Just had a look at AP's For Sale thread.
Any comments, reviews or opinions on the lithium?
I'm wondering precision?, freestyle?, trick capability?
TIA
Bryan
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Sport, Trick and Freestyle Kite Flying Forum
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Keithgrif
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Just an observation or two,
Echo and Close Encounters both use this kite currently in competition, and they are currently no's 2 and 3 pairs. Also, in the past Skydance used them (and Mark and Jeanette still do). If we hadn't discovered Airdynamics we would probably have bought Lithiums as well.
I can't say too much on their abilities as it's 2 years since I flew one, and then only for 5 mins.
Keith
Echo and Close Encounters both use this kite currently in competition, and they are currently no's 2 and 3 pairs. Also, in the past Skydance used them (and Mark and Jeanette still do). If we hadn't discovered Airdynamics we would probably have bought Lithiums as well.
I can't say too much on their abilities as it's 2 years since I flew one, and then only for 5 mins.
Keith
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mobius
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Don't forget the current European Team Champions either Keith -- Tame Bird 
However, they are moving on to the full sized Transfer now I believe.
As far as I can remember, I don't think Sky Dance ever moved away from the North Shore Radical. They might have even started off with Sandpipers.
However, they are moving on to the full sized Transfer now I believe.
As far as I can remember, I don't think Sky Dance ever moved away from the North Shore Radical. They might have even started off with Sandpipers.
Dave Morley
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mobius
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For me though the Lithium is more slanted to tricks than precision. This is not good for a novice / experienced pair or team in my opinion.
Have you considered the fury? This is slanted more on the precision side and is also slower than many of the other freestyle kites. This is a good thing when you start in team because it gives you more time to think about things. It is also very good in tight team follows where you get very little turbulence from the kite in front.. again a very nice feature which will help keep a few points.
In team precision is far far more important than tricks. In pairs it is also very important but these days you need some trick content also.
Have you considered the fury? This is slanted more on the precision side and is also slower than many of the other freestyle kites. This is a good thing when you start in team because it gives you more time to think about things. It is also very good in tight team follows where you get very little turbulence from the kite in front.. again a very nice feature which will help keep a few points.
In team precision is far far more important than tricks. In pairs it is also very important but these days you need some trick content also.
Dave Morley
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aphelps
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Some interesting comments, and some from people who obviously do not know Lithiums. Also, the UK competitors currently using the Lithium do not really understand how to exploit it, they set it very soft.
Quick review;
Precision - yes very good
Fades - yes
Jacobs Ladder - yes
Axles/cascades - yes
Insanes - yes (but not cascade insanes)
Slot Machines - yes
Flat spins - yes
Cometes - yes
Flapjacks - yes
Multilazys - not really
Backspins - not really
Yoyos - not really
That is about it. I switched from Lithiums to Masques when it became obvious that the Masque was more capable. It is a good intro kite for new competitors that do not want to buy new.
To give a rounded perspective on Bryan's query, I was talking to him at the Hinckley fly about kite selection, since I was flying one of my Nirvanas and he was interested in buying Ns. Thinking about buying a new kite, I recommended the Fury 85 at the time.
Quick review;
Precision - yes very good
Fades - yes
Jacobs Ladder - yes
Axles/cascades - yes
Insanes - yes (but not cascade insanes)
Slot Machines - yes
Flat spins - yes
Cometes - yes
Flapjacks - yes
Multilazys - not really
Backspins - not really
Yoyos - not really
That is about it. I switched from Lithiums to Masques when it became obvious that the Masque was more capable. It is a good intro kite for new competitors that do not want to buy new.
To give a rounded perspective on Bryan's query, I was talking to him at the Hinckley fly about kite selection, since I was flying one of my Nirvanas and he was interested in buying Ns. Thinking about buying a new kite, I recommended the Fury 85 at the time.
Last edited by aphelps on Mon Jan 03, 2005 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Andy
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mobius wrote:For me though the Lithium is more slanted to tricks than precision. This is not good for a novice / experienced pair or team in my opinion.
Claire and I manage OK. We even managed to get the best ballet score at this years Cardiff Bootie camp with a pair of Lithiums. I think the Lithiums are a bit faster than some of the other "team" kites. It depends what sort of routine you want to fly. We now have a set of Northshores and they don't suit the routine we wrote for the Lithiums - they just don't turn fast enough.
The Lithium has some interesting bridle adjustment which allows you to slightly alter the flight characteristics, a little slider allows you to adjust the amount of "activeness" of the bridle. Pushed in one direction you have a traditional 3-point bridle, pushed the other way it makes the kite a bit more tricky.
bryan beasley wrote:Just had a look at AP's For Sale thread.
Who / What / Where is AP? If they have Lithiums for sale I need to see...
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misterbleepy
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Phillip wrote:Who / What / Where is AP? If they have Lithiums for sale I need to see...
here: http://fracturedaxel.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1593
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bryan beasley
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Ok, thanks for all of that!
I'm not so worried about the team / pairs attributes in this instance. ( have the Matrix sets for that) As I said to Andy at Hinckley, I'm really intersted in something with mid - high wind range to fly competitive precision this year. I like the idea of crossover to freestyle / tricks and was wonderring how suitable the Lithiums would be. For purely freestyle and trick, I'm using the Benson range anyway so that aspect is less of an issue. I totally respect the advice of the Fury .85. It just seemed a touch more cost effective to buy a used set for similar money to a single new kite.
I guess I'll be making the decision reasonably soon. Anybody know how much a Fury.85 will be out of interest?
Bryan
I'm not so worried about the team / pairs attributes in this instance. ( have the Matrix sets for that) As I said to Andy at Hinckley, I'm really intersted in something with mid - high wind range to fly competitive precision this year. I like the idea of crossover to freestyle / tricks and was wonderring how suitable the Lithiums would be. For purely freestyle and trick, I'm using the Benson range anyway so that aspect is less of an issue. I totally respect the advice of the Fury .85. It just seemed a touch more cost effective to buy a used set for similar money to a single new kite.
I guess I'll be making the decision reasonably soon. Anybody know how much a Fury.85 will be out of interest?
Bryan
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Gary Matthews
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