Flown in varied inland/shore weather conditions.

Ion II is the next latest version of the original Flexifoil Ion. The Ion II is unique in the way that it can be switched from 5th line mode to 4 line mode enabling you to give the kite a whole different feel. The kite comes in 6 different sizes to cover pretty much all conditions 6m,8.5m,10.5m,12.5m,14.5m,16.5m. i went for the 10.5 as it seemed the sweet one of the range and had a massive wind range.

So on first getting the kite i was impressed with the quality of the bag, yet again flexifoil havent just thrown a bag together they have thought about it and produced a very strong bag the perfect size for the kite. The instruction manual comes in a nice pocket inside the bag so its not in the way at all. The bag also have two butterfly wing style straps that come around the front of the bag allowing you to strap your pump onto the bag or your board. These flaps also have pockets in them to store the 5th line kite or 4 line bridle and the pockets also have a little quick reference diagram on for setting these up. Pumping the kite up it becomes clear how much time flexi have spent developing the kite adding plenty of little touchs such as covers over the one pump tubes and valves, extra padding and tough rubber strips on vital points on the kite. Setting the kite up is very simple (4 line mode) just set the bar and lines out like you would do for any other bow kite and attach them to the kite, the manual gives a full run down on setting up just incase you are not aware on the set up. Moving onto the bar it all seems pretty well put together with a spinning connector for the centre lines to keep them from twisting whilst doing rotations. The one bad point about the whole bar setup is the actual bar its self, it is quite tough on the hands its got super grip if your out ripping on the water but if your using it on land after a hard days riding it can leave your hands a little soar. The quick release is excelent with a simple push away system detaching you instantly from the kite.

Now down to how the kite actually flies, straight after launching the kite the first thing that i noticed was the hight bar pressure which suited my style perfectly but might not be to the taste of those who like a very light bar. Moving the kite around the sky i could definatley feel the power the kite had to give, i jumped on my board and the kite had more than enough power. Ive tried the kite at both ends of the wind range from super low winds where i could just get rolling on the tarmac to high gusty winds with the kite fully depowered struggling to stay on the ground. The kite is super nice to fly and you can really feel what the kite is doing in the air, jumping is super easy with this kite i found that you have a pretty good idea of how big you are going to go through feeling the kite on the bar which is great for deciding what trick to go for. Ive flown kites before and had no idea how high i would go and struggled doing tricks. The kite is nice and powered through the loops although i have found that it can stall a little on exiting the loop if u havent quite got the kite setup perfect. Unhooked the kite really comes alive allowing you to ride very powered.

the relaunch on the kite is great, simply pull the bar on one side and then quickly on the other to rock the kite and flick it back up into the sky. I have never had any problems self launching and landing apart from very very windy days when it was safer to have someone land the kite for me. The manual that you get with the kite gives detailed instructions on how to change the kite from 4 line mode to 5th line and vise versa, this can be a little confusing at times but once you have done it once you wont have any problems. I would recomend that you keep the book in your bag though as there can be quite alot to remember on changing the mode unless you are doing it every session.

overall i would say that the Ion II is an excelent freestyle kite with great lift and float, a few things i would say though are that the kite is not the most forgiving and can throw a few suprises your way. I mainly fly inland and find that it copes with the gusts fine. The only downsides that i have found with the kite are the bar being quite harsh to hold like I mentioned earlier and although flexi have added some protection to the leading edge to try and stop any damage caused by the kite being on the floor these are places a little bit to far back on the kite and dont really protect the key areas. The leading edge is pretty solid in its build anyway so its not to much of a problem.

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