Predominant gear at DZs

[ColdDuck 0]

I have noticed that my DZ is mostly a Mirage G3 dropzone. I have heard that certain rigs are more common in other parts of the country. I was just wondering what type of gear is most common in your neck of the woods.
(oh and where do you jump)
I jump at Skydive Hutchinson in Minnesota

[Zennie 0]

Ours seems to have a predominance of Javelins. Followed by Racers & Vectors. Lot of PD and Icarus canopies.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[OmriMon 0]

My dz is full of Racers, well it's more like ALL racer, it's this way at my dz cuz my dzo loves this container and that's what he reccomends/sells to everyone who wants to buy a new rig
it works exactly the same at other places, what the dzo/dealer likes/jumps is what goes around the most
I don't think it got to do with what part of the country u r though...
I'm from Israel btw
Free Skies,
Omri A-38593

[PalmettoTiger 1]

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I don't think it got to do with what part of the country u r though...

Yeah, my DZ here in SC is mostly Mirage and PD. Geography has little to do with it, I would think.
Blues, squares,
PTiger

[Zennie 0]

I think a lot of it has to do with the type of gear you train with. You tend to stick with what's familiar. Our DZ's student gear is, surprise, surprise, Javelins with PD Sabres.
I'm one of the few Vector owners. Went off the recommendation of a couple riggers. Very glad I did. Great riser/bridle/pin protection.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[skymedic 0]

Mostly All sunpath at Sebastian....I think they sponsor the DZ anyway...that kinda helps...and it did make me want to buy one...comfort factor I guess
Marc
Because I fly, I envy no man on earth

[FallinWoman 1]

Here at Archway in Illinois:
I trained on god-knows what with Mantas, then
Dolphin with Skymaster 230
It is a predominantly Mirage DZ- lots of PD canopies, although the trend seems to be toward Cobalts.
Blue skies,
Anne

[Kris 0]

The student equipment at my DZ (Oklahoma Skydiving Center) are Prestiege containers setup for BOC (we use IAD, not S/L) and AFF, CYPRES, PISA Skymaster mains and Raven reserve's.
For the experienced skydivers, my DZ is primarily a Mirage / PD biased DZ.
One of our instructors got a hold of a demo Heatwave 120 that he is loading at 1.8:1 and he liked it better than a Stiletto, Cobalt and an FX that he had tried. This is the same guy who told me that if I bought a Heatwave that I'd be throwing my money away. Glad to see that he has his custom Heatwave ordered. I have also ordered mine and Mike Farmer is ordering his this week so we will have some competition for PD.
As for students looking for a first canopy, I tell them to look for a Hornet, Spectre or used Sabre. The Safire I won't recommend until I see what the feedback is like on the Gen II mod they are coming out with and the Sabre2 sounds like it will be a good choice once it has been on the market a while and has had any remaining bugs worked out (if there were any to begin with).
Kris

[Albatross 0]

Many DZ are sponsored by manufactures and at bigger DZs the local teams are also sponsored. That means that most of the JMs jump one rig and most of the coaches jump that rig and most of the great teams jump that rig, Most of the packers are comfortable with that rig, most of the riggers like to repack that rig. This means that the suggestions that you get, the images that you see and the thigns that you are comfortable with all tend towards one type of rig. At Perris the DZ is a Javelin DZ so guess what I own.
Flare Damn it!!!!!
Albatross

[Dutchboy 0]

We have quite the variety at the DZ's I frequent in Georgia, but the most popular seem to be Dolphin, Javelin, and Mirage.
The Dutchboy
http://www.geocities.com/ppolstra

[RemiAndKaren 0]

[waking up in cold sweat from a horrible nighmare] AAAAAHHHH I'm surrounded by Racer lookalikes!!!!!!!!![/waking up in cold swaet from a horrible nighmare]
ffffffwwwweeeeee... nothing wrong after all.. its just a bunch of Tear Drops...... thats what they call living in the UK...
I must say, the new-ish 1 pin Tear Drops do look like the business....
PS: Omri, not saying racers are bad at all... you do tend to see less and less of them though.... marketing and product popularity phases....

[mountainman 0]

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I think a lot of it has to do with the type of gear you train with. You tend to stick with what's familiar

What?? Maybe where you live, but I surely am not going to be putting my order in for a Sweethog container. With that, a brand new Manta or Raider with a FXC 12000 to save my life with a round parachute. Woohoo!!

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Our DZ's student gear is, surprise, surprise, Javelins with PD Sabres

Jeez......suprise, suprise is right. I wish we were lucky enough to have something like that. All of our stuff (except one new Javelin student rig) is pretty old and have F-111 Raiders or Mantas. Man, what I wouldn't give to be able to use something smaller and nicer through my progression.
*sigh*
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Check out our all-new website!

