from the Prism Support Forum
"OK so let's get started. Here are some shots of the new E3 and a bit of
info. The idea of the E3 was to take one of our most successful
products ever and bring it up to date with a bunch of the the new
things we've learned since 2002. The E2 has been a steady seller for
years but I've wanted to introduce a successor for some time. I've
always thought the E2 was a little too slippery for great precision, so
the redesigned sail includes a straighter leading edge, deeper camber,
and slightly higher aspect ratio for a much more locked-in feel. I also
set it up for all the new pitch-unstable moves we hadn't yet invented
when the e2 came out, so it's happy to do yo-yo's and all their
variants, with or without the included spine weight. One of the design
requirements was to keep the original E2 frame so people with E2's or
dealers with E2 parts could use them interchangeably. Seemed like a
nice way to keep 
things easy for everybody involved. I wasn't 100%
successful with that mission but we've come pretty close. The E3 shares
frame parts with the E2 except for the spine, upper spreader, and
standoffs. Those had to change to really give it the feel I was looking
for, but in a pinch you could substitute even those and you wouldn't
notice a big difference. The spine is now 6mm pultruded carbon rather
than a P200, which pulls mass towards the center of the kite giving it
a livelier turn response and an easier yo-yo. the spreader is a hair
shorter, if I remember correctly, and the standoffs are a few
millimeters longer to tension the deeper sail. The bridle is also brand
new, with a very short turbo leg that helps initiate the backflip.
Standoffs are adjustable like the E2 with four different positions.
A
lot of people have always loved the E2 sail pattern so I wanted to keep
some of its graphic appeal while freshening up the look. Compared to a
lot of our newer designs the E2 looks a little plain, so we jazzed it
up a bit with some additional panels. The Graphite color combo came on
a particularly angst-filled day as the world economy melted down, and I
kept it in the lineup for folks looking for something a little edgier
in appearance.
Reworked the bag as well, just for fun. You can't
tell in the photo, but the bag unfolds to full length if you prefer
keeping your LE's long, and there's a mesh pocket in back for the
lineset and spine weight.
The full package includes an
adjustable spine weight, yo-yo stoppers,
85' x 150# Spectra lines and
straps, Prism pin, and the Freestyle Pilot DVD. We c
ouldn't justify
building a new instructional DVD at this time so the FPT will have to
do for now.
List price for the E3 is somewhere around $183, a
tad more than the E2 as a result of the added
complexity and all the
material cost increases we've been dealing with. Final street prices
are set by the dealers of course so I can't tell you exactly what it'll
cost you."
-Mark 2/4/09
