At the weekend there I got to try out a Safire-1 149 and a Safire-2 119. It was the first time in years that I'd flown anything other than a Pilot. I've used a Pilot 150 and a Pilot 132.
My initial thoughts of the 149 were that it was slower on toggle turns that the Pilots, but much more powerful flare. I can't really stall either of the Pilots even with my arms locked straight down. I think they stall eventually if I hold the fullest flare I can put on it for several seconds. The safire-1 stalled about hip level, and I could feel the flare up to that point being more powerful than I'd felt on either Pilot.
The Safire-2 119 felt a lot more responsive to toggle turns etc than the Pilots, as I was expecting on a smaller canopy, and the flare felt more powerful than the Pilots as well. I really liked that canopy, and was good fun to fly and land.
So that brings me to the question. Prior to jumping the 119, I was thinking that my next step would be to get a Pilot 117 at some point, but that Safire 2 has put doubts in my mind.
Would I experience a similar comparison between the Pilot 117 and the Safire-2 119 as I did between the Pilots and the Safire-1 149, i.e. The Pilot will feel faster and more responsive on toggle turns, but the safire-2 will have a more powerful flare?
Or is it possible that the steering lines on my Pilots are just a few inches too long for me, which is why i'm experiencing a seemingly not as powerful flare? I can still land the Pilots without a problem, but I would love it if they had a similar feeling flare to the Safire-1 and Safire-2 that I tried.
So, how does the Pilot 117 stack up to the Safire-2 119?
I'd have a WL of approx 1.5 on each.
I realise there are a lot of topics discussing pilot vs safire-2, but most in the search results were about 7 or 8 years old so was hoping by now more people have a good amount of experience on both.
(This post was edited by degeneration on Feb 14, 2012, 3:49 AM)
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Post edited by degeneration
() on Feb 14, 2012, 3:47 AM
Post edited by degeneration
() on Feb 14, 2012, 3:49 AM
