riggerrob 643 #1 May 28, 2002 Has anyone jumped a Reflex main canopy?A friend recently offered me a used Reflex 125 main canopy, cheap. It was built by the Chute Shop in South Africa. The canopy was recently re-lined and the fabric is still in good shape. It looks like a Stiletto except that the outer cells are tri-cells.How does it turn, flare, turf-surf, etc. compared to Stiletto? If you get a Reflex deep in the corner, cna you stab your way out as well as if you were jumping a Stiletto?Before you start flaming me, I have no intention of stabbing my way out of the corner, but I expect spend hundreds of jumps learning to fly this canopy. I already have 3800 jumps, but the bulk of my "elliptical" experience is on SET 400s.Before you get started, I am not interested in sales pitches on your favorite brand. I am an impoverished professional skydiver supporting a girlfriend and three cats while studying for a commercial pilot license, so I have nowhere near enough spare cash to buy a new canopy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canuck 0 #2 May 28, 2002 I've only put a couple jumps on a Reflex 145, but there were quite a few guys jumping them at my DZ a few years ago. Here's what I can tell ya: They were one of the original elliptical designs, and have since been replaced by the Blade Runner and later the Hurricane. In my opinion, Chute Shop has always been a little more progressive with their canopy designs than their South African counterpart PISA, and the Reflex reflects that. At the time it came out, it was the highest performing canopy on the market. They did, however, seem to come out of the factory all different. One guy at my DZ went through three of them. The first one blew up with only a few hundred jumps on it, the other two are still kicking around. All three of them apparently flew differently. Generally speaking, they are VERY fast turning, faster than an equally sized Stiletto. Openings are a little inconsistent, more like a Sabre than a Stiletto. Landings...they will surf, but they need to be hooked hard and low (I cringe to say that). They come around the corner right now, not a divey canopy at all, and yes, they will dig out like a Stiletto. Straight in approaches at anything over about 1.3 are going to set you down a little rough.All in all, a good canopy, but a little out of date. Now, this isn't a sales pitch cause I don't jump PD, but the guy that had the three Reflex 145's got a Stiletto demo in 94 and never sent it back. His two remaining Reflexes have been sitting in his closet ever since...Hope this helps.Canuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #3 May 29, 2002 Oddly, there were quite a few Reflexes around here about 10 years ago. Joe Trinko was hawking them and several guys on the DZ bought them. They were actaully more of a PdF Blue Track copy than anything. Pretty similar to a PISA Pintail in that is was a sort of "boat tail" canopy. Farly straight up front, but really eliptical in the rear. The ones I jumped flew very nicely, but I have not seen one in quite a while.ChuckMy webpage HERE Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
