P-dro

i'm usually on the very conservative side of these questions, but I made 25 jumps on a Katana 170, coming from a Safire 169 and I perfectly understand agent lead reaction. I've had exactly the same. This canopy is very addictive, and not because it is written a cool name on it. Yes, the Katana 170 is a phenomenal canopy with the best opening i've ever had. it's a joy to fly and land. But on the first approach it's deceptively close to a Safire or a Sabre. In "normal" use at a medium wingloading it will have a similar behavior. But if you push it a little more than usual, it will quite litteraly fall out of the sky like it's smaller sisters. True, I load it a bit more than you ( 215 out of the door), but be extra careful. I hadn't fully realised how diving it was until I had to avoid another jumper. The previous landing on the contrayr were similar to me Saifre, only better. My only advice would be maybe to make 30-50 jumps with a Safire/Sabre 170 before switching to the Katana, just to avoid dealing with a planform and wingload change at the same time... Have fun.

I've got 350 jumps on 4 different SAbre2 of 3 differents sizes and deploy at the correct airspeed. Most of the openings were off-heading, 20% serverly (360° or even more), 5% were instant openings with subsequent trip to a doctor (3 last year). Those canopies have been packed by me but also by packers or even riggers with no discernable differences. Since 100 jump I switched to a Safire II, never changed my packing method and strangely there has been no hard opening and the heading have improved a lot!!!

The same for XC 7 cells Canopy. Any news ?

The biggest Optimum released is a 143. A lot of people (including me) would be thrilled to have a 160 or 176 available...

I asked PD 3 weeks ago the answer was "work in progress, no date of release not even a timeframe..."

PD is about to release a new 7 cell elliptical canopy that should (according to people who tried it) please a lot of people...

That seems to match what I heard : I should some kind of 7-cell Sabre 2 wtih excellent opening a real potential for swooping and CRW... Definitively one i'll be watching closely.

I just read in Paramag that PD is about to release a new 7 cell canopy. Is there any info out there that i'd missed ?

Since their target when their factory in South Africa will fully operationnal is 240 rig a month, it may not be as long as some may think... The next weeks will tell us if their are able to reach their objectives...

All the models you mention target a very different customer base than the access. The only alternative to the Access is the Prodigy from PhoenixFly. I prefer it to the Access because it fly very much like the bigger wingsuit with a "real" wingsuit position and pull sequence.

The Legend'R (the latest incarnation of the Atom family) is an excellent container, very comfortable, tough as hell. All the more if you got a good deal on it. I can't speak for the resale value, it depends on where you are... But you definitvely didn't do a bad choice (on the contrary). The only drawback: delivery time around 6 months now, slowly decreasing from 12 a few months ago due tothe relocalization of PdF production in PISA factory...

I hesitate between a Phantom and a Ghost, the Phantom being by far my favorite among the WS i've flown. So, it most probably will be a PF suit ;-)

Question to those who upgraded from a Phantom. I have roughly 40 WS jumps (20 on a Phantom,10 on S-Fly, 10 on a Phi, 40 on Prodigy + Access that I don't count) and considering a purchase. Being a tad on the heavy side (92kg) and wanting to flock, is it feasible to go straight to the Ghost where the added surface could help with stay with the floaty skinny scarecrows ? Or is it completely unreasonable ?

I was wondering how it comes there was no talk here of this canopy ?

I did just that: I had the opportunity to put some jumps on a Katana 170 at roughly 1.4WL. That makes a damn fine canopy. First the openings are the best I've ever experience, the canopy is very responsive but not overly so, and the landing has ton of flare (more than my Safire II). That is a very tempting canopy, but since I do some WS it wouldn't be reasonable and the resale in Europe could be problematic (not much of a market for that kind of canopy) Bottom line at "low" WL, Katana remains a very good canopy as long as you remain careful...

There even simpler packing techniques without an s-fold...

Why make the s-fold at all?

In france AAD are mandatory for all jumpers, regardless of discipline or experience.

Just bought one, brand new: buttons don't work :-( Seems their reputation of questionable reliability is not completely a thing of the past .... What a pity L&B doesn't offer a equivalent product....

If you wwant you can buy separately: http://www.botac.com/benreshook.html

I dont't agree with you: good customer service and attention to detail dont make a godd RW suit, they are necessary to stay in business long enough to establish your brand. To buy an unknown product, it must provides either new features or be cheaper with equivalent features. Judging from prices and the pictures it doesn'nt seem to be the case here. Plus when you order skydiving suits, it is common to have some adjustements to make. Shipping back and forth to NZ, will be costly. So I don't really the intereset to purchase half way accross the world a product without strong credentials. I dont criticise the product itself but with excellent local manufacturers why buy oversea? But it is just an opinion... feel free to try...

In my opinion RW suits are a complex business and takes a lot of experience to get it right. If you are looking for a competition suits, I tend to think you'de be better off with established brand: If u're in US TonySuit, Bevsuit, MichiganSuit come to mind (I must be forgetting some good brand I'm sure), in Europe you could go to Parasport, Symbiosis or even Aerofil in France (very nice Tonic Blast suit).

I have had 3 Sabre 2 (all in big size : one 210 and two 190) on which i've made i've made around 300 jumps. the opening were: 90% off heading, sometimes severely (180° or 360°), 40% brisk, 10% hard to very hard (2 visits to the doctor to put back vertebraes in place). All 3 have been packed by a lot of different people (regular packer, master rigger, friends and me of course me,most of the time) and I tried an awful lot of tricks to improve opening to no avail. The only thing that I found to improve things those last 30 to 40 jumps I switchted to a roll packjob, that slows down opening a little and make them relatively comfortable. I've never had opening like the one you show on your video... So my next canopy won't be a Sabre 2, that's for sure. Maybe later when I use smaller sizes like 135 (my teammates have a 120 and a 135 and are very happy with them, even if they still don't open on heading...)

Too bad? Why? The mamba is the most comfortable helmet i've tried and I have a very big head (24"7). If stolen, I'd buy another right away.

Same problem here, ordered a Bonhead Mamba, never looked back....