2015-04-10

2.8m Fantasy Rainbow Tulips Single Line Delta Kite

Verdict: Good SLK (Single Line Kite) for the money. Recommend to get one or more tails.

I bought this kite for having something larger I could attach tails to. I bought it as a nice looking 3m kite, despite it being 2.8 meters. It is available from Emmakites, eBay, and AliExpress in price range from $30-35.


I have borrowed the kite photo from http://emmakites.com which is a seller I can highly recommend. Very good service.

The kite I got included 25-30 meter of line, which really is too short for such a large kite. So I bought 250 meters of good 250 lbs kiteline, the yellowish type on a spool, from Emmakites to get it higher up. This line handles better than the fishing line of the same strength, which can be used as well with same flight performance.

One problem with kites, nobody can really see how large it is when it gets up in the air. Everybody that walked up to me to talk was surprised the hear it is close to 3 meters wide.

The kite I got had 2 small cuts in the material, and I applied some ripstop kite patches to them. Got a little refund for the issue from the AliExpress seller.

The kite will fly in relatively low wind, and generate a good pull. Deltas are kites often used for Kite Aerial Photography, as the can easily lift some weight, without generating too much pull. I use a screw-shaped dog-stake to hold the kite.

I have had it go into death-dives a few times, which is normal for most delta kites. But relaunching it was easy, just go to it, turn it the right way, and throw it in the air. After I started flying with tails, they add enough drag to avoid most of these dives. I have 3 tails I use depending on wind conditions. In stronger wind, I use 2x 10 meter + 1x 30 meter tail. Weaker wind just the 2x 10 meter.

In strong wind the composite tubes bend quite a lot, and I was afraid they would break, but they are holding up surprisingly good.

The weakest point of the kite is the strap sewn on the backside, which you use to tie the rods together in the cross. It is starting to flail on the sides. Should have been sewn/heat treated at the edges. Still, it will last for a long time before it needs to be replaced. Apart from this workmanship is good, and the tubes in the edge is inside a pocket closed with velcro, and stays there when packing up. One minor issue is, that tubes are different length, and not marked. So remember to mark them on first use as vertical or horizontal.

Packs down in a pretty small bag, 85 cm long, and probably 5-7cm in diameter.

I really like this kite. I usually put it up and park it at the dog stake when I fly my other steerable kites.

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