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Skydiving Gear and Equipment: Main and Reserve Parachutes: Performance Designs : Navigator : Reviews

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has contributed 5 reviews

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(Review ID:1705)

10 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

Perfect Beginner Canopy
Rated by: alx72 on 2006-11-26 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Navigator in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Very forgiving, reliable, perfect to learn on.
Cons: None that I can judge.

Did approx. 55 jumps on Navigators, started my AFF with a Nav 300 (I'm about 210 lbs. exit weight) and then worked my way down through a 260, 240 and finally a Nav 200, which I used for approx. 15 jumps. Cannot complain at all about the canopy, always openend on headings and got me to the ground safely. Very predictable flight characteristics. Glides well. Jumped a different canopy during my AFF for one jump (Balance 280) but didn't like that at all (weak flare,not responsive). Went back to the Navigator straight away.

Jumped a Spectre 190 for the last 5 jumps and in direct comparison with the Nav 200 I like the Spectre 190 better though. Openings are even softer with the Spectre, the Spectre also tends to flare a bit better, while it of course loses altitude faster.
Nonetheless, all in all the Navigator is the perfect beginner / student canopy. I am happier with the Spectre now, but I would not want to have jumped a different canopy to learn on.

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(Review ID:1617)

5 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Very forgiving
Rated by: Mike111 on 2006-08-08 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Navigator in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Safe, V good flare, no stall
Cons: Slow

Done around 15 jumps on one of these, including all AFF levels. Found it to be very forgiving of an uneven and early flare and determined to stand me on my feet on touchdown. Very easy to control, makes one feel very safe - no radical turn movements and is a very useful canopy to learnon.

Thats probably why our DZ owns ten of them!!!!

Cons - None

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(Review ID:1437)

12 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Nav 240 - Great fun to learn with and creates a safe feeling under canopy
Rated by: Prestodigitator on 2005-11-23 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Navigator in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Enough responsiveness for a newbie
Cons: not really any :o)

I've just come back from doing my AFF in Lake Wales and i used a Nav 240 for all but the first 2 of my jumps. Can't remember what the first canody i used was (don't have my log book to hand, sorry!) But i do remember when i changed to the Nav 240. It was a lot more responsive than the first one and a lot more fun in the air. As a student it is VITAL that you feel safe under canopy as you slowly start to experiment and push your comfort zone on each jump. This Canopy made me feel totally safe and, when i finally got the courage to start some (what i thought were) tight 360's and 720's it was responsive and secure enough to give that thrill without the fear that something was going to go wrong :o)
The landings on this were great too. Being the student, i obviously made a few early flairs (i'm sure they wont be the last either!) and, as mentioned in other reviews, i too found that, as long as you keep your bottle and don't let go of your brakes, your pretty much going to get an OK landing without the canopy staling on you and i was standing up mine from the get go so its all good :o)
I'm not one of these people who are looking to down size as soon as poss. either, so i would say that i would be more than happy to get one of these to get my first couple of hundred in.
Now, not knowing my backside from my elbow with regards to comparisons, i can only say that, if you are looking for a canopy that is safe to learn on and then keep for a while to just have good, safe fun on, you wont go far wrong on a Navigator 240.

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(Review ID:1306)

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Perfect student canopy
Rated by: Joellercoaster on 2005-06-21 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Navigator in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Gentle, easy to fly and land
Cons: None. No, really!

The Navigator was my second student canopy (started on large PDs IIRC) and I have nothing but praise for it.

I was flying a Nav 240, which I loaded somewhere around 0.85 for the seven jumps I put on it over two days last week. The first time up, I had two or three line twists and you'd never have known from the way it flew - it just kept on going in that nice flat glide.

Compared to the old PDs, it certainly turned crisply when I asked it to (and not before) - though not as crisply as the Spectre I flew next, obviously. Still, it gave me a nice feeling that I was actually doing something up there and not just the proverbial bag of dog food.

Landing was a breeze. PLFed the first one just in case but after that it was clearly trying to land me on my feet, so I let it. The flare stroke was gentle and quite long, to the point where I had a bit of trouble landing a similarly-loaded 7-cell for a jump or two (which has convinced me to buy a 9-cell, if nothing else, nice though the Spectre was otherwise).

I didn't try, but our instructors told us you simply can't stall your Navigator, which means no matter how badly you jump the gun on your flare, you can just keep the toggles down and it won't thump you.

Highly recommended.

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(Review ID:518)

9 of 36 people found the following review helpful:


Rated by: Jimbo on 2002-05-08 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Navigator in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

I jumped a navigator in AFF. It opened every single time and it never tried to kill me. My current canopy has tried to kill me several times. The navigator opens very nicely and has a great flare. When I flared at 30 feet, it landed me and I only broke one bone. I think everyone should get a Navigator. They're cool.

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