I was given the chance by Flexifoil to try out the 5.5m2 Bullet. I was heading up to the Inner Hebridean island of Tiree, located on the west coast of Scotland with my girlfriend for a week to visit my relatives, who live there and thought that this would be the perfect chance to try out this kite. I had been informed by Flexifoil that I was about to have some major fun with the bullet.

After 4 hours on the boat from Oban, we arrived in Tiree at 9:30am, decision time, do we head to the house and say hello to the family or do we hit the beach as the wind was blowing a steady on shore breeze. To the beach it was, 2.5 miles of solid white sand all to ourselves. Jumped out of the van, got the buggy off the back and got the 5.5 unpacked and laid it out on the sand. First impressions, the bag is very well built as you would expect from a world famous kite manufacturer.

A couple of things I liked about the bag was there was a clip on the actual zip fastener which allowed you to clip them both together meaning you didn’t need to worry about the bag opening by mistake while in transit. Another thing I liked was the front had a mesh section allowing air to get in to the kite if you had to put it away damp after ditching it in the sea or being caught out by a shower of rain. Just put the bag in to your airing cupboard and it would dry out the kite, some good thinking there! The kite came with handles as I was going to be using it in the buggy but it can also be supplied with a control bar, Flexifoil have designed the bag so that a bar can be secured to the outside of it by buckles, again a nice touch by the design team. All in all a very nice bag, it was also very comfy to wear if you had to walk a distance to get to your chosen flying site.
Inside the bag was the kite (obviously), the kite lines, handles, kite killers and the instruction manual.
The instruction manual is very well made, it explains details such as how to pick a good flying site, the concept of the wind window and also a diagram showing you what each part of the kite is called, this is a good idea as newbies might get a bit baffled by the technical talk they might hear when flying with others.

The manual also shows you how to set up your kite and how to attach the lines, the diagrams within the manual were clearly illustrated and perfect for any kiter to follow whether you were a regular kiter or someone who has just bought their first kite.

It is obvious that Flexifoil have thought about the manual just as much as the actual kite, the other sections they have included in the manual are : The safety system (Kite killers), pre-launch precautions, launching your kite, steering your kite with handles, landing your kite with handles, reversing your kite with handles. Then for the bar they have included the same instructions as above but how to do it while using a bar. If you think this is brilliant then just wait for what else is included in this manual, instructions for how to secure your kite, how to wind up your lines, how to put away your kite, tuning tips, and also how to adjust the flying lines, this is no ordinary manual this has been a well thought out booklet, and if you have lost your instruction manual Flexifoil have placed it online at http://www.flexifoil.com/downloads.

So, now to the actual kite. I took the kite out of the bag and the first thing I noticed was the Velcro straps on the bottom of the kite holding the lines in place.

This prevents the lines from getting in to a tangle when you are packing away the kite or unpacking it, a good idea however I felt if I was flying the 5.5. Bullet more often I don’t think I would use these.

The vents at the leading edge of the kite have been covered with mesh, this is a good idea as it stops unwanted items from falling in to the kite, and this can be an issue when at the beach with sea weed or small shells falling in to the kite while it’s sitting on the beach, the down side of this mesh is that trying to get sand out of the kite can be difficult as it gets stuck behind the mesh, especially if the sand is damp!

With very little wind I staked out the 5.5 on the beach and waited.

The day went on and slowly but surely the wind picked up, and when blowing about 8mph there was sufficient wind to static fly I thought I would give it a go with the buggy.

This kite was hard work and didn’t have the power to turn fast enough to make it enjoyable so I called it a day.

Second time out and the wind was a bit stronger and managed to get roughly 30mins in the buggy with it, but I still didn’t feel it was performing as well as it should. I was getting worried, I was starting to think I wasn’t going to like this kite, I had heard some good reports about the 5.5 Bullet and here I was finding it a real pain to fly….third time lucky I thought.

For the rest of the time we were in Tiree the wind was either two strong or even lighter than the previous days, time was pressing on and the kite had to be sent back to Flexifoil in a couple of days, one last time I thought.

I headed up to my girlfriend’s sister’s farm, nice big fields to fly in and guess what….12 – 15 mph winds….perfect!

Headed out and unpacked the 5.5. it sat on the ground perfectly, inflated, waited to be launched.

On went the helmet, on went the kite killers, launched the kite and straight away I knew this was going to be good. The kite sat above my head and didn’t even think about dropping back down in to the power, so I sat in the buggy and off I went, this kite pulls with steady predictable power. Doesn’t over fly and only needs the smallest amount of brake applied to keep it in the power zone, take the kite high and very little amount of lift from it, take it back down in to the power and off you go again…this kite was so much fun in the correct wind, plenty power which made it turn on the spot, turning on the brakes wasn’t a problem, popped the buggy up on two wheels and there was more than enough power in the kite to keep the speed up while on two. Fantastic!! I wish it had been windier in Tiree as I would have loved to have blasted up and down the beach with this kite.

So, would I recommend this kite to others? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it as a low wind kite as it likes plenty wind, I wouldn’t recommend it to a newbie to the sport either as it could be a bit much for a first time kiter but I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a fast, predictable buggy engine. Flexifoil have done a top class job on this kite!

It was just a shame that I only managed to fly the bullet a handful of times in less than ideal conditions.

Review by Owain Williams.