Has anyone got any feedback, impressions of the performance of the kites made by StarKites, particularly the S-Bow. Thanks

Welcome to seabreeze .May I suggest that you go to google and enter "starkites reviews " I am sure you you will find what you seek.

Kites that I've seen 09/10 models were a bit heavy, and had complicated and dodgy safety systems, have not seen 2011 models

I'll agree with Steve on this one.

The '09/10 kites that i've flown (SBow and EXA) have been very solidly built to the point where they are a little heavier than similar kites. I don't see this as a bad thing for a beginner/intermediate though as they'll stand up to the rough treatment really well. The bar setup i used was quite toy like. I've only used the '09 bar setup and it felt like it was made by Fisher Price... just way to much plastic everywhere.

The 11m '10 EXA that i flew last was quite a solid performer though. Very respectable bottom end. Had me holding ground in butter flat water on a twin tip (Brunotti Pro-X 132) in a light Melbourne seabreeze at ~14-15kn. In the same conditions i would've been happier on my 15m Fuel, but didn't bother pumping it up as i was having fun on the demo EXA (which i didn't have to pump up!).

If your interested in the StarKites for the cheaper entry level point, then take a look at the Griffin kites. From what i last saw they're about the same money but a much more fun kite to fly. I'd take an 10.5m Griffin over a StarKites EXA 11m any day.

Thanks Guys.

The Sbow is not heavy at all. It does not use the one pump system so there are no extra pipes and valves to make the kite heavier. It will fly as early as if not earlier, than any other kite with similar design in the market. Very forgiving and easy to use. It was the best kite we used for teaching in light winds at our school in 2009 - light weight, easy to relaunch, easy to fly. Of course if you compare to a 2011 3 struts kite, then you are not comparing apples to apples. There are still a few 2009 models around at like a third of the original price. Good safe kite to get into the sport.