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Venom Power first flight

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Hi. AdrenalinBase let me try the Venom Power. I have around 300 ws skydive and 200 ws base (p2, havok, v4 mostly). First big ws i try. I did just 4 jump followed by my friend in Aura. Is taller than me, quite the same weight. He fly with his aura, the "old" venom (not anymore) and v4. When we fly both in v4 he s as fast than me but with a better glide. So he s at least as good and experienced than me.
So 1st flight he followed me. He could stay at the same level but i was too fast to allow him to reach me. 2nd jump same, i was faster and was able to have better glide. Same for the others, no problem to follow him. Can t compare handling and other stuff but she s really easy to fly, do it almost by itself, agile and easy pull.
This is just my expérience today, i don t say it s absolute truth...

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To add something the differences are minimals, it s not a "new class" but it s definitly a totally new wingsuit compared to an originalVenom and is as good than the best one in his categorie, at least in performance in my little comparative test

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It s agile and don t fell "heavy" for me. It s pressurised and you feel inside the wing, it s not like a V4 for example. It want to fly fast and far. I just did 4 jump so i don t pushed it to is limit for sure. The "Flare" is really good. Side by side with my friend i finished at least 5 meters above. The point is it s the only big suit i flew with so i can t compare for agility and the rest. I can just say that, for intermediate flyer like my friend and me the performance of the Venom Power it s quite similar to the Aura and probably a little better (so far away from the previous Venom)

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I have two flights on the Venom Power and I also have limited experience in "big" suits. I did about 75 jumps in Vampires and then around 400 in other suits, P2, P3, Havok, Carve and Ghost. One flight in the original Venom. The suit was VERY easy to fly, no unstable tendencies, no slide in turns. VERY crisp when turning and VERY fast. I have never flown a suit so fast, hands down. The pull was very different for me and I did about 6 practice touches on the first flight in different body positions. The second flight I felt comfortable after the first practice touch. I was super surprised how easy it was to handle and fly, I expected it to be hard for me but it was not. A friend followed me in the V4 on the first flight and I disappeared horizontally into the horizon about ten or fifteen seconds after exiting. He had NO CHANCE of keeping up, float (obviously) or speed.

I was very impressed and I think anyone who tries one of these suits will be a VERY happy wingsuiter :)

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I just tried an Aura this week end. The Aura seamed to me slower and less stable. I had some slide too. For me the Venom was definitly easier to fly. As i said, it s probably because i m flying mostly PF ws so with almost the same "way of flying it". Just my opinion after a really few number of skydive with it

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I just did my first 4 flights on the Venom Power.

Coming from a 'bigger' WS, I'm completely impressed about it's performance.

Fast starts, great speed and glide, easy to fly and pull.
The 'fins' works great, I felt the suit super stable.

Can't wait to fly it from an airplane! :)

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drunk

I just did my first 4 flights on the Venom Power.

Coming from a 'bigger' WS, I'm completely impressed about it's performance.

Fast starts, great speed and glide, easy to fly and pull.
The 'fins' works great, I felt the suit super stable.

Can't wait to fly it from an airplane! :)



base jumping is the best practice to be able to fly those things out of a plane safely.
BASE 1519

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wasatchrider

***I just did my first 4 flights on the Venom Power.

Coming from a 'bigger' WS, I'm completely impressed about it's performance.

Fast starts, great speed and glide, easy to fly and pull.
The 'fins' works great, I felt the suit super stable.

Can't wait to fly it from an airplane! :)



base jumping is the best practice to be able to fly those things out of a plane safely.

:D:D:D
“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

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Thanks for posting, fantastic glide ratio. It seems the suit is big leap for PF in the bigger suit market. I have one on order too.
Wish PF would start marketing their products so customers don't have to do it for them. Well maybe they will start doing it once Squirrel has completely taken over ;)

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Waiting since 12 weeks to get an invoice for my ordered venom power. Until today i received nothing. I order at the 19th may, the first day of official release. Lead times seems to be round about 14 weeks and my wish to fly the suit at our august Boogie won't be fulfilled. I'm a little bit upset.

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It is always the same when they release a new suit... Friends and family get theirs to showcase the product on the internet but then all the orders that came in pilled way up and they need to play catch up. Happens with every new release, not sure what you are mad about. In those 12 weeks did you try contacting someone through an @phoenixfly account?

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Phoenix-Fly is adding more fulltime personnel to costumer contact coming month, combined with a fully revamped website and more.

Leadtimes are around 12-14 weeks (plus postage) atm so that mentioned venom should be on its way soon. Though some size templates (bigger/smaller) may be slightly longer due to different size templates still being made for the newer suits.
We have a skilled and trained workforce thats been with Robert for over 10 years, and we dont have the option (or willingness) to hire and fire cheap labour at will during busy periods. Its quality products made with care, and during busy periods that leads to longer lead times. But compared to rigs, still not that long in comparison if you consider the volume of orders put through. With less orders we could deliver quicker, but hot cookies..

