Fluid EGO 2012 review...

Rider: Weight 83.2kg,
Level: Intermediate
Style: Surf/ free ride
Weather: 15+knots (had it in 37knts according to graphs)
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: alliancegear.com.au

Here we go again my yearly review of the EGO since it has come out, i will also be doing one on the Naish Park very soon after flying both of these kites back to back. For those who don't know i sell these kites and enjoy writing about the kites i have ridden, this is information for all to read if you're not interested don't bother reading on, it's my honest opinion. The red thumbs don't hurt my feelings so feel free to thumb away!







The kite market is very hard to crack into and this due to the entrenchment of the major brands doing excellent jobs of producing some good kites with fantastic marketing, the Fluid brand has been chipping away at it the last 4 years and is finally starting to get some form of recognition. Being an Australian brand kite is not an easy thing in this market where buyers pull no punches in beating down the underdog. Fluid are one of the few brands that have a stocked warehouse where every spare is available, in my eyes that is a good point so if you have a broken part or need some warranty you can get sorted out in a reasonable time.

Last years EGO was a kite that suited me very very well, i don't like to use the word perfect because i feel that from an engineer's standpoint perfection is something that is seldom achieved. The 2011 model was fast powerful and had a decent wind range but it was not suited to the park and ride kind of guy, if you had a some kind of idea how to fly a kite you could get a lot out of it and i managed to ride the whole season comfortably on a 9m.


Fast forward to the 2012 Ego and you will see that the major changes are its loss of two struts so its weight has been slimmed down to the increasingly popular 3 strut platform. Fluid have always been generous in the strong fabric on their kites resulting in a heavier than usual kite but seriously strong, there is a full Dacron frame on this kite but it has been kept to minimum to retain the strength but bring the kite to a weight that is as light as some of the other kites that don't have the Dacron frame. The canopy also features Dacron on along the topside of the struts for protection and to assist as a stiffener. While a lot of the Tri strut kites flop around the EGO is dam solid even at the top end of its range.
This kite has always been aimed at the side of the market that wants a “C” kite with all the good traits of the bridled kite so what you find is performance like a smooth driving sports car with a nitrous switch to be unleashed when you need it!







The bar and lines have also undergone a nice little spruce up with a new type of grip that is a very durable, the heart if the bar is where the nice stuff goes down featuring a forged stainless steel union that is polished to a mirror! I have yet to see another brand using this, it's expensive and hard to produce but looks the goods and works even better. Let me explain.... typically the union on the average kite bar is made from aluminium, this metal is gritty and very dirty, even after polishing and washing it will tear up your naked lines and grind the plastic coated ones so it feels like you are running sand through your centre line. After 3 months of solid abuse the PU covered centreline and safety are yet to show more than a few small scratches and the movement of the bar is smooth with no resistance!
Sheeting the depower on the bar is done up top via a cam cleat, while this is a preferred system with most kiters it does leave a dangly bit flopping around when you have a lots of trim pulled on, the guys at Fluid had a clever idea to attach the end to the centreline with a ring so i does not have so much chance to give you a good rap on the knuckles. New for this season is thicker flying lines for reduced stretch, which also translates into a more direct feel from the kite. Last but not least the standard safety system has been upgraded to a front line flag, this will kill the power and land your kite face down facing you.


I was lucky enough to fly the initial 10m prototype, i had it for 2 days and then had to ship it back. The first day was started off with 15 knots and just kept getting stronger i kept pulling on depower until it was so strong i found myself having to jump to slow down enough to turn around. After 2 runs all i could get a feeling for a was jumping this kite, it performed really well having a foot of trim on. There is a huge amount of depower on the trim line on this kite for one good reason.. safety, after checking the graphs that afternoon the wind had peaked at 37knts!!
2nd day say 16-22 knot westerlies so gusty stuff, after putting the kite through some loops and jumps i was pretty excited about getting my kites.







The things i did not like we're;
*The grip on the bar is harsh, it does however soften after a few sessions and its comfy.

*the front line safety does not un swivel well if you're doing a lot of rotations or loops, you can run it what they call a pro kit which is just the mini fifth line and it works fine.

*The depower line attached to the centre line did not suit my style, i took the ring out of the centre line and tuck it up top to stop it swinging.

*Still no manual!


I was on a mission to get my kites to fly all the sizes and was pushing the factory to get them out, a phone call to them every other day eventually saw my kites arrive.







After flying all the sizes and dialling them in im really happy, the kite is better than last years in that it's a bit easier to ride for the average joe. You don't have to be a great sailor to get the most out of this kite now.
Its retained all of the performance from last year's kite, and added a little with a smother faster turning, better drifting (lighter canopy). I feel it does not have quite as much low end now but the extra turning speed makes up for that, this also makes loops nice to try at almost any height.
Upwind performance of this kite is very good, im using it on a race board and its proved to point very high compared to a few other kites i have tried it against.
Lastly pop, this kite seems to rip you off the water more aggressively that the 2011 model. Boosts are fast and hard with i would say a medium – good hang.

Im riding this kite on a surfboard, twintip and raceboard and its working well showing it's a good all-round kite. Couple that with the fact that it's also more user friendly to the average kite wanting a performance kite is a plus.

Big wind range and all performance box's checked above 8 make this my weapon on choice this season.

I'll hit you back with some bar pictarz this week, I seem to have lost them during a pc change over.

Kite: 2012 Fluid Ego 8m
Rider weight: ~82kg wet
Level: Intermediate/advanced (kiteloops, simple passes, etc)
Style: Freestyle with a bit of wake
Board: 2010 Nobile NHP 134x42
Location: Altona shallows and small swell/chop
Weather: 20-23kn
Build Quality: ?/10 (I spent too much time flying and not enough time inspecting)
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: i'm damn fussy when it comes to my kites. I ride Torches mainly, and like raw simple C-kites over heavily bridled depowerable things.

