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Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:59 pm
by povlhp
Hi,

I see lots of dislike of the Freilein brand off kites, especially on US websites, as they have made a clone of the Revolution quad-kite, a 25+ year old design where all patents has expired. It seems like it is one of the largest brands in Asia.
Yet elsewhere I read that their clone, the Windrider, is of better build-quality than the Revolution. And they are also making and selling their own designs, like the Windrider Transeye. And it seems in the UK, there is less loyalty to the US brands, and many are using the almost-clones from Albatross. In Germany there are many Rev clones on the market, also sold locally, but it seems nobody will touch the Windrider "classic" as if that model will give you dirty hands. But the Transeye is not frowned upon anywhere, as it looks a bit different. And their vented kites are vented in a very different pattern than the Rev.

So why this dislike of Freilein here ? They at least put their own logo in large typeface on the kites, and do not try to market them as anything else. And the layout of the stripes on the sail is different. Are other kites of theirs clones, and of what ? I see they are making a couple zero-wind kites, but they are supposedly not nearly as good as the real thing, and not sold as clones as far as I know.

For me, buying a clone long after any patent has expired is nothing I will worry about. And China is the worlds largest market.

I understand that we want local development and competition, but also that protecting a shape of that of the Rev (the W) after more than 25 years is not holding up.

So why the hatred of Freilein ? Yet the accept of others.

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:50 pm
by povlhp
I understand why you prefer uk based manufacturers but Rev is US based and Albatross is Chinese as well. So why dislike the leading Chinese company over the others?

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:13 pm
by harveystubbs
Despite not being much of a quad line kite flyer, I thought I would respond to your post with my comments in no particular order.
1. Firstly, why do you think we don’t like freilein? There are very few posts about on this forum probably because no one owns their kites.
2. You will probably get less of a positive response at other more patriotic kite forums as you have indicated.
3. Personally I think that kites makers like Rev are pretty easy prey because their products are easy to copy, not expensive to make and the design has not changed much, if at all in the last few decades.
4. As for stunt kites, I would rather spend the extra money and buy something that is a proper boutique kite, made with a proper skyshark (or better) frame with icarex and decent quality materials which needs no/ little tuning straight out of the bag rather than mass produced, poorly framed, less well made kites which often don’t have the same balance or perform as well as the boutique kites. Spares are also hard to get hold of.
5. I own a couple of well thought of chinese made kites like the prism zeph which is made reasonably well made but just isn’t as good as a benson, jest of eve or R Sky in any department. The quality of design, materials, flight, tricks …. everything is inferior.
6. The disregard of patents and copying of designs is not something I agree with and shows a complete lack of respect and imagination. Mind you if I was going to copy a kite design then I would not start with a Rev which the Freilein is a direct copy of. Some other makers of quad line kites have at least thought of something original like the airbow.
I refer you here =>
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/8 ... pycat-cars
:cool:

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:32 pm
by povlhp
The little I read about Freilein is, that the quality is spotless, some say better than the U.S. Brand, Icarex PC31 sail, and their Crystal T2 rod is close enough to sky shark P200 to mix and match.
At least Freilein is not a 100% copy. They have very different panel layout and look better.

They do have their own original design quad. Can't do flick flack, but flies better backwards than the rev. Called Transeye. Just bought one as it is considered better for beginners and can take more wind than non-vented rev. They make good dual line as well. But then we talk $200 or so.

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:25 am
by 711jrp
I think you should take your thinly veiled advertising campaign elsewhere, it's just more Cheapese tat.

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:51 am
by povlhp
I am not advertising, there are no sellers in Europe or usa to my knowledge. And I have no commercial interest. Freilein is probably happy with the Asian market.

The Brits seems happy with the other good Chinese brand albatross. And is is cheaper than Freilein.
The Rev is mentioned everywhere. In Germany there are multiple local brands more or less rev like. Made in China for German kite shops.
Just wondering why some of the better Chinese brands are disliked.

But it seems like the people on the forums are a smallish group with strong local preferences.

Personally I would rather see more people buying the 90% as good at half price, and then upgrade later. Kites are not really cool any more. For me it is alternative to the days I have too much wind for my quad copter. And for easier pack than the copter.

Re: Dislike of Freilein ?

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:52 pm
by Broady
I suspect about 95% of kites brought in the uk are all made in China, and I'm sure 50% of those end up in a bin at the end of the holiday (or as they leave the beach on the day they brought it).
Both Freilein and albatross make kites that fly quite well. I'd like to see more of there kites in beach shops and remove the kites that are so unbalanced that they are near on impossible to fly.

To get new people into the sport their first experience needs to be a pleasant experience and then they will look to spend more money on kites and look for forums to join.

If it wasn't for albatross I would never have got into flying Rev's. And have owned 4 Rev's (now all sold, as I preferred the albatross ones). If people ever come up to me to ask about the kite I tell them to Google revolution kites and look on utube for what they can actually do!
I'm also happy for them to have a try, where I wasn't so keen with my expensive Rev's.