'Friends' showcasing the suit early are actually testjumpers. Every suit is tested for over a year before a public release. Once released, everyone (including me as a PF employee, the red bull airforce etc etc) goes in exactly the same order queue. 'Names' or friends get no shorter lead times.

Email me at jarno@phoenix-fly.com with order details and Ill get back to you asap. on your delivery time.

We are working with feedback, and coming months you'll see PF undergo a massive positive transformation, and full featured info on current and coming new products.
JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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I just got word from my PF dealer that my Power, ordered 12 weeks ago, will be arriving up to 4 weeks late. That's a 4 month lead time. Seriously? Squirrel is 4 WEEKS.

As excited as I am for the Power, PF is trying really hard to lose my business. While Squirrel's amazing business model isn't enough to pull me away from PF, PF's amazingly inefficient service model is just about enough to push me away.

We keep hearing that PF will be hiring people, updating the website, improving lead times, etc....and all of this is always just a few months away. I sometimes wonder if we are all looking at the same calendar.

Seriously PF...I love your shit. All I ask is that you step up your game just a little. It seems like your whole marketing strategy these days is to make excuses and promise to do better next time.
Apex BASE
#1816

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mccordia

Leadtimes are around 12-14 weeks (plus postage) atm so that mentioned venom should be on its way soon. Though some size templates (bigger/smaller) may be slightly longer due to different size templates still being made for the newer suits.
We have a skilled and trained workforce thats been with Robert for over 10 years, and we dont have the option (or willingness) to hire and fire cheap labour at will during busy periods. Its quality products made with care, and during busy periods that leads to longer lead times. But compared to rigs, still not that long in comparison if you consider the volume of orders put through. With less orders we could deliver quicker, but hot cookies...



Jarno, we know that there are a lot of hardworking people doing their job at PF, first of all Robert. That is not the problem. I think there are some problem, which have nothing to do with that what you have written:

1. Why one releases a Venom Power at the 19th may with the cirrcumstances in the factory you wrote, so that only a little less part of the order can delivered till end of season and the most order will be deliver later. This release date was very worse, february or march had been better.

2. If i send an order, why i don't get a confirmation email. I had to ask, if my order is received. That's not customer friendly.

3. I'm a website administrator and i know, changing the displayed lead time below the price list on the PF site costs 30 seconds (Log in - edit - log out!!!!!) and not more. Why noone changes it and why there is still 10 weeks written? I give a reason: because it is not important for PF. But it is for the customers.

4. Why i ask for the lead times and get 2 times told 8-10 weeks. And then, when 10 weeks are gone and nothing is happend, suddenly i get told on the 3rd request 14 weeks. Upps. Very bad calculation.

Lead times depends on capacities and orders amount. Right. A bad information management to your customers not!. And a bad chosen release date too.

Latest example: whats up with releasing the vampire race? Customers got told, that it will be release 2 weeks after the venom power. And now?

You are all good guys, great pilot and coaches. And PF builds suits. But selling them is a complicated business and maybe you should react on some advises. More, i you like, per PM.

Kind regards,

Ralf

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We dont 'choose' lead times. We test suits, like we did for over 1,5 years with the Havok Carve/Venom Power/Vampire Race, and when we're happy with how the suit flies, we release it. We could for sure 'plan' to release suits during spring, but its the design process and finalized design that dictate when its ready.

Lead times are always hard to be precise, as we share a production line with Atair. And both production queues influence each other. And on new suits (Havok Carve/Venom Power/V-Race) we also have various size templates being worked on still at point of release. So there for some people in different sizes it can add a week of 2 to 4 to the lead time as well.

In terms of how the company has grown over the last years, the amount of orders we put through has led to communication towards clients lagging. But the amount of orders, testing process and having Robert in the factory daily to check production quality and construction process does make the longer wait a normal reality.

Regarding email/service we are adding personnel. Just like we did in the factory with the workers sewing suits, when that was announced about half a year ago. There hasnt been a single time changes have been announced for marketing reasons. Its always been normal/real updates to the production process.

Website wise we are already in a 3 month wait passed the promised release, due to the company thats making our new website/CMS being slow. But the whole process within PF is luckely being smoothed out a lot, and changes will for sure be noticeable for everyone ordering. Advice and costumer feedback is being worked with very pro-active.
JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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As an update, Robi reached out to me via PM and I think we had a positive discussion. I am very appreciative of that.

Like I said, I'm a big PF fan. Love your stuff. As a customer I think there's room for improvement in communication and expectations. I honestly don't mind the long lead times, I just don't like being told to expect something and then not get it.

If you think it will be 12 weeks, just tell me 15. Then I'll be pleasantly surprised if you beat that time. I'd actually rather be told 20 and get it in 19, than be told 12 and get it in 13. I know it's tough to predict, but err on the side of caution when quoting lead times.

Just a little constructive criticism. I appreciate you guys and what you do, so hopefully you don't take offense to my feedback.
Apex BASE
#1816

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