Cabrinha Crossbow vs Slingshot Rev II

Cabrinha Crossbow 2007 vs Slingshot Rev II 2009.

I just bought some new kites, Slingshot Rev II, thought it would be interesting to see if Slingshot’s kites were better than my Cabrinhas. I have friends that kite with Slingshot kites and Ruben Lenten is also kiting with Slingshot, so you would think that the Slingshot kites are at least as good as Cabrinhas. My buddy rides with Slingshot Fuel kites, old c-kites from 2007. He is a good rider, but when it comes to jumping he never makes such huge jumps as make with my Cabrinhas. I have always thought that it simply has to do with the fact that he isn’t jumping with enough power, until today when I has my first session with a Slingshot Rev II…

The wind was pretty good, about 8-10 m/s and I took a ride with my old 9m Cabrinha Crossbow from 2007. Was far from overpowered, but I could at least do some pretty high jumps and transition down loops. Anyway, the wind went down a bit, so I thought that I should try my “new” 11m Slingshot Rev II from 2009. I had 30 minutes session before I went back on land, regreting that I ever bought this Slingshot Rev II, what a shitty kite! Here is my experiences from this kite.

• Steering. One of the good things with the Rev II is that it turns very quickly, almost like a c-kite, but that is also in my opinion a drawback when you’re jumping, since the kite easily turns away from 12 o’clock and you end up crashing of landing hard when you don’t have control over the kite in the sky.
• Jumping. The Rev II sucks when it comes to jumping even if you manage to keep it steady at 12. The lift is poor and once you reach the peak in your jump you drop like a stone from the sky, resulting in hard impacts. With the Cabrinha you can always get a second lift from the kite if you feel that the landing might not be so smooth, you simply sheet out the bar a bit and then pull it against you to get a second lift. With the Rev II this is something that seems almost impossible to perform. Even though the jumps and managed to make were quite small the landing were so hard that I don’t think I would be able to jump high without breaking my legs when I land.
• Power – depower. The depower system sucks on the Rev II. The bar feels like a big mess of lines and the rope that slides through the bar apperantly is a part that gets worn out, at least according to what the condition looked like on the bar I used, which hasn’t been used that much. To depower you must lock the rope in a steal-thing that obviously wears out the rope. Anyway, I was riding with full power during my short session so this was nothing that bothered me to much, but I also noticed that the difference from having the bar fully sheeted out to all the way sheeted in barely had any effect on the power, something which I think makes jumping harder. Not only are you forced to steer the kite far beyond 12 to get enough lift, but the fact that power difference you can achieve by sheeting the bar out or in is far from enough to give you a good lift as well as catch the fall on your way down.
• Design. What can I say… The design is nothing that affects the kites performance, but the design of the Rev II really is as boring as it could get, dull colors and cool textures. My old Crossbow from 2007 looks way cooler!
• Construction. Maybe the only thing that is OK with the Rev II is the construction. The kite feels solid, like it’s impossible to puncture it, but that’s pretty much the only positive thing I can say about the Rev II. The Rev II has a one-pump system with a stopper ball, which works fine, but not as good as Cabrinhas one-pump system with their valve that only allows air to get in one way.

Conclusion. The Rev II is the worst kite I ever tried so far and I truly recommend everyone to think twice before they buy this kite, you better of buying an old Cabrinha Crossbow from 2007, cheaper and much much better!