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Skydiving Gear and Equipment: Main and Reserve Parachutes: Performance Designs : Silhouette : Reviews: Pages: 1 2 [>] [>>]

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has contributed 14 reviews

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(Review ID:1970)

17 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

Lovely canopy for lower wing loadings
Rated by: pinkfairy on 2008-04-14 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Good openings, wonderful flare
Cons: Heavy on the front risers

I upgraded from a Sabre150 to a Silhouette 150. Before I got the Silhouette I had only flown Navigator and Sabre.

The openings are good, much like the Navigator, you feel them and they don't use too much altitude, but mine have never been uncomfortable. It's also very tolerant to body position during opening, and flies straight even with multiple line twists.

Once open, it is easy to fly both on toggles and on back risers, but a little heavy on the fronts. But probably that won't be a problem if you're getting this canopy, you'll probably not be interested in swooping and you can still get the front risers down if you need to get through wind.

The landings are superb, it's got a lot of flare power, a lot more than the sabre, it just goes on and on. No problem at all on no wind days.

All in all a really nice canopy for low wingloadings, great for inexperienced jumpers like myself. Gets you to the ground comfortably, and makes you stand up your landings.

I wingload the Silhouette 150 at 0.95:1 or 1:1 with lead. It was a little faster at 1:1, but still very easy to fly. The canopy has 600 jumps, so is well "packed in", but the lineset has just 100 jumps, so if opens and flies like new.

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(Review ID:1911)

15 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

Silhouette, like falling on a cloud
Rated by: gNemo on 2007-12-16 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Soft openings, flies beautiful
Cons: If you are looking for the beast of the sky, get something else

I got this canopy about 2 (it's a 170) months ago, put about 25 jumps on it. I could not be more satisfied. Openings are like falling on a cloud, hard openings are unheard of with this canopy. Mine originally had a 100 jumps on it so it was still slippery, but packing was not bad because of the hybrid fabric. If you are looking for a good beginner canopy, and you can put your hands on one of these puppies, go for it! you will not regret it...

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(Review ID:1884)

11 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

I love my Silhouette!
Rated by: wildfan75 on 2007-10-21 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Easy to pack, great openings, fun to fly
Cons: None so far

My first canopy that I jumped off the beginner Manta was a Silhouette 190. I put about 20 jumps on the 190 and bought a used rig that had a Silhoutte 170. I've put about 250 jumps on it. I have absolutely loved this canopy. Its responsive to toggle imput, recovers nicely, opens wonderfully, packs easily and has a great glide path.

Over the last year I have put a few dozen jumps on a Spectre 170, ZP EXE 185 and 150, Sabre2 170 and a Fury. By far, the Silhouette has stood out for me as my favorite. It boggles my mind why the Silhouette is never mentioned in posts for new jumpers. Just because its square (not semi-eliptical) it doesn't get the props it should.

I can't wait for my new Silhouette 150. It's due to arrive tomorrow!

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(Review ID:1882)

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

soft openings
Rated by: boffin on 2007-10-14 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Fantastic opening easy packing
Cons: None

Although it is still tough to bag having only a handful of jumps on it, the main is fantastic. consistent on heading soft openings. it is a great combination of forgiving and performance.Feels nearly impossible to stall.

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(Review ID:1477)

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

silhouette 170, wingload 1.33
Rated by: timve on 2006-02-04 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: easy packing, consistened openins, forgives a lot, ...
Cons: everything seems to be very (to) easy

Have about 100 jumps on this wing, flies smooth, forgiving, even with full breaks hard to stall, collapsing it with frontriser input, nearly impossible, flat flight angle, but with enough airspeed to have some fun, frontriser input however is hard and increases rapidly, recovers very quickly from initiated frontriser dives, turns, toggle turns.
tried different packing methods, all works out fine. might want to roll the nose a bit to soften out openings on higher speeds or tracking pulls.
very nice and easy to handle novice wing, with enough capacity to entertain intermediate flyers (not counting the high front riser presure)
problem with this wing is that things you can do with the silhouette might lead to accidents if done without consideration using higher performance wings... be carefull when sizing down ... :)

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(Review ID:1473)

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Silhouette 230 & 190
Rated by: CaptFrank2001 on 2006-01-27 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Great first canopy
Cons: none

I recently finished my AFF course and purchased a new Silhouette 230. I purchased it because of all the good things I have read about it. Nice soft openings and very easy to fly. It flies so nice my girlfriend bought a 190.

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(Review ID:1354)

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

expeirance
Rated by: g2gjump on 2005-08-14 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Nice soft openings.
Cons: None.

I just got my silhouette and I couldn't belive the openings, nice and soft. I would recomend this canopy as a great novice canopy.

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(Review ID:1219)

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

silhouette
Rated by: MFF29Alpha on 2005-03-09 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: everything
Cons: none yet

Very nice canopy. Very responsive and recovers quickly. Performs very well for size. I love my Silhouette!

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(Review ID:661)

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

Awesome for all experiance levels
Rated by: ultmtdiver on 2003-03-01 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Smooth openings, crisp turns, graet landings
Cons: None as of yet

What can I say about this canopy? It's great. I started my freefall jumping with the military and a 370 Sq ft canopy. I have tried the spector 190, Tri 190 and the Silhoutte 230. After putting 10 jumps per canopy, I was most impressed with the silhoutte 230. With a body weight of 210, in moderate winds of around 15, my forward movement slowed on the 230, I then tried a 210 from PD, and from that momement on, that was the canopy for me. Fast responsive turns, flat flight that seems to get me to the DZ when we have bad spots, and have nothing but great landings. Highly recommend this canopy for those who are both new and experianced and not looking to be "swoop" bandits.

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(Review ID:623)

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

I highly recommend this canopy for beginning skydivers
Rated by: Ruffles on 2002-12-10 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Silhouette in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Agile yet forgiving
Cons: Can take upwards of 1000 ft to open if nose is rolled

I asked the 3 or 4 AFF instructors that did my training/coaching and they all recommended I get a Silhouette as my first chute; the best advice I've ever gotten. It is VERY soft on opening, and has an amazing capability to turn on a dime and be very forgiving at the same time. This allows the new skydiver to test themselves under canopy without receiving broken limbs for their mistakes. I can do a 360 turn in just about 1.5 to 2 seconds and yet the same canopy lands like a Manta 288; soft and reliable steering and turn recovery. I loaded mine at 1.1 and wow is it fun.The mix of ZP and F111 fabric makes it way easy to pack, as well as providing a "stepping stone" type of performance between f111 student chutes and high performance ZP ellipticals. The canopy is is also tapered, providing a mix of square and elliptical (way more on the square side though)performance capability. I have been to told by my dealer that this is the key to blending the crisp turns with forgiving landings/ recoveries. I love my Silhouette. It's a fantastic canopy to learn on. The only drawback, if you percieve it to be, is that the soft openings come at a price. Generally my chute takes between 750 and 1000 feet to open, if you roll the nose. At first, I thought I was having a malfunction, watching my canopy take 5 or 6 seconds to open completely, but my dealer said that PD designed the Silhouette to open slowly if you roll the nose. This is what gives you the soft on heading openings. After a few jumps, you get used to the slower opening. No big deal, just an adjustment. I have 20 jumps on it so far, and every one was exactly the same: on heading and way soft (what a concept - a painless opening!)

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