handles. The Aurora is I believe the only water suitable kite.

The early aurora models needed a bridle tweak to get them to fly nicely. Various Russian sites have pdfs showing how to construct a mixer bridle to make the kite fly better.
I have heard comparisons to a flysurfer speed 2 in terms of performance so still a long way behind the current leaders at the moment.

The price is tempting but you have to match your own 5 line bar and you'll have to tune the kite yourself before it flies properly. Probably fun and educational if you have the free time but .... I'd rather be out on the water instead. Guess it depends on how many windless days you have as to whether its worth it.

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weebitbreezy said..
Except that the Aurora is a depower (closed cell) foil so you power them up like a regular kite by pulling the bar in. The Pansh Ace is the most recent (?) foil they did that flew off handles. The Aurora is I believe the only water suitable kite.

The early aurora models needed a bridle tweak to get them to fly nicely. Various Russian sites have pdfs showing how to construct a mixer bridle to make the kite fly better.
I have heard comparisons to a flysurfer speed 2 in terms of performance so still a long way behind the current leaders at the moment.

The price is tempting but you have to match your own 5 line bar and you'll have to tune the kite yourself before it flies properly. Probably fun and educational if you have the free time but .... I'd rather be out on the water instead. Guess it depends on how many windless days you have as to whether its worth it.

Hmmm. Not sure I agree. Yes, with the older PANSH, you're right, but like I said their newer model has been improved a lot. Which is why they've just released the A15 another closed cell depower kite and so far the reviews are impressive.
In terms of powering the kite by pulling the bar in, I can assure you it's the other way around like it is with the Flysurfers. I usually ride my FS with the depower strap pulled all the way in (depowered) to allow it to catch wind and not allow me to pull the lines too hard, otherwise the kite stalls. The Aurora is no different. Only LEI kites are the opposite.
and no you don't need a 5line bar, any 4line will do. The depower line from the top and middle of the Aurora is connected to the left of one of the front lines, so as long as your bar as the depower line connected to that left front line, it's all good.

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Rails said..
Thanks \\\
I have a 5m Ace in a shed in Norway, I used skiing back in 2007-9, good when not too gusty
/NB. that video was very boring....

gee, can't please everyone. The video was to show you (1) you can go kite surfing and (2) in very light winds for a 22m (under 8ms winds, which is close to 3knots!!)

Hi Lofty, I enjoyed your review and the demo ..... You really got some nice speed up and no dramas tracking upwind on the kite and the TT with the Fin! You would not want to hit a sandbar with that.

The pricing for a new pansh is about the same as a second hand chrono and less than half that of a new chrono. Pretty good.

bigtone fairly sure that's not lofty in the vid, water is brown in his area! You're right though big gains upwind for such light wind.

If anyone wants to buy one, it appears Pansh do regular sales with big discounts, I'd wait for one of those. At the moment I think it's 'buy 2 get one free'.

Worth considering ParaAvis too, their pricing is somewhere in between Pansh and Ozone but they're very well regarded in Paragliding world... have a look at GVX

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kiteboy dave said..
bigtone fairly sure that's not lofty in the vid, water is brown in his area! You're right though big gains upwind for such light wind.

Hehe. I wish that was me with a 22m version! Yeah it's not me. Again the point of the video was to show you how they perform in very-very light winds, for a Pansh that is. Mine is a 12m and I've had it static flying so far in less than 5 knots without any wing tip folds, nothing. I'll try and get a video done asap.

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kiteboy dave said..

If anyone wants to buy one, it appears Pansh do regular sales with big discounts, I'd wait for one of those. At the moment I think it's 'buy 2 get one free'.

Yes!! KBD is correct. At the moment they are full "retail". I'd wait until their next sales and 2-for-1 are on. I think they do them once every 2 months.

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kiteboy dave said..
bigtone fairly sure that's not lofty in the vid, water is brown in his area! You're right though big gains upwind for such light wind.

If anyone wants to buy one, it appears Pansh do regular sales with big discounts, I'd wait for one of those. At the moment I think it's 'buy 2 get one free'.

Worth considering ParaAvis too, their pricing is somewhere in between Pansh and Ozone but they're very well regarded in Paragliding world... have a look at GVX

LOL. I stopped watching when a Russian says - trust me guys!

But not bad I admit. They look a lot like the ELF kites - also Russian

Their website has next to nothing at this stage ... www.paraavis.com/en/kites.html

shop...
www.krilyev.net/kaytyi.html

I just grabbed a few second hand chrono kites from seabreeze. Plenty of racers looking to sell for upgrades to R1's and they are generally very well looked after.

The 22m is a tractor. The half price deal was a steal $400usd :-) Stick that up ya kite shops. Notice with their current deal you can technically buy 2 6meter Genesis for 540usd and get a 22meter Aurora or 18meter A15 for free. The A15 looks good. I think if you sign up you get another 10% off as well.

