The new HQ Beamer looks good !! Its delivered in a plain black backpack complete with a pair of padded alloy handles and two pairs of 20m lines on separate winders which are easy to set up! ( 140/70Kg for the 1.8m and 220/100Kg for the 2.5, 3.6 and 5m) on . The line sets are good quality dyneema with knotted, sleeved ends and better than those supplied with a PKD Buster.

General construction is good with neat stitching and some reinforcement (but not up to Ozone standards). The centre section of the kite has diagonal ribs (check out the striking colours on the 3.6m). Both leading and trailing edges are fully reinforced but internal rib vents are simply cut out. The bridle is made from typical thick "bridle line" hence fairly bulky looking and attachments are knotted rather that sewn.

Tests were carried out on the 2.5m, 3.6m and 5m kites. Setting up the Beamer is very easy. The brake bridle on each side has a series of adjustment knots - about three knots from the end is a good starting point. Once everything is attached the kites launched well.

The 3.6m kite flew very nicely "straight from the bag" with no problems at all, accelerating quickly up to the zenith and was stable. Its not quite as quick as the 2.5m but generates much more power in the same conditions and turns well. The 5m is slower and less responsive (as expected for a bigger kite) but still controllable and stable. Beginners with little or no experience found the Beamers particularly easy to fly.

In flight the kites still look a bit crumpled and not "filled" out but overall performance was still good. In a 15mph wind the 5m was certainly powerful enough to lift for some small jumps and in fact the overhead lift is "high" compared to Busters and Ozone's Little Devil and new Samurai of similar size.

The 3.6 was tested with a Flexifoil buggy (on grass) and offered good, solid power. It suffered a little in the gusty conditions but nevertheless allowed some high speeds and fast turns. Of the three kites tested I preferred the 3.6m since its a nice compromise of power and agility (and also looks the best with the yellow fabric and red diagonal ribs).

In terms of value for money, the Beamers are "spot on". I'm not too sure about the durability of the kites with their fairly simple construction and knotted bridle but I guess with a little care they'd be perfectly OK. The bag is Ok - nowhere as good or strong as Flexifoil's or Ozone and it has a massive plastic zip on the front pocket which is too small to be of use really !!!! As a "cost effective" kite the Beamer competes well with PKD's Buster so its quite a tough choice between them. As I've suggested the 3.6m in particular fills a useful gap in sizing between the 3m and 4m Buster. The Busters are perhaps slightly better made only let down by the poor line set and simple drawstring bag?

Current RRPs for the kites (ready to fly) are : 1.8m (white) £96.95, 2.5m (red) £114.95, 3.6m (yellow) £139.95 , 5m (blue) £174.95 and 7.0m (orange) £199.95.
Finally a brief shot of the new 7m kite with its orange and white colour scheme. It was test flown in a very light breeze -no more than 3 or 4mph at times however it handled very well. The power was still "solid" and turns were quick for such a large kite. For the price (£199.95 RRP) it would make a useful light wind kite. We'll try to match it against a few other kites of simialr size when conditions permit however first impressions are positive.