This kite may not be made to the standards of those costing three times as much, but it should last plenty long, lifted into the air like a breeze, and flew with grace and stability. A huge splash of color in the sky, and great value for the money. Just be advised a kite this size is not for small children, and will pull pretty strong in a good wind. Use with a quality winder, not the cheap give aways that come with most kites.

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This is a great Kite, easy to launch and so fun to fly! Build time from included carry bag to fully assembled was less than 5 minutes. Connected the string from a reel that I also bought here on Amazon and the Kite was in the air with ease. This kite is a big one, so it looks great in the sky...bright colors and super long tails.I had a small issue with the first kite I received...sent Mint a message through Amazon, to which they promptly replied and quickly resolved the problem. I am very happy with my purchase from Mint and will definitely be back for more of the awesome products they have to offer!!

I haven't flown kites in a long time, and I took this out to the beach on a day that quickly became much too windy. It was perhaps too windy even when I started, but by the time I got the kite really flying high the wind had started to pick up pretty significantly and the gusts were getting pretty bad. I was definitely ready to go home but was having a hard time in actually getting the kite back. I was getting pulled around a bit and was having a hard time reeling the thing back in even with a 'Hengda kite Reel' winder I also bought. I was even having a tough time stopping it from going out further whenever I unlocked the winder and got bashed by the spinning winder handle a few times. My hands were getting fairly well beat up by the winder and the string (whenever I foolishly tried to grab onto it). A lot of force was on this thing. I went back and looked at the weather history and it lists the speed in the area when I was flying as 22mph with gusts between 30 and 40.The kite rods bent rather than breaking even under some pretty extreme flexes where the kite was deformed from its intended shape during strong gusts. Trying to pull it back in, I ended up putting it into the water at quite a distance out and was sure it was trashed, but I was able to haul it back in to the beach by the string. It was wet and sandy but nothing appeared to be broken or ripped.I had the bright idea to try and clean and dry it by flying it some more very low and it ended up getting out much further than I wanted again and I put it in the water for a second time. Again I was able to haul it back in and nothing was broken.The only thing that seemed amiss was that the metal tubes that connect the main rods must have bent a bit or something because the main rods did not want to come apart after everything. I imagine I will be able to take them apart again with a little effort, but I was having a hard time telling which side was supposed to come out and which side was supposed to stay with the tube, and I didn't want to break the rods after all that. Also I was about done with kites for the day at that point.Basically I'm very impressed with the durability. I don't know much about kites, but I know I beat this one up pretty hard and it was essentially unharmed. This thing got absolutely battered by wind gusts, dropped in the water twice (easily 75+ yards out) and hauled it back out by the string underwater. The second time I was putting some real force on it too, it must have been dragging on the bottom or getting really pushed around by water flow because I had to put the string over my shoulder, lean into it, and haul it up the beach. I'd go up a ways, and then wind string back in as I walked down to the water again, repeatedly. It was just too hard to wind it by hand.Overall it seems really easy to get flying, and I was very impressed at how well it stood up to the punishment I put it through. Also its pretty easy to assemble, there are 3 rods that just slot together and go across the length of the kite through some loops and into a pocket on either end. There's also one shorter rod per side that go down diagonally. The shorter rods that go into the like open open areas in the center of the kite are already installed and you don't have to take them out to fold it.

The size of this kite makes me smile. Just can't help it. Flies great, and manages a really tall flight angle--almost straight up. Mint says they recently re-designed this kite. If so, they did a great job--only five removable spars. Three connect (with ferrule)s to make a single 8'2" leading edge spar, and two stabilizer spars give the wings some structure. The nine spars that build the three center boxes are all sewn in. What I really appreciate are the finishing touches. Extra-deep pockets to hold in the removable spars. Different-colored connector-ribbons at the start of each tail, so you can remember which is left and right (useful if you have to balance the tails). And I love the use of ribbons as connector loops--both on the kite itself and to attach the tails to the swivels. Of course I immediately swapped out the traditional-style cut-your-thumbnail swivels, replaced 'em with thumb-friendly coastlocks. (But that's pretty much par for the course these days.) And the 50' tails are sized perfectly--much better than a pair of 30s or 35s. As a few others have mentioned, this kite becomes unhappy at about the 5 mph mark. So if you're flying in 5-10, watch it carefully. All in all, this is a quality build, resulting in a sturdy big kite that literally leaps into the air. One final note: When you're launching the "Radar" kite, it may not seem like it's pulling hard. But once it's up there and it's time to haul it down, holy cow that kite has a ton of lift. What a great choice.