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Rsaaronson

Is a Trap M.A.R.D. Retrofit Worth It?

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Hey everyone, 

I have a Mirage G4 M7 manufactured in 2010. It is my first rig and I purchased it used. It is fully loaded with options, except a MARD; the Trap MARD hadn’t been invented yet. I plan on using this rig for at least another 150 jumps. currently the cost of a retrofit is $350. Is it worth the trouble? When I decide to buy new I will most definitely be choosing a MARD for my rig, but I wanted other people’s opinions on the matter. Also, does it increase the resell value at all?

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9 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Looking for opinions? In my opinion it is not worth the trouble. That should have no bearing on YOUR decision though. Also in my opinion it will increase the resale value. And possibly make it easier to sell.

Thanks Gowlerk, I’m on the fence. I definitely want one, just not sure if it is worth the trouble when i intend on purchasing a new container within a two or so years. 

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check out the incident with very low cutaway with injuries at Eloy, I watched this from the beer truck area, except for the last 500 feet, my beer was empty, but I'll bet this guy was glad he had a skyhook or something similar.I'd say they're worth the couple of extra bucks.

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2 hours ago, airnutt said:

check out the incident with very low cutaway with injuries at Eloy, I watched this from the beer truck area, except for the last 500 feet, my beer was empty, but I'll bet this guy was glad he had a skyhook or something similar.I'd say they're worth the couple of extra bucks.

While we all can fuck up, maybe the original poster isn't going to be a total idiot and mess with a malfunction for 44 seconds (as was stated in the Eloy thread). Which is well beyond the sort of mess ups most of us are subject to from time to time. Or the poster isn't willing to bet $350+ that he'll be such an idiot in the next couple years while he has the rig.

I also question whether adding something worth $X to a rig is really going to add $X to the sale price. MARDs are becoming more and more 'normal' as more brands get them but I don't think not having one is yet making gear hard to sell at reasonable prices. But I don't know the used gear market well. The price for the MARD in this case is also going to be more than $350; it will be that plus disassembly, shipping and assembly.

The original questions still stand, about how the market prices MARDs in used gear.

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350 is a price to pay for it, but you have to put that price aside and look at what will give a better piece of mind and comfort having a device that could most likely get you under a good canopy quicker. At one point we may all be behind the power curve none of us know exactly when that will be.

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2 hours ago, tabouare said:

My Curv didn't come with the MOJO MARD but for me it was worth it to pay to get it installed. As gowlerk said, it's YOUR decision and all opinions have little values since we won't be jumping that rig

The difference is that a MOJO retrofit does not require any container modifications, nor disassembly and reassembly of the reserve, nor shipping to and from a service center.  It's simply swapping out the freebag and RSL -- and your old freebag and RSL are still useable as spares or for sale to offset the cost of the MOJO.

 

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I appreciate everyone’s 2 cents. Thank you. As mentioned, yes, the entire order will be closer to $450 due to shipping and assembly; however, I think maybe it will be money well spent as it will put my mind at ease. I’m not an idiot, and would not fuck around with a mal down to hard deck. While I have yet to experience a cutaway-causing malfunction I like to think that I would identify and chop as soon as I determined what was going on. With everything that has been said I think I will go through with it and just get it. At least if I find myself in a bad spot I will be glad I have it. Thanks for your replies.

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2 hours ago, mark said:

The difference is that a MOJO retrofit does not require any container modifications, nor disassembly and reassembly of the reserve, nor shipping to and from a service center.  It's simply swapping out the freebag and RSL -- and your old freebag and RSL are still useable as spares or for sale to offset the cost of the MOJO.

 

Thanks for clarifying that the MOJO was designed to be installed without touching the container and is less invasive than the Trap. I didn't think about it when I wrote my reply.

I was resizing the harness at the same time so it needed to go to RI and the MOJO was so new that I wanted to make sure it was installed properly.

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Forget about resale price. At best, the MARD will make it sell quicker.

You need to be alive to sell this rig a couple of years down the road.

A MARD slightly improves your chances of surviving the next couple of years. The way to improve your 2020 survival chances is participating in Safety Day refresher training.

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It probably wont increase the resale value. Most people are not willing to pay extra for one single feature. There is tons of gear on the used market and so it's pretty easy to pass over a deal for something else. I would not pay $450 for one if you plan to get a new rig soon. But it depends on when soon is. If it's several years down the road, then that's not really soon. Soon would be like this year. You'd also want to look at how many cutaways you have and how often you pull low. Are you the type who pulls at 2500' on every jump (and 2000' sometimes maybe), or do you pull at 4k? How often are you cutting away? How busy is the pattern when you're landing? Are there canopies everywhere increasing your risk of a low canopy collision? What type of canopy are you rocking? Are you flying a large seven cell or a 120 elliptical canopy that will loose 400' of altitude every rotation if it spins up? Those are all risk assessment questions.

 

 

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On 2/20/2020 at 10:40 AM, pchapman said:

I also question whether adding something worth $X to a rig is really going to add $X to the sale price. MARDs are becoming more and more 'normal' as more brands get them but I don't think not having one is yet making gear hard to sell at reasonable prices. But I don't know the used gear market well. The price for the MARD in this case is also going to be more than $350; it will be that plus disassembly, shipping and assembly.

exactly. It may sell faster, but not for more $$. There's definitely no way you'll get as much more $$ at resale as you will spend on the retrofit. Does that mean it's not worth it? that's up to you, OP. You have to decide what your peace of mind is worth...

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