Skwrl

I doubt anyone has both yet. I suspect most responses will be people who tried one or the other and are partisan. I have a Carve and a Funk on order. I'll post unbaised reviews of both when I get them. (I violated my own rule of "try before you buy" with both suits.) Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Hey Marko, I've been pretty lucky in that regard. Of the seven suits I've bought (not including the ones for the wingsuit school), five were used - so I got exactly what I expected. The other two? One had comparable performance to what I expected from the demo. The other? No so much. I was pretty damn disappointed in that one. On the other hand, at one point, I had my heart set on getting a particular suit (I'm not naming names) until I tried it. Then I got something else... But on canopies? I've got a perfect example. A lot of people raved about a particular canopy and said it was the best canopy to replace my Storm. So I bought one without demoing it. After about 25 jumps on the replacement, it's in a bin at my house and the Storm is back in my primary rig. Sometimes, testing is as much about avoiding a bad (for you) purchase as much as it is in confirming a particular purchase is good (for you). Anyway, I see your point, though.... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

The only thing that has prevented me from buying a Squirrel suit (well, in addition to being afraid I'd be associated with frothing at the mouth fanbois) is that there aren't demo suits available, and I always say "try before you buy" about suits, since an awesome suit on one person may suck on another person. I wonder if Squirrel will have demo canopies available? All of the other canopy manufacturers have them - I'd love to try one of these out before I bought it. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Storm owner. Can confirm and corroborate Chuck's comment. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Does the Swift have backfly vents? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You and I definitely don't watch the same porn. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Ummmm... due to possible trademark issues, it's "Star Wers." Steer Wars? moooooooooo.... Hey man, whatever you guys are into is cool with me, who am I to judge... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Ummmm... due to possible trademark issues, it's "Star Wers." Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Hey all - Which of you have been jumped at Burning Man and/or camped with Burning Sky? Are you planning to go (and possibly camp with Burning Sky) this year? Any thoughts or recommendations for a newbie burner? I've got plenty of advice about life on the playa, I'm curious about the skydiving experience (both in the air and in the camp) specifically. Thanks! -J Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You just said a BEER fund...not that I had to share it! In general it looks like we are going to come in under budget. We run the event as a "not for profit" so that means we will HAVE to spend the surplus somehow in the bar. Be sure to be there Saturday night flockers! I hear if you hire strippers in bulk, the cost per unit goes way down... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Not disagreeing with you, but trying to understand your thinking - why f5.6 as opposed to f4.0 (or bigger, if the aperture goes bigger)? Also, do you think putting the ISO on manual and bumping it way up might help? Or is the Auto ISO sufficient? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

How will your subjects be lit up? (i.e., are they using pyrotechnics? glow sticks and head lamps?) The built in flash on a Rebel is pretty meager - you'll have to be right on top of them for it to work at all, in any mode. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Why not try both and see what you think? The same suit in different pilots' hands will perform differently, due to variations in body shape, flying style, etc. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Yep - I didn't read the whole thread closely enough. Totally agree with your approach. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Only one side comment. With respect to the use of the copyrighted image, you're of course right. But with respect to his likeness (appearance) being used, that's more complicated. The photographer/author holds the right to the copyright (unless he assigned it elsewhere, of course), but the subject/model has either likeness rights or publicity rights with respect to his own appearance/visage. The amount by which publicity rights are actually protected varies from state to state a lot in the US; I have no idea about his rights in Israel. If the subject is really serious about a legal challenge, he'd be better off cooperating with the copyright owner than trying to do so on his own. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Interdasting. I've noticed that I fly my Tonysuit very differently than I fly my (equivalent sized) Phoenix Fly. Sure, there are lots of common techniques, but there are also variances (which, I think cause people who start with one brand to often stick with one brand, because when they use the same techniques on a different brand, they don't get the same results and blame it on the suit). Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I hear those are a royal pain to pack http://www.sundriesshack.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/I-See-What-You-Did-There-Fry1.jpg Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Oh man, I conflated two crappy 80s bands! Damn. My credibility on this board is now even less than it was before.