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Loftywinds said..

Rails said..
Thanks \\\
I have a 5m Ace in a shed in Norway, I used skiing back in 2007-9, good when not too gusty
/NB. that video was very boring....

gee, can't please everyone. The video was to show you (1) you can go kite surfing and (2) in very light winds for a 22m (under 8ms winds, which is close to 3knots!!)

Select to expand quote

Loftywinds said..

weebitbreezy said..
Except that the Aurora is a depower (closed cell) foil so you power them up like a regular kite by pulling the bar in. The Pansh Ace is the most recent (?) foil they did that flew off handles. The Aurora is I believe the only water suitable kite.

The early aurora models needed a bridle tweak to get them to fly nicely. Various Russian sites have pdfs showing how to construct a mixer bridle to make the kite fly better.
I have heard comparisons to a flysurfer speed 2 in terms of performance so still a long way behind the current leaders at the moment.

The price is tempting but you have to match your own 5 line bar and you'll have to tune the kite yourself before it flies properly. Probably fun and educational if you have the free time but .... I'd rather be out on the water instead. Guess it depends on how many windless days you have as to whether its worth it.

Hmmm. Not sure I agree. Yes, with the older PANSH, you're right, but like I said their newer model has been improved a lot. Which is why they've just released the A15 another closed cell depower kite and so far the reviews are impressive.
In terms of powering the kite by pulling the bar in, I can assure you it's the other way around like it is with the Flysurfers. I usually ride my FS with the depower strap pulled all the way in (depowered) to allow it to catch wind and not allow me to pull the lines too hard, otherwise the kite stalls. The Aurora is no different. Only LEI kites are the opposite.
and no you don't need a 5line bar, any 4line will do. The depower line from the top and middle of the Aurora is connected to the left of one of the front lines, so as long as your bar as the depower line connected to that left front line, it's all good.

What flysurfer kite do you have? The comparable flysurfer (Speed ) is a regular depower - as per an LEI. Don't believe me? Check out Flysurfers' tutorial videos:



Watch the launch at 3:30 and you can clearly see him pulling the bar in to power up and pushing away to depower.

Still don't believe me? Skip to 4:10. The text is pretty clear.

Based on this I'd guess that the depower on the Aurora is probably the same as an LEI. Its just probably very trim sensitive as its a big kite used in light winds. Most kites will stall easily if the lines aren't set up correctly and you choke them.

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weebitbreezy said..

What flysurfer kite do you have? The comparable flysurfer (Speed ) is a regular depower - as per an LEI. Don't believe me? Check out Flysurfers' tutorial videos:

Hmmm... I've not flown a new FS in years, but I have a standard cloth SP3, 12m. I've flown Psycho III, IV, Speed 2 and Speed3. I've also flown a Chrono a couple of times. ALL of them react by depowering themselves if I pull the steering lines in too hard (like the brake lines on the HQ Montana and Ozone Frenzy for example). If you have yours acting like the video and like a LEI then wow... how!? I am curious now. I'll have to check all the PDFs and videos to be sure mine is set up correctly. However, my Speed3 must be tuned because I can carve, go upwind, do big floaty jumps, etc. And I've checked the mixer over and over. However, I do admit the rear lines on the flysurfer bar are longer by about 50cm. I thought that's how they were meant to be.

Anyone know if Peter Lynn foil kites would be suited to kite foiling / racing and how they compare price and performance wise to FS , Ozone / etc?
theyve been around along time with foils so I am surprised they don't seem to have jumped into the new foiling craze.
( I use the LEI Peter Lynn's currently)

I would not mind getting like 9 m for light wind and travel but they look a but slow for surfing. Looked on the web at the Genesis which looks better suited for surfing. Has snybody tried these and what us the turning speed and bar pressure like?
Cheers
Rich

I like how half your review was talking about your financial situation.
EDIT: actually looks like a good kite at a good price, cheers lofty

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flyingcab said..
I like how half your review was talking about your financial situation.
EDIT: actually looks like a good kite at a good price, cheers lofty

Well don't take my word for it...

Dudes having fun with their Auroras:

Speed3 12 regular not getting you out in 8 knots and you're surprised? Ho ho ho!

Sheeting in is not "depowering" the kites -- if they're losing power, it's because they're choking and back stalling or are about to. Most obvious causes for this are:
1. not enough wind.
2. lines out of tune
3. mixer tuned poorly
4. pilot is a ham-fisted twit.

1, 2, and 4 have the same effects on LEIs; especially 4, if 1 and 2 are in effect.

Like the vast majority of kites, Flysurfers shohld have their lines equal at the pig tails with the bar sheeted right in. If you have 50cm (!!!) longer steering lines and are still choking the kite then your mixer must be so far out of tune and you must be a complete twit, ham-fisted or otherwise.

