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"Loaner" gear at your DZ

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Bill Von metioned in another forum that at his DZ they have an older rig/reserve than they loan to people once they are off student status to help them save money, (and presumably a number of other things I can envision, like being able to try out some mid size canopies before they rush to buy their "final" rig that needs to fit the (probably smaller) canopy size.)

How many of you know of other drop zones that do this?

I can see a number of DZO's not going for it due to rental money loss, liability, etc.

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At my DZ (Skydive New England) we have a variety of rental gear to help new jumpers phase from the large canopies in the student gear to the (usually) significantly smaller canopies in their own gear.

While the containers aren't usually freefly-friendly, its a great cost saving resource for the students.

Also, when a student buys new gear from the dz, they can jump any of the rental gear for free until their new kit comes in...

Blue ones
Dave
My site...

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My DZ rents by the day and not by the jump. It reduces the cost to the end jumper since they end up paying about 35-40 to jump a rig as many times as they want to instead of 25-30 per jump. It keeps them in the air more for the same $. It also lets them save somce $ to put towards their own rig.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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My DZ offered me 15 bucks or 75 bucks for the day which ever is less.........

Not bad, but less is always better, especially for a new jumper trying to log as many jumps as possible.
I've done 31 jumps in 10 days...which includes me doing the AFF course...
Lots of money........

but worth it....

they have student rigs all the way down to 150's..

================================
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting - "fcuk me what a ride!"

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One of our jumpers died a couple years ago and his parents donated his rig to our DZ specifically for this purpose (i.e. to loan to newer jumpers who could not yet afford their own gear.) We do occasionally charge rental on it in order to get money for the maintenance costs (quite high given the experience of the folks jumping it), but for the most part it is available for free. It's a pretty nice newer Javelin with a Triathlon 190, so it works well for this purpose.

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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SD Aggieland has the Texas A&M Club gear, which is basically the "loaner" gear. Basically, you join the club (something like $15), which helps out the club, and then you can use the gear. So needless to say, quite a few folks who aren't even students at A&M join the club right off of student status.:P

There are still rigs to rent at Aggieland, which done through the DZ, and some folks still rent the rigs, since they are nicer then the clubs gear.:P
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I've been renting gear since I got off AFF, it has cost me wayyyyyyyyy to much money I wish they some of these rigs sitting around the dropzones I frequent. I've delt with rental prices from 25 per jump no matter how many you make <---this sucks and I still dont see how DZO's sleep at night especially when the gear is as crappy as it is. To 60 bucks per day plus pack jobs which isnt bad if you make 5-6 loads. I found out later certain dropzones offer free gear rental if you buy your new gear from them, a kickass deal if you have to wait 6 weeks to 12 weeks. But anyway my gear will be here in a few weeks and I can stop blowing money on gear rental.:)



"Don't Mess Around With the Guy in Shades- Oh No!!! "

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I'm curious as to what you mean by "as crappy as it is". I can't imagine a dz renting gear that is dangerous or anything, but quite possibly they might have rental gear that is not freefly-friendly.

I must agree that $25 per jump seems like a lot even for rather new gear. Maybe the DZ has a history of many students being rough on the gear and this is really what it takes to provide it?

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I'm by no means a rigger or anything close and i'm sure the gear has been inspected and works fine, did for me. But too charge 25 dollars a jump for a obviously dated rig , I mean seriously I wouldn't give 1,500 for the whole thing and the worn out velcro main flap having container can't be worth more than 150 bucks.. just doesn't seem right to me, but thats why im not renting gear at this particular place but I will revisit the dropzone after I get my own gear.



"Don't Mess Around With the Guy in Shades- Oh No!!! "

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It seems that yes, this rental gear is not a very good deal, and I don't blame you for avoiding it. With the exception of the worn Velcro, it might be a reasonable rig for _some_ uses, but at $25 I think they should be providing gear that can be used for everything.

I've never understood the worn Velcro situation. Even replacing the hardest to replace areas of Velcro is not _that_ hard. It doesn't need to look perfect, but just be safe.

