- I must say, from my testing so far,
I've flown the Artik R now several times,
several flights on a few different days
in quite a variety conditions
and I'm really enjoying flying it.
(gentle music) (wind blowing)
(indistinct)
So I'm gonna talk about the Artik R.
Well the first thing
that comes to mind for me for the Artik
is the feeling and the handling,
and I'm really liking it.
I've flown it now in quite a variety of conditions.
Everything from light scratchy conditions
to windy, choppy and punchy conditions.
So I've flown it in quite a variety of stuff
and I feel like I've got to know it pretty well now.
So the Artik R, yeah, the first thing that comes to mind
for me about it's the handling.
It's got very nice handling.
For me, the nicest handling
of all of the ENC two-liners I've flown so far.
The Gin Bonanza 3's got very nice handling too, mind you.
And what I mean by that
is when I'm trying to work
a small, difficult, punchy cores
or punchy bits of lift on the ridge
that's for me
where the handling starts to really matter more.
As well as the pleasure factor,
it's the kind of nimbleness.
The ability of the glider to actually work
tricky, punchy bits of lift.
And the Artik R's really nice like that,
it's got a nice agility
and it converts.
The handling's very direct
and it converts energy very directly.
And also the glider itself is very solid and taut,
right across the glider,
even when it's quite choppy air
and things are moving about
and I can feel the air's choppy
and I can see how the gliders are bouncing around me.
Even then the glider feels very cohesive and solid.
But at the same time it's not a plank
it's not like solid
and you can't feel what's happening.
It's really communicating what's happening in the air.
And none of the ENC gliders that I've flown before that
or flown so far are planks.
But I think the Artik R
gives the best feedback of the gliders
closely followed by the Gin Bonanza
which is even more solid and reassuring feeling
and also has that slightly lower aspect ratio.
The Artik R, like the Photon and the Volt 4
all have aspect ratios of 6.5
and the Bonanza 3 is just a bit less at 6.3.
Let's compare the three gliders
that have the same aspect ratio,
the Volt 4, the Artik R and the Photon.
And it really shows you
that yes, aspect ratio is an important factor to consider
but just because it's measurable,
don't overstate that.
It's not all about the aspect ratio
or this one factor or that factor.
It's all the factors combined together that make a glider
and make it how it flies
and how it is, and the safety.
So sometimes people overrate the aspect ratio.
Don't use that one factor to judge the glider.
And yeah, between those three gliders
with the same aspect ratio, 6.5,
yeah, they really feel very different
and they behave differently on the ground.
They have different pilot demands on the ground
and some are easier in lighter winds
some are easier in stronger winds.
So speaking of the Artik R,
I found that it's particularly nice and easier
when the wind's a bit lighter.
Even with very light winds, almost no wind,
the glider's just got a really nicely shaped leading edge
those Nitinol wires in there
and the way that Niviuk have put those together
where it forms a really nice shape on the leading edge
as does the Photon and the Bonanza,
but it sort of fills up and fills its shape
just a little better I feel.
And in the lighter winds what I noticed
was particularly with the Artik R
that it was very easy to inflate the glider
and bring it up and get it to inflate
which for the Photon I found a little trickier I think.
And the Photon has got smaller cells
and more of a pronounced sharp nose.
And then I'd say the Bonanza 3, a bit more forgiving.
Again, I'd say that the Artik R and the Volt 4
in that way are quite similar
in terms of pilot demands,
different in behaviour but similar in terms of pilot demands
the amount of finesse and forgiveness involved.
In stronger winds that tendency with the Artik R
of inflating its leading edge
requires a bit more management to hold it down.
And also if you bring the glider up
and pull too hard on it, you can come up pretty quick.
And I found in that way it's say less forgiving
than the Bonanza three,
which is particularly forgiving
and similar to the Photon in a different way
but similar pilot demands and also similar to the Volt 4.
Perhaps the Volt 4's a little bit more forgiving
in the way it comes up
because it's lighter maybe.
It's got less inertia
and you can pack it more compactly
than these gliders that have the plastic rods in them.
So the Bonanza 3 and the Photon
both have a lot of plastic rods in them
and I think they feel like they're quite thick plastic rods
because they don't wanna fold much
and you don't wanna fold them much
and they require much more precise packing.
Yet to be honest, overall,
I think in terms of handling, packing, performance
the Nitinol rods just seem like,
to me, they just seem like they're the best all round.
The downsides of them are the cost
they do increase the cost
of the production significantly I'm told.
And the other one is because the Nitinol rods are thinner
if you drag the glider about on the ground
if the terrain is rough
those thinner rods tend to mean
you're more likely to to scuff up the material of the glider
where the Nitinol rod is.
That's the feedback I've heard from repair centres
and also pilots and designers.
Anyone else heard different?
Let us know.
