Freevol LX

Freevol LX

Freevol LX

Another strange Quad line kite!.This was spotted for sale on the Flexifoil forums at a reasonable cost - and as it was somewhat different (i.e. strange) I wanted to give it a go. The Freevol LX is (or so I'm led to believe) a French design from around 1999 and is no longer in production.

The 4 sails, or blades, rotate independently - pull back on the top of a handle the top blade is pulled towards you, the bottom blade away from you - it's very obvious watching it! All done from a very complicated bridle arrangement. Flight direction is simply controlled by the angle of each of the blades.

Purchased: August 2004

Details

Width : 150 cm Height : 150 cm Depth : n/a Weight : 200 g

Spars : 4& 8 mm Carbon Fibre Sail : Ripstop Nylon

Wind Range : Medium

Cost : £40 second hand - no longer made and as far as I can tell there is no other Internet information.

Good Things

    • Very very nice design.
    • Extremely controllable - flies in any direction equally well.
    • Fast!
    • Appears to be very precise.
    • Spins are very fast and on the spot.



Bad Things

    • Can be confusing working out which way is 'up' (especially after one of it's fast spins!)
    • Not too happy with gusty winds.
    • A somewhat limited wind range, it certainly needs a fair breeze to get it air born, but too much and it is uncontrollable.
    • The dive-stop manoeuvre doesn't seem to work as well as with other quad line kites.
    • Putting it away on a windy field makes the Synergy Deca look easy (all that bridle line).

Final Thoughts

A very nice kite - more controllable than the Papillon, especially in sideways flight, but does struggle with gusty winds. If a gust gets behind a blade knocks it forward then there is a tendency for the whole kite to fall face down. It doesn't do Revolution style things - the spin is to the Freevol is as the dive-stop is to the Revolution.

This is one of those kites that it just pure enjoyment to fly - it's great to fly at festival - or simply when you want to fly something different.