[Grogs 0]

The majority of our containers (including student gear) are Javelins. Cobalts are the hot canopy on the DZ, mainly because our DZO is a dealer. Probably about half the experienced jumpers are jumping them, and we even have a Cobalt tandem (not recommended).

[chicagoskydiver 0]

It seems that almost everyone at my dz (Skydive Illinois) has a javelin container and some type of PD canopy.
Hackey

[Watcher 0]

Skydive Atlanta
I believe has Javlens and a Quasar gear, my Club GaTech has 3 J 7s with Manta, We all have Flight Concepts Canopies. The DZ itself is primarily Mirages for the FF, while alot of RW uses Javlins (Nemisis our 4 way team is sponsered by Sunpath) and they fly Velocity. Few Sabres, lots of Icarus and PD (such as Spectre and Vengences) a few Vipers, 2 Cobalts. Wicked Liquid which is the Freefly team has Icarus and Quasar sponsers.

[Geoff 0]

Here in the UK, the most popular 3 rigs are probably Javelin, Tear Drop (British rig), and Atom (French rig), plus a big minority of other stuff (Racer, Mirage, Vector, VortexII).
The British, French and South African gear is popular because it's a lot less expensive here than American gear.
As for canopies - well probably 60% PD, 20% french, 20% other.
I'm viewed as a bit adventurous with a Mirage G3 and Icarus Safire. A lot of UK jumpers (especially the older ones) have never heard of the Safire, and think Icarus is the same as Extreme!
Geoff

[Donna 0]

Most of the containers at my DZ are Racers, just check out the bottom picture here taken during Nancy LaRiviere's visit last week. http://www.jumpshack.com/default.asp?CategoryID=GALLERY] Javelin is probably the next popular. My husband and I both bought Infinities and one oldtimer made a comment about sticking with east coast rigs.

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I jump at Skydive Hutchinson in Minnesota

Hey! Tell Rose I said, "HI!!" I made my first jump there, a tandem while I was out in Minnesota with friends in July 1999. Is Bryan worth still a videographer there? If so, give him a hug from me. It's all HIS fault that I'm now a skydiving addict!
Skies,
D

[cobaltdan 0]

a note on the cobalt tandem...
turns out the brake lines were being stowed incorrectly.
(there are two lines per side, its a bit different).
since this was realized, larry tells me the canopy is opening as hoped for.
sincerely,
dan
atair

[OmriMon 0]

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PS: Omri, not saying racers are bad at all... you do tend to see less and less of them though.... marketing and product popularity phases

Thats ok i don't own a racer anyway, i'm a proud owner of a javelin (soon to be anyway!)
Free Skies,
Omri A-38593

[mouth 0]

I jump in GA like Dutchboy but I don't see that many Dolphins (except for Mr. Pink--they have 2 or 3 each!). Nemesis jumps Javelins and Wicked Liquid I think has new Vectors. Our old DZO recommends Javelin but the new DZO recommends/jumps a Mirage. I see a few other types floating but not many.

[Watcher 0]

Wicked Liquid Jumps Quasar II .
Jonathan

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

One-pin Teardrops are sexy motherfuckers when they are ordered with the "vector III" type bottom. I almost ordered one of those myself! Still, I will definitely have to agree that gear choices at "most" DZ's are very much dictated by whatever the party line is there. Raeford is primarilly a Javelin/PD dropzone, but there are a lotof people jumping Cobalts now and plenty of PISA Hornets around that younger jumpers are using. Not many people jumping tri-braces around here, but a few are jumping Velocities. There are very few Icarus mains in this area, but several people at CSS jump them.
Chuck

[riggerrob 643]

Gear is definitely a fashion issue.
The DZO at Pitt Meadows was a Racer freak for many years and a couple of POPS are still jumping their old Racers.
The guy who was the local rigger for a while was a Vector dealer, so there are a fair number of Vector IIs still kicking around.
Currently, our DZO is a Sidewinder dealer, so half the folks jump Sidewinders.
The second most popular rig at Pitt Meadows is the Javelin.
Since our current rigger used to work at the Talon factory, Talons and Voodoos are the third most popular rig.
In terms of main canopies, our DZO used to jump: Fireflies and Sabres. He now jumps a Stiletto. Guess what the most popular canopy is this week? Our manifestor jumps a Triathlon and has convinced several other fun jumpers to buy them. Newer jumpers are now buying Icarus Safires and Crossfires.
Reserve canopy-wise, our DZO is a Tempo dealer, so half the reserves are Tempos.
The second most popular reserve is P.D.