Pansh Aurora 12m

Rider: 82kg, intermediate
Style: Freeriding, Surf, and Freestyle
Weather: 5 to 10knots (static flying review for now)
Build Quality: 9/10
Satisfaction: 8/10
Disclosure: nah, just a poor man with a desire to kite as many different kites as possible.

Ok. It's obvious most of us shun at cheap rip-offs or cheap kites, especially made from China or Taiwan, and yet most of our kites are guess what? Made in China or Taiwan!

So I thought... well what the heck. I had spare cash for a 2nd hand Flysurfer Speed 2 or 3, or a HQ Matrixx or Neo. Those two were my top priorities. I was also thinking maybe I should have gone for Elf or even the Ozone Chrono, as that kite is coming down in price by the hundreds almost every 3 months now.

Basically I wanted a light wind foil kite. I've got enough LEI kites and frankly, I am a bit bored with them to some extent, plus the pumping required.

I wanted something that I could use on land and water, put into the boot of the car without fear of delaminating the valves or other sticky parts, and a compact package I could take anywhere with the kids and wife.

Suddenly the money hungry tsunami of being my son's school programme, sports and bills came looming, so suddenly my budget went from over $1K to under $500!

Come in PANSH! (www.panshkites.com)

As some of you know, PANSH has been around for over 10 years now and have had a pretty bad reputation back the beginning, with plenty of disgruntled customers the world over (check out foilzone, powekiteforum, etc). Their kites back then, with the exception of the Ace I believe, were pretty poor when it came to high profiles, up-wind ability and general kite control and stability.

Well this is now their 15+ year and their R&D has come a long way.

Yeah sure maybe they are the "bootleg" of kite makers at the moment, as some claim they've ripped off Flysurfer and HQ designs (don't ask me how!). But I am a bit more optimistic and leave it to the fact they were **** back then, why suddenly are they good now? Well like I said, R&D. Not all Asians are rip off artists, and I am saying that from experience in China and Hong Kong.

I digress.... (GET ON WITH THE REVIEW!!!)

Ok.

The PANSH Aurora and most recently their PANSH First models are the closed-cell, self-inflatable kites that many of us are used to from Flysurfer, Peter Lynn, etc. Their other models are open-cell variaties and they are only suited for static or land kiting with a buggy or land-board. They are also fixed bridle, meaning there is no depower option.

However their Aurora and First models are full depowerable kites, with a high profile arc, front and rear 4-point connecting points and closed-cell, meaning you can use it over water or land.

I bought mine 2nd hand from a QLD local, and he only used it 3 times but decided it wasn't worth keeping it collecting dust as he's a mad Flysurfer kiter. At first I thought, don't sell me a crap kite. But after checking out PANSH all over the internet and talking with people, like I said, they've come a long way.

Their 2015 PANSH Aurora is sweet as!

It's very similar in performance to my Speed 3 12m kite (which I still have), but the advantages are as follows:

* Faster inflate
* Faster deflate with four small zippers on the underside and a deflate port in the middle
* Ronstan pulleys (2 on each side) and super smooth
* Silky smooth, Lotus treated kite material. The SAME as what Flysurfer have used on their Speed 3 deluxe models. Well it looks and feels the same to me.
* Light weight (without bar - under 3kilos, with bar around 3.5kg)
* Self inflates and flys in under 5 knots!! **THIS IS WHAT GOT ME FROTHING**. My Speed 3 cannot even come close in anything under 8knots. Even my Naish 15m SLE cannot fly in under 10 knots! I am referring to static flying only at this stage. I'll do a review of it after kite surfing when we get more favourable winds.
* Thin lines and bridles
* Use with any 4-line bar. I flew mine straight out of the box with my Flysurfer Speed 3 bar.

I'll round up by saying this kite is very close to the newest Speed 3 deluxe kite of similar size and perhaps even outperforms the 15m.

Don't believe me? Check this video (of the 22m - their biggest in hardly a breeze!).
ps: What is that? A twin-tip keel!?

Except that the Aurora is a depower (closed cell) foil so you power them up like a regular kite by pulling the bar in. The Pansh Ace is the most recent (?) foil they did that flew off handles. The Aurora is I believe the only water suitable kite.

The early aurora models needed a bridle tweak to get them to fly nicely. Various Russian sites have pdfs showing how to construct a mixer bridle to make the kite fly better.
I have heard comparisons to a flysurfer speed 2 in terms of performance so still a long way behind the current leaders at the moment.

The price is tempting but you have to match your own 5 line bar and you'll have to tune the kite yourself before it flies properly. Probably fun and educational if you have the free time but .... I'd rather be out on the water instead. Guess it depends on how many windless days you have as to whether its worth it.

bigtone fairly sure that's not lofty in the vid, water is brown in his area! You're right though big gains upwind for such light wind.

If anyone wants to buy one, it appears Pansh do regular sales with big discounts, I'd wait for one of those. At the moment I think it's 'buy 2 get one free'.

Worth considering ParaAvis too, their pricing is somewhere in between Pansh and Ozone but they're very well regarded in Paragliding world... have a look at GVX

I just grabbed a few second hand chrono kites from seabreeze. Plenty of racers looking to sell for upgrades to R1's and they are generally very well looked after.

Anyone know if Peter Lynn foil kites would be suited to kite foiling / racing and how they compare price and performance wise to FS , Ozone / etc?
theyve been around along time with foils so I am surprised they don't seem to have jumped into the new foiling craze.
( I use the LEI Peter Lynn's currently)

I like how half your review was talking about your financial situation.
EDIT: actually looks like a good kite at a good price, cheers lofty

Speed3 12 regular not getting you out in 8 knots and you're surprised? Ho ho ho!

Sheeting in is not "depowering" the kites -- if they're losing power, it's because they're choking and back stalling or are about to. Most obvious causes for this are:
1. not enough wind.
2. lines out of tune
3. mixer tuned poorly
4. pilot is a ham-fisted twit.

1, 2, and 4 have the same effects on LEIs; especially 4, if 1 and 2 are in effect.

Like the vast majority of kites, Flysurfers shohld have their lines equal at the pig tails with the bar sheeted right in. If you have 50cm (!!!) longer steering lines and are still choking the kite then your mixer must be so far out of tune and you must be a complete twit, ham-fisted or otherwise.

Skip the pdf and start with the manual. Get someone who can do it properly to set your Speed3 12 back to stock and then learn to fly properly. This is all assuming your repairs haven't left the canopy in state so far out of spec that it won't fly no matter how well it's sorted out...

Or or buy a cheap new Pansh and hope you don't need to fiddle with it. There are good reason they're not everywhere on beaches...

sorry but that kite looks terrible lolsBest guy to ask about Pancho kites is Alex Sans ;)
but i think he now got Flysurfers, i reckon he will never look back as they are the ducks nuts