Legend I.Q. Ultralight

Bert Tanaka has reviewed this kite twice(!).  Here are both of them...

Kite review - Legend I.Q. Ultralight
Legend Sport Kites LTD   (201) 701-1112
Chatham, New Jersey

Uses .5 oz. Icarex and Skyshark IIIP spars.  Wingspan: 81", height: 40.5",
weight: 7.6 oz., and windrange: recommended 1 to 12 mph.  Suggested retail
price is $270.

A friend of mine let me fly this for a day and as it turns out, this is
one of the best stunt kites I have ever flown.  In the beginning of the 
day the wind was blowing 10 to 14 mph, and near the end of the afternoon
4 to 7.  In the upper wind range, the IQ felt solid.  I didn't know in the
beginning that is was an ultralight or I might have waited for the wind
to decrease.  As it was, I whacked it around like a regular kite and never
got the feeling that it was fragile.  In the lower wind range, it was just
superb.

The IQ has a moderate nose angle, a fat, stubby tail, and a sail that's not
cut up very high.  It has no wing tips; the leading edge has bungi to hold 
the sail, but the last 6 inches of the sail have been removed so the wing
tip, except for the spar, is squared off instead of pointed. The sail has
a lot of billow - the whiskers are around a foot long.  Construction is
good, and the sail has an interesting 3D geometric figure on each wing.
The extra long whiskers are "too" long and are a very thin type that sort
of spring load the sail and act as a sail tensioning device.  Small rings
are used to gather the bridle tie points and to offer a place to fasten
your lines. The bridle uses a fixed inhaul system.

The IQ is completely silent.  Nada.  Nichts.  Nut n Honey.  I like it.
A medium pulling kite, medium-plus spinner, fast turning, with medium forward 
speed.  For team flying, the IQ has excellent constant speed.  I was amazed
at how even pulling this kite is on the edges and at the top of the wind
window.  Its like your lines are always tight.  Vertical climbs near the
edge have good velocity, yet, vertical drops do not end up as modified
dives. The IQ does just an excellent job of smoothing out gusty winds, too.
The IQ would pull strong and steady, although I was getting some bumps
in my lines from my other kites.  Another great team kite characteristic
the IQ has is that it does an excellent push/pull turn.  I would head
it straight toward the ground, and then do a hard 90 degree turn at the 
bottom.  The IQ makes the turn with dropping, and seemingly, without
losing speed. Some kites you have to fly up a little to regain your
line, and then keep the nose down as you near the edge.  This one you just 
pop the turn and it tracks so cleanly you could almost tape your hands
together afterward.  Its also very accurate, and very precise in a series of 
hard, snapping turns; doesn't flounder or lose air.

This thing is easy to axel.  The "coin" has been eluding me for some time
but I first got the timing for this tip stand axel combination with this
kite.  It axels really neat.  When you axel the IQ, its tail backs up into 
the air and kinda-sorta looks like its cartwheeling over its nose.  Since
it doesn't drop in the axel, you can axel it very close to the ground; 
closer than normal.  I was getting axel-mania and was trying to axel
it to a landing and came close to doing Steve T.'s double axel.  Really,
it was just a 1 1/2, but the IQ kept hovering around for that little bit of
extra rotation.  The IQ does the ground cartwheel well.  It rolls on the 
ground from wing tips, to edge, to nose to opposing edge up to wing tips
again with its body mostly in a vertical plane (some kites will, some kites
won't).  It also does the ground turtle (snapping the kite up to its wing
tips from a leading edge) pretty easy.  I felt that both of these stunts
could be done with less strain to the frame than what you might feel with
some other kites.

The IQ accepts the snap stall really well.  It can be stalled without rising.
It can be stalled heading toward the window's center.  It can do related
moves such as tip stabs and center window snap landings.  It took me a bit
to adjust to snap stalling with the line pressure the IQ has, but once 
done, this kite executes this move very easily.  Has average+ stability in 
stalls. Once you get used to it, it can be stalled solidly, with no rocking.  
Performs related moves such as side slides and slide/axels.

The IQ is also supposed to have a twin tensioning system (variable aspect
ratio) that allows it to adjust to different wind conditions that I don't
have the foggiest idea to how it works.  All I know is that I had a blast
flying it and for me, it most certainly is one of the kites that come
closest to that mystical all-wind-precision-ballet-team-radical kite.

I couldn't tip drag or turtle it high up - mostly due to the IQ's strong
forward drive and its habit of always trying to right itself.  No biggie.

tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka)

The Legend I.Q.

