The long awaited battle of the titans has finally gone down at Kurnell one windy spring morning. Kitepower's Alex and Alex put the Core XR5 and Ozone Edge V9 through their paces to see what the differences were and hopefully land on a verdict.
Conditions: Approx 25 knots NW Breeze
Kite Size : Both 10m
The Review:
First off both these kites are aimed at the Freeride/Big air market. So that means they are targeted for big lofty jumps, good depower and plenty of hang time.
- Both these kites are made by top tier brands build quality was good.
- Both these kites have a reasonably sized bridle with Xr5 having two pulleys and the Edge without any.
- Both kites have direct wingtip connections.
- Both these kites have fancy inflate valves for easy pumping.
- 10m Xr5 Retails at $ 2029
- 10m Edge V9 Retails at $2149
- The Xr5 was ridden on a Sensor 2s Bar and the Edge was ridden on the current model Water Contact Bar.
On the water
On the water both these kites performed well taking their rider easily into the 10+m range. The biggest difference between the two kites would have to be the bar pressure. The Xr5 had much lighter bar pressure whilst the Ozone edge had a heavier more 'direct' feel.
Whilst in the air the Core Xr5 gave more of a sheet and go sort of feel where as the Edge felt like it wanted to be flown a bit more actively. Both riders agreed that over the course of the session that whilst the edge was a bit more aggressive and probably jumped a bit higher, (sorry no woo stats to provide evidence) if you mistimed the jump it was more likely to overfly you. In comparison the Xr5 handled the gusts better and did a better job of covering your mistakes when you mistimed the jump a little or drifted a little too far under the kite.
Bar Comparison
Both bars feature a nice clean coated centreline set up which will resist wear far longer than the exposed rope centrelines. To be honest it was hard to fault either bar, both are quite refined and not different enough to change what kite you'd get. We wont go too deeply into the differences of each bar here (they have different sizes, chickenloop and safety systems) but during the test we specifically noted;
The ozone bar has a very large centre hole which felt a bit loose around a little bit after riding the snug fit of the core centreline. The Core Sensor bar has a very small chickenloop and small safety ring which made swapping the kites a bit of a pain.
Conclusion
Overall both Alexes felt that the average rider would get more out of the Core Xr5 due to its ability to deal with the gusts and its reluctance to overfly and drop you. However the Ozone Edge would reward a more advanced rider who could more actively fly the kite and load the edge on rail better.
Both these kites are available for demo so drop by the shop, take them out for a test ride and see what you think. We'd love to hear any thoughts or question in the comments below!