Deyan

Until recently the battery was field replaceable. But within the last year regulations for shipping lithium ion batteries of the type they use have changed and they are no longer legal to ship by air in the USA. At that time they decided that the best course of action was to have them changed in DeLand. I'm not sure how they handle it in Europe. What I think it's happening is that they found out it can't last 20 years without maintenance, and they are using the battery shipment excuse to have it at least once back for a check. After all, maintenance free was their sale pitch for so many years. And this is exactly the same reason why they have the Vigil 1 exchange program. For just a bit more money than the battery replace, you get a brand new Vigil Cuatro. I could be totally off, but if it looks like a duck... "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Fixed it for you! What the guys at Vigil said 14 years ago was that's it's supposed to last 20 years. We haven't had one go that far yet, but the batteries are no longer field replaceable. So liked or not, people having Vigils will be shipping them back ... "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

There was something indeed. However on the latest rig from them, on the label was written only the UK certificate. The abbreviation FAA wasn't written anywhere! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

EASA doesn't regulate the manufacturing of sport parachutes since 2006. I don't care what the manufacturer claims. They do not have an FAA or EASA TSO. Based on the EU law, if it's approved in one of the EU countries, the rest should allowed it too. That's the loophole they are using. Funny times ahead with the Brexit. It can happen that since TS only have the UK approval, some EU countries might ban their products once UK leave the union.... ETA: EASA outsourced the control of certifying skydiving gear for sport use to the local authorities for each country . Only the PEPs are left under EASA's scope! So if Austro Control certified SIFE, that doesn't mean they hold an EASA TSO c23f. ETA 2: To the OP, sorry for changing the subject. My advice has always been, talk to your rigger. He/she is the person that will have to deal with that gear/manufacturer. And don't forget the resale value, because the reality is, you will be selling that rig at some point. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

^^ This ^^ "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Not the same. All they have is a lockal approval from Austo Control. I will say that one more time.... SIFE does not have an FAA or EASA TSO "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

That's not true. There are at least 2 manufacturers that have a pin-based MARD with Collins lanyards. Sife and SWS. Maybe what he meant to say is :" Non of the other MARDs on TSO certified rigs..." Maybe. But I think he would be wrong anyway, Sife is TSO certified: https://www.austrocontrol.at/jart/prj3/austro_control/data/dokumente/TD_AOT_ACE_300_2017-04-19_1304378.pdf http://www.sife.at/tests SWS has been tested according to TSO-C23d, but can't be certified due to the lack of a FAA partner in Ukraine. Non of them is TSO certified. The situation with SIFE is the same like with SWS. Tested according to TSO bla-bla is not certified or approved under TSO. Nice way to trick somebody to think a specific product is TSOd. So yes, his statement would've been correct! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

That's not true. There are at least 2 manufacturers that have a pin-based MARD with Collins lanyards. Sife and SWS. Maybe what he meant to say is :" Non of the other MARDs on TSO certified rigs..." "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Every harness has 4 important measurements in order to fit correctly. Those are yoke, main lift webbing, laterals, legstraps. I think Aerodyne has them lined up exactly like this. "A" is the smallest they have and "G" is the largest. I think the difference between sizes is 1 inch . I hope any of this makes sense , and as always, the manufacturer will be the best source for that kind of info. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

PdF gear was extremely well build and it was relatively cheap when it was sold for French Franks. That's why there are so many of them around. I don't remember their customer support ever being good, but now since they no longer manufacture sport gear, is between exceptionally bad to non existent. A year ago I sent them an e-mail requesting a lineset. Got my answer 8 months later. It's so bad that if any of my Atom jumping customers looses his/her freebag and RPC, will just tell them to buy another rig. To the OP, those clear cables were chipping very badly if my memory is correct. I'd stay away from them. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Exactly my point Rob! It was a rhetorical question! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