DESCRIPTION - Dual line delta, deep sail, with no material in the wing tips.
Uses 3/4 oz. ripstop nylon, HST 5.5 pultruded spars, and weighs 10.5 oz.
Height is 40.5".  Wingspan is 81".  The recommended wind speed 2 to 30 mph.  
Can be ordered in various colors.  Has a distinctive three dimensional
looking abstract figure on each wing.  The Legend IQ uses a twin tensioning 
system on its sail that consists of a fixed leach line and bungee cord set up 
that allows the sail to change shape and equalize pressure variances.  
Basically, this allows the sail to operate at max efficiency in low wind
conditions, but will change to release sail pressure as wind speed increases.  This transalates into quick acceleration in getting up to 
Uses a long, dynamic bridle, but with a fixed inhaul, static bridle.  This
kites flies silent.

TRACKING CHARACTERISTICS - The IQ is even pulling, and straight tracking, 
pretty much edge to edge, top to bottom.  For the competitive flyer, these 
characterisics are very desirable for team and precision events.  Teams 
generally prefer a constant speed in a kite because formation flying requires 
that all kites maintain the same speed with each other, whether they are near 
the center of the window where pressure is high, or high up or on the edge, 
where pressure is much less.  Likewise, in precision, a kite that can 
maintain good line pressure in all parts of the window will be a kite that 
can better execute the compulsories.  Typically, the hardest figures require
slow execution in high pressure parts of the window, and/or fast execution in
low pressure parts of the window.

TURNING CHARACTERISTICS - Another precision like characteristic that I like, 
is the ability of a kite to execute a good push turn.  A pull turn is wider, 
and takes more touch to do cleanly because unlike a push turn, you are taking 
tension off the line at the completion of the turn instead of adding tension  
which will stabilize the kite and make it return to line faster and cleaner.
The I.Q. does a very nice snap push turn - sharp, clean and it locks onto the 
line immediately.  If you snap pull the IQ, it will do a very small radiused
spin, and like its turns, returns to track quite nicely.  The IQ is not
particularly picky about how its adjusted, either.  Possibly to the use
of the fixed inhaul, you can bridle it extremely high, and it will still
turn in a small radius.  I've had it up in 2-3 mph winds adjusted 1 1/2"
above its sweet spot, and the IQ still maneuvered extremely well.  This
most likely accounts for its good low wind range.  Likewise, I've had it
adjusted 1" below the recommended sweet spot in 15 mph wind and it flew
quite controlably.  At this wind speed, it has moderate pull but will
fly pull even less if you add a Wind Tamer Screen.  Regarding the Wind
Tamer; my impression is that it doesn't relieve as much pull as on some
other kites, but it seems to degrade performance less on the IQ than on
some other kites, too.  Disclaimer - I don't have much experience with
the Wind Tamers - my area rarely gets winds high enough to justify putting
them on but my limited experience with them has been quite positive.

STUNTS - Its stable in the snap stall, and not surprisingly, also very steady 
in side slides.  Like its ultra-light counterpart, the IQ ground turtles and 
ground cartwheels easily.  By this, I mean that I don't get the sense that 
the frame is being overly stressed by doing these particular maneuvers
which generally are tough on spars.  Depending on how you bridle it, you
can make it real zippy, or very constant speeded.

Axel based moves are easy to perform with this kite and this ability is one 
of the IQ's strong points.  Half axels, slow axels, whip axels, and axels out
of loops, slides and stalls are all pretty easy to do with the IQ.  I don't
have a clue as to why this is so.  Generally, kites that fly with team like
tracking aren't as versatile at axel rooted moves because these moves
favor a kite capable of oversteering.  But it is this unusual combination 
of characteristics that first attracted me to the IQ.  This is a very
expressive kite.

Actually, most stunts in general are pretty easy to do the IQ.  The one 
exception that I have found is the tip stand.  With the IQ, you have to keep 
the nose up to maintain a solid tip stand.  Some other kites will allow their 
noses to be tipped down until their spines are parallel to the ground which 
when you're setting a tip stand, gives you a larger margin for error.

SUMMARY - This kite is one of the best all around kites that I have ever 
flown.  It is a competition level kite that is capable of even, consistent
performance in precision, but is also agile enough to perform well in ballet 
events requiring the execution of radical maneuvers, and the ability to stay 
synched up with difficult musical timing. 

For the fun flyer, the IQ is easier to fly in low wind, and relatively 
speaking, has less of the intimidating pull that some other kites will
exhibit in high wind.  Which means that a single investment will allow you  
to fly in all but extreme wind conditions.  True, the IQ is quick turning,
and agile, but it responds accurately which is a sure formula for a high
learning curve.  If you should decide to compete in the future, you'll
be ready.  Best of all, the IQ is just fun to fly and a great kite
to have with a good wind at your back.

Reasonably priced for a high end kite, I paid $165 (the catalog price),
from DJ Sport Kites, phone (800)-269-KITE.  Less my AKA discount. I don't 
have any connection with DJ's except that I like Dodd Gross, and out here
on the left coast, don't know of a place that handles Legend Kites.

        -Bert