jose

Bummer dude. I have jumped my Hawkeye LT for around 250 jumps now. I have the Sidemount Bonehead box for the PC120. I have had the chinstrap ratchets come undone on me twice. One of the times, it was a violent opening that could have possibly been a riser stike and it broke the spring that holds tension on the ratchet. At this point, I was glad that I had the second clip fastened, as I am sure that I would have lost the whole helmet. I personally think that there is (was) a problem with the older ratchet system that they dont use anymore. I recently ordered the replacement ratchets that comes with both the plastic ribbed straps and the metal strap (retainers). Excuse the crudeness of my description. The new and old styles are NOT interchangeable and the spacing on the plastic straps are larger and more aggressive. I have only jumped the new style a couple times, so I dont have much feedback on the new style, but it does feel more secure. I still clip the other strap as I am now gunshy of the ratchets, but I really hate to as it REALLY limits my cutaway ability. I need to make up a system. Give Arrow Dynamics a call if you have the older style ratchets and get the new ones. They are only 10 bucks.

ROFLMAO....... Jeeze....sometimes I really need to shut the hell up. Maybe it was a martini night....

Ever have one of those days where shit just clicks? Ya know the one, you go out, expecting nothing, trying for nothing. Just going to do a some jumps with a couple guys and it happens when you least expect it. So, I decide to go to a different DZ for a change. I pop in down at Snohomish at around 11am. Only Cessnas today going to 10. Bummer, but oh well. I'm jumping, right? There are 3-4 freefliers there and are really welcoming. I hook up with a guy for a 2 way. Good flower exit, totally stable HD when grips break and just hang out for about 10 sec. Then like nothing I stick my hand out and we take grips. No change, no bobble, no nothing. I was floored! Break grips, and gather myself. He goes to a sit, I come in and have my hand 3 inches from a spock when the ditter goes off. SHIT! I almost had it. But I have never even gotten close to doing that before. All 3 other jumps with up to 4 flyers were like that first one. It was a cool way to break 300. I couldn't believe my instant progression in HD. I really hadn't jumped in over a month and the last time I really jumped, it was shitloads of HD coach jumps with no technical skill training, just flying the pipe and simon says stuff. This is the second time that after some coaching and a break, I have advanced exponentially. Firm believer here on the coaching thing, and just maybe the break to relax your senses and ego is the trick. Possibly flying with new people is a piece of the puzzle. There are no expectations or pre-determined outcomes with people that you dont regularly jump with. I has got me so jazzed that I'm not sure I am going to be visiting my home DZ that much. Anyways, rambling here. Just a thanks to Kelly, Scott and Jim down at Sno. And a cheers to Amazon for not kickin my ass..... Edit: Oh yeah, it was my first time trying to swoop gates as well. Slow 270 and right thru the gates a foot off the ground the first try. Sweetness....

I would like to chime in here as well. I have had 2 120's and both of the damn lanc ports have a internal broken connection. Jimmy, you seem to have some good knowledge of this area. I have taken parts off to get the the area, but since I didnt have the part on hand, I didnt want to dig any futher just for nothing. Parts seem to get smaller as you go further. Is this a common problem with the PC series? Can I fix this myself? I do have really good capabilities, but I'm not a damn nano-machine.

The shark fin, if I understand correctly is just a bent piece of aluminum. Something that I can make myself easily, or is there some gimmicks that I cannot recreate that are neccesary? And finally is there a standard placement with both vid and still on top of the helmet? Thanks

I am about to get the FTP, and I have a PC120 that I need to mount. I have a bonehead box that I use on the side of my Hawkeye, but one side is flat for horizontal mounting. Is there a way to use this box on top of the FTP? Maybe a L bracket mounted to the top of the helmet with the box mounted to the L bracket? And if I am going to use my Digital Rebel, should I put it in front on the bracket, or next to the video on top?

I said more expensive, but I meant LESS expensive. Damn......that should clear things up. Doenst really matter now, I got the 512 ultraII from Sandisk for $129.

Im not sure what all the warranty covers other than manufact. stuff, but I got it on Ebay from a Canon dealer. Canon refurbs demos that dealers were given for learning the product to they could sell them more intelligently. These have been gone thru by Canon and are basically new. The retailer gives 3 months warranty and the next year is offered by N.E.W. warranty service. US model with packaging and all the stuff that comes with the one that you would buy in the store, just cheaper. Now I would like to find a warrranty that I could buy that covers accidental damage.....know of any?

I guess I shouldn't tell you that I just picked one up for $799 and 15 month warranty......

Yeah, at least I know that it was not that smart now, as compared to being convinced that it wasn't since I didnt get killed or hurt. On the flip side, I have jumped with a camera on every jump since then so I feel wierd without a camera on my head now. I am just about to get a FTP from a guy for a pretty good price and mount my new Dig Rebel and the PC120 on it for chasing tandems at my own DZ. Im sure that some would consider that stupid as well..... I'm sure that I will look back to this 3-400 jumps from now and think......damn, that was stupid!

Dude, I was kidding..... I started jumping camera at 46 jumps.......hindsight....? Dumb.

