Pulsar Feature
Review
Video
Interview

Pulsar First Look:

When I first heard that Carl Robertshaw, one of the worlds top fliers, had designed a new range of sport kites for Flexifoil I was pretty excited. Carl's last kite was the Dot Matrix which is still one of the best freestyle kites on the market. So what do Carl's new kites have to offer?

The Pulsar is the largest of three new kites made by Flexifoil aimed at the new flier. It is a fairly low ratio 1800mm kite with a deep sail cut. Construction quality is good, the striking 6-panel layout using a soft ripstop nylon stitched with rolled seams. The frame is mainly 6mm carbon, with the cross spreaders made from glass fibre. The kite has soft rubber APA style fittings, a fairly standard three-point bridle, a leach line for silent flight and no trick line. Key points are re-enforced and thick rubber bands are used to tension the leading edge and spine.

The kite is packaged in a rather natty box. In the box is the kite (surprise) a screen-printed kite bag, a flexi sticker, a one-month free repair card and a set of lines with straps. The line set is dyneema, but compared to the 80lb Climax I fly on looked more suitable for tethering bulls than flying a kite! The straps were huge – Flexi’ does state that the Pulsar can pull in strong winds so maybe they were just keeping on the safe side. Flexi’ really know how to present a product; the back of the box has basic instructions and the usual "don't fly this kite whilst riding on a train near a motorway under pylons in a thunderstorm on the way to the airport" disclaimer (hmm didn't Andy P. do that on a flexi video once?).

So much for prettiness how does the kite fly?

Day One

Typically the wind was well below the 4mph required by the packaging, however I wasn't planning to fly the packaging, and not being one to leave a new kite in a box overnight I attached some short lines and attempted to fly. To my surprise the kite caught a 2mph gust (told you it was windy) and took off. Working the kite and my legs hard I found the Pulsar a smooth flier with little over-steer, however no chance to test precision capability here, but the kite had enough float and momentum to be flown like an ultra light. But this is, after all, a freestyle web site so what were my first impressions on the trickier side?

Axles were smooth and flat, and strung together well enough into cascades - although I found managing these under my own artificial wind (ahem) rather tricky. Flat spins, and helicopters were also easy enough - although you need to watch the wing tips with no trick line. Moving on from the basics the kite is happy shifting into a fade from a ground pop up, a half-axle or belly out position. Once in a fade it is pretty solid, and rises nicely: Toasted. A gentle tug will turn the fade into a backspin without any hassle at all – in the very light wind conditions the Pulsar whipped around. The kite seems just as accomplished on its back; flapjacks are pretty neat – as are fast ‘not so lazy’ susans. Flic-flac’s are straight forward and I get the impression that this kite will wrap up nicely too – I found it hard to unwind with the low wind.

Day Two

With 4-6 mph of wind and a slowly setting sun I took the Pulsar out again. Firstly in gusts the Pulsar does generate some serious pull, however it remains very trickable. Everything I discovered about the Pulsar the first day still holds when the wind is better. A degree of control is required to achieve cascades and fountains - imagine you are flying an 8ft kite rather than a 6ft, but they rise into fountains very nicely. I found being too uncontrolled meant that you could overcook the kite and end up in a mess - especially on the edges of the wind window.

I found backspin to lazy susan combinations very easy with the Pulsar, although it really likes multiple rather than half rotations. Once settled back lazy the Pulsar doesn't lose much if any height, it lies well back. It is possible to go into Jacob's Ladder type combinations from a flapjack or pop up fade.

Yo-yo's hovered on the edge of easy availability; I haven't learnt how to dial them whenever I want with the Pulsar - it certainly doesn't wrap up like the Dot Matrix. In a breeze the Pulsar will dead launch and is good at groundwork; backspins from ground level are possible (the 'abduction') as are various pop ups and axle take offs. The kite holds a line well, and square corners are sharp. Very nice.

Conclusion ...

Still to come are videos and more flight time, but in the interim let's sum up.

The Pulsar is a bang up to date class leading 6ft freestyle kite, capable of almost any trick in the book in the right hands. It is also a superbly priced beginners package even if the choice of line set is eccentric. Its pull lets it down a bit for me, as does the trade off of using glass fibre in the lower spreaders. However these two elements perhaps betray it's target audience - it is pretty unbreakable and great fun to bash around the sky. The sail layout is very cool, and I would not be ashamed to have the Pulsar as my main 6ft kite in my bag.

Is it better than the Area 51 my present sub £100 6ft of choice? Yes and No. I would love to see a Pulsar with a full carbon (or p100) frame and a polyester sail for a few more pennies - the Area 51 uses better materials and you can tell that in flight. However given a choice between the two right now I think the Pulsar wins by a nose, so I have to award it a kHiTe Star. Go grab one.

Pulsar Feature
Review
Video
Interview