I'm getting cold now so I'm gonna put another top on.
Yeah, as always, when I'm doing these tests,
I'm first and foremost testing the glider
to get to know them myself
so that I'm getting to know all the different equipment
the gliders and the harnesses particularly
but all the other bits, as well.
And the reason I'm doing that
is so we can advise our customers
on what's the right and best kit for them.
So that's the primary reason
that I'm out testing kit like this.
What we do is as part of our Fly Bubble Match Service
we of course give a full opinion
and a personalised opinion to pilots
with all the equipment we try.
So pilots who sign up to our Match Service
it's really just saying that you are happy
to commit to buying your equipment from us
and in return
that means we're happy to commit our time
and our expertise to you
share with you our feedback
and give you a personalised review.
That's something that no review can do
is to give you a review
that's tailored and aimed at you.
Back to flying the Artik R.
So the first thing is that
the feeling I get in the air
is the leading edge of being very, very solid
and very cohesive right across the sail from tip to tip.
The glider feels very collapse resistant,
not extremely so, but it does feel very solid
and even flying in some chop
and I can feel the glider unloading a bit
but I didn't have any sizable collapses
in some quite choppy air.
At the worst I had was a tip flatter
and that was purposefully trying to not fly so actively
I mean maybe it's just me,
but the feeling I got from the Artik R,
it just instilled confidence in me
from the first time I flew it really.
It just feels very confidence inspiring.
But I'd still say definitely in terms of pilot demands
the Artik R has been more towards the high C,
so a bit of a step up from the Artik 6 for example
if we're sticking with Niviuk
or other mid C gliders
like the Sigma 11 or the Delta 4.
So the pilot demands are a bit of a step up
but I don't feel like they're a massive step up
quite similar to say the Volt 4
probably also similar to the Photon,
although I feel the Photon from my testing so far
might be just a little bit more of a step up.
The Artik R one of the key things, as well
is just keeping the glider flying for me
is that how forgiving is the glider on the stall point?
How clear is the stall point?
How obvious is it
when you can tell the glider is on the point
when it's gonna stall?
How much warning does it give you that the stall is coming?
How clear is that?
And I felt with the Artik R
that the stall point is pretty clear
for the level of glider it is.
It's yeah, nice and clear.
I didn't find it sort of vague or surprising at all
but I'd say compared to say the Artik 6
it requires a little bit more finesse than that
in terms of the stall point.
If you are flying around
with too much brake on the Artik R
and you pull down the brake too much
with that then I think you've got a risk
of spinning or stalling the glider
in a very similar way that you do with a Photon
and also the Volt 4.
But I'd actually say that the Artik R's stall point
is slightly more forgiving than those.
In terms of the performance.
As far as I can see,
the Artik R seems really, really excellent
at the top of the C class
and definitely up there at the top with say the Photon
and I think those two
in terms of out and out performance
when we're talking about particularly speed and glide
and fully accelerated speed and glide,
so far from my testing,
they seem to be the top of the ones I tested.
If you are more interested in just generally flying
and looking at the performance
from a cross-country point of view
and a general enjoyment point of view
then the Bonanza 3 does climb, it climbs really well
it's got as good a glide at trim
and accelerated glide is really good
and really excellent
but it just feels like the very top speed of it
isn't quite as quick.
Yeah, so that's that.
You've gotta decide what's most important to you.
Something I will say
and I know this is often said, but it's worth repeating
it's like pointless having the top performing glider.
If you're not happy on it, you're not enjoying it
and you're not comfortable on it
then you're not gonna get the performance out of the glider,
so generally you won't perform any better.
So thinking about the Artik R, the build quality
well I think nowadays Niviuk gliders
and for a while now
but I'm really impressed with the build quality
it's beautifully made.
I think Niviuk are actually starting to rival Advance now.
Thinking about descent techniques.
So with the Artik R I tested,
I tried out big ears, standard big ears
using the outer rays
and also the B3s
and also of course type 360, spirals.
So I tried those techniques out
and just to see about for the descent rate.
So starting with big ears
actually the Artik R seems to do big ears
really nicely and easily.
Like the Volt 4 actually,
they've got a line that goes out
and it's really quite easy to to pull them in
and hold them in and they are effective
and they do give you a bit of an increased descent rate.
So that's really nice to see.
The Artik R also does the B3s
and it does those nicely
although the pressure is very high.
So pulling those in was really quite a heavy pressure
and the line that goes to the B3s is very thin
Moving on to the spiral dive,
well obviously with all paragliders,
you can spiral dive them
and with the Artik R,
I felt the spiral was very manageable
very effective and controllable.
It's not a glider that sort of goes winds into a spiral
and then it's like "Oh," difficult to manage in that way.
But of course as with all paragliders,
especially at that sort of level when you do spirals
you do pull pretty high Gs
and so yeah,
a lot of pilots don't find spirals comfortable
because of the high Gs that you pull during them
and the Artik R is no different in that way.
