0
Maksimsf

Squirrel Funk

Recommended Posts

Good review, Jeff!
I'd be interested to know the rig you currently jump. I briefly had a Colugo that was built for someone similar to my size but I experienced the same "handle eating" characteristic that made me bit scared to jump the suit (also given my recent currency)... so I sold it (I also got bit fat and it was bit tight in some areas).
So I'm really hoping it was just a misfitting suit because of my added wingloading lately...but now your review sort of makes me reconsider if I want to buy another suit.
I do plan on BASE but I would make plenty of skydives as well and as much as I really like the innie-outie system, the possibility of losing a handle makes me tad scared.
I have a Vector3 ...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I have seen several suits with this problem including mine. It's not really a problem with the suit but rather how the suit and your harness (specifically the laterals) fit on your body. The easy fix is to tie the zippers "the other way." In other words...if you are currently tying the bungie so that it is between your body and the harness, stop doing that, and instead tie the bungie so it is between your harness and your suit. (On the opposite side of the harness.) I hope that is descriptive enough. Since it depends on fit there doesn't seem to be one way that works well for everyone but switching it from one way to the other when there is a problem seems to work.
Fiend

I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. - Thomas Hobbes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

The easy fix is to tie the zippers "the other way." In other words...if you are currently tying the bungie so that it is between your body and the harness, stop doing that, and instead tie the bungie so it is between your harness and your suit. (On the opposite side of the harness.)



I tried that when I first discovered the problem; another Squirrel owner had suggested it to solve the problem. Unfortunately, it made little difference in my case.

My rig is a Vector 3.
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
FreeFallFiend

It's not really a problem with the suit but rather how the suit and your harness (specifically the laterals) fit on your body.



Nearly a decade ago I traveled the country with a bag of demo wingsuits and put them on dozens of students with all sorts of different rigs. I never encountered a harness that wouldn't work with the suit that was sized for the student. Since then there have been countless new wingsuit designs that similarly have no problem fitting any harness on the market.

If the wingsuit and harness can't work together, then it is a problem with the suit, barring some really strange fucked up harness that intentionally changes everything we know about how harnesses work. But the Vector3 (that Donohue jumps) is if anything one of the most "normal" harnesses on the market. It is the wingsuit's job to fit all normal rigs.
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Skwrl

- Transitions from belly to back (and vice versa) aren't trivial. Unlike other suit designs, you really need to force it to flip over (or flip back), due to pressurization. I'd imagine carving in this suit would be more challenging, but I haven't tried that yet.



I've noticed a trend over time of increasing pressurization (suits of any size, not just the large ones). I am not crazy about this at all, possibly because I started jumping on suits with very low pressure, but I like feeling more fluid and mobile inside the suit. Even my Ghost3 which I like for the most part, has a slightly higher pressure than I'd prefer, which makes it take significant effort (compared to my Phantom) to transition from back to belly. I can't imagine jumping a suit with even more pressure than the Ghost and trying to use it for acro stuff.
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Skwrl

and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers.



You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The111

I can't imagine jumping a suit with even more pressure than the Ghost and trying to use it for acro stuff.



With Tony and Squirrel suits you can adjust the pressure inside the wings with zippers inside the sleeves.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
skow

*** and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers.



You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers.

Yes, I'm aware of how they should work. But, compared to, e.g., my S-bird, it is far harder to do that in the Funk.

The difficulty could be a combination of the size of the wrist on the suit (I remeasured to make sure my measurements were correct; they were) and the fetishwear/sailing boat cover material the upper part of the arm is made with.
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
skow

*** I can't imagine jumping a suit with even more pressure than the Ghost and trying to use it for acro stuff.



With Tony and Squirrel suits you can adjust the pressure inside the wings with zippers inside the sleeves.

Right. Note that in my review, I mentioned that I had my pressure zips (or whatever they are called) completely open (meaning, they should be de-pressurized) for the last three jumps and it nevertheless inflated far more than a Ghost3 (or S-bird, for what that's worth). The suit inflates.

Whether that's good or bad depends on your opinion of highly pressurized suits.
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
skow

*** and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers.



You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers.
Is there a reason the suit doesn't have cutaway cables?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Thijs

****** and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers.



You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers.
Is there a reason the suit doesn't have cutaway cables?

No need for that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I find it interesting when people are mostly concerned with time/distance on suits like the Funk, Carve....not to disregard it, however the main purpose of an acro suit - and thats what the Funk and Carve are advertised for - is agility, being able to fly at any angle and have a great range (for example flocking)...

To flip on your back and staying on it in an acro suit is a basic maneuver. Wingsuit flying has greatly evolved over the last few years and to me a great indicator is how good the suit handles carving, head down, barrel rolls...

I am not reviewing any suit here, just my 2 cents on how some people seem to still be stuck with time/distance on suits that are made for something completely different.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
B52

I find it interesting when people are mostly concerned with time/distance on suits like the Funk, Carve....not to disregard it, however the main purpose of an acro suit - and thats what the Funk and Carve are advertised for - is agility, being able to fly at any angle and have a great range (for example flocking)...

To flip on your back and staying on it in an acro suit is a basic maneuver. Wingsuit flying has greatly evolved over the last few years and to me a great indicator is how good the suit handles carving, head down, barrel rolls...

