2001 Sabre 170

[wsinsel 0]

What do any of you think of a 2001 Sabre 170?  It looks new with like new lines and is the very crispy material I see in all the newer canopies. Definitely new ZP, not like the old F111stuff. I don't think this is one of the old slammer Sabres. Any help?  Anybody?

Edited August 21, 2022 by wsinsel

[gowlerk 2,061]

These are the Sabres that do have a reputation for opening hard. They were and still are good canopies, but don’t pay too much for it because it is not in very high demand.

[wsinsel 0]

It's a transition canopy for one of my customers.  She bought it in a Javelin J1 and the entire system looks like new.  She only weighs 130 lbs. I'm not sure what to tell her to do. She has been told to never use this canopy. I'm not so sure it's this generation of canopy that had this problem. Ok, the Sabre II is the hard opener. It can be identified by unequal length of it's upper steering lines.  The Sabre 1 is NOT the hard opener and can be identified by it's EQUAL length upper steering lines. I got this info from Parachute Works, Mark Lancaster. Now we know.

Edited August 22, 2022 by wsinsel
new info

[sundevil777 98]

1 hour ago, wsinsel said:

I'm not so sure it's this generation of canopy that had this problem. Ok, the Sabre II is the hard opener.

Never had a Sabre, but the original Sabre had the reputation for hard openings, with many experimenting with slider pockets and such.  The Sabre II had a reputation for not opening on heading, but did not have the hard opening reputation of the original.  I have never heard of the association to the steering lines.

[husslr187 24]

I have a sabre 170 and I have 350-400 foot openings with a pocket slider and rolling the nose. I’m talking pitch to fully inflated ready to fly in 350 feet. It’ll teach you to slow down more before you pitch for sure but i’ve always had on heading opening with it. 

 

EDIT: original sabre was the slammers but wasn’t too bad if you’re rolled the nose and got a pocket slider. still a stiff opening even with all that

ive also heard of people stuffing the nose into the centercell with good success but I haven’t tried it myself before I switched to a sabre2

Edited August 22, 2022 by husslr187

[wolfriverjoe 1,442]

A few things:

DOM 2001 would be an original Sabre (not really a "Sabre 1", but often called that). Sabre2 came out a few years later.

The original did have a well deserved reputation for hard openings. Packing tricks and modified sliders can do a lot to tame them.

Original Sabre is a rectangular canopy. Sabre2 is slightly tapered. 

It's a great canopy, if you can tame the openings (or if it opens good by itself, from what I remember, it was often a problem with specific canopies - some opened hard, some opened nice). 
Since it's out of production, and has a 'less than stellar' reputation, they aren't worth a whole lot.
But some folks really like them. Wingsuiters liked them quite a bit for a while. 

I hadn't heard about the steering lines, but since one is 'square' and the other is tapered, I can see it.

[chuckakers 406]

The original Sabre can be packed to open comfortably. My wife and daughter jumped 135's without hard openings.

Contact PD. They can provide some guidance.

[DBCOOPER 1]

I had one. It tried to kill me. I wouldn't jump a Sabre 170 if it was the last canopy on earth.

[riggerrob 598]

On 8/22/2022 at 11:32 AM, chuckakers said:

The original Sabre can be packed to open comfortably. My wife and daughter jumped 135's without hard openings.

Contact PD. They can provide some guidance.

I have hundreds of jumps on Sabre 1 135, 150 and 170. I have sewn slider extenders (e.g. front lips) on dozens on Sabre 1s to soften the openings a bit. I especially liked the lip made of slider tape (invented by Weird Wayne out of Arizona).

Remember that Sabre 1 was the first zero P fabric canopy on the North American market and it opened exactly the way 1990 jumpers wanted it to open. This was back when piston engines were still fashionable and it seemed to take all afternoon to climb to 12,500 feet. Yes, openings were firm, but you wanted that when you tossed your pilot-chute at 2,000' (USPA minimum for D licensed jumpers).

I also have a half dozen jumps on Sabre 2 170. Softer openings were the biggest difference.

The only time they opened hard was when I packed sloppily. Slider firmly up against the stops is the most important part of packing a Sabre.

[wolfriverjoe 1,442]

4 minutes ago, riggerrob said:

I have hundreds of jumps on Sabre 1 135, 150 and 170. I have sewn slider extenders (e.g. front lips) on dozens on Sabre 1s to soften the openings a bit. I especially liked the lip made of slider tape (invented by Weird Wayne out of Arizona).

Remember that Sabre 1 was the first zero P fabric canopy on the North American market and it opened exactly the way 1990 jumpers wanted it to open. This was back when piston engines were still fashionable and it seemed to take all afternoon to climb to 12,500 feet. Yes, openings were firm, but you wanted that when you tossed your pilot-chute at 2,000' (USPA minimum for D licensed jumpers).

I also have a half dozen jumps on Sabre 2 170. Softer openings were the biggest difference.

The only time they opened hard was when I packed sloppily. Slider firmly up against the stops is the most important part of packing a Sabre.

I was getting inconsistent and occasionally hard openings on a Sabre2 170. A master rigger told me that PD test jumps had discovered that pulling the sides of the slider out was very important. Front and back, not so much.
Started doing that and I've had very few problems since.

[Bryguy1224 12]

Back when I had a Sabre 1, I tucked the outer cells into the center cell and it worked great!!! This is what PD suggested to me as well....but not in writing.

 

 

Ody

[SEREJumper 1]

Mark makes a nice domed slider for the Sabre's that are in my opinion superior to the pocket slider thats just sewn on. Also, as with any canopy, make sure the lines are in trim as well! I dont think all Sabre's are bad, but some Sabre's are.

[Chiquita 13]

On 8/21/2022 at 4:37 PM, wsinsel said:

What do any of you think of a 2001 Sabre 170?  It looks new with like new lines and is the very crispy material I see in all the newer canopies. Definitely new ZP, not like the old F111stuff. I don't think this is one of the old slammer Sabres. Any help?  Anybody?

I've been jumping a Sabre 1 150 for nearly 20 years, and mine is older than 2001. Only be whacked 2 times, but both were due to packing errors, I pack for myself so I know. I have been psycho packing it pretty much the entire time, not sure if that effects the openings. I also packed it slightly different than most psycho packers and I always made sure the slider was nice and spread out, and a few other things. I weigh about the same as your customer and have always jumped a 150, so a 170 might open differently seeing it is weighed less than a 150. 

When I used to pack tandems and sports rigs I always packed psycho packed them and most said it was the best openings they had, but who knows.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Chiquita