Skip the pdf and start with the manual. Get someone who can do it properly to set your Speed3 12 back to stock and then learn to fly properly. This is all assuming your repairs haven't left the canopy in state so far out of spec that it won't fly no matter how well it's sorted out...

Or or buy a cheap new Pansh and hope you don't need to fiddle with it. There are good reason they're not everywhere on beaches...

PS. it's a twin tip race board. Looks home made. Google Flyrace to learn about the daggerboard.

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Kamikuza said..
Speed3 12 regular not getting you out in 8 knots and you're surprised? Ho ho ho!

When are you next in Oz mate?

I've got one. I wouldn't waste my time with it til 15 knots -- in winter. Needs good piloting skills; the smaller the foil, the easier it is to overpower it at the bar and back stall, especially when the wind is below its range. Gentle touch, Kong.

I might try the 21 in 8 knots, if I've nothing better to do and have a new board to try (eg. the Slayer I got to play with recently) but it'll be mowing the lawn.

sorry but that kite looks terrible lolsBest guy to ask about Pancho kites is Alex Sans ;)
but i think he now got Flysurfers, i reckon he will never look back as they are the ducks nuts

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trolled said..

INTHELOOP said..
sorry but that kite looks terrible lolsBest guy to ask about Pancho kites is Alex Sans ;)
but i think he now got Flysurfers, i reckon he will never look back as they are the ducks nuts

How surprising coming from a shopguy and flysurfer sponsored rider. Save some money and buy a kite that doesn't support douches. BTW 15 is a very amateur result LOL.

Oh kewl, someone has made a fresh log in to slag people off! How neat. I wonder who that could be..,

Buy whatever you like; if you can't fly a kite it won't really matter.

And what results would you like to share with us?

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Kamikuza said..

trolled said..
Save some money and buy a kite that doesn't support douches. LOL.

Oh kewl, someone has made a fresh log in to slag people off! How neat. I wonder who that could be..,

trolled = RPM ^^^

lol.

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waveslave said..

Kamikuza said..

trolled said..
Save some money and buy a kite that doesn't support douches. LOL.

Oh kewl, someone has made a fresh log in to slag people off! How neat. I wonder who that could be..,

trolled = RPM ^^^

lol.

How do you know? Is he a particularly cowardly lion too?

Select to expand quote

Kamikuza said..

trolled said..

INTHELOOP said..
sorry but that kite looks terrible lolsBest guy to ask about Pancho kites is Alex Sans ;)
but i think he now got Flysurfers, i reckon he will never look back as they are the ducks nuts

How surprising coming from a shopguy and flysurfer sponsored rider. Save some money and buy a kite that doesn't support douches. BTW 15 is a very amateur result LOL.

Oh kewl, someone has made a fresh log in to slag people off! How neat. I wonder who that could be..,

Buy whatever you like; if you can't fly a kite it won't really matter.

And what results would you like to share with us?

yea right i am working on it. Maybe I have to trim my kites.
Alex is a legend and a foil kite pioneer in this country and you can be sure he will return on a foil kite

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Kamikuza said..

waveslave said..

trolled = RPM ^^^

lol.

How do you know?

Trust me.

The dude is currently banned from the forum.

RPM is transparent as a young sardine.

lol.

Select to expand quote

INTHELOOP said..

Kamikuza said..

trolled said..

INTHELOOP said..
sorry but that kite looks terrible lolsBest guy to ask about Pancho kites is Alex Sans ;)
but i think he now got Flysurfers, i reckon he will never look back as they are the ducks nuts

How surprising coming from a shopguy and flysurfer sponsored rider. Save some money and buy a kite that doesn't support douches. BTW 15 is a very amateur result LOL.

Oh kewl, someone has made a fresh log in to slag people off! How neat. I wonder who that could be..,

Buy whatever you like; if you can't fly a kite it won't really matter.

And what results would you like to share with us?

yea right i am working on it. Maybe I have to trim my kites.
Alex is a legend and a foil kite pioneer in this country and you can be sure he will return on a foil kite

That wasn't directed at you Have you tried sheeting in to depower, sheeting out to power it up...?

... are there any Pants kites competing? Or has Ozone sewn the whole thing up?

Select to expand quote

waveslave said..

Kamikuza said..

waveslave said..

trolled = RPM ^^^

lol.

How do you know?

Trust me.

The dude is currently banned from the forum.

RPM is transparent as a young sardine.

lol.

Vaguely recall the name... What did he do to get banned?

Select to expand quote

Kamikuza said..

waveslave said..

Kamikuza said..

waveslave said..

trolled = RPM ^^^

lol.

How do you know?

Trust me.

The dude is currently banned from the forum.

RPM is transparent as a young sardine.

lol.

Vaguely recall the name... What did he do to get banned?

God knows.

lol.