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Skydiving Gear and Equipment: Main and Reserve Parachutes: Atair Aerodynamics USA : Cobalt : Reviews: Pages: 1 2 3 [>] [>>]

has contributed 28 reviews

(Review ID:2234)

2 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

Great all around canopy.

Rated by: tjm on 2009-09-01 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Fast, Power Flare, Opening and Packing
Cons: Opening eat up altitude

I own a Cobalt 120 and have previously flown a Nitro 150, Batwing 135, Cobalt 150 and Stilleto 120. The cobalt is by far my favorite. My w/l is a 1.62, and have done double fronts and 90s on it so far. It plains out well on rears and has a powerful flare when transitioning to toggles. When packed right, the opening are great, but the opening do eat up more altitude than I'm used to. I just pull a little higher to compensate. Front riser pressure is average and the rears are fun to play with. You can't for better fabric to pack with. Its definitely a great transition canopy and wish they still were in production. All in all a great elliptcal canopy.

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(Review ID:2185)

8 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

Cobalt 135 @ WL 1.4 - nice intermeediate/elliptical canopy

Rated by: JanuszPS on 2009-05-25 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: openings :-), fabric,! flare!!
Cons: openings ;-)

After 100 jumps on Sabre 2 150 (225 in total) I moved to a second-hand Cobalt 135 my first fully elliptical canopy and I was amazed by it.
First I did couple of demo jumps on friends of mine Cob 135.
At the date I have 180 jumps on that canopy with 400 in total. My WL is 1.4/1.5 on it and as per Viso my highest speed generated during dive was about 80km/h.

Comparing to Sa2 150 which I owned I was amazed with the following characteristics:
1- long and soft* openings
2- beautiful fly - flat glade
3- nice front's dives
4- great and powerful flare - the best
5- Gelvenor ZP fabric

The openings on both (demo and my second-hand) were great, but defenitely on my friends nicer. I noticed that my openings with time = jump numbers get worst.

Cons:
1- Openings if something is not fully right.
2- Due to the line trim there is low wind penetration at my WL.

* Once the canopy had EXTREMELY hard opening broking one of mine ribs and whiplashing my neck putting me out of sport for 3 months.

I would put this more on maintenance side as after reline the canopy transformed from a beast to a beauty with soft openings. In addition I don't think that the canopy had exactly declared number of jumps. I found that the lines (Spectra) were 8cm shorter than on line trim chart which defenitely had huge impact on openings as well as flare.

At the moment I land 90 and 180 degs on fronts and I have to say that the flare is amazing on this canopy.

After opening this is a sweet canopy to fly. The glade is great - no more off dz landings which reduced dramatically comparing to my Sa2 150 which sunk much quicker.
Difficult to get to stall point on toggles.

The canopy is packing friendly due to Galvanor ZP fabric. After being an owner of another canopy made of Galvanor (Cayeene) I want to stick with it for ever.

To make it short - I bought another second hand Cob 120 and I hope to stick with it for another couple of hundreds jumps.

Final score - 4 of 5, however it should be 4.5.
-1 because of that exploding opening.

Janusz

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(Review ID:2085)

3 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

150 Comp Cobalt

Rated by: gearless_chris on 2008-10-24 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Light front riser presure, very fast.
Cons: Very hard openings

