My Aerodyne Nex Gen - opinon

[tommer15 0]

sup homies
I've seen a few people asking some questions about the newish aerodyne container, wondering if it's any good. A few months back I went for a new container for a bunch of reasons (notably price and skyhook availability) hoping for the best. I'd like to list a bunch of things about the container to help people who are tossing up between this container and others. (FYI this is my second container, I've about 350 jumps, mostly freeflying [im a tunnel flyer predominantly])

Firstly I'd like to say this was manufactured in South Africa, not the US. There may be differences in the manufacturing between the two sites, I don't know. The container I got was an i5, with full options including magnetic risers, skyhooks, padding, soft reserve handle, etc. etc.

The good:
Seems solidly built, materials all super firm and shiny (new after all)
magnetic risers seem super firm (I had doubts about them but decided to leave them on)
soft handles chunky, feel good in hands

It is sexy as all hell, feels really good. Seems to be hard wearing as well though that only time will tell. Like I said the magnetic risers shut tight. I had a friend telling me he didnt like them and that they came loose a bunch of times in freefall though that may have been because he removed the magnets and placed them in the wrong way around. My experience has been good so far - no problems in steep angles, head up head down blablabla

The bad
flying on my back, the rig seems to lift off a tiny bit. this is a custom rig so I expect a better fit. It's not a huge deal, and i don't feel it when I'm head up, but still.

some parts seemed a tiny bit unfinished - the hook knife pocket has a bit of fabric on the inside that is held in place by the tack. its not important and does NOTHING, but its frayed, and it came frayed, too. this has no functional bearing, but on a brand new rig? come on...

more importantly, the loops used to stow excess break lines have these sharp edges to them that pick at the break lines and like to unfray them... really? there are two on each riser so I double them up through the ones without these sharp bits but it does seem to be a bad idea in general....

finally, and probably most importantly, I've had like 5 toggle fires in 25 jumps. I've had a couple of packers, a packer A (aussie speak for can pack reserves), and a rigger look over how I stow my breaks, and its all checked out. I guess the toggle pins must be a bit too "free" and can wiggle out.

What has been annoying me most is that I've emailed aerodyne about these things (twice, actually) and have gotten no response.

On the customer service side it, by the way, it did take me in excess of 20 weeks to get my rig, with a promised waiting time of 8-10 weeks.

anyway these are my experiences so far. I'm actually pretty pleased with it, except for the toggle fire bit. It's comfy, looks good, cheaper than a jav, doesn't have the waiting time of a vector.

If anyone is still contemplating and has more questions go ahead and ask, anything to keep me procrastanating from the study I need to do.

IF anyone from aerodyne sees this, I've had like, 5 toggle fires guys... wtf?

churs.

[potatoman 0]

I recently visited the factory in SA. Picked up a Zulu, Smart and NexGen.
The harness is made in the USA, the canopy is made in Durban area.

The toggle fire is alarming though, at a very high rate. Thing is my toggles sit VERY firmly, cannot see a toggle fire happening.

You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is.
Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum"
Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD.

[RMURRAY 1]

I would replace the risers and toggles right away. I use racer risers with snap toggles and they are bulletproof.

[3331 107]

You might want to test the reserve bag extraction force with the Main CLOSED.
If it’s over 18 pounds send it back.

Complete your Dropzone dot com profile, it gives you credibility.

I Jumped with the guys who invented Skydiving.

[JeffCa 0]

RMURRAY

I would replace the risers and toggles right away. I use racer risers with snap toggles and they are bulletproof.

I have over 100 jumps on my Racer now, and the toggles do seem very secure. People at the DZ think it's a strange way to store them, and a master rigger suggested I don't do it like that, but they work. Not quite bulletproof, though. I had one of the snaps itself (on the riser) break into pieces after a few jumps. Got it replaced, and no problems since.

Edited to add: Even though the snap broke into pieces on opening, I didn't have a toggle fire because the second snap held it in place. So OK, maybe bulletproof.

Sorry for the thread drift.

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

[ChuckMartin 0]

The toggle fire things seems to be a problem for a few people over the last year or so. I have a friend for also has a Next gen and same thing was happening to him. Every other jump or so he was having one. Talk to Aerodyne about it, they might help you out.