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Ohh yeah it had a ragged out Sabre in with a slider that wouldnt stay collapsed, and the riser covers wouldnt stay closed for anything. And the jumpsuit I borrowed stank to high heaven , that was at like jump 19 now I think about it I might not go back heh



"Don't Mess Around With the Guy in Shades- Oh No!!! "

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We don't have loaner gear at our DZ but the rental gear is top notch at out Dropzone.

several Mirage G3 Containers, Dolphins (eh... relatively new ones... though not ideal for FF), some Sunpath Javlins.

Saber2, Hornets, Spectres, in numerous sizes...

and most of them in pretty good condition, considering they regularly sell them and need to replace them with new stuff...

rentals are 20 per jump or 45 for the day...

I'll probably buy later this summer after I complete my A licence.

S
Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

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Our club charge the equivalent of about $9 per jump for rental and repack. The rental gear includes two rigs that can be used for freefly and the canopies range from 285 on ripcord rigs to 190 on throw out rigs. They recently replaced the canopies in two of the throw out rigs with new 200sqft canopies. They will probably not go much smaller than 190 because our club is at a high elevation and the rentals is aimed mainly at students and low timers.
There is a lot of stuff worth doing but then there is a lot of stuff worth doing instead.

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I must agree that $25 per jump seems like a lot even for rather new gear. Maybe the DZ has a history of many students being rough on the gear and this is really what it takes to provide it?



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hee!
Hee!
Back when I rigged for Square One, desert dust and junior jumpers were mighty tough on rental gear! The oldest rig was only three years old, but had the snot beat out of it.
It seemed like only half the rental rigs lasted full (120 day) repack cycles and every week we had a rental rig or two in the loft for washing or repairs.
It got even more exciting when we sewed Cypri into the rental rigs (circa 1995).
Freebags flying everywhere!
Perhaps I exaggerate slightly, but do you get the point about rental equipment being expensive to maintain?

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At Pitt Meadows, all our solo students start with Manta 290s packed into Student Sidewinders.
After a few decent landings, they transition to Skymaster 230s (in Student Sidewinders), then to Hornet 190s (still in Student Sidewinders).
After graduation, they can rent Sabre 170s. Our rental harnesses currently include an original Talon (containing an original Swift 180 reserve) and a Reflex (containing a Raven 180 reserve).
All our student and rental rigs contain Cypres or FXC 12000 AADs, BOC and standard handles.
And we charge rent every time those rigs are jumped.

P.S. Only staff members are allowed to pack school gear.

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Bill,
What Dropzone do you call home? If it's the one I am thinking of, please do point me to the LOANED out gear department this week end, as I am running out of $ faster than I usualy run out of altitude...;)

Nick

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

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Here in Germany almost every DZ has some gears for rental. Normally you get one for 10 EUROs per jump which ist about 12$.

At my home DZ we have canopies from 230 down to 170.
1300 Sprünge, 100er Wingsuit Formation, viele nette Menschen kennengelernt, keine Unfälle. Schön war's!

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Quote


I must agree that $25 per jump seems like a lot even for rather new gear. Maybe the DZ has a history of many students being rough on the gear and this is really what it takes to provide it?



Wow, so my DZ that charges $30 a jump is REALLY expensive then! The total cost per jump is $50 bucks, that sucks!
Man, I would love it if it was $10 like for some of you. My gear is included while I'm in AFP, but then afterwards I'm gonna need about $150-$250 a day to get in just a few jumps. Ouch!
"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

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That's an awesome idea. I had a 2nd rig that I gave to a new jumper once because he couldn't afford gear. But what a great idea to have gear to loan out. I'll remember that.

linz
--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

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I had my first cutaway 2 weeks ago (on rental gear which is charged at $25/jump) and the canopy was never found.

I was told by the people at Manifest, that is why it costs what it does to rent. To cover the loss/destruction of rental gear so the renter doesn't have to pay for it.

PcCoder.net

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That being said, do a search on on here to see the arguments about DZ's charging for lost gear and on most of the gear waivers i've signed state that i'm soley responsible. If the gears is good shape I have no problems paying 50-60 bucks a day plus pack jobs. Now if the gear is one of the first ever javelin containers that wont stay closed and the gear rental is 25 per jump its a rip off. That being said my brand new container will be here by the end of july and my renting days will be over wheeew!!



"Don't Mess Around With the Guy in Shades- Oh No!!! "

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