So it pulls standard high Gs.
It's a real pleasure to do wing overs with
it's really fun to play around with.
I managed to do some really quite nice wing overs on it
particularly married up with the Arrow harness
which has a really nice feeling
and they feel like a perfect combination.
It was absolutely great for doing wing overs.
I've done some of the biggest wing overs
I've done in a while on the Artik R
and it just felt really taut and solid all the way around
and really energetic.
So I felt like confident to keep building the wing overs
until they were proper Wang overs
and I was going nicely over the top of the glider.
Actually I didn't,'
but it's a glider I'd feel really confident
to do the roll reversals
as well to do full loops
where you do wing overs into asymmetric spirals
and then turn reversals around.
This is glider that will do that
with no problem whatsoever.
The energy retention and the tautness of the glider
and the handling are all perfect for that.
So nice glider for big smile factors that's for sure.
So glide if you're a pilot that lights playing around
and just wagger and playing around with the glider,
the Artik R wins on that factor in my book.
So I always like to try the different gliders out
with different harnesses as much as I possibly can.
And so far with the Artik R
I've flown it with the Lightness 3,
with the Delight 4
with the Impress 4 and also the Niviuk Arrow.
So I've flown it with those four different harnesses.
Every harness I've flown
I've ended up with the same feeling about the glider.
Even though the combination
between the two has felt different,
I end up with the same feeling about the glider
in terms of how its feedback is
and its handling and responsiveness.
So of the NC two liners
I personally think it's got the nicest
and most agile and nimble handling
and have found it the best
for working really broken and difficult cause
very closely followed by the Bonanza 3.
And again,
it's not to say that the Photon and the Volt 4
you can't make them turn
and you know they have bad handling.
They don't, they have good handling
but I'd say they're just not quite as sweet
on the turns and the handling, for me.
Criticisms of the Artik 3, well let me think.
So well first of all on the ground
when the wind is strong
and you are trying to hover the glider about,
the glider definitely wants to come up and fly
and can come up quite quick.
So there, if I was nitpicking
then I'd say that just a little bit easier
on the the launch in strong conditions.
Having said that, from the level of pilot flying the glider
it should present no problem at all.
And actually I think most pilots
if the right pilots are flying this glider
they're gonna find it relatively easy
and very easy to manage.
But yeah, just didn't those stronger conditions.
Another nitpick was the the really nice C-handles,
really nice handles
the soft rubber of bits on there,
they're a little prone to line burns
when you're messing about too much.
Okay, I'd like a glider that turned even sweet and sharper.
For example a Sigma 11 still for me,
if I was going to be asked
which are the sweetest nicest handling paragliders
around at the moment
then I'd say the Sigma 11 is right up there
and also the Maistro 2 and also the Allegro
in terms of that really sweet handling and nice turn
I'd say there,
that's an example for me
of even nicer and sweeter handling
where you can really turn on a sixpence
and really dial into tight, punchy cores.
But of course the Artik R hasn't edged on those gliders
in terms of its performance especially Accelerated
and the glide at Accelerated there.
It's got the edge there.
So yeah, you can't have everything apparently.
So who's the Artik R for?
Well I feel that very much like the Ozone Photon
and the Air Design Volt 4
the most suited they are
is the pilots who've been flying
a C class glider for a while, a mid C glider,
and are looking for a bit of a step up
and want to get their first two liner
and don't want to go to a D class glider.
And then I think the Artik R is absolutely ideal.
It's a nice step up there.
It's also suited to pilots
who've been flying a high B glider for a while
especially if you've been flying one
of the high B gliders
it's that's a bit hotter in the high B class.
For example the Gin Explorer or the Explorer 2 or the Avid
or if you were flying a Gin Carrera or something before
or any of the other high B gliders
that are sort of towards the higher end of the high B.
If you've been flying that for a while
and you are looking to go into the C class
and you've got good feeling
and good glider control
good finesse on the stall point,
then I think stepping to the Artik R could be a good step.
That's a perfectly reasonable step for you,
especially if you are current
and have good glider control skills
then that's perfectly fine.
But if you're somebody
if you're a pilot that's been flying high B gliders
and you are stepping into the C class for the first time
and that feels like enough of a step as it is
then maybe you want to be looking
at something that's a bit more mid C.
Other one of the classic three liner mid-Cs
like the Sigma 11 will be Artik 6 or the Delta 4.
But otherwise ,
if you are keen to go for the ENC-2 liners
then my feeling is that Bonanza 3 is the most accessible
of the the ENC-2 liners I've tried so far.
Yeah, have you flown the Artik R?
Yeah, let us know your feeling
and the other gliders
and what has been your experience
share your pilot opinions.
(gentle upbeat music)