*** We are seriously having a weigh off at F&D. And be warned - I have loaded Journey's Eye of the Tiger into my Spotify playlist for my training montage.... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I guess all the cool kids are going to F&D... Well, and me. I've been practicing my aim with maritime distress flare guns... I am ready this time... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Excellent! Thanks, Jeremy! You going to either Puerto Rico or F&D 10? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

They both will have good forward speed if flown by a good pilot; they also both are relatively easy to handle suits. When I said "they're different suits", it's because the manner in which they are flown is different. Example: in a Tonysuit, when I want lift I gain it through my arms; in my Ghost3, I tend to do it through my hips. It can take a little getting used to (well, it did for me) if you're switching between them. (By the way, that's my theory as to why people who fly one suit often stick with the same manufacturer and don't give enough credit to other manufacturers. Often, people don't want to have to learn a new way of flying if they were already flying well-ish in an old suit.) Try them both. (And when I say "try them", do a bunch of jumps, not just one or two, so that you can play with the ways in which the suits are different.) Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

This is a good point, John. I neglected to mention that I'm about 180lbs (81 kg) and about 5'11" (180 cm). Body size can alter performance. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Jhonathan Florez, formerly nicknamed Medusa, a.k.a., this guy:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9341396/Wingsuit-jumper-Jhonathan-Florez-breaks-four-Guinness-world-records-in-one-leap.html Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

The S-bird has been my "go to" suit for the last 1000 or so wingsuit flights (in other words, it's the one I use by far the most, but not the only suit I jump). It's a great suit for flocking and has plenty of power for outside camerawork (where one often needs the ability to "pop up" well over a flock). It is stable, but responds very well to inputs - you fly the suit, the suit doesn't fly you. The suit has a fair amount of range - in addition to flocking, I've managed to get very strong performance flights out of it. At the Q Boogie (July 4) at Jumptown in 2013, as part of a distance competition, I got a 3.0 glide ratio (far from winning the prize - I think I was in 5th place - but...) I am not a great performance flier - it's never been an interest or focus of mine - so I was pleasantly surprised. But what surprised me more was that I got a better performance from the S-bird than I did from my X-bird. (I attribute that to greater familiarity with the suit, since I jump the S-bird much more than the X-bird, but there was a demonstrable difference in my performance scores between the two suits.) Having said that, the S-bird it can also be flown slow and with a fast fall rate - I've successfully chased rodeos where beefy dudes rode on relatively smaller female wingsuiters (i.e., the inverse of what Purple Mike does; the photos aren't anywhere near as sexy). The suit is rightly known for not backflying as easily as some other suits (e.g., it's significantly harder to backfly the S-bird than a Ghost3). It can be backflown, however, it's just significantly harder and the results often aren't as amazing. I transitioned from an Mach 1 to the S-bird when Tonysuits first released the suit. I liked my S-bird so much that when my old S-bird started falling getting a little thread-worn (after about 900 or so jumps; I'm not gentle with my suits), I ordered a duplicate of it. As an aside, given that Tonysuits evolve over time, it turned out to be trickier than I thought. Edited to add: The previous poster mentioned that there are some tricks that will allow better performance that you'll learn in time after jumping the S-bird, which may be different from those you might use with an R-bird. I've heard this to be the case from a few pilots, although since I didn't transition from an R-bird to an S-bird, I can't say I experienced it personally. Try any suit before you buy. The right suit for me may not be the right suit for another person. (This can vary due to body type, style of flying, and a ton of other conditions.) Good luck and have fun! Disclaimer: I also own a Ghost3 (for aerobatics), X-bird (which I used to use for distance and performance), and have a Rebel2 (for XRW) on order. Through Northeast Bird School, I co-own a fleet of five Phantom 3s that we use for first flight courses. I am not sponsored by (or a "Friend" of) any wingsuit or skydive manufacturer (although I am Facebook friends with Tony Uragallo and Robert Pecnik), nor do I get a commission, benefit, kickback, t-shirt, baseball cap, pat on the head, pat anywhere else (not for lack of asking), or anything for selling or recommending anyone's suits. I've flow Tonysuit, Phoenix-Fly, Alien, and S-fly products. I've never flown a Squirrel product (I have yet to find a demo suit anywhere), but I hope to if I can find someone who has one that is willing to let me fly it. I'm also a Leo who likes long walks on the beach, hoppy IPAs, and porn. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork