I just took delivery of a new 2011 Venom Zephyr and of course I had to take it out and assemble it right away. I was surprised to find that not only the color schemes have been changed but there have been some subtle changes to the sail as well. Here's my review so far.
Zephyr's by
Ca Ike, on Flickr
Frame:
There have been no changes to the frame that I can tell. It still has P100 leading edges, 5mm pultruded upper spreader, 3pt lower spreaders and .110 solid carbon stand offs.
Sail:
The first change I noticed in the sail construction is the leading edge. Gone is the soft dacron material in favor of a more robust rip stop material akin to heavy duty 1.5-2.0 ounce back pack nylon. This should eliminate the issues some have had where the LE material creased and wore out from folding at the LE ferule and be easier to clean as well.
The second change is the Trailing edge tunnel. This has been upgraded from the single fold, light weight, ripstop polyester material to a what appears to be a 3/4 ounce double fold rip stop polyester or nylon. NOt only is it a bit thicker material, but the cut edge is no longer exposed. Having the cut edges folded in before sewing will eliminate the fraying common on the older models and the thicker material should stop the leech line blow outs as well. This was probably the biggest complaint with the zephyr.
The tail, center T and standoff reinforcement patches have also been changed to a bit stiffer material. On my old Zephyr the stand off reinforcement patches softened up a lot causing a bit of a bubble at the fittings. This new material should keep the edge at the stand off fittings smoother. The stand off fittings have also been changed from the capped type to the low profile screw type fittings and although I never heard of any line snag issues with the old fittings, this is still a nice change and makes for a cleaner looking edge.
Photo0163 by
Ca Ike, on Flickr
The last change is in the bridle. Measurements are pretty much identical to the old model but color coded leaders were added for what I assume is just ease of flying line matching for the novice pilots.
Photo0157 by
Ca Ike, on Flickr
The bag:
THe new sleeve I have to say was a bit more than expected. I assumed it would be similar to the E3 bag and in some ways it is. THey are both expandable to hold the kite with LE's assenbled but the zephyr sleeve is big enough to comfortably fit two kites either folded or extended
2011 Zephyr Case by
Ca Ike, on Flickr
2011 Zephyr case(folded) by
Ca Ike, on Flickr
I didn't notice any sail geometry changes but this was a well designed kite to begin with and I don't expect any change in flight characteristics. THe changes that were made were much needed improvements to the durability in key areas of the sail. I've seen these changes suggested many times and its nice to know that Prism still listens to the concerns and wants of its flyer base.
