The Kiteboarder Magazine

If you want to get noticed at the beach, you might want to buy a Hydra as this kite looks like nothing else we’ve ever tested.

The Gypsy is a great all-around kite, performing equally well in the waves, unhooked, and for big air jumps.

The Religion is RRD’s surf-specific kite, and its construction details show that it’s meant to take a beating.

According to our testers, the T5 was well-behaved and never did anything unexpected.

Right out of the bag, the first thing we noticed about the Rebel was the attention to detail on the kite.

When we first started flying the Charger, we were surprised by how well it flew in light wind. It never hinted towards stalling, and even in light wind it turned with ease.

Unhooked, the Trix performs very well and it never has the tendency to back-stall. In the waves, the Trix feels nimble and responsive, and has great downwind drift.

Placed anywhere along the edge of the window, the Kahoona required minimal attention to fly and showed no signs of stalling.

The Boss never seems to distort or flutter and is an amazingly smooth-feeling kite.

Once inflated the most obvious feature of the Nemesis NXG is the use of Cuben Fiber in the leading edge, which allows this kite to have a much smaller LE than other kites.

The Bandit 3 got a few upgrades this year that greatly improve the usability of the kite. New for 2010 is a one-pump system and a shorter bridle.

The Genetrix Origin is an amazingly simple and easy-to-use kite. The bar pressure is light-medium and steering is smooth and direct.

The 2010 GK Sonic looks completely different than last year’s V-Sonic and the trademark bump (lovingly referred to as the nipple) on the LE of the kite has been eliminated.

The 2009 RPM was a big success for Slingshot, and the 2010 RPM shows minor refinements over last year’s model, as opposed to a major redesign.

The Screamer is the first kite from new company Epic Kites tested by The Kiteboarder Magazine. For a first-effort, we were very surprised to see the attention to details on the construction of the Screamer.