Tkb Review: 2019 Ozone AMP V1

Sizes Available: 7, 9, 11, 13m
Sizes Tested: 9, 11m

Ozone Says:

The AMP V1 represents a new paradigm in C-kite design. It is a progressive yet user-friendly Freestyle and Park-style kite, offering amateurs to pros the response, feedback and control needed to take their riding to the next level. The design team focused on creating a kite that was both predictable and adaptable for hooked and un-hooked riding. The AMP has been developed to grow with you; no longer are the progressive kites for just the Professionals. Whether you’re learning your first un-hooked raley, boosting kite loops, or styling out advanced park and freestyle maneuvers, the AMP will keep you in control with the highest level of feedback, predictable turning speed and a similar feeling precisely tuned across all sizes. It is ultra smooth to fly and provides inspirational confidence to go for it!

The AMP features three unique and easily interchangeable performance settings to complement your skill set and riding needs. The first being a 4-Line Bridle Mode Setting 1 Freeride / Freestyle / Kite Loop and the second a 4-Line Bridle Mode Setting 2 for Unhooked Freestyle / Park. You can also fly the Amp in a 5-Line Mode Unhooked Freestyle / Park (Advanced).

There’s no need to feel left behind, join the progression and stay AMP’d!

Visit for more info: www.ozonekites.com/products/water-kites/amp-v1

Our Testers Say:

“Less throw, slower turning, stays where you put it with a larger turning arc of any kite in the test ”” great for wakestyle. Excellent bar design.” // Dylan Dobbyn

“Bar has excellent grip for unhooking, feels very steady, and turns slow and wide. Super stable and relaunches really well, but big arc for kite loops.” // Davey Beard

“Wants to sit higher in the window than other kites, responds to input quick, fun and reliable, easy relaunch but not as much drift as other all-terrain models.” // Joe Chehock

Meet Our Testers

TKB Says:

The Amp is new for this year and brings to Ozone’s lineup a competition freestyle 5-strut higher aspect platform for the rider throwing unsent wakestyle handlepass tricks. The Amp is a modern take on the classic C-kite style design that introduces some of the hybrid freeride characteristics you get with a bridle supported leading edge kite while keeping the load and slack power delivery of a dedicated freestyle kite that a tour riding athlete wants. The Amp features the standard Ozone inflation point which is a high flow Boston valve that requires the larger inflation nozzle. The Amp uses a fixed front bridle with no pulleys and two adjustment settings that switches between freestyle and freeride riding with wingtips featuring three turning options to select between bar pressure and turning speed. We tested the Amp on the freeride setting and the wingtip factory stock position in the middle. The Amp canopy doesn’t have any battens but it does have some anti-flutter pads on the trailing edge. Testers acknowledged the Amp as one of the few kites in the test leaning the most towards freestyle. The Amp has that C-kite style feel with a little bit slower steering response and a larger steering arc that’s a little bit wider than the tighter pivoting turn that you see in the world of freeride or surf kites. Much like the Reo or Alpha kites we tested, the Amp flies a little bit farther forward in the window and has the load, pop and release feel that gives you slack when needed. While this kite a hybrid style C-kite, it’s not your ”˜sheet and go’ kite that generates power by sheeting in the bar from anywhere in the window. When you need more power you have to fly this kite actively in the window with power strokes to get extra power, yet unlike a C-kite it has a fair amount of depower as you change the angle of attack, but not what you get from the Reo or Alpha we tested. When it comes to boosting the Amp, when properly timed, it delivers a really impressive amount of lift that feels explosive. It gets you up pretty high but this canopy shape requires a little bit more active kite flying to get extended hangtime, or even a soft landing. In this regard, the Amp is a kite for someone that’s a little bit more experienced with sent jumps. Overall, the Amp is a fun kite ideal for intermediate and advanced kiters that are largely focused on wakestyle/unsent freestyle or big gutsy kiteloops. This style kite does have a smaller range compared to some of the freeride ”˜sheet and go’ kites tested so riders will need to be more selective about having the rights sized kite for wind conditions, this being the standard downside of these kinds of kites. Overall the Amp is a fun kite for more aggressive freestylers that specialize in handlepass tricks or committed King of the Air style kitelooping. If you miss the hey days of C-kites and want to mix that feel with more modern user-friendly handling, or plan on signing up for the wakestyle tour, the Amp is an excellent weapon of choice.

Ozone released the new Contact V4 control bar this year which is a 4-line bar that has received significant updates from Ozone’s previous bar along with one massive upgrade in the quick release department. The Contact V4 features Ozone’s new ”˜Seat Belt’ technology which offers a completely new quick release design that features a groundbreaking mechanism that allows you to effortlessly reconnect your trim loop after a safety release by simply pushing the loop into its recess and it automatically clicks closed. There are a number of these systems on the market, but Ozone’s by far is the easiest mechanism to reassemble. This is a colossal improvement, as it is simple and surefire in the way in which this system works. The scenario goes like this: there’s a problem, you push the quick release, the kite depowers, but then you want to reconnect the quick release in the water and resume. Normally this is a 10-finger/two-handed struggle to hold the release open while you stick the loop back into its mechanism and close the gate apparatus to continue. Some models try to keep the release open upon release, but the Seat Belt design doesn’t require you to hold the release open to reconnect the loop into its locked position.

Ozone  tested this system extensively for three years with its schools, team and every day riders before it was released but as it is a new design, we had to see for ourselves whether the mechanism would behave under normal operating conditions and abuse with the usual sandy saltwater wear and tear. We’re happy to report that we were quite satisfied with its reliable functionality.  The quick release has the standard push away handle, a hand swivel above the release that also doubles as a travel guard, and a molded locking finger to prevent accidental unhooking as well as a safety attachment point with a suicide option. The Contact is a fixed length bar (available in 38, 45, 50 and 55cm sizes) that features a single center line safety depower with a low V. The center lines end in grey color-coded pigtails with loops for rigging purposes and the outside lines end in knots color coded with red and blue pigtails. The Contact features above the bar tuning with a cleat and a small carbon toggle that uses a bungee built into the tuning line to keep things clean in depowered situations. The bar has a plastic coated/PU throw line with no sliding stopper or adjustable length throw. The padded bar ends are tunable (three knots stock is on center) and feature integrated floats and retractable bar bungees. The bar ends are soft in the event of accidental face contact. This year the bar got a significant color change with much less obvious colors; there is no longer red on the left side of the bar grip although the leader lines coming out of the floats are color coded for red and blue. The grip indents have very subtle red highlights for those that are looking closely. Testers gave the new bar solid praise for its comfortable grip that is both wider with a nice raised pattern and smaller indentations for a fairly dense grip.

Visit for more info on the bar: www.ozonekites.com/products/control-systems/contact-water-v4-control-system