What do you do on one of those summer evenings when the wind is not much more than a breeze and you have a desperate urge to fly a kite, buy a Mac Bego 600. This kite really will fly in wind as low as 2mph and not just hang in the air but provide enough pull to scud. At around 5/6 mph buggying is possible and you can start to generate some respectable speed. To board, the wind does need to be a little higher, 7/8 mph to get the lift you need, and this kite, as the wind increases in strength will generate some serious lift. The appeal of the Bego is not in that it is a great kite, it looks good, but more importantly it has a real world low wind power. A Blade 8.5m is an awesome kite and is easily more powerful than a Bego 600 but in very low wind it is also slow needing a little more wind to really get going, the Bego is performing at 3 mph. After living with the Bego for a short period of time I have found that it does have some significant flaws and is by no means a perfect kite. For what you pay for this kite and the performance it delivers the down side is easy to live with.

Out of the bag this kite does fly Ok however with some fine tuning it is transformed into something very special. Power rings, as fitted to many other kites now as standard, need to be used to give this kite power in the sub 6 mph range. Without them the kites wind range is increased but the down side is that sub low wind performance is only average for a kite of this size. Fitting small power rings with a line length of 10 cm will increase the low win range down to 2 mph. Another low wind performance tweak to gain a little more power is to remove the link line between the two main flying lines. This link line provide a brake stabilizer effect making it easier for the canopy to be stalled in stronger winds by maintaining the distance between the wing tips. Removing it flattens out the canopy a little marginally improving low wind performance. Using the correct lines can also make a massive difference to this kite. Heavy brake lines in very low wind will stall the kite more, lighter is better.

Controlling any kite is down to taste, bar or handles, however, I find that the C-Quad bar is the best way to fly this kite. Setting the bar up is easy with the brakes to the bar ends and flying lines to centre about 20 cm apart. The Bego needs about 50% main line force to turn and will not turn on brakes alone. Keeping the brakes under tension also transforms the kite causing to collapse less and stay more powered up.

There is a depower available for this kite. I have played around with several versions of a depower bar and some do work, depowering the kite significantly, however, the low wind performance is severely compromised.

Does the Bego have more power than a Blade 8.5? Once the Blade find enough wind to inflate the canopy it out pulls the Bego even in very low wind but the Bego scores again by starting to pull at 2 mph.

Is the Bego difficult to set up and fly? No. If you can reverse launch a 4 line power kite you can set a Mac Bego up. The power rings confuses some people but it is very easy to get information about their uses. Problem is that some people are confused about a lot of things, not even equalizing line lengths before they fly a new kite. This does not make the Bego a difficult kite to fly, its is just ignorance.

The Mac Bego is a strange beast. It boast many flaws but you will be hard pushed to find a another kite that can match it in terms of real low wind performance. Would I recommend it? If you need a kite that will pull in 3 mph and that you can buggy in sub 6 mph then yes. If you need a versatile kite with a good wind range and that is of high quality then no, look elsewhere.

Best way to fly the Bego 600 is on a c-quad bar. Great control, equal to handles with all the benefits of a bar. Note the main line neoprene hand protectors. You will need them or gloves when using a c-quad bar or you will lose skin every time you turn the kite

Reviewed by Mee