15m LW Rise
10m Razor
7m Rise

I’m 180lbs, have a 135x41tt and a 145x48tt for really light winds.  I currently have 8/10/14 2009 Rises.  Kiting 7 or so years, solid intermediate, no unhooked tricks (yet).  I live in UT, where winds can be light and are gusty more often than not.  usually put in a trip to the gorge every year and 1-2 trips to tropical locales.  a lot of people here in UT run Zephyrs for their lightwind kite.  I’m decided on the 15m LW rise, i’ll get a lot of use out of that.  I want to keep it to 3 kites and every now and then i feel like i’d like to have something a little smaller than my current 8m, so i’m also fairly set on the 7m rise at the small end (i would have gotten the 7m if they made one in ‘09 - just didn’t think i’d use a 6m much).  So the question really is, is that 10m razor the right middle kite?  I’m figuring that the slightly larger step from the 15m to the 10m vs. my old 14m to 10m spread would be eased by the better low end on the razor.  just thought i’d throw that out for the crew’s opinion.

Hi miltsface,
I’m a lot heavier than you and I have similar thoughts now, I own 13m and 7m Rises and the 10m Razor. I feel the Razor is very close to the 13m in terms of low end grunt. The 13m is a fantastic kite but now there is so much overlap… The 15m should probably be the ultimate complement.

why not go with a 6/10 razor
or a 7/10 rise
I’m not a fan of of mixing rise/razor sizes so close together, they are too different for me in the way they fly.
I did a back to back with a 2011 10mrazor and 10mrise and to be honest they both had a lot of low end power for my 155lbs. So if your mixing for a extra knot or 2 out of a razor….i dont’ know if that’s worth it. If your mixing to get the 10m razor style difference maybe OK.

While I agree with Marc on the differences between the 2 kites (you can read my summary of thar here) I would say that that quiver - for what you want from it - would be OK.

The reason being that the 7m offers you a massive high wind wind range, I used the 7m all last season in huge winds and even on the not so windy days (I am 185lbs, would use the 7m for days close to 40knots down to 25+ before jumping to the 9m). The 10m Razor is an incredible kite too and turns super fast, the one concern is that it might not be entirely comfortable for you at the edge of the jump from 7m to 10m, as it doesn’t offer a ton of depower on the high end.

For what its worth, my quiver last year was 7/9/11 Rise. This year I am going 6/8/10 Razor and yes, if I needed a light wind option I would make the jump immediately from the 10m to the 15m, just be sure to have a surf board to carry the 10m a little further before you make the jump to the 15.

Muddied waters, that’s my specialty!

Thanks for the input.  John, that’s exactly why i’d go with a 7m rise for the small kite, the big top end.  i’m not really worried about the 10m-15m jump, my current 10m-14m jump is no problem, and i’ll be able to adjust for the slightly larger gap with different boards, but it sounds like the 10m-7m jump would be easier if the 10m was a rise, not a razor.  also, since it tends to be gusty here, i might do better just sticking with the rise throughout.  guess i’ve got some time to think about it.  Thanks, all.

Your fine with either rise or razor in 10m.  Don’t make that decision based on range. make it based on the style of kite and riding you want.