mxk

What container did you use as a student? If you ever jumped with the Vector, I'd love to know what aspects of the Icon are better/same/worse. What options did you get and how long did it take from order to delivery for your neXgen? Right now, there is just one review in the Gear section and it's about the delivery time rather than the container itself: http://www.dropzone.com/gear/Detailed/935.html I demoed the Pilot 230 ZPX and didn't really like it, especially the flare. I didn't have too much difficulty standing up the landings, but it did require me to flare relatively quickly all the way in a single motion, meaning that there wasn't much room for error. Someone at my dropzone made a suggestion to shorten the brake lines, but obviously I wasn't going to do that on a demo. After flying the Pilot for two weekends, I switched to the Spectre and found myself hanging 6 ft above the ground after flaring it the same way on the first landing. Flaring it in two steps subsequently produced much better landings than the Pilot. Both were 230 @ 1.07 loading.

Didn't know that, thanks for the tip. Can't find anything used in the right size. In any case, I would prefer to have a reserve that is at least 230, which dictates the size of the container and the main. For the Icon the only option is I7, and for the Vector it will probably be V355 or V358. Those will fit a 210 main, but I'm not sure that I would want to downsize beyond 230. My progression starting with AFF has been 300, 280, 260, 240, and for the last few weekends I've demoed Pilot, Spectre, and Strom 230.

Can't see it without opening the reserve flap on the non-student versions. I prefer the window option were you can quickly glance at it just before putting the rig on. As I said, it's a minor annoyance. Already explored both options. A dealer told me that UPT doesn't let him use the production slots for non-student/tandem rigs anymore. As for stock rigs, we had a UPT representative at the Skydive Orange Boogie this past weekend who said that the stock production runs are infrequent and are sold out within minutes of the announcement to the dealers.

Searched the forums and couldn't find too many reviews of the Icon's neXgen Pro container. Could anyone offer an opinion on whether there are any disadvantages to the Icon when compared with the Vector? Since I'm still renting student rigs, the 30+ week delivery time for the Vector is a bit of a problem. I'm also not a big fan of the AAD remote location or the bottom tuck tab on the reserve flap that keeps popping out on some rigs. These are minor issues, but I'm curious how the Icon compares. I've pretty much eliminated all other containers from consideration. I first filtered out any container that didn't have the skyhook. After that, I narrowed the selection from Vector, Icon, Javelin, and Wings based on features, price, and recommendations of some of my instructors. For canopies, I'm going with the Spectre 230 main with dacron lines and Optimum 235 reserve (though if I can fit the Optimum 253 in, I'll be even happier with that). My loading will be 1.07 on the Spectre. The eventual goal, once I'm past 200 jumps (currently at ~75), is to try the wingsuit, so I would also like to know if one container might be better for that purpose than the other.