[REVflyer]

Guy, you can feel it when you start to tune or modify towards your own personal preferences, regardless of others' input.
You like it, so you use it YOUR own way!

I'm no master class flier by skill, but I enjoy these kites probably a lot more often than most people do. Since I have lots of hours invested not much phases me, I can fly in crap wind, bad weather & demanding locations. Others can make it look better & easier but nobody can fly when I can not, so I'll also join 'em given the opportunity!

Go hang with the great Rev pilots in your country, drive a few hours each way and get a coach to take you under their wing, show you the tricks and let you try out their equipment. There are no big secrets, we all share what we have learned (or purchased) if you look like you're interested enough to come over and say hello. This single action may cost you some funds for fuel, meals or housing but it will cut years off of your learning curve and save you thousands of euros in the long run.

Age is not a concern, I get beat-up in competitions by both the grandmothers and the smallest children, it's all good.

[SkyPuppet]

Now that I've spent a good deal of time with my standard sail B-Pro, I can compare it to my standard sail B. Here's my 2 cents.

The leading edge (LE) and trailing edge (TE) work on the Pro is FAR superior compared to the standard B. I especially believe the LE on the Pro helps to give it the edge in performance over the B. The material is reinforced at every edge, by being folded (rolled?) over and sewn. It also just feels like different material than the regular B, but that could be because its still new-ish. I think this would make the Pro weigh slightly more than a B, but as REVflyer says, its about WHERE the added mass goes on the kite! The added mass on the Pro leading edge makes it considerably easier to throw (Race frame, 50 ft. line - no problem!), IMHO. From now on, I want ALL my Revs with the handmade, reinforced LE!!

The Pro does reverse flight better, tracking straighter and smoother than a B. I believe this is due to the TE being reinforced with an extra line of stitching that runs the length of it. While I'm at it, ALL the stitching on a Pro is better, with a considerably tighter stitching pattern than used on a B.

Lateral flight is much improved over a standard B. I think this is a culmination of all the things that are better about a Pro; the TE, LE, and general craftsmanship all coming together to improve flight. Upright lateral slides are way less twitchy than when performed with a standard B.

I must say, when it comes to the B-Pro, I've never flown a finer kite The Zen is now a close second, and only because of its limited wind-range.

B-PRO 4 LIFE

[kwmf]

SkyPuppet, on 23 January 2012 - 06:35 PM, said:

The material is reinforced at every edge, by being folded (rolled?) over and sewn. It also just feels like different material than the regular B, but that could be because its still new-ish. I think this would make the Pro weigh slightly more than a B, but as REVflyer says, its about WHERE the added mass goes on the kite!

Having recently had the opportunity to spend a little time on a Pro (both standard and vented) I must concur with that. The material certainly does feel heavier and stronger than the factory B series, but when I weighed them the difference in grams falls into negligable variance. In the air it felt somewhat heavier at first, which concerned me me ... but I haven't really had an issue with it. While I lack the skill and experience to fully explore this, I think my factory B fly into a slightly lower wind range than the Pros I have handled, but the Pro goes higher than the B series.

I'm not sure if there is any difference in tightness on the leading edge bungees or how that would effect things, but thats just how it feels to me. I can fly the Pro in low wind without problems, but it feels to me like I have to give up stationary type moves for maintaining momentum and lift sooner on the Pro than I do with the B. I'm not complaining about this at all, just a difference that I'm feeling .... I can fly either which way.

[kwmf]

I'm so glad I found my original post here after spending a month with a Pro..

Originally, aside from feeling a difference in weight (perhaps balance of weight may be more accurate) and materials I mentioned above ... I couldn't really identify much of a difference between the two in terms of handling. Now that I have put some flight time in on the Pro, I can feel it when I go back to the B .... and I must say I try to avoid flying the B now that I'm used to the pro

I think the Pro is a kite that most will not feel the difference with, even when flying back to back with the B, unless they have a lot of experience and a very educated hand. I am currently of the opinion you will only feel the difference after spending time on the Pro and then going back to the B series. Until you've done that, you probably won't understand or justify why there is a price difference between the two.

The standard B is by NO means a bad kite, and if you never handled a Pro or only tried it once you would probably never be unhappy with your B series at all. It's only once you've spent some flight hours on the Pro that you will long for that Pro to be in your bag instead of the B.

In terms of what I've notices in flight so far, the Pro feels tighter, smoother and hangs in a lot longer in reverse before it's unhappy about how far you're pushing it. I also had opportunity to do basic pairs with a new guy with both my B and my Pro (he has a on the same day and I could clearly see a difference in flight. Because he doesn't have speed control, follows were all flat out with him in the lead - leaving me to react to any bad inputs he made. The B series pair flew almost identically, but when I switched to the Pro I could see a difference in speed, rotation, etc which I had to start accounting for to match with him.

Do you NEED a Pro series to fly revs .... no
Is the Pro better than the B .... yes
Is the increased cost justified .... yes
Is the increased cost worth it .... only you can answer that, and it requires handle time with the Pro

If it counts for anything, I've ordered my own custom set of Pro series after putting in the flight time to learn the difference