Vision 124

[billvon 3,109]

I spent around 10 jumps on the 'new' Vision this week at Lost Prairie, and many of the earlier problems with the canopy have been fixed - although it took me a while to figure that out.

I demoed a Vision a few months ago, and wasn't too impressed with it. They made some minor changes and I tried it again; it was a little better. At Lost Prairie this year I tried another Vision that was significantly tweaked; the canopy I tried had retrimmed lines and new steering lines. It was a 124, which at that altitude (3500 feet) was about as fast as I wanted to go. At that size I was loading at about 1.6 to 1.

Openings at first were even worse than before. A few 180 and 360 degree off-headers, and one snivel/slam/spin that had me thinking of chopping it before I got it under control. It took me a few jumps to realize that the packers over at Cathy's tent were rolling the nose and really tigthening up the tail. I then packed a few myself, doing nothing more than putting the nose in the center and quartering the slider, and got _much_ nicer openings. They are now between a Stiletto-type and a Pilot-type opening; somewhat snively and a little bit of hunting, but nothing unexpected or strange. Not as much of a balancing-on-a-log feeling you sometimes get with a small Stiletto.

Front riser turns were significantly better. Front riser pressure is lower, and the arc is a bit longer. I could start higher and use less rear riser/toggle to flatten it out. The bottom end flare is a _lot_ better, so much so that I noticed the difference when I went back to my Safire 119 (which I always thought had a good bottom end flare.) Even on light wind landings I was doing less running/stumbling through the cowpies than some of the people on bigger canopies. Only drawback now is that the glide is a little bit steeper; I noticed a bit of a difference between the Safire (pretty flat) and the Vision. Per Aubrey this may be due to the steeper trim of the new canopy.

Anyway, it's a significantly improved canopy; give it a try if you are looking for a good Stiletto replacement. I still think the Pilot is a better all-around canopy for most intermediate jumpers, but I would recommend the Vision to someone who has enough experience to deal with the openings (more harness steering required) the higher speeds and the more powerful flare (read: requires a more precise landing technique.) Aubrey should be at Rantoul if anyone wants to try it.

[karlm 0]

Just got my Vision 124 back witht he new line set, and I must say it is a whole new canopy.

In general the points listed above are 100% correct .....are vast improvement on the old Vision.

Well done Aerodyne.

Better never to have met you in my dream than to wake and reach for hands that are not there.