I ordered a 150 Comp Cobalt demo online when I was looking for my next canopy. After three weeks I called to see where it was, they said they didn't have a 150 Comp Cobalt to demo, that they only have a 135 and a 170. I got the 170 and put a dozen jumps on it, it was as fast as the other 150's that I had jumped so I decided to buy a 150 Comp Cobalt. On the order form there wasn't an option to match the triangular cross pieces to the cells so I called to ask about them. The person answering the phone couldn't answer my questions and she said everybody was out of the office. Square-1 called Atair two weeks after they said it would be done. Atair said it was done two weeks ago, they forgot to ship it. What I wanted for colors was the left end cell black, the cell beside it white, and white diamonds on the bottom. What I got was,the top skin was right, the crosspieces were matched to the cells like I wanted even though I didn't order them that way, the diamonds are white, but for some reason they made the center cell black instead of the left end cell. The first three jumps were fun, then on jump number 4 it opened so hard it broke a brakeline right in the middle of the line. I called Atair, again everybody was out of the office and she couldn't help me. I had already ordered new material since the brakelines came set up from the factory too short to use front risers, so I had my rigger replace them. It has broken the right brakeline twice, and the left brakeline once, in approximately 120 jumps. It also broke the aluminum camera box on my helmet with a riser strike. I sent Atair an email asking about the openings, no response. Once the canopy is open it is a blast to fly. The front riser pressure is very similar to a Stilleto but it dives steeper. I do outside video so I get to pull at breakoff time, but it's trimmed so steep that I usually land second, ground hungry is good. It will cover a lot of ground with rear riser input. This year at Richmond we managed to be last out of the Otter, but downwind of the landing area. Not only was I the only one out of our group to make it to the landing area, but I also passed the 6 way that got out before us.

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(Review ID:2069)

7 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

Canopy review

Rated by: skyjumper2610 on 2008-09-17 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Forgiving, Docile, Good transition canopy
Cons: Unpredictable openings, production quality control

The cobalt flies great. It is a good transition canopy that can be forgiving. The front riser pressure is average (a good baseline for HP ellipticals). The flare gives a significant amount of lift which can give you an ok swoop or an easy landing, depending on what you are aiming for. For learning to swoop, it is much better than a stiletto ("spinletto"). All in all, it is much better than a stiletto. However, I feel that I must point out the inconsistentcy of the openings. I have flown 3 different cobalts (2 150sq ft, and 1 135sq ft) and also have known 3 other owners (all have different cobalts than I flew) and the first thing that comes out in a conversation is how hard this canopy can spank you. It's either an opening that is good and opens in about 800 - 1000ft, or as little as 200ft. Aside from downsizing... the other major factor was that at the time I pitched out, I would be wondering if it would be a hard opening or a good one. This was consistent among other cobalt owners I have known. This was explained to me by Atair (who are very hard to get ahold of) that the canopy was out of trim. How can a brand new canopy be out of trim? How can the other 2 canopies, as well as my 3 friends be flying the same situation? It comes down to quality control and poor manufacturing. One advertising point is that you can "safely have an opening while going head down or sit flying." If you look at the promo video on their website, you will see someone who did that, and it didn't look like a "nice" opening. It looked like something that every canopy would do under the same situation. I may be very biased as I am flying a crossfire 2 at 129sq ft. If you are looking to transition to elipticals, you might want to consider if you are willing to risk being stuck with a canopy that can open poorly against a good flying canopy. If you are flying an elliptical already, go to the crossfire 2.

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(Review ID:1836)

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Cobalt 95

Rated by: tonka on 2007-07-11 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Opens great, flies awesome, and has tons of flare!
Cons: None

Just purchased a Cobalt 95. I load it at 1.7:1. This canopy is very fast and responsive on toggles and risers. The openings are awesome if packed correctly. The best part of the canopy is the very light front riser pressure and massive amounts of flare. It can be made to stay in a dive longer than you would think using double fronts. Canopy builds up tons of speed using front or rear risers making for a nice fast landing. Canopy flies solid at slow speeds so you get a good surf and don't have to put your feet down till you are almost stopped. :)
I can even fly it straight in from 1000ft and land it nice and soft. Canopy is very stable in flight and extremely hard to stall. It flies very solid and smooth...not bumpy, jerky, or drifting around. At lighter wing loadings this is a great beginner canopy and at higher loadings I have seen some awesome swoops.
Canopy is very forgiving for an elliptical with its powerful flare.

It flies and lands much like a Saber2 on steroids. Only other HP canopies I have flown include a Flight Concepts Rage 107 and a PD Vengeance 97. The cobalt out performs them both especially with the light front riser pressure and flare.
I am a Cobalt fan for life now.
Buy a Cobalt you will love it.
Now I just cant wait to put several hundred jumps on it and then try my Competition Cobalt 85.