I am not reviewing any suit here, just my 2 cents on how some people seem to still be stuck with time/distance on suits that are made for something completely different.



In my case that was just one small part of the review, definitely not the main point.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Skwrl

****** and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers.



You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers.

Yes, I'm aware of how they should work. But, compared to, e.g., my S-bird, it is far harder to do that in the Funk.



My guess would be that it's because the shape of the wing, not the construction of the sleeve. In case of Funk/Havoc the wing goes straight to the leg from the wrist so you can't pull the hand up at all, but in S-bird it doesn't and has some "slack" for pulling the hand up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
After doing almost nothing but jumping the Funk and the Aura from planes and planets this past month I was shocked to read on an internet forum that handles such as the reserve handle, a handle that could prove itself essential for survival has been close to be consumed by suit material.

I have had no problems with this issue. Not even close. So I decided it was time to investigate and start posting my opionion and findings on this matter.

I do agree that the Squirrel suits have an awful lot of zippers (I counted 13) and even some bungees, buttons, velcro and magnets, it is a gotdamn IQ test to figure out how to attach the rig. Even now after I have done it 8 or 10 times, I still get questions from AFF students if they should help me out. But once you put it on, it should be fairly obvious if you did it right or not. If its wrong, just keep on trying until you get it right, read the user manual, call customer support or ask some random skygod for help. And in all fairness, all the zippers actually seems to have a function.

After reading this thread, I once again spent like 7 or maybe even 9 minutes to hook it up to see if I understood how it is possible to lose a handle inside the suit while sitting in the airplane (or on the couch or toilet in this case). I found out that yes, it is possible to do this. And yes, you could jump it out of an airplane.

I also tried to see if it was possible to route the pilot chute handle inside the wingsuit between the zippers. It totally is. So if you in some moronic way manage to burry all the handles inside the suit and turn off the cypres, then the suit is nothing short of a death trap.

But with the rubber bands in place between the zippers and the suit hooked up correctly, I honestly think you got to really fight a suicidal near impossible battle against the small gap to make this happen. I would really like to see video or photos of this happening. Im almost saying with certainty that I think its impossible to do without using your hands (very) actively.

Now since I am such a safety oriented jumper that I even hook up my wingsuit in the weirdest ways to cover all the handles after reading about some stranger that saw a dangerous looking gap on his suit on an internet forum. I also have some safety tricks that is meant to help me out next weekend when I forgot I even did this. So say on saturday morning, I try to put on a rig with all 3 handles covered in wingsuit. My super awesome trick is to check the handles before I put it on, before boarding, and before jumping. Its not rocket surgery. Its just basic skydiving stuff.

And WTF is up with people not beeing able to use the RAD system. (Rapid arm deployment). I sometimes even forget to unzip, thats how easy it is to use. You guys must have stolen the suit from a midget or lied about your height or something. Its not supposed to be hard to use. In fact the whole Funk suit is pretty easy to use. But thats just an opinion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Well, since this was directed at me, I guess I'll bite.

On the cutaway/handle issue, yes, it was rigged up properly. I'm glad that you don't have this problem in your rig; as I mentioned, my friend didn't have the problem, either. Great for you guys.

However, I've heard from Mike at Squirrel that some rig/suit combos do have a problem. And I know several people - including a "Friend of Squirrel" listed on their page - that has a similar issue. (His is maybe not as bad as mine, but he adjusts his zippers every time before leaving the plane.) But the bottom line is that Squirrel isn't pretending the problem doesn't exist - you don't have to either.

Overall, I found your response really humorous. I basically gave the suit (more or less) 3 or 4 stars out of 5 and you freaked the fuck out. Just because I don't think your girlfriend is the hottest ever, that doesn't mean I think she's a pig. She just might not be the right one for me. And like I said, I am not even sure she isn't the right one for me. I am looking forward to seeing how the Carve compares to it. Unlike you (obviously), I sincerely don't give a shit which suit wins that face off; I don't have a dog in this hunt. If Squirrel wins, great. If PF wins, also great.

In either case, I'll keep whichever one works for me better and fly happily on.
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
michalm21

That is very rad, bro. Can you hook it up to a Vector3 an let me know if it's good then and post pictures?
I'm not being cheeky, I want to make sure vector's laterals don't make it more prone to swollen handles before I buy another suit.



Cutaway with Vector 3 and Funk. No problem. 1:24 out in the vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7-0brYXKWw

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
michalm21

That is very rad, bro. Can you hook it up to a Vector3 an let me know if it's good then and post pictures?
I'm not being cheeky, I want to make sure vector's laterals don't make it more prone to swollen handles before I buy another suit.



I have no doubt the suit can fit on a Vector 3. When I say "some rigs", I don't mean some manufacturers/models. I mean that rigs are sized to the jumper's body, and some of the variation might be the cause of the problem. I should have written "some bodies".

For example, my tailor tells me that I'm long-waisted (which means that, for my height [5'11" or 180cm] I have a longer waist and shorter legs than a typical person) and I have broader shoulders than one would expect for a guy with my height. It's possible that the issues I've had to deal with are due to those variations (which aren't huge, mind you - I'm not a circus freak, at least in this regard).

But the point still stands - there are some other people who have the issue I have been faced with due to the design, and that's a known thing.
Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0