Fulaq 0 #1 February 1, 2005 Hi, I currently have a grand total of 20 jumps under my belt and my A license. I'm looking to go for a week in spain to hopefully do a lot more jumps. The kit I currently own is an Alti and some goggles :). I'm thinking about buying a jumpsuit, but I'm not sure if renting one for a week while I'm there might not be better and buying one later. I'd be doing that so I could get peoples advice on what kind of jumpsuit to get. What is peoples advice on the buying/waiting issue? More importantly if I do buy one beforehand, what would be a good type and configuration of jumpsuit to get for a beginner? Thanks in advanceJim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salsa_John 0 #2 February 1, 2005 Buy a Merlin Suit. I got mine in 3 weeks. Christine's attention to detail was superb. It fit great. Had a less than perfect landing last week and tore the knee. (stood up then a gust got the canopy and pulled me over) The repair took an hour (can't even tell it's been repaired). I could have picked it up the next day but, waited till the next weekend. The charge was very reasonable. Double kudos to Christine and PJ from Merlin Too new to give any advice on the type of suit. Mine is a slightly baggy RW suit with no booties. It is comfortable. I have done RW and tracking with good results. I chose to buy for comfort and fit reasons. "You did what?!?!" MUFF #3722, TDSM #72, Orfun #26, Nachos Rodriguez Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ps5601 0 #3 February 1, 2005 Seeing that you live in London you may want to try a Symbi suit. They are based at Headcorn in Kent. Their prices are higher than the US at the moment as the dollar is so weak, but they are cheaper than most European dealers. The quality of their suits is also very good (in fact my whole team just ordered suits through them). Before you buy though I would say, are you sure that you want to flat fly? If you are thinking about going to the dark side and Free fly, then you will not want a FS (or RW for our US cousins) suit. For most people a FS suit is not suitable to free fly with, and a free fly suit is not suitable to flat fly with. It can be done, but it's not what it was designed for. You may want to think about borrowing or renting a flat fly suit that fits, with booties if you are planning on doing a weeks FS in Spain. Then, if you still like it buy yourself a new suit. Just a thought. If you do decide to buy now get most options (mega booties, inside grips). If you keep flat flying you may not want the options now but you will in 1-200 jumps time. The down side is that the wait for Symbi suits is now fairly long as everyone is ordering to get their suit before the season starts. Hope this helps Blue Skies Paul Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fulaq 0 #4 February 1, 2005 I must admit I don't have enough experience yet to have any idea which discipline I'd like to specialise in. Just getting my skills and confidence up is my aim at the moment. Do you have a website for the symbi suits? I'd like to at least look at what they have on offer. Plus should I buy a helmet? if so any recommendations? Thanks for the adviceJim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D22369 0 #5 February 1, 2005 Plus should I buy a helmet? if so any recommendations? *** do you want to look cool....or have actual impact protection?...... most modern skydiving helmets will protect against elbows, and knees, but offer very little in the way of protection against big impacts like a low turn into the ground...... the cheapest and ugliest helmet (pro-tec) is the only one I know of that will abate some of the force of a serious impact, ask to look in some of the helmets that other people are using at your DZ ... you can see how little padding there is, then check out a pro-tec..... (I use a bone head myself)....... but used a pro-tec for my first 500 skydives. RoyThey say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vt1977 0 #6 February 1, 2005 QuoteDo you have a website for the symbi suits? Symbi suits Vicki Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bch7773 0 #7 February 1, 2005 with 20 jumps, you may want to hold off on buying a suit or a helmet yet. Make a few more jumps and decide if you think at RW suit or a freefly suit would be better. In the meantime, rent or borrow a jumpsuit/helmet from the dropzone. Or another option is to buy a cheap general-use helmet and jumpsuit to tide you over till you decide what to get. Such as a protec and a basic student suit (the kind without grippers or booties) p.s. contact the dz you going to and make sure they have jumpsuit/helmets for rent or to borrow. MB 3528, RB 1182 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #8 February 2, 2005 I bought my rig first, and then my suit, because I knew I'd be getting the rig used, so I wouldn't be able to pick the colors, and knew I'd be getting the suit new, so I just had the suit made to match the used rig. I figured that it was better to save money towards the rig first, because you can skydive without a jumpsuit, but not without a rig. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
