The other day, KHK asked what kind of kite they should be looking for at the #KTAI show (the trade show for commercial kites). I said that the kite that's missing right now is an old-school, 2-line diamond kite like I learned on when I was knee high to a dogstake.
Why? Well, it's often the best kite for teaching people (anybody, not just kids) how to fly a stunt kite:
They're slow, unlike most deltas, and it's easy to adjust the speed with tails
They're cheap
They have no pull, even in high wind
They're hard to break (but not as tough as a foil, I suppose)
They're easy to put together compared to deltas
The disadvantage is that they take a lot of wind to get going -- 8 or 10 mph in the hands of a beginner, I'd estimate. (I've heard the same about the Switch.)
I deal with this by using extra-light string (usually 50# shanti skybond or speed), but it still gets difficult here in no-wind-land. I'd be thrilled to buy a two-line diamond that could fly down around 4-6mph. It's probably have to be made with SUL parts like light ripstop or Icarex and graphite rods like those in a Prism 4D. I'd be willing to pay almost as much as a 4D for it, and because the sail is 2D, it would have to be cheap to build.
Some current options for this kind of kite (if you've got 10mph to fly it in):
Simple 2-line diamonds at Klig's
Dynakites (awesome in a stack, still suffer from the wind range issues)
The Prism Switch (haven't flown this one)