I had the opportunity to take Steve's personal Fluid Ego 8m out for a spin at Altona at the KSS Altona demo day last month. I hadn't intended on flying one, but after going through the entire Liquid Force fleet and not finding anything that really appealed to me, it was offered to me for a demo. Not one to ever turn down a demo of a kite i hadn't flown before, rigged it up using what looked like a brand spanking new 2012 bar with the aforementioned polished stainless insert and took it for a run. I'll say now that whilst i'd seen Fluid kites around for a couple of years i hadn't really had a chance to take a good look at them so i really was going into this blind. The only information i had was from Harry Hayes who said 'yeah, you'll probably like this one'... and he was right.

Immediate first impressions on the water was that everything felt familiar which is strange considering i'd never flown any Fluid kites before or used their control system before. I think the reason it felt familiar is because to me it felt like it came out of the same stable as a Torch, a Vegas or a Fuel, but instead of being the aggressive thoroughbred it was a broken in, trained and well mannered steed that was willing to just walk slowly around the block until you gave it a firm kick and fired it up.
There really wasn't any need for me to get dialled in to the Ego 8m, it just seemed to work, fly, turn and position itself exactly as i would expect if you wired the kite straight into my brain, bypassing the bar and lines... and what's that (?!) pulleys!? Well that was a bit of a shock. Where did they come from? Flying the Ego 8m certainly didn't feel like there were pulleys on it, nor did it feel bridled. I guess that's where the 'well mannered' bit comes into it.

Hooked in boosting and general freeriding was exceptionally easy with the Ego 8m being fast to get into position, quick on the redirects and ready and willing to take you up. I wouldn't describe it as a floaty kite, but i'm used to just pulling heli's or downloops on the way down and both of these worked well with the little Ego.
There's very little delay in turning input (1/3 of a second) with a fairly crisp response to minute steering input. Hooked in kiteloops weren't violent in the slightest with the tightest looping radius being about one kite width in the sky, and easing out on the bar a little resulting in some nice fast sweeping loops using more of the wind window.

Unhooked, the Ego comes on strong and sat slightly deeper in the window than i was expecting; the result is quite a strong punch of power which comes on quite quickly as you unhook. Once i'd adjusted my timing to the quick punch of power i found the lines slacked off briefly just enough to get a quick pass in before it drifted back in the window and was ready to fire up again. Trimming the Ego to unhook wasn't necessary, but i found that using between 2-3cm of trim seemed to give me a more familiar timing of pop-slack-tension i was used to with other kites of similar size.

After having a decent half session on the Ego 8m i came in with a reasonably large grin on my face. It's nice when you find a kite that just works for you. I'll be very interested to try a larger Ego when the conditions suit one. As i mentioned in my LF Nirvana review, the 2012 Ego was a kite that surprised me. If you're considering an Ozone C4, Slingshot RPM, Naish Park or any of the high performance kites on the market today i'd really highly recommend taking a 2012 Fluid Ego for a demo.

Hey Guys,

I have a previous model EGO that i use for wave riding which I am very pleased with. It turns fast, generates power and floats down the line nicely. With the wide wingtips i think its centre of gravity stops it from hindenburging when the lines go slack.

The bottom end is good as it generates power nicely and seems to stay in the sky alot easier than a delta style kite in really light conditions.

For me the top end is not that high on a surfboard as the depower is not that much as compared to a true wave kite but it is expected as it is more C orientated - going down the line on a wave it seems to want to go faster and faster in high winds (22+knots I think) and the only way is to edge hard as you would any C kite which could be a bit difficult on a surfboard. But saying that i usually use a 7m when the winds are over 20knots so the EGO compliments my 7m with a slight overlap. I think the 10m EGO would have been a bit better to get a bit more bottom end but Perth does not have waves below 15-16 knots anyway.

I am curious how the new more fixed bridle (less pulleys) is with regards to depower, relaunch and self landing. I found the EGO a bit tricky in self landing in strongish winds as the front line Y makes it a bit hard to grab the top line - I may have to be a bit more aggressive in self landing next time.

Self launching is a breeze.

With the 3 struts I am curious on the weight as it must be alot easier to keep up in the air, I thought my EGO was very good in staying up and compared to my other kites it seems alot lighter in weight I supposed due to the reduced diameter of the struts.

I cannot fault the build quality of my EGO and believe all the rubber bumpers that other brands do just add weight - whats the NEW EGO using for bumpers?

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but I am looking a comparison between the new model and older ones.

Cheers
Rich

Thanks Pro Merc,

Looking at the bridle on the latest model, it looks like the front lines are pulling more from the centre of the kite rather than the wingtips which i presume would give more depower and increase the turnability.

I would like to try the larger (12m +) and smaller (7m -) sizes out, hopefully I can take the 12m out at Kitestock but I don't know if the smaller ones will be available.

I am also keen to try the ATV even though it is delta style kite, they say the range is massive especially the low-end. I wonder how the stability is compared to the EGO?

Cheers
Rich

Thanks Pro Merc,

Will you have the ATV's at Kitestock, looks like t huh is year 12m kites will be the smaller kites out again?


Cheers
Rich.

here are some pics of the bar and line setup,
1st is the front line safety, this is standard and how the bar comes in the bag.




2nd is the depower stsyem, above the bar cleat. PU tubing over the safety and the centreline




3rd is the Forged stainless steel union, this thing will last through a nuclear war!




4th is the Pro kit installed, this allows kiteloops and rotations without the centrelines getting all twisted and worked up. only for advanced riders.




5th is the complete overview, note the PU on the leader lines, this keeps them stiff and stops any accidental wrappage of them around your bar ends.