Time for me to chime in....I have a 15m Ion Flexi and, well, the leading edge leaked. I also take care of my kites and never leave them in a hot car which I believe contributes to melting the seals around the valve causing leaks.

Anyway, Chris repaired mine and I thank you for that.

yep, me too, i have a flexi ion, and after about 1 year of use, my valve on my smallest strut went and i had to get it replaced with an airtime valve. overall i really like my flexi ion, cabrinha sb 2 combo.

I have rode BEST kites since day 1.

I have had 3 major issues and all have been covered 100%.

Issue 1 - leaky bladder in a new waroo. Best shipped me 2 replacement bladders next day air. I still have 1 thats never been used. This was arranged thru Extreme Kites. They called BEST and BEST direct shipped to me.

Issue 2 - Waroo bar came apart during session. I bypassed Extreme and contacted Simon from BEST via PM on the BEST forum. He contacted me back withing 24 hours with his direct phone number. I called him, he conference in a sales rep and they got me a replacement bar (next years model btw).

Issue 3 - 4 month old Waroo 9m leading edge seam burst while riding. Thru Extreme Kites I got a replacement kite shipped in about 1 week. I had to pay for shipping my old kite back (about 15 bucks).

I would *assume* that any reputable retailer would get the same level of service thru BEST that Extreme Kites does.. I have not had a single bad or slightly annoying episode. I have heard stories about Flexi and North that would make me go postal.

Good luck Chris! and give me a call when you get a chance ...

I won't get into tons of detail, but we have been able to offer great customer service with the support of Adventure Sports and Cabrinha at WSW.

I have heard equally good stories with Best and EK.

It goes to show you that having both of these companies distrubition centers in Florida is very helpful when problems arise. Bottom line, if you kite, you are going to have problems. The key is in the resolution.

So it seems a no brainer when you look around and the majority of kites in FL are Best and Cabrinha.

It's all in the service!!!

Let's keep this run of wind coming. Clearly February is here!!!!

valves and kites
 

my buds and i have had valve problems with north, flexi, slingy, gaastra, rrd, naish and older cab's

have not seen any problems so far with the new fancy schmancy cab valve set-up but have seen lots of cabs (07s and older) tear and come apart too easily, heard that cab has made them tougher since 07

one of our buds has a gk sonic where the factory stitching did not catch for several feet along the LE and he has had major blow-outs, definitely a factory error but factory said "out of warranty" (valves are good though)

so, which is better, i dunno

I've gotta agree with Brian. Best has their haters, and everybody likes the feel of a different kite, so your brand is your brand. But, Best is there for you when you need them. They might not fix the problem, or give you exactly the answer you want but you have so many options to get in touch with them. You can call during normal business hours and always get a live person(at least the multiple times I've called). If you're out of the country you can call via skype over their website(cool touch eventhough I'm not a skype user), and if all else fails, there's SQ(Simon) moderating their forum. He answers questions whenever you direct your question to him in a post. From what I've seen from people complaining about product problems in their forum, if it seems to be a manufacturer error or problem, they try to right it. If its obviously not their issue, they come out and say it.
I ride Best because I'm used to their kites and they fit me. I originally bought Best becuase I saw they were easily reachable if I had an issue my instructor didn't know about.
I know plenty of people don't like the feel of a Best kite, or their history of being an internet retailer, but if you've ever used their support, you'd know what I mean