Hey Guys,
I am curious about the Hellfish, from the pics it looked like quite a high performance kite with unbelievable upwind ability.
Anybody got more details on it.
Cheers
Rich
Think it came with a 2 hr warranty.. you were lucky if it lasted that long - really.
LOL
The hellfish was amazingly pimped. Retailers went nuts even before anyone had seen them eh Mr Mchellfish?
The thread here was "i have a secret" if i remember rightly
Then for no reason they started to spontaneously combust....one after another.
It was quite a scene.
I remember chatting with Brownie who had a crinkly proto at the spit. I remember thinking at the time that won't last.
Looked more like something you'd wrap potatoes in.http://www.ikiteboarding.com/kiteboarding/articles/best-hellfish-review.aspx
Monkey Griffin (I think it was an '06). I would take the '05 Gaastra Visions I learned on ANY day of the week over that pig.
D
. Learn to kite with these (and a directional board) and everything else is easy to fly.
Some hellfish blasts from the past with the usual suspects.
Ahhhhh history 
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7181
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7226
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2315453&navi=1&button=forum
Ha ha - classic PR!
There is more shovels fulls of steaming stuff than a garden convention.
Ridiculous pimping and slagging from other brand ho's too. Certainly not unique to Best.
The M80 was more than a bit of a lemon too (unless your hobbie was stitching)and is being tarted about a bit.
Good ol Mr SS pimpy - wonder how he reviewed the SS Link when it came out? 100% honestly I bet. 
What i still can't work out is how Best thought they were going to get away with it? Surely the protos gave them ample warning - but no they promoted the bee-jeesus outta the biggest lemon to date.
More humble pie anyone?
Lesson here is sift through the hype and BS - and go try the kites 1st.
19m 05 Fuel was interesting. Had a rather narrow wind range, not great but not the worst.
Saw a guy flying a 25m Wipika 4 line. That sure looked fun.. not.
Naish V4 10m in about 2004ish, totally pulled to the left at all times and jelly fished about, was a excellent kite once you were totally powered up and going hard. They were canned after a few months and every person who purchased it, sold them quick.
LOLLing at this
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7785
ROFLMAO at this
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7821
.....and the realisation
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8872
...and the slave
That was gold Reli and McPimp/Shopguy was on fire with the Hellfish.
That would have to top the list along with the Missing Link.
XTC kites, Cabrinha Switchblade 2, PL Waterfoil - but the 3m does pull like a truck and stays fully inflated when it crashes ready to relaunch without notice and rip your arms off, 16m RRD Type 4.1 - steers like a truck, no safety release anywhere and takes hours to pump up and Best Waroo. My favourite was the Ocean Rodeo 15m sold to a guy rigged with 5m line extensions as the main lines, no QR and a wrist safety which when you released the bar just left your wrist attached to a fully powered and looping kite instead of your harness.
Heres some of the earlier Hellfish Hype
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7181&whichpage=1
kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2315453&navi=1&button=forum
To be fair though, didn't Best warranty all the smellfish and give you another kite?
Yeah in fairness to best they recompensated everyone who bought a hellfish, or so i am led to believe.
Taught me a few things tho, never ever buy a kite unseen, never believe the hype and try before you buy no matter what.
I've got a 25m Pheonix 2 which was the funniest thing to launch in the day. It was like trying to put up a circus tent. The thing pulled hard though, just don't drop it in the water 
Yep - although Best did huge damage to their rep, despite having made excellent kites (almost every time) previously and since, they did fess up and return the hard earns.
Unlike some other brands which are perceived to have a better rep who basically said "Aww gee now that the warranty is over that really was a sh!t kite - but get super stoked about this year's model which is faster/safer/better/etc etc etc and give us another wad ofya spendies!! Thank you come again..." 
So although there was a carton and a half of googs on the Best faces, I still think they have waaayyy more cred than some other brands out there for the way they eventually handled the mess up.
Yes, I ride Best kites - but have no affiliation or pipyness at all. I picked up my 2005, one season old kites super cheap, possibly due to the (at the time) recent loss of rep that affected the resale of the kites i bought. I absolutely could not fault these kites (for their vintage) in build, design or any other factor BTW. Lucky me I guess for not falling for the hype or brand bashing that went on. Must have had my BS deflected sunnies on at the time.. 
All companies make a citrus machine eventually, it says a lot about the company as to how they handle that though...
Pretty bloody happy i haven't owned some of the fruits listed here too. A bad kite makes for very little fun on the water. 
what about cab blacktips or contra F$$K IVE SEEN SOME SCARY TIMES WITH THOSE KITES BUT FUNNY WACHING
The "Widowmaker" kites:
-Naish X4
-Wipika Wip
-North Rhino 2
No brakes, slack back lines, so no steering and still balls to the wall
Sorry Slingy, I love your rev tho