Have put several hundred jumps on my Competition Cobalt 85.
Awesome canopy.
Dives more than a cobalt but not as much as expected. Almost a 2.0wl

Planes out great using rears and glides so smooth. No running out landings.
Can fly very flat in brakes and is soooo
hard to stall.
Doesnt dive quite like a Katana but it compares.

No spot is too long. Always make it back to the landing area.

Opens sweet. Almost always soft on heading openings.

Great canopy.

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(Review ID:1832)

1 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

sweet canopy!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated by: freeflyer6969 on 2007-07-03 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: try a head down deployment
Cons: none

Not only does it out perform a stiletto all the way around. Before i owned a cobalt a friend let me jump his 119. he told me it was designed to be opened head down. Me being a idiot i asked him do you mind if i give it a try? he said no. so next jump i got out of the porter at 13.5 and got in a head down flower with 6 other jumpers. When my pro trac started telling me it was about that time i dumped. 800 feet from head down!!! nice and smooth with a very nice snivel. what more can i say . Atair had their shit together when they built the cobalt.

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(Review ID:1685)

4 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Cobalt rules

Rated by: freakflydiver on 2006-10-22 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Best Canopy All around
Cons: I'm the ony one at the DZ who owns one

I have owned a few canopies、mostly Sabres and jumped some Stilettos, but until then I never felt fully satisfied with any of them until I got my Cobalt 120. Not only this canopy opens smooth, on heading and fast, but it also flies beautiful and it glides forever on landing. As well, due to the different ZP fabric it is never hard to pack it despite the temperature, even if the canopy is brand new. It is a very responsive fully ellyptical but not unforgiving and shifty or twitchy as other canopies out there.
and to finish if what you are looking for is looks. The double diamonds in contrasting color look awesome. I am simply in love with cobalt and I can't wait to get my Cobalt 105 next week.

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(Review ID:1443)

25 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

Outstanding Canopy

Rated by: Monk on 2005-12-01 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Cobalt in Unknown Tag: 'cat_linked'

Pros: Solid and very Predictable Lots of lift!
Cons: I bet this thing will spank me soon

Ok so ABSOLUTELY NO ONE jumps one of these at my DZ. But then again equipment seems to be very regional. So I take a chance after lots of research and get one. So first lemme say my weight is 220-225lbs depending on the day and I got the 150sq ft. So loading it about 1.5 Canopy only had 150 jumps and by PD standards would still be a B*tch to pack. This thing was such a treat to pack it was unbelievable. Now to the opening. It was definitely very VERY different. It was quick (about 700ft) but it was soft at the same time. Very weird. I have a feeling that this thing could seriously spank me sometime in the future if the opening sequence doesn't happen JUST right. Now looks aside (and it is a VERY good looking) the flight characteristics are excellent. The stilletto I was jumping you kind of slide around under the canopy if you know what I mean. Under the cobalt it felt those lines were solid steel and I did not "slide" at all under that canopy like you do in the stilletto. Recovery arc was very predictable and EASILY altered longer or shorter. Toggle pressure is just right (for me at least) and riser pressure was firm but no problems at all. Brake line was just a tiny tiny bit too short but no bucking with a front riser hook. Now to the flare. WOW! This thing was exactly like others said. You think you need to put your feet down?? uh uh! Nope just keep them dogs off the ground a little longer and keep flying that canopy. It WILL keep flying! As I said I took a big gamble buying this canopy especially not knowing a single person with one and lots of others saying don't get it because of the regional preference thing but I gotta tell you...NO REGRETS!! I definitely loved it more than the stilleto but still haven't jumped the xfire2. But now I prolly wont jump a xfire cause I DIG THIS COBALT! Oh and it was a bit warmer today with some turbulence but...This thing was FREAKIN ROCK SOLID. That stilleto would have been twitching all over the place today.

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