Customer Reviews

Star Wars 3-D Deluxe Vehicle Kite - Luke Skywaker's X-Wing

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

THIS KITE DOES FLY!!! FLY IT AT THE BEACH.

I don't know why others had a hard time with it but I was able to have both the Millenium Falcon and X-Wing kites fly under constant wind (approx. 7~10 miles/hr). Both were pretty stable while in flight. I even tied them on a pole, walked away and they stayed airborne. I highly recommend flying these kites at the beach where the wind is "kite friendly" most of the time. I flew them at Newport Beach, California.

This kite is very nice to look at. It is a fairly realistic replica of Luke's X-wing from A New Hope; however, the kite has some very serious design flaws.
First of all is the assembly. Like the tagline says, it is very easy to assemble, which is a good thing because you will need to do so after every attempt at getting the kite to fly. The kite simply does not say together as needed for ordinary use. The support struts that give the kite shape are also very flimsy and once bent do not offer the necessary support to give the kite it's shape.
The kite is also not easy to fly. It will say in the air as long as you continue to run. It looks very nice doing so, but I have no interest in being a terrestrial parasailor for the enjoyment of others. Once again, because the kite is so flimsy, any attempt at keeping the kite aloft is foiled when the kite loses its shape and crashes in a heap.
Truth be told I have never had a "fancy" kite like this before, so maybe I was doing something wrong, but I really tried to give the toy the benefit of the doubt.

I would not recommend this kite to anyone, especially a child, as I myself was lost to frustration.

The Manufacturer should put on the box "Collectors item only - not intended for actual flight".

We passed this thing a few times in sam's club and finally bought it for my son as an easter present...we went to fly it today, and while it was in the sky it looked great, it only lasted for seconds at a time. It kept wanting to tilt left, tilt right, straight towards the ground. I could sort of keep it in the air by slackening the string till it straightened then pull tight, but generally this was extremely tough to keep in the air for more than 20-30 seconds.

As with another poster, it hit the ground so many times in an hour that the nylon over the nose ripped through and one of the cross supports broke!

I would NOT recommend this product for anyone.

"Let's blow this thing and go home ..."

No amount of "using the force" could help this Mark Hamill themed Star Wars X-Wing Fighter kite, whether it was to just get ten feet off the ground, or do something other than nosediving on it's initial ascent (hmm ... maybe that's why it's 'Mark Hamill' themed?).

As an avid kite flyer and someone who lives in an optimal location, Palm Desert, California -- (lots of good strong wind, open desert, and sunny skies) I spent three hours, fixing, rebalancing, hoisting, using a belay person -- you name it. Maybe I just didn't have enough of that 'metachlorian' running through my blood to give me that Jedi edge.

I spent too much money on this thing and wasted too much time. What a shame because it looks cool.

"Use the Return Policy, Luke!"

We have other large kites, like my big Red Baron I bought at Sams, that climb and stay aloft easily. This kite just seems too heavy. Maybe the manufacturer can ask a few questions. Or they might tell me to just go fly a kite.

This great-looking kite held high promise of soaring through the skies for hours, flashing over Imperial strongholds, engaging squadrons of nefarious TIEs, and looking good doing it.

Such was not to be. The construction was easy enough and seemed sturdy. Liftoff was problematic at best and always brief. My longest sustained flight was around two minutes, beating the Wright Brothers in time, if not distance. Repeated attempts in winds varying from 5-10 mph, and varying between one and two person launches, running launches, even pleading launches produced no discernable difference. In every case the kite heeded gravity's siren call and plunged into the ground. After a couple dozen collisions, the cockpit spars began breaking loose, causing the kite to collapse in the middle and crash even sooner than before. I can only hope the simulated pilot had an ejection seat.

The X-wing kite would look great hanging from an indoor ceiling, but it's usefulness ends there. Not a flying toy by any means.

Like the other reviewers - the kite would go up maybe 10 feet and roll over and nose dive into the ground. After about 30 minutes of trying to get it airborne, it broke - the wing supports ripped right through the ends of the wing. The worst thing is my son's friend had a $1 diamond kite that was high in the air within 5 seconds and stayed there the whole time we tried to get ours up in the air. Wouldn't recommend it...

I purchased this kite recently and took it back the same day. I was out at a local department store and noticed these kites in the toy aisle. Both my son and I were exited to purchase what looked a like high-quality and well-designed kite. Rarely have I ever purchased a kite that would not stay in the air.

Unfortunately, while this kite looks awesome, it doesn't stay in the air long. I think there is a design defect in that the center "triangle" frame that is connected to the front-center spine does not stay in place. Therefore the frame collapses and the kite makes a run for the ground. My son loved to see it go high into the air (after fixing the frame location), and then crash to the ground as the frame moved from where it was supposed to be. The good thing is that after all the crashes this kite took, it didn't break!

This review concerns the X-wing model. I have not tried the Millenium Falcon or Darth Vaders Tie Fighter. So, those may be viable options. Stay away from the X-wing fighter though..

Tried it the first day with high winds and lots of other kite fliers out that day....this wouldn't fly at all, and when it did get in the air it immediately crashed and broke...simply worthless.

Well my review seems to be the same as everybody else here. I also got the Tie Fighter I will review that to. I dont know if my expectations were out of line for these because I have two 3-d kites from a big warehouse store that are in the shapes of a tucan bird and a dragon and are easy to assemble and fly great of which these kites do neither (and they were cheaper). I did have some fun with the Star Wars kites but returned them because compared to my other kites they are basically broken. I think you could fix them with super glue and maybe some enhanced supports but for how much you pay you shouldn't have to do that, and also you couldn't collapse them at that point.

X-Wing
Looks cool but is a epic fail at being a kite. Like others have said the center support does not stay in place. Maybe if I super glued it and added some sort of ties to hold the triangle piece in place it would work. Also you would have to probably super glue all the other poles into place to nothing really seems secure on the thing. Its very interesting putting it together with the wind blowing it all over the place. The best I could get this kite to do was maybe 20-30 feet before the center support shifted and it nosed dived maybe 10-20 seconds of flight.

Tie Fighter
Looks cool as well not really as authentic with all the pole supports but it actually flies! Yes this one will actually fly but it had about 20 poles you have to install and the problem is after flying they will start to separate from each other causing it to become unstable and crash. Again a liberal about of superglue would probably fix this but really if I pay this much for a product I expect it to work. I did fly this for about 10-15 min straight at one point but every other time some poles would come apart after about 2-5 min and it would twist up or nose dive to the ground. A much better experience than the X-wing but nothing compared to my other 3-d kites.