gaz511

I'm surprised you found the Mamba to be stable. Was it at the same wingloading as the other canopy? It's very sensitive to harness and in the wrong hands it is very unstable during and after opening until the brakes are off. Don't get me wrong, it's fine if you balance yourself under it correctly as you should. I guess the same could be said of any elliptical canopy but the Mamba seems to have a rep for spinning off heading openings and twitchyness. Personally I love the canopy because of the harness sensitiviy and the way it just keeps flying when you swoop. I see the openings as a negative aspect of the canopy simply because they can be interesting if your lazy at pull time it's worth it. I can't fault any other aspect of the canopy. I have heard some say it dives harder than a Katana and some say the Katanna dives harder. I guess thats maybe the result of different techniques? But thats another discussion i think.

Nice one thats pretty funny. Reminds me of e few people i know. I mean the 20 jump wannabee swoopers, not the anti semitic mass murderers.

I've been pondering the meaning of each of the 3 numbers that make up UPT container sizes. I.e does the 3 mean vector 3 and then the next 2 number relate to the actual sizing, eg main and reserve tray sizing? I ask this because i ordered a Micron back in November which is due to arrive around April i think. The canopys it's being made for are Katanna 107 and Optimum 113, According to the sizing chart it could be either a V304 or a V314, is V314 also a micron or is that an M-series? Is there a way i can find out which one mine will be if both sizes are Micron?

Ha ha you really don't like Mamba's do you. I'd love to jump a Velo now but i know i can learn much much more on a 9 cell first.

thats what i meant sorry, could have worded that better, If any of the 3 aren't right i don't do it. ;) All 3 need to be in agreement.

Like most people i use 3 things, a visual alti, an audible and mostly my eyes. Use the instruments to set up and use you eyes and experience to decide if your going to do it or abort. Aborting is bad for your ego but you'll survive to try again which is good, nobody wants to be remembered for dieing doing a shit swoop! Trust your eyes but be aware in certain light condidtions or times of day things may look closer or further way, i.e the ground. For me, if all 3 things don't agree on the height... i don't do it!

Is anyone out there jumping an RDS slider on a Mamba? I have a Mamba 104 loaded at 2.0 and was thinking about having one on there, i know the various pro's and cons, i'm interested in how people were getting on with them on Mamba's, e.g quick or slow openings, any unusual wear and tear etc? Secondly, my plan is to eventually get onto a Velo towards the end of the summer or when i'm ready to go x-braced, ideally it would easyier if the slider is the same size and i could move it from the Mamba to the Velo but i realise thats most likely not the case. But i thought it's worth asking anyway..... does anyone know the slider dimensions on Velo 103, 96 or 90 so i could make a comparison. Cheers Gaz

Like most people have said, it depends what you want from a canopy. Try all 3 if you can and make your own opinion. I swoop and have 2 mambas, this canopy swoops a hell of a long way. From speaking to people with alot of experince on all 3 canopies they all agree the mamba swoops further! But that doesn't come for free, You need to learn to cope with openings (body position and packing). Alot of people who try the canopy jump it once and can't cope with the openings due to their shit packing or body position (it's them, not the canopy) and then struggle to keep it level and on heading with the brakes stowed whilst taking booties off, collapsing the slider, undoing the chest strap etc. Jump it a few more times and you quickly learn to balance the canopy whilst doing that and once the brakes are released you've got a swoop machine thats lots of fun. Mamba, Xfire2 and Katana are all high performance canopies, chances are you'll try one of them and love so much you won't both trying the other 2. But if your worried about openings try the x-fire first, apparently it's much less exciting when it comes off your back and if your worried about resale price the Katana will hold its value better. That said... it does mean you can get a great deal on a used x=fire or Mamba!