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CountZero23

Which first skydiving suit?

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I've just passed my AFF and am trying to choose which kind of suit to buy first.

My first thought was to get a free fly suit as it's the kind of jumping I want to get into. It would also be the best suit to use in the tunnel.

Having read a bit more about free fly and the requirement to get your FS1 before your FF1 it looks like I'll be needing a formation suit with grips to start with anyway.

I'm now thinking the most flexible suit would be a formation suit with the grips but without booties.

I've heard having booties would make it nearly impossible to sit fly.

Would a formation suit without booties be fine for free fly and tunnel work too?

Be interested to hear peoples opinions :)
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

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Take what I say with a grain of salt, since I'm mostly a competition FS jumper (not into bigway, and not even a mediocre freeflyer). But.

I have FS suits for FS, and a freefly suit for freefly.

Freeflying in the FS suit sucks, even with the booties tucked away. The grippers catch air and pull me around, there's unbalanced friction between the front and back... it's just generally harder than it has to be.

Flat flying in the FF suit sucks. The lack of booties makes it feel weak, and taking grips on a person without grippers (or those flat hybrid freefly grippers) is just annoying.

If you're really certain you want to freefly, I'd suggest trying to get hold of a cheap but proper FS suit for learning to skydive in for a while, and save your pennies for a really excellent freefly suit (edit: and these are a lot of pennies!) until you're ready to start that. Then you can either sell your FS suit, or hang onto it for those sunset two-plane belly loads B|

--
"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?

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Cheers for the info, really useful stuff.

So a FS suit with booties is a good first option, get good at belly down formation then get the free fly suit.

Was looking at the Jedi Airware which seems to be pretty decent and reasonably priced.

What are peoples take on the best brands out there?
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

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I may have taken a different way.

I agree with Joellercoaster about getting some jumps on your belly to begin feeling really comfortable in the air and learn how to do leg turns, side slides, fall rate changes, etc but I don´t think you should buy a FS for that. You can use a cheap all-around purpose suit for things like that

Once you´ve learned the basic skills on your belly you can progress with back and sitflying. That would be the moment to start looking for your freefly suit

Just my 2 cents

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Thanks for the advice, votes and messages. Impressed with how friendly the forum and whole scene is :)

Now thinking a cheapish FS suit with booties would be the best bet. That way I've got a decent FS suit sorted which I can use to get through my FS1 and get alright at that before moving onto my FF1.

Don't want to rush my learning and would rather nail the basics of FS before trying to get head down like all the cool kids. Might need to save a bit of a wedge for tunnel time before going down that path ;)
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

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Once you figure out what discipline suit you want to get, next you need to figure out what material and speed of the suit you need. When I was where you are now as far as jump experience goes, I bought a BEV competition suit that made me fall way to fast for anything other than jumping four way with like weights and jumpsuits.
Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

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^Agreed. Get input from instructors on your fall rate and options that make sense for you. Then order through a dealer who can measure you, answer questions, and the difference and purpose of tight or loose fitting or with wings, gripper placement & size, proper bootie size for you, etc, and show you color examples too.

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What's your height and weight? I have laying here a Rainbow suit (german manufacturer), with booties, with missing inner leg grips (you'd have to fix them), ugly as fuck. But free if you want it (postage is on you though). It was made for somebody around 178cm and 75 kg.

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that is what I was going to ask also. what's your height and weight. if you're in that middle of the road 5'8" to 5'11" 160 to 180 pound range there are tons of used suits out there. when you're six foot four + 230 + lbs not so much;)

i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .


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Deimian

What's your height and weight? I have laying here a Rainbow suit (german manufacturer), with booties, with missing inner leg grips (you'd have to fix them), ugly as fuck. But free if you want it (postage is on you though). It was made for somebody around 178cm and 75 kg.



Thanks Deimian, really kind of you. Might be a little small on me. MY measurements are...

5'11 feet / 180cm
11.5 stone - 161 pounds

Looking at the Jedi Airware ones and they don't seem to offer a range of materials. Would I need to ask especially or as my dimensions are fairly standard would their suit just work?

Does anyone have any experience of using these?
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

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Since you are in the UK, Symbiosis make a decent suit at a decent price, and have been in the FS suit game for decades.

(Some FF suit manufacturers are getting into the FS suit business but from experience, I'd say it takes them a few years to work it out. The only ones who have really cracked it IMO are Sonic, and they are eye-wateringly expensive.)

I don't know anyone with a Jedi FS suit, though I've seen their FF suits around and they look good.

If you're buying second-hand, of course "fits you and is cheap" are probably the criteria above brand. But Tony, Bev, Parasport and (less so but you see them) Rainbow are all popular in the UK.
--
"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?

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Cheers, lots of good stuff in this thread. Had a callback from Jedi Airware and the guy was very helpful.

He recommended a FS suit with smaller grips which would be good for FS1 but could be used for free fly too.

Weather looking good so will be heading up to the DZ tomorrow and can chat to my instructor about it all.

Cheers for the idea's on manufacturers Joellercoaster, Symbiosis is a good call even if their website looks like it dates back to the 90's!

Want to go for a new suit so I get a perfect fit, costs of suit compared to the rest of the gear I'll be getting make an extra hundred quid pretty moot. Would rather something which is made to measure so I can concentrate on my jump and not be worrying about things being too tight in the wrong places ;)

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

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At your weight and height you'll easily be able to get a second hand suit for about 50-60 quid then spend the rest on jump tickets.. Once you've got a few more jumps and spent a bit more time in the sport you'll probably be better informed and had chance to look at what other's are using.

Good luck! :)

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I think it is best to learn how to fly your body first, and then later you can worry about getting suits. Most people get suits right away and then they never really learn to fly their body, but instead they learn to fly the suit and end up heavily relying on it. The result is that most people end up using their suits as a crutch, instead of learning to fly their body first and using the suits properly as a tool.

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