To each their own! I really have problem with paying for an idea! The fact that the companies need cash to get started is not my problem. Shouldn't be yours either. Innovation? Dude, this is an altimeter! No matter how many video games they put in it, no matter what kind of useless info you get after every jump, it's an altimeter. It shows the altitude you are currently on, so you know when to separate, deploy and set up your landing pattern. Just for comparison the smart phone on which I'm writing this post cost 200 €!!! I fully understand that there are people who want to have the newest and coolest before anybody else and that's fine. Let them test it for you. Meanwhile buy the cheapest altimeter you find and a tablet. You will appreciate the second one during weather holds. 500 bucks for an altimeter phhhh! Better makes coffee too and predict the numbers from the lottery ! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

What's wrong with you guys? Both products haven't been released and you are staking up to prepay for something no one has seen. And we are not talking about 100 bucks. Don't you remember what happened to "the best fullface helmet ever"? So many people got ripped off! That's what happened! I'm not saying that this is the case here. All Im saying is that you should keep your hard earned money in the bank, until the products are out on the field for at least a year. And then if you are still feeling happy to pay 500 bucks for an altimeter, go ahead and get yourself one. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Hmm, I was just about to say, all those reserve deployments would be considered out of sequence.... unless you somehow artificially exclude them because of a spring loaded PC, maybe because it "it is out of sequence but isn't out of sequence for that long so I won't count it because I want to say that pull-outs are bad, without saying that all our reserves are bad too". You summed up pretty well. Spring loaded or not, doesn't make any difference. When you are belly to earth, pull out has less chance of hesitating because it's not in the burble, so that statement " it's out of sequence because it's not spring loaded" is pretty inaccurate. The whole discussion is how to prevent PCIT. In my opinion, considering that specific malfunction, pull out is way better than throw out. Can you end up with a total if you can't find the pud? Absolutely! But anyone in his right mind will choose a total mal vs PCIT. Bill mentioned many people dying because they used pull outs in the 70's. But why did they die? Because in the 70's people were pulling at 2500' ,didn't have AAD's and didn't make as many jumps as the weekend warriors now.So when they end up at 2500' still in freefall and search for the pud for 10 seconds, well it's their last jump ever, right? In 2017 majority of jumper have AAD's and don't pull lower than 3000'. If you have as many jumpers using pull outs now as there were back then, I bet you, you won't have as many fatalities! One more time....the discussion is not which deployment system is better. It's how to prevent PCIT. Here's a list of all PCIT mals I've seen. 5X missrouted bridle (throw away) 2X bridle around body parts during unstable deployment (throw away) How to avoid them: Proper prejump gear check! Pulling while stable belly to earth! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Yup, 'zactly. Out of sequence deployment on each and every jump. So pulling the pin before you get the PC out is considered "out of sequence deployment"? "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

. I figured someone would be curious but whatever I'd love to hear that story "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

All of what you've said is true! However, you asked how the PCIT can be solved. On top of that floating handle is way better than PCIT. Of course that's only my opinion which in most cases is not worth 2 cents. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

I've never heard of anyone having PCIT with Pull-out. Get one = problem solved. Maybe not what you were looking for, but it works! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

I know a difficult question to ask, but on average how long do you think rubber bands would last? Milspec rubber bands should be good for 2 years. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

What Jerry said, It's not OK and you should have it fixed. My point was, you should not freak out about it. Definitely not like the guy who's RPC didn't leave the container. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

This is the most common misrouting mistake on soft links. While it should not be like this, the chance of the link failing because of it is practically zero. I've seen reserve canopies open at terminal with a mistake like this.... Once again, I'm not advocating bad rigging. Just sharing my thoughts! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

I think you forgot one of the options. Yes, as long as you don't try to teach me how to do it. Been there "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Ken, NZ linesets for Icarus come ready for 2-6, 6-2 or 1-6. In case you want to use the single brake option, you attach the 6 uppers skipping 4 and 8 line attachment points. "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

Fixed for you The single break configuration has 6 uppers. 1,2,3 (skip 4) 5,6,7 (skip 8) "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen

1 - there's not supposed to be a loop on Icarus Tandem! 2- you have the setup with a single break line. It's all good! "My belief is that once the doctor whacks you on the butt, all guarantees are off" Jerry Baumchen