Firebolt

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Item:	Firebolt
Manufacturer:	Jump Shack (1119 Hits)

Purpose:	Main
Shape	Elliptical
Cells	9
Fabric:

Description:
The FireBolt is a fully Ellipitical 9 cell hy-bred canopy with a 2.65 to 1 aspect ratio. It features 500 pound Spectra suspension line and a"Sharks Teeth" leading edge treatment.

Added: 2003-10-14 | Item ID: 435

User Reviews:

Average Rating:

Total Reviews: 11

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3 Recent Reviews:

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Cushy; Fast and Fun

Rated by: mbondvegas (more about me) on 2008-01-05 21:38:39 (user reviews) Review ID:1920

Pros: SUPER Soft Openings; SUPER Easy Packing; Sick Turns; Good Flare
Cons: No Input Glide is less than many other 9 cells.

I love the Firebolt. This canopy stands out for its outstanding opening characteristics, ease of packing, fun turns and very smooth, progressive, and powerfull flare. I have flown via rental/demo the: Manta, Navigator, Spectre, Safire2, Sabre2, and Pilot and owned and flown a Safire1, Triathlon, and Spectre. I still own a Triathlon and love it for wingsuit flights. The Tri's docile nature is great for that purpose. But on other jumps...when I want a little more fun under canopy..I fly my Firebolt...I absolutely LOVE it. Prior to flying the Firebolt, I really liked the Pilot...it's openings were the best I had ever experienced...for both softness and on heading characteristics, it also was equal or better than the Safire2 and Sabre2 in all other characteristics. I had hoped to demo the Fusion and Firebolt as well, but Precision said they did not have demo program...which is just lame and enough reason for me to never buy a canopy from them! Nancy from Jumpshack replied quickly to my demo request but said that they currently did not have a demo Firebolt in my preferred size but that they were making a new one for their demo program. Following this quick reply, I was dissapointed in their lack of follow-up after this initial request and one subsequent request for a demo. So, I had pretty much decided to buy a Pilot. Well...after that, I ran into a good deal on a virtually new Firebolt and bought it. Well...lucky me!

OPENINGS:
You really have to experience the openings to believe them. I think they might be softer than the Pilot (which is saying alot)...well...they are at least as soft and smooth. The Firebolt is consistently on-heading and does not suffer from the Sabre2's end cell closure issues. Soft, smooth, and symetrical...everytime! If you open low...beware...these soft openings do take a bit of altitude.

HANDLING:
The elliptical planform yields some pretty good fun! Crisp turns and steep dives are to be expected! I load my Firebolt at 1.25ish and it dives hard with strong toggle or front riser input. I know JS states that this canopy is OK for entry level jumpers at low W/L's but I wonder. I would not recommend this canopy to total beginners...at least not based on how reactive it is at 1.25 to 1. That said...when you're ready it is FUN!!! It is worth noting that the glide ratio in full flight is kind of weak compared to say the Pilot, Sabre2 or Safire2.

Flare:
Excellent! The flare stroke is smooth and progressive and very powerful....I simply love how this canopy flares PERIOD. Swooping...well I don't really swoop and this is clearly not a swoop monster...but it planes out really well and is really fun to land.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Best canopy I have ever jumped.

Rated by: rmahoney (more about me) on 2007-02-18 00:00:00 (user reviews) Review ID:1747

Pros: Consistent, on-heading openings. Maneuverable, but quite forgiving.
Cons: None noted.

The only problem that JumpShack is that it does not do enough SELF-promotion. The Firebolt is a good example. I jump this 182 loaded at 1:1, and I cannot find anything this canopy does not excel in. Openings are smooth, predictable, and on-heading. Especially for an elliptical, it seems to be farily forgiving of body position. Stalls are easy and recovery is quick. The Firebolt has a lot of flare power, and landings are excellent. Being a hybrid ZP/F111, pack volume is nice and small, and it is very easy to pack. Particularly for a relatively low-experience jumper, (100-500) this is an excellent upgrade that will provide fun, safe performance for thousands of jumps. I liked this one so much that I bought another for my other rig!

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