Had a chance to compare the two high performance c-kites today,
11m tribal and 9m rebel

Big differences were,

Tribals' bar pressure was much lighter than the rebels for the same pull.

Rebels' Pull feels more like a bow than the tribal (in that the turns with the bar sheeted half out were relatively depowered and sheeting in resulted in a lot more pull and seemed to feel slighty like a pully bar even though it's not.

Tribals' sheeting in results in gradual increase in bar pressure, rebels pressure initially is less than the tribal ( with bar sheeted out) but ramps up A lot quicker over a shorter throw and ends up being heavier for the same kite pull than the tribal

The rebel depower or way it flies when depowered felt very impressive... it was super stable when overhead in that the lines and kite just sat there without surging forward or backward at all and the pull from the depowered kite was nice. This is partly due to the handy throw stopper that is easily set and alters your normal max bar sheet out so you can set it to fly at whatever level of power on you want pretty quickly with the bar out. The tribals depower feels as effective, but the lines will be slacker on the tribal than the rebel when it is depowered

tha hang time was good and as said before it reminded me of the bows that i have flown more than the c-s that I usually ride. the 9 m rebel didn't match the 11 m tribal in the winds I tried them in for hang time or jump height but they are two different sizes and I suspect that if I had the same sizes jump height and hang time would be pretty similr, max jumping technique is slightly different between the two kites.

the depower pully on the rebel is one thing i didn't quite get my head around.. given the huge difference in pull between sheeted out and fully sheeted in ( unhooked) i found it hard to adjust the depower strap in to unhook, and out once i had hooked back in again. It was easy to depower just by pulling the strap , but repowering up involved me sliding a finger under the elastic strap to pull / yank the line out from the pulley and ease off. Mind you im probably doing it wrong but I did try as did someone else to pull the depower strap line and yank in the same go and I think the tightness of the new elastic strap was making it all to hard to pop out of the cleat grooves., that was about the only thing i found that was a ergonomic point aside from the fact there's a big metal pulley sitting a couple of feet up the line. the tribals depower strap on the other hand is pull to power, pull to depower and two different colours so you don't pull the wrong strap.. both simpler and easier to use than the pulley system.

speed wise, I would say the tribal is quicker .... you can fly the rebel quickly if you like with the bar out but it's definatley not as quick as the impact in the same size model ... taking a guess I would say the tribal is the faster kite.. especially in the powered turns.

the safety systems of both kites and line setups are pretty much the same , Infact the rebel looks almost like it's exactly the same shape as the 06 impact, except with a flatter foil and slightler bigger front to back. One thing interesting is the north lines loop through each other. First time I've seen it done on skinny lines and I wonder if much rubbing goes on in there. the kites pretty light but i suspect that the tribal is lighter without the weight of the batterns and strut reinforcing .


overall
they are both great "new school" c-kites that have huge gust eating and wind range abilities. The rebel is a little heavier on the bar whan compared to the tribal BUT is still light when compared with most other kites. The rebel feels more like a bow in comparasin to the tribal which has a smooth classic c-kite feel. both safety systems are top notch and they are about the same retail price aswell I think. The rebel I think will appeal to anyone due to it's high performance as will the tribal but in particular bow kiters who like the feel of bows but would rather do without bridle and pulley line systems will enjoy the rebel.

enjoy!!

PS , Im talking of the 07 tribal II in the review in particular which has a noticibly different feel, speed and smoothness than the 06 tribal, which did feel again more like a bow and more like the rebel.

I think you would be very happy with either of these kites. I wasn't really a big fan of always having to hold the bar in coming from a C-kite. I have gradually got more used to flying using the microhook and stopper on the Rebel at first i found it uncomfortable and awkward. I have been trying deadmans (those old school things where you hang upside down with the board above ya head and give the beach audience a moon) I couldnt let the bar go at first and resorted to holding it with one hand. Now I swivel the micro hook around for the jump and when I am raady I hook into the micro hook and completely let go. The cleat isn't hard to use I have taken the rope away from the cleat elastic bracing and have become accustomed to letting the rope go at different angles for the cleat to grip the rope. The new 07 Tribal is replacing the new F-One Impact so that new Tribal turns alot faster and feels more in between a 06 Impact and 06 tribal. Just a little info from a novice.