[MrOneNut 0]

I have 200 hundred jumps on my ICON NexGen, manufactured in Oct 2013. Do you stow your brake lines up then down, as in towards the canopy and then run the excess down towards the container or do you stow them down towards the container and then up in the loops behind the riser towards the canopy? I have never experienced a toggle fire on my NexGen, but have heard that stowing down then up can possibly lead to this with old/worn out risers which definitely is not the case here. I also seat and stow my toggle and excess brake line, then pre-tension the system by pulling on the brake line above the ring towards the canopy. It helps to set the brakes you might say. Not sure if this helps, but it is what I learned in BASE packing so I figure it couldn't hurt. Sorry to hear about these difficulties, I have fully enjoyed my NexGen and am ordering another one as we speak. If Aerodyne provides you with any answer on the brake fires, please post so we all can know what to look out for.

[shorehambeach 9]

+1

100 + jumps on my new NextGen (dom Feb 2014) and no toggle fires.... in fact no problems at all.

[Alexg3265 0]

I don't know how they're doing their hip rings now, but the design leaves that little fold or kink in the mlw above the sewn junction. My wife bought an i4 like right before the next gen came out. We saw the ads for it while waiting for her container. Long story short, it's been resized twice and had the chest articulation taken out. It still lifts 6-8" off her back in sit. She jumps a mirage g4 now, that wasn't made for her and fits perfectly, gives better movement, and stays on her back in the air. I showed aerodyne the videos and stills to show the problem and basically she tried on the g4 that I had sitting in the loft for the last 6 years and it was a perfect fit, so fuck it. I still have my icon i5 from 2005 and it fits me fine and I dint get brake fires. It moves around on my back a little but is pretty secure. Personally I think the icons were designed with a stockier build in mind. Find any little girl with an icon and you'll see what I mean. Custom or not. I really hate they're hip ring they way it's set up. The mlw and lateral are sewn at a 90 and you always end up point loading the edge of your mlw. The lateral and the mlw should be separately hooked up the the hip ring. Just something that I've noticed and now bugs the shit out of me.

I never would have noticed these things till I started rigging and get to fingerfuck all these nice rigs and see how they're set up and why.

I was that kid jumping out if his tree house with a bed sheet. My dad wouldn't let me use the ladder to try the roof...

[grantunderland 0]

My newest Vector wanted to have toggle fires when it came from the factory. My rigger ran a quick stitch down the hood and fixed that right up. How loose is the top of toggle if you try just putting that in the hood?
In my case, the Trulock pin stayed put in all "fires", so even though the top came unstowed maybe 6-8 times, I only had one actual fire.

[tommer15 0]

Hi guys thanks for your reply's
I've since heard back from aerodyne - apparently they had problems with their website contact us form. They are sending me a new pair of risers, so that's pretty grand. other than that the rig is mint so i'm pretty stoked :)

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[Joellercoaster 6]

tommer15

apparently they had problems with their website contact us form

That form has been "having problems" for as long as I've been skydiving (and through at least one entire Aerodyne website replacement).

Maybe they should find a different way for people to send them message over the Internet... I'm sure there is some way... I just can't think of what it might be.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[SteveSearle 0]

I picked up my new I4 Next Gen in April, it fits well and build quality looks good.
I’m happy with it but have had a couple of issues also, I ordered the Aerodyne oval mini rings but it came with the standard minis, I can live with that.
I’ve had the main pin flap pop out in the plane if I slouch or move about occasionally and it’s the recommended size canopy, so not overly stuffed.
I’ve also had a few brake fires, maybe 10 or 12 in 150 jumps or so but only when pulling the slider down over the toggles which seems a little tight to me.
Usual quickly worn lower brake lines on my Pilot that came with it.

[Joellercoaster 6]

SteveSearle

Usual quickly worn lower brake lines on my Pilot that came with it.

This happened to all my Pilots over the years as well (leading to replacement of the lower brake lines with other vendors' Spectra), until my last reline, when I got HMA. Problem solved?

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[tommer15 0]

Just an update - I've since received my replacement risers - they so far seem a lot tighter than the previous pair, and don't have the same sharp bits fraying the break lines when I stow the excess. pretty happy :-)

[Spike09 0]

None of the Nexgen Icons have been made in South Africa. No Icons have been made in SA since 2006.If you are having problems with toggle fires, please contact Jay at Aerodyne and we will address this. Make sure you have all of the rig information such as model, serial number, and date of manufacture handy.