Quallity gear???

[Isfrael 0]

Hi all,

I'm new to the sport, (1 dive, lol), I am an extremely long way away from this step in the skydiving gig, but just out of curiosity. If I wanted some gear that was time tested and considered THE most reliable, what should I get, I'm not talking fancy high performance type stuff, and probably not new products, but solid IT WORKS type of stuff. What brands are viewed by the community as quality, what is the price tag for it? Why is it quality? Buying my own gear is probably years down the line for me, (I at least need my license first lol), but maybe someone else on here is at this step and this might help them out a bit.

Thanks all!

[SEREJumper 1]

Grab a soda, some popcorn and start reading. Search function is awesome! Welcome to the sport!

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=quality%20gear&sb=score&mh=25

We're not fucking flying airplanes are we, no we're flying a glorified kite with no power and it should be flown like one! - Stratostar

[verticalflier 0]

First off, welcome to Skydiving!!! As you have already noticed there are but very few limits to what you can do in this sport, but as always the choice is yours to make.
As for gear, all rigs that are on the market work. Otherwise they would only be sold by assisted suicide stores :) LOL. Each manufacturer has their own style and designs which they believe is unique in its class. My very simple advise is:ask questions, get as much education as you can because ignorance kills and stupid hurts :) Try, try, try, try as many different rigs and canopies as your level of experience, and those who will hopefully look after your safety, allow you to. Last but not least, make your own decision about what you will end up buying and flying, because you will be the person who will have to use that particular gear in the end.
Have lots of safe fun!
Blue Skies
Leszek

[mrbiceps 0]

Welcome buddy. I have seen new students say that they will wait until they can buy a nice and new rig. They then blow $35 per jump to hire gear. Next thing you know they are over 100 jumps and have blown $3500 in hiring gear. I took a different approach and brought a rig on day one that owes me $1500 with 4 year cypress left on it. It was a 93 model rig with less than 100 jumps on it. Sure its not the newest rig on the dz but i bet that by the time i get to 100 jumps i could flog it easy for $1000 over here in australia and have done well. I may even get my money back on it. Just a thought as to the rip off that i think hiring gear is. cheers

[Chubba 0]

Quote

Welcome buddy. I have seen new students say that they will wait until they can buy a nice and new rig. They then blow $35 per jump to hire gear. Next thing you know they are over 100 jumps and have blown $3500 in hiring gear. I took a different approach and brought a rig on day one that owes me $1500 with 4 year cypress left on it. It was a 93 model rig with less than 100 jumps on it. Sure its not the newest rig on the dz but i bet that by the time i get to 100 jumps i could flog it easy for $1000 over here in australia and have done well. I may even get my money back on it. Just a thought as to the rip off that i think hiring gear is. cheers

Or if you're good with finance, get the nice gear NOW and pay it off quickly.

I bought my first rig for $6000 ($4000 on finance), interest is only $60 a month... $40 gear hire a jump.

I make 2 jumps in a month and I come out in front.

Paid off $2000 in the first 1.5 months, now it's only $30 interest per month and I'm TRYING to make 10 jumps per month ($400 in gear hire if I waited).

Too much numbers, but you get the drift... I wanted my good looking freefly rig with a "newish" Sabre2, I don't regret it.

[Isfrael 0]

hmmm... good idea, I think I'm gunna wait until I'm done with getting my license before I start looking at gear though... I have to admit that I can't wait to own my own rig. financing may be an issue though, you guys ever see the APR for an 18 year old college student, and has a job which is seasonal and pays only $8.50 and hr...? lol, I'll figure it out some how though, thanks for the advice!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

I bought my first rig for $6000 ($4000 on finance), interest is only $60 a month... $40 gear hire a jump.

I bought my first rig for $1700 used. Interest was $0/month for 0 months. Depreciation wasn't more than a couple hundred dollars total when I sold the main in less than 100 jumps and container after 2-3 years.

There are lots of really nice rigs with a few hundred jumps selling for $3-$4K. How low are you going to have to drop your asking price to sell it quickly when you down size?