Review - Mamba 117

[billvon 2,476]

This weekend I put a few jumps on a Mamba 117 loaded about 1.7 to 1. It was from the Square One demo program, which is a great program BTW. I was the first one to jump this canopy.

Initially the opening was great - like a Pilot but smoother with less bucking around. Almost Spectre-like. Then the slider came down and WHAM! the canopy was in a hard spin to the right. I got on rear risers and it didn't stop it. I ended up pulling the left riser down almost to my shoulder, and that stopped the spin.

I assumed I had a brake fire on opening, but when I looked up I saw them both stowed, the slider still above the brakes. As I was looking at it, the canopy took off again, this time to the left. I got on the right riser and stopped it. I could feel it wanting to take off - it was like balancing on a beach ball.

I pulled the slider down quickly (it really wanted to spin up) and released the brakes. Once brakes were released the problem went away. It was pretty stable in full flight. It reacted strongly to harness steering - as I was setting up for landing I got my hands on the front risers and steered in the pattern with weightshift only. I did a 90 front riser hook to landing and found that the flare came really deep in the stroke, like a Safire. Since I wasn't expecting it I didn't get much of a surf out of it.

The next jump went about the same. Nice opening, then the canopy took off spinning. I tried to stop it with body turns, no good. Stopped the spin with risers, got the slider down, released the brakes. This time I set up for the landing a little better and got a considerably longer planeout than I get from my Nitro 108 - and there was still a lot of lift left at the end.

Other than the behavior flying in brakes I like the canopy a lot. The in-brake behavior is a dealbreaker for me though, since I am often doing things (turning off cameras, loosening chest straps etc) right after opening but before releasing brakes. I also do a lot of bigways and I can't afford to be spinning after every opening. This was the same behavior that put me off the Diablo when it came out.

I talked to people about it afterwards, and several people were suprised that I had that problem with it. Dave from Square One jumped it next to see what was going on, and he noticed a similar issue. He's going to get the trim checked to see if it's a rigging problem.

[AggieDave 6]

I put a few jumps on a Mamba 150 (or whatever the equivilent size they have is) loaded at about 1.9:1.

I found the canopy to behave like any other canopy in its class in brakes and in flight. The flare is deeper in the stroke when compared to a PD canopy but like you Bill, I found it similar to an "Icarus flare." However, it didn't quite have that bottom end push of lift like a XF2.

All in all I found it flew ok, swooped ok and opened ok. All in all it was an OK canopy. Not something that really got me excited though. I'd still rather jump a XF2, but I would choose a Mamba over a Vengence or a Samuri. Compared to the Katana? Who knows, my demo should be here soon and then I can tell you.

It doesn't hold a candle to a Velocity, but then again, that's a different class of canopy for a different kind of jumper.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[GravityGirl 0]

That's interesting Bill. Roy has been jumping the Mamba out here for a couple of weekends. Maybe he'll post a response. But I haven't noticed any opening issues with his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[sgt_ludy 0]

I put 2 jumps on a Mamba 132 loaded at 1.8:1. The openings were great, soft but not too soft, on-heading, no spinning in whatever direction at all. i did have some trouble getting the slider down over the steering toggles (risers too large or slider holes too small). i was a little disappointed at how the canopy behaved in toggle turns. compared to other canopies i´ve jumped, the turns with the mamba are very docile and smooth at the beginning. i´m somehow used to twitchy, nervous response to toggle input. harness turns work fine, front riser pressure is just fine for me, although it could be a little less. on the first jump i made a 90° toggle turn and landed with the wind (the first jumper misread the windsock , i had to follow...). the flare is nice and looooong and fast.

all in all a nice canopy with good openings and fun to land and swoop (probably...).

[chopchop 0]

Hey Bill, I've put a little over 20 jumps on my Mamba 132 loaded at just under 2:1 that last couple of weekends. Mathias had warned me that in brakes it is about the most sensitive canopy he had ever jumped. I concur with this and I guess balancing on a beach ball is one way to put it. However, I fly camera on about 70% of my jumps and quickly got used to it and now have no problem unhooking my wings, loosening my cheststrap, turning off cameras, etc..

Openings at first were a little interesting.. some just awesome and on-heading others would have a snap at the end and a dive in one direction or the other. Rolling the nose on the outer 4 cells seems to control this resulting in pretty consistent on-heading openings without the *snap* at the end.

Other possibilities that probably have helped change it's behaviour. It was brand new when i received it and now it has 20 jumps so it's a little easier to pack and I'm used to the sensitivity so I might be doing something subconsciously. whatever is fixing it, it's better.

I have not experienced it trying to take off and needing to pull a riser down to stop it. Harness input has fixed any turn from opening.

Once the brakes are unstowed, I find it a magnificent wing with a lot of speed, sharp and immediate response to toggle input and very little need for front risers once my initial 180° turn to land is started. It reacts so well to harness that I simply use harness input to keep it going and counter to straighten it out.

I too am quite happy with the amount of lift generated by the flare.. I am sure I will be getting some pretty long swoops out of these canopies as the summer wears on..

chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

[hjelle 0]

I have put around 1200 jumps on the Mamba, on sizes ranging from 90 sq.ft to 117 sq.ft. For comparison, I have over 1000 jumps on both the Katana and Crossfire 2 of similar sizes.

Like all eliptical wings the Mamba is sensitive to harness input during the opening. Slight body movements in the harness will cause a heading change. This of course applies to similar wings like the Crossfire and the Katana. Having said that, the Mamba is more sensitive to harness input than both the Katana and Crossfire; this is especially noticeable with the brakes stowed. This takes a little bit of getting used too, but after around 20 jumps on the canopy, it was not an issue for me anymore. Now, I have no problems undoing booties, loosening cheststraps etc, while keeping the canopy flying straight without any riser input. I have very consistent on-heading openings, pretty much regardless of who packs the canopy.

The sensitivity to harness input during the opening, which some may be unaccustomed to, definitely makes this a fun canopy to fly. Using only harness input you can generate a lot of speed for a swoop landing.

As mentioned earlier, I am sponsored by Aerodyne and, incidentally, am now also a part-owner of the company, so this is not an unbiased view, of course. However, with over thousand jumps on the canopy, I know it well:-)

[johnny1488 1]

I only put one jump on one of the 117s Dom had at eloy. i got the same opening, except I had to pop the toggles on mine to get it to stop.

Dom said it was unusual.

I think the canopy was OK. I liked it better than the Katana. But I still get mushy for Xfire2s!

I case you didnt know though, I am biased.

Johnny
--"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!"
Mike Rome

[Dittos 0]

Like Hjelle, I also have about 1200 jumps on the Mamba. I totally agree, it is sensitive to harness input, but you will definetly learn to control it if you make more jumps on the canopy. When you´ve become comfortable with it, you shouldn´t have any concerns jumping bigways on your Mamba - I jumped mine on the 400 way in Thailand and had no problems

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[proswooper 2]

i got a few mamba demos out to a dropzone in alabama (Cullman) and every one who jumped one bought one including my fiance. i had not jumped one since it was in the early R&D stage and the two things i could not get over was how well it opened and how powerful the flare was. I have much more jumps on a katana and a few on a xfire2 and the shut down power on the mamba was hands down tons better. my fiance had the same issues with the mamba turning after inflation but she quickly got used to it and now loves it. The main reason she bought one was because she has a weak ankle and the shut down power was kind to her ankle. incidentally i swooped 280 feet through 5 ft gates on the 104 on the first jump i put on it.

it is very elliptical and the flight characteristics are reflective of that.

just my two cents.

[bob.dino 0]

Did you or your fiancé do anything special when packing the Mamba?