Jun 16, 2011, 8:30 PM
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Soft opening canopy
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I hear conflicting comments about hard opening vs soft opening canopy(s). Some say Spectre can have its share of hard openings, others say the Sabre has a reputation for opening hard. I have read that the triathlon opens smoothly.
Give me you opinion as to what canopy(s) have the softest openings? Is there a canopy that is most often considered "the soft opening canopy"?
DSE (D 29060)
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Jun 16, 2011, 8:32 PM
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I've been jumping a Pulse for the past week, and am really impressed with how soft it opens. Plus...it lands itself. it's a canopy for folks that just wanna enjoy a casual flight down to the ground (or for those that have torn their ACL's), and is not a super sporty canopy. Having 1K jumps on a Silhouette and 1K + jumps on the Storms, and a few hundred jumps on a wide variety of canopies...I'd look at the Pulse. Gonna really hate sending this one back.
Ask a lot of "long term" heavy headed camera flyers what they are jumping. With the extra weight on their necks a lot of them tend to fly canopies that are more forgiving
(This post was edited by Squeak on Jun 16, 2011, 9:38 PM)
Pilot. I don't think my pilot has ever taken less than 700 feet to open. I had a severe back injury and jumping a pilot is the only way I can continue to skydive. I highly doubt I will ever jump anything else.
From what I've jumped and seen: Soft openings: pilot, spectre, pulse, safire.
Hard openings: a lot of sabres, some sabre 2's.
The triathlon I'd place in the middle here, with reliable not soft not hard openings. Same for the fusion.
Any canopy can open hard, for a variety of reasons. Spectres in general open smooth as butter but some have broken lines from opening hard. I've seen a safire torn in 2. A lot depends on your body positioning, on packing and on the canopy itself (how old is the lineset etc).
My vengeance generally opens smooth but once landed me in hospital with a suspected broken back which turned out to be "just" a couple bruised ribs.
From what I've jumped and seen: Soft openings: Triathlon, Pilot, Spectre, Pulse, Safire2, Storm
Funny: I bought my Triathlon from a guy who was scared of it because it took longer to open than he was comfortable with. He bought a Sabre....and regretted it.
From what I've jumped and seen: Soft openings: Triathlon, Pilot, Spectre, Pulse, Safire2, Storm
Funny: I bought my Triathlon from a guy who was scared of it because it took longer to open than he was comfortable with. He bought a Sabre....and regretted it.
My Sabre2's would open pretty soft if I didn't trash pack it. My Safire2 opens pretty soft if I don't trash pack it.
Just the Safire2 opening is nicer than the Sabre2 for me.
I've been jumping a Pulse for the past week, and am really impressed with how soft it opens. Plus...it lands itself. it's a canopy for folks that just wanna enjoy a casual flight down to the ground (or for those that have torn their ACL's), and is not a super sporty canopy. Having 1K jumps on a Silhouette and 1K + jumps on the Storms, and a few hundred jumps on a wide variety of canopies...I'd look at the Pulse. Gonna really hate sending this one back.
DSE !!! if you're gonna hate sending it back.....
why not just send it to ME!!!??????
you'll feel better and i'll feel better..
to the OP... have had good results with a tried & true PD Spectre.... have never tried some of the more recent models, it could be that maufacturers ARE working to keep openings, sensible.. If your canopy tends to snivel.. TOO much, maybe consider adjusting your pull altitude UPwards a little AND after you've pulled... do NOT bust your hard deck.....riding a streamering main... right????
Any canopy, regardless of it's reputation, can and likely will occasionally slam the shit out of you.
I think a Spectre with Dacron lines is the softest opening main. I've jumped Spectres with microline and while the openings were slow, they don't compare to the openings with Dacron.
Any canopy, regardless of it's reputation, can and likely will occasionally slam the shit out of you.
I think a Spectre with Dacron lines is the softest opening main. I've jumped Spectres with microline and while the openings were slow, they don't compare to the openings with Dacron.
Fat lines aren't fashionable though...
I had a demo Spectre that opened WAY harder than my Sabre2... I think I put 5 jumps on it, and gave it back early.
Dacron lines would've made a huge difference. Hopefully I just had a screwy demo, and not a normal canopy.
Pilot. I don't think my pilot has ever taken less than 700 feet to open. I had a severe back injury and jumping a pilot is the only way I can continue to skydive. I highly doubt I will ever jump anything else.
can you please let us know how you measure that 700ft ?
I no longer jump so my information may be somewhat outdated. The softest opening canopy I ever jumped was one of the first production Icarus Omega's that I bought to replace a Sabre. Even when I packed it trying to cause faster openings by exposing the nose, etc, it only opened moderately briskly. It never slammed me, which I can't say for any of the other handful of canopies I jumped.
I've got a shitty lower back for a 21yo and I've been on the search for a soft opening, easy canopy. My Spectre was great, but it's a 7 cell. I finally landed on my Silhouette. Opens soft, fun to fly, easy to land. Overlooked canopy IMHO.
Icarus canopies open really soft. The Crossfire2 is not suitable for beginners (hehe) but you might consider a Safire2 after due time. Had one and was very satisfied with it.
When doing tandems I jump an EZ 384 which opens nice. (Icarus tandem canopies are better but we don't have any at our DZ) But back to topic: I once jumped the tandem rig of a mate with an EZ 384 as well ...and it gave me the willies as it opened really slooooooooooowwwww. And he told me: Yeah man, should have jumped the thingy before it got a smaller slider
So how many feet do you burn up with the Pulse opening ? Is it a long sniveler ?
Roughly around 500ft....It's rather hard to get around the thought that it opens relatively quick, however, it still opens very soft and smoothly. Never had any hard openings whatsoever. I had 150 jumps on my last canopy which was a Pulse.
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