likestojump

Serial 44 was made 01/2008, Serial 160 was made 7/2008 - thus I would conclude Storms started being made very late 2007 or early 2008

A wrong is always wrong of course. Having said that, did your friend have and avail himself of the opportunity to inspect the rig (or have a rigger inspect it) before he released the funds? not to the best of my knowledge. and just the fact that due diligence was not done does not absolve the vendor. what's the definition of FRAUD again ? Being that I talk to many gear shoppers on daily basis, I have had other people tell me of their bad experiences with the above mentioned vendor... There is other info that I am privy to, and unable to disclose in public...

They changed ownership and have been dumping old stock ragged out junk on the market. It's a fact. A friend was duped into getting two useless ragged out tandem rigs for price of good gear ($4K). There have been others as well.

I prefer to hear Unstable's answer to my question :). the terse phrasing of his reply can be interpreted way in too many ways

out of curiosity - why does it matter ?

I may not have any gray hair, but a guy with gray hair did explain something to me once :) When PRO packing, some people like to roll their cocoon really really tight. What that may cause is for the steering lines to shift (or rather be pulled)away from the center of the packjob, and thus be more likely to get a line over. makes sense to me :)

Mirage : $120 for regular, $150 for stainless re: http://www.miragesys.com/price-list/ Sunpath : $138 for regular, $182 for stainless re: http://sunpath.com/web_en/download/docs/replacement_parts.pdf or you can find yourself some used ones in the classifieds for a bit cheaper... basically doing a search is the key, regardless of what you want :)

but how much pressure was applied at the highest point during closing the container ? Surely more than 22lbs :)

Same here. I have jumped a Merit and while it packed/flew/flares well, the openings were quite firm.

he was quoting from the FACTS section of Lexis Nexis doc. The junk he quoted was presented to court, and as such he is making fun of the whole judicial system. and rightfully so.

They are lots of fun.

if you want a visual answer : PD Reserve (square) : http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/PR_160-281LT.pdf PD Sabre2 : http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/SA_190-260_P01_P02_LTC.pdf

And when I wouldn’t ship you a rig without getting paid you wait several months and jump my shit on a public forum. But maybe that’s just me. Sparky Way to take things out of context Sparky. And for the record - I have never requested for you to ship me anything w/o getting paid. And the communication you are referring to is from December 2006.

Not everyone is willing to send w/o getting paid. It seems the buyer is always asking the seller to trust them, and to ship w/o getting paid. but what about reciprocity ? How can the seller be assured that they will get paid ? Ponder that one.. In practice it takes me 2 weeks to get paid from the time I ship the product to the time I get the check in the mail. That's 14 days - half a month - lots of time (at least in my book). in the past I have had : buyer change their mind, and take 10 days to ship the product back. That was a total of 3.5 weeks of product being out of my hands and thus unmarketable. Buyers take "a few extra days" to pay. This ranged from 1 day to 2 weeks. Not too good for cashflow :( Buyer's rigger (newer Senior rigger) claim the product needs $250 worth of work, while a seasoned Master Rigger considered the same as very minor wear and tear. (this was slight fuzz on the right lateral from hook velcro BASE pouch rubbing against the T7 webbing) Jumper refusing to make a $50 deposit on a $700 piece of gear. Apparently she has gotten numerous people to ship gear to her rigger and was going to have her own little layaway shopping spree at the expense of others. Not cool. I have had people offer me significantly less for the gear that was already in their possession, for no good reason but because they had the upper hand. That's just extremely unethical... One guy had the rig for two weekends, put 27 jumps on it and then claimed that he didn't like the main all that much. He didn't want to buy the rig w/o the main, and shipped the rig back. This just happened to coincide with a big boogie at his DZ. I figure he got 5 days worth of free rental from me :( And of course I have had a few people who would take their sweet time getting to the rigger after the said inspection. One guy actually never showed up, so I had to send a prepaid FedEx label to get the gear back. So yeah, as someone who sells lots of gear, I very seldom am willing to ship something without getting paid first. But that's just me :)

in the show she was flying a PF Stealth

I would advise to take the $550 and use it to buy a better shape ST120. There usually are a lot of nicely priced used ones, as they have been on the market for 17+ years. I believe that after you invest $550 into this canopy, you won't be able to sell it for that much :(

I don't think it's you. I have sold quite a few Cypres and Cypres2 units. I have also sold about 20 Argus units and about 10 Vigil1s and a about 10 Vigil2s. out of all those units I have had 3 Argus units with old-style non-ruggedized screens that were busted. Statistically speaking if the build quality was the same, I should have had a lot more Cypres units than anything else (I went through over 500 of them). So obviously there's a reason why new units come with ruggedized display screens as from the factory and why for awhile Argus offered free control units replacements :(

sounds a bit short of a MLW for a 20" torso. best bet is to email Jeannie AT miragesys DOT com and have her check the SN for the build info of the previous owner. also, keep in mind that their harnesses differ in measurements between articulated and non http://miragesys.com/support/?loc=articles&id=12 for example I have a 17 19 +1 G4 (Unisyn) which was made for a 6'1" 180lbs person with 18.5" Torso I can tell you that for size 30/31 pants you don't need a stabilizer extention (the +.5), but if it's there it's doable :)

that's weird, because their order form has 3 options : order form here : http://www.performancedesigns.com/store_files/custom_formselection2.asp?dealer=SUNFAC 550 micrlone 825 microline 525 dacron Also, I have personally seen them relined with HMA by 3rd parties. And I am quite certain people have tried vectran as well.

your profile lists Sabre2 210 as your main. IF that's the case, it is almost guaranteed to have microlines (Spectra).

no, you are not crazy, as long as you don't load it too high.

my understanding has been V339 and below = Micron. V340 and above = M-series Micron was introduced in 1999 for smaller canopies. Then the changes were incorporated in 2002 to the "regular" V3 series and those became the Vector3M I could be a bit wrong :) re : http://www.unitedparachutetechnologies.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=72

Bro, I can point to your "mandatory obsolescence" that you quote to be 7 or 10 years depending on the time of day you type it up. can we stick to our opinions and not call each other names ? OR - if you do call me names, can you at least spell Winner properly ?

that's weird. Vigil II has a 10 year battery at a cost of $60 (only to be spent once, after the first 10 years. - so $60/20 year life=$3 per year battery cost Argus has a battery that needs to be changed once a year. Last time I bought those batteries in bulk the cost was $2.50ea, a set of 2 every year makes the battery cost $5 per year, provided a single set lasts a year Currently Vigil boosts a 20 year life with Argus saying "Based on aging tests performed, the service life for the Argus is more than 12 years counting from the first time it has been switched on." as far as a lifetime.. well, at one point Cypres had an indefinite lifespan too, but none of the units got grandfathered in when they instituted a 10 year life (afterwards it went to 12year 3 months, which the units did get grandfathered into). BTW Argus requires a $140 check every 4 years, as opposed to Vigil claiming to be "maintenance free". Oh, and just for the record - I jump a Cypres2, so please don't try to claim for my opinion to stink of bias :)

they are all great canopies with a strong following and good resale value - it would be ideal if you could demo each one and make the choice yourself.