hey guys, recently got the 12m turbo diesel, i have been only been kiting for several months, but this is what i thought with my limited experience.

firstly the bag is great, room for bar,pump, board etc...great for carrying everything you need. the kite material looks and feels bulletproof although im not sure what its like in relation to the fuels.

the bar is fantastic, very simple to use and works great. the active stopper or whatever its called which can be adjusted so if you let go of the bar it only depowers as much as you set, this adds to the light bar pressure.

the turning took a while for me to get used to espeically with the pulleys, it seemed abit slower than my 12 without pulleys which is expected. upwind seemed average but probably is quite good due to my experience. boosting with this is great even if your riding in 12knots of wind liek i was doing.

the safety on the kite is great 100% depower and the water relaunch is effotless

Alex

Ive had a deisel for a while now. You are right they are made of a strong material... so strong in fact that when it inverted on me out in the surf a wave caught it and snapped my lines before it tore the kite! Overall it does the job. I hear the 'link' kite is a combo of the C and the Bow. Anyone had any experience with it? The depower is good but the inversion is bad. I look forward to the future tho.

Hey Realplayer,
Glad you finally got on to a bow......now you have half a chance of survival....Before anyones tells you.....there is a gear review section for reviews, let alone a 06 kite....should be raving about the 07 Links etc etc!!! The TD is a good kite, make sure you pump it up really really hard, they a known for inverting very easy. A big change from your "C's"...word of warning...don't sheet out 100% when hit by a gust or crashing...in saying that, they don't fly that bad when inside out!!hehehe If and when it does invert......crash in back in the water.... normally they pop back around....maybe with lines looped over themselves, but you will be able to get back to shore to untangle.
Don't let this one drift out to sea....good luck

haha thanks for the advice, and i got that kite back by the way ;) i would of got the link if i had $500 to dish out..

Heya realplayer!!

I have a 12 mtr and a 16 mtr TD. I bought my 12 when they first came out, so pretty much a full season sofar, and the kite is still in wicked condition.

Lately ive mainly been kiting in the surf and have to say that these kites are made for the waves. The whole depower thing makes carving on waves soooooo easy.

I have inverted my TD maybe 4 or 5 times when i was first getting used to it. I find that the main thing is to keep the back lines tight at all times (keep ur hands on the bar when ur eating ****), and that inversions come mainly from jumping and over shooting the kite, from the edge of the wind window. But with practice and time on the water it wont be a problem.

I have tested a couple of the latest bow/Hybrid kites and have to say that most of them lack the raw low down grunt of the TD. My most favorite aspect of the TD is the ability to power on and off, its like and Accelerator/Brake on a car. This is what makes it so great not to mention the huge effortless airtime you can get.

Its ashame slingshot arent continuing the TD, these kites ROCK!!! the Link (replacement for the TD) isnt even on par as far as i,m concernd its a totaly different kite. Thats just my 2 cents :)

anyway enough of my ranting.

merman

hey man thanks for your input, im looking forward to getting some good use out of this kite

Hey guys,

With the TD, did you do the warranty bar upgrade? I recently bought an 8m TD and spent a couple of hours installing the centreline system and the additional stopper ball (which is supposed to help prevent inversions as it doesn't allow you to sheet out past the 98% depower range).

So far the kite's been great!

Hey T1

Yeah i had the bar upgrade for my 12 mtr TD. In my humble opinion the centre line upgrade was what was lacking on the kite.

The power ball thingy doesnt make much difference to me as i always fly my kite with the stopper close to my bar, thus preventing 100% depower. I find that if you fly the kite with the stopper close to the bar it negates most of the problems associated with inversions and all the crazy crap that can happen with bow kites.

I know it might sound crazy, cause bow kites are all about 100% depower. But as long as the back lines are tight and the kite is powered its all good.


Hey Slingshot!!! why did you drop this kite?????? i was looking forward to a hybrid five line TD. youre Link is a good kite but hey its no TD....

Merman

agreed

Hey does anyone know where i can get this bar upgrade because the inversions are causing me so much trouble that i wanna buy a new kite? on the subject anyone want a cheap repaired td i live on the gold coast and will arrange for local pickup

Heya Heath what size is youre kite????

ye it gets kinda annoying tryin to fly an inside out kite

hey merman its a 12m

my initial thought (and subsequent on the TD)

crap

I've now had 3 months riding my 14TD, and want to say what a brilliant kite it is. I used to fly Fuels, which first affiliated me to Slingshot build , quality and style.
the fuels where awesome kites - but Ive always had a healthy respect for the power of kites. And when the bows came along - I liked the idea of them mainly because
of safety - and ease of self launch (particlualy important when travelling with a girlfriend not very comfortable with launching my kite). So I got some crossbows.
I liked the crossbows because I felt so safe - even kiting in winds of 30knots plus. On a fuel - the power on tap was too scary for me.
But I did miss the feeling of the jumps and the power of the c-shaped kites. It was too easy to use the bar to control power instead of the board. Which somehow made kiting less fun.
(only slightly) , and a good trade off for my confidence.
The TD14 has reintroduced me the power of the kite, and using my board for controling myself, instead of simply pushing the bar up when I felt uncomfortable.
Kiting has become seriously more fun. And I still have all the benefits of the bow. Instant depower if I need it. Easy relaunch.
And now I also have the Slingshot build quality and onepump ( I missed you one pump). Also this kite gets me going in pretty low wind - less than my 17m fuel, and about the same as the 16m crossbow.
The 16m crossbow was a pig of a kite. It worked, but I cant say it was much fun to fly. The 14TD is a totally different beast, jumps arnt brilliant in low wind, but you can still get some decent speed up, and kiting in.
The bar is genious, simply and effective. When I don’t feel comfortable or launching I disable the stopper ball, and kite bow style. When I am ready for fun.
Engage the stopper ball , lock in and away I go.
I wont need a bigger kite than this. (im 90kg) , and I think this kites going to last me a long time.

Ive not yet managed to invert the kite.

I highly recommend this kite witout any reservation.

Ive had a brilliant couple of weeks on this kite - and its certainly taken some off the sting out of links fiasco.