Yeah dude, of course people should! You only have 40 jumps. You should wait until you have 46 to start like I did. Then you'll be safe. Edit: by the way, no one ever told me that I shouldnt be jumping camera at that number of jumps, so I really didn't know any better.

Ok, so after alot of reading on these cards, I "think" I am more informed, but at the same time, I feel more confused than ever. Here's the thing... I am getting the 300D for tandems and small freeflys. I would like to get a good quality card that I can use in another "higher" quality camera like the 10D. On B&H the Sandisk 512 Ultra II Compact is $119, and the Sandisk 512 Ultra Compact is $139. If the Ultra II is the newer card, why is it more expensive? And lastly, the feared question.......has there been a revelation of opinion on these cards which has led to one card being the best performing card? If so, which one is it? Thanks.

Never. Never ever ever. Why? If I have to explain that to you...well....you know. For me personally, its the most intimate experience that you can share with another person besides sexual relations. And that's considering that they are the opposite sex. In the case of the same sex, it is the most intimate experience you can share. Its a personal expression of unity and finality with that person that just cannot be duplicated for money. Everyone I jump with is my brother, or sister, but jumping with my blood brother makes the experience that much more irreplaceable. Hope that makes sense.

Dude, relax already........ That was some funny shit.....because it was FAKE. Now if it was real... there would be a cat head on your seat.

Yeah, sorry bout dat. But it kinda takes some of the fun out of it when theres a in there. Its always entertaining to see people pull up a chair and get all riled up because they cant read between the lines..... But you know me...I would never do that.

Its not Chachi's fault hes a Gay Jewish Canadian, so its understandable why hes so bitter. You should see the guy in person, he really tries to make up for it by his hip and happening appearance. See his picture attatched. p.s. It was your girlfriend helping me, but she doesn't talk with her mouth full....

BUwhahahahahahaah. Chachi, this is a quite interesting reply from someone with brain damage. I didnt know that they took you off the ventilator so early after that last botched landing with your new crossfire. I am glad you are doing so well, but as still confused as how you find the time to post here on DZ.Com. I mean, with all those grass stains your gear has on it, I thought you would be down at the river scrubbing your shit on a rock and laying it out over your vans exhaust system to dry. Oh well, priorities I guess.

Your just now picking up on that.......? It was a test of the emergency bullshit system.... Test failed...

Steve, I couldn't agree with you more. Its so sad that people focus on others so much that they feel its their duty to "change" them. Why can't they just shut the fuck up and let them be stupid if they so decide. What's really annyoing to me is that after all the crap that closed Talk Back, some assholes already start some new shit that HH worked very hard on over the last 2 weeks to create a "better" atmosphere for us here. The mini-profile was asked for by many here, and now some are self-proclaimed cops of the this mini-profile. I really don't understand why you people give a shit. If its not in a topical thread leave it alone. If it bothers you so much, go pound your wiener and come back later when you are more relaxed.

You da schizznit San Man. Next time I see you, I will buy you a beer. I can't thank you enough for the changes. I can gladly say that the red numbers under new post for SPEAKERS CORNER will always rise, as I shall NEVER click on such forum.

I have 6 years with a combination department as a career firefighter. EMT-B certified. I can't talk anyone person into even a tandem, but, those stupid dipshit vollies seem to try to kill themselves on a regular basis. Even our vollie Deputy Cheif likes to stand in the smoke of a meth lab house fire without an airpack. And he calls me stupid for jumping. Morons....

Four words........ Fucking Deal With It. Sangrio has done what I felt, and many others, what was necessary. Perhaps even overdue. Dont bitch. If you cant handle it....TFB. Get your own goddamn website.

ROFL.......when was the last time you ever heard of someone banning a whole COUNTRY! That's some funny shit. *The Don* "Your outta here" *The Don* with the hand swoop....

Well, if it was a buddies rig that I packed and had a mal, I would pay for the reserve repack, as I would feel the need as I didnt have to pay for renting the rig. But for some reason, I think that if you rent a rig, and have to use the reserve, there should be no penalty for doing such. There isn't always a definite way to know what caused the mal. Sometimes shit just happens. Even if it is something as obvious as a lineover with characteristic line burns, Im not too keen on having to pay for someone elses equipment that I rented. A friends rig is somehow different. There are a couple of ways of thinking on this I'm sure. One thing that crossed my mind, is that if they person KNOWS they will have to pay for the repack and possible charges for a lost freebag or main, are they going to try to fix their mal for just "a little bit" longer? I know I sure wouldn't, but I can only speak for myself. And I have seen enough out there in my short time in the sport to know that some dumbass would. In the rental car business, there is insurance for damaging the car. If you pay for it, your covered. If you don't, your screwed. Maybe there could be some middle ground here, and charge a minimal amount for "reserve insurance". You could quite possibly look back in your records and see how many rentals you have had, and how many reserves those resulted in. Lets say it was, hypothetically, 1 in 300 rentals. Divide the repack amount of $40 into 300 and charge $7.50 for reserve insurance. Maybe for the whole day's worth of rental, cause if it was per jump that would be a shitload, but my numbers are prolly way off for ratio rentals/reserve rides. Just an idea.