Hi Density Altitude,
It's amazing that people bag the use of Trainer kites. All of our best performing students have flown or had experience flying trainer kites first. These students learn faster and get a lot further with their lessons which saves them time and money and usually results in them needing one less lesson.
I agree that 2m trainer kites are like toys and although having some intrinsic value, certainly do not offer a true representation of a power kite and therefor do not offer the same sort of progression.
We sell and use 3m Airush Trainer kites in our school. The reason is a 3m has an enourmous amount of power even in light winds, always to the surprise of the pilot on the bar, it comes with a safety leash and turns more slowly similar to a larger kite. The 3m has a feel which is more representative of a real LEI and therefor gives a good simulation so you can develop good kite piloting skills which crossover directly to LEI flying.
A 3m trainer is $260, a lesson is $200. We reckon half a dozen hours flying the trainer will knock out one of the three lessons we teach as the student advances so quickly because they already have the kite control so we don't have to waste time teaching them to fly.
It costs $60 more to do it the trainer kite way and in the end you have a trainer kite that you can give to your mates or family to fly on the beach whilst you ride. It's a good investment. People who rag on a good 3m trainer have never owned one. Why is there so few of them for sale compared to the hundreds that get sold every year Australia wide? Many retailers have buy back schemes which rarely get utilized because people opt to keep their trainer foils because they are fun to fly and are awesome with a skateboard or MTB in a carpark.
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
Good winds,
