Light weight, wanting opinions

[lifesatrip 0]

Hi all,
This goes out to all the light weights out there. I am now in the market to buy a new canopy. I've got 600 jumps, have got 200 jumps on a Stiletto 135 and a Sabre 2 135. At the end of the season I was jumping my buddies Jedi 120 and really liked it.
I only weigh in at about 135 lbs. There is so much talk on how wing loading makes canopies turn faster, open smoother, dive longer. But see I dont feel like droping to a to a sub 100 to get the preformance. So what canopies fly nicely when are lightly loaded.

[davelepka 4]

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I was jumping my buddies Jedi 120 and really liked it.

You just answered your own question

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There is so much talk on how wing loading makes canopies turn faster, open smoother, dive longer.

Wing loading and openings are unrelated, unless you are so light that you are falling slow, then your canopy opens slower (as in better).

As far as turning and diving, you liked the 120. You're the one jumping it, and your opinion is the only one that matters.

Despite what I wrote above, you know that many canopies can be had in a 107 (as in smaller than a 120, bigger than sub-100).

[BikerBabe 0]

I jump a Jedei 105, loaded about 1.4:1. I really love how it handles, and I don't think I'll go any smaller anytime soon.

I totally agree that the best canopy for you is the one you like the best! LOL. That being said, most manufacturers have some sort of demo program...I suggest taking advantage of that.

If you like the Jedei, try a Samurai.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Spizzzarko 0]

Spectre

[SkydiveNFlorida 0]

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If you like the Jedei, try a Samurai.

I'm with BikerBabe, get a Sam demo, I bet you'll be hooked. I weigh about what you weigh, the Sam 105 is a very nice wing, flies great, dives great, I have no complaints about its flight characteristics at all. Also, there is a lot to be had out of this wing at that w/l, after 100 jumps on it I feel like i'm barely scratching the surface with it and after spending all the $$ on a brand new canopy that is a really good thing!

I haven't flown the Katana but I hear it is a really nice wing as well as the xfire2.


Kickass Samurai
-A

[chachi 0]

you want a longer dive and better openings? get a crossfire, hands down one of the best canopies before you go xbrace. opens like butter, great long dive, powerful long flare stroke, and awesome swoops. tryone, you'll be hooked.

~chachi

[SkydiveNFlorida 0]

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you want a longer dive and better openings? get a crossfire, hands down one of the best canopies before you go xbrace. opens like butter, great long dive, powerful long flare stroke, and awesome swoops. tryone, you'll be hooked.

~chachi

Are you talking about the xfire or xfire2? Because i've heard from reputable sources that the xfire had some problems. It seems that the xfire2 is supposed to be really nice, but i've flown neither so this is all hearsay.

-A

[koz2000 1]

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Are you talking about the xfire or xfire2? Because i've heard from reputable sources that the xfire had some problems

There were some problems with the original crossfires and only certain SNs. All the ones out there should have been corrected according to a service bulletin. It is still a good canopy.

______________________________________________
- Does this small canopy make my balls look big? - J. Hayes -

[Jskydiver22 0]

Yeah, well spectres dont count because they open beautiful no matter what. I used to have one. But, i think hes wanting something more towards the faster eliptical side. Not saying that you cant make a spectre go fast, but hes probably more interested in the stiletto range.

--I don't even know enough to know that I dont know--

[Caseadilla 0]

I would definately go with xfire2. Best opening canopy out there. Flys great, dives long, flares great. Doesnt have to be heavily loaded either.

[Spizzzarko 0]

What ever works...

[AggieDave 6]

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Yeah, well spectres dont count because they open beautiful no matter what. I used to have one.

Ever get it relined?

I've seen more then a handful of Spectres turn into bad openers after being sent to the factory for a reline. PD says its the exact same lineset, so I don't know what changed with the canopy, BUT the Spectre can still slam the shit out of ya. Any canopy can.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Spizzzarko 0]

I have about 700 jumps on a Spectre 170 with dacron lines. Yes I have been slammed by it, but I think the dacron lines are the key to even better openings, than a regular spectre. I think the dacron just takes the edge off of opening shock.

Grant

[chachi 0]

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you want a longer dive and better openings? get a crossfire, hands down one of the best canopies before you go xbrace. opens like butter, great long dive, powerful long flare stroke, and awesome swoops. tryone, you'll be hooked.

~chachi

Are you talking about the xfire or xfire2? Because i've heard from reputable sources that the xfire had some problems. It seems that the xfire2 is supposed to be really nice, but i've flown neither so this is all hearsay.

-A

The only concern was that some American made ones by Precision had line sets made way out of tolerance so they replaced them all with properly proportioned Vectran lines to ensure no problems. They did some small changes but IMHO xfire or xfire2 no difference. By the way all xfire ones they offered to have linesets changed on and most people did the mod anyway.

~Chachi

[JGarcia 0]

I'd have to agree with AggieDave on the Spectre openings. I grabbed my gf's Spectre 135 a couple of times when I was running to meet a load "hot" (before I had 2 rigs) and each time I thought my head was going to fall off when that thing opened.

At the time, she didn't know that their openings weren't supposed to be that bad, so we sent it to PD to get relined. Came back and still opened like a whip, no matter how one packed it. Sent it back to PD again and they "re-engineered" the nose , but that only solved the problem temporarily. Soon, she sold it and bought a Vengeance 120.

I wouldn't trade the openings on my Velo 90 or Xaos-27 93 for any other canopy's, especially when jumping a full camera set up! However, I have heard that the Crossfire2's rock!

Cheers!!

--Jairo

...stuck at 1499 jumps for another 10.5 hrs.

Low Profile, snag free helmet mount for your Sony X3000 action cam!

[AggieDave 6]

Well, sort of like RWS' position on dacron lines. They stretch, that helps with "hard" openings. It asorbes the bad and makes you feel good.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[murps2000 86]

The only concern was that some American made ones by Precision had line sets made way out of tolerance so they replaced them all with properly proportioned Vectran lines to ensure no problems. They did some small changes but IMHO xfire or xfire2 no difference. By the way all xfire ones they offered to have linesets changed on and most people did the mod anyway.***

Just curious where you got this information. I had heard the problems with x-fire 1 were design related, and that bad models actually came out of all three factories.

[Jskydiver22 0]

Wow, well i guess no canopy factory is perfect. There will always be a bad one out there, but everyone who jumps spectres at our dropzone (mainly spectres) loves them. There is the occasional hard opening, but as with any canopy. Im currently enjoying my sabre2 right now though.

--I don't even know enough to know that I dont know--

[riggerrob 561]

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The only concern was that some American made ones by Precision had line sets made way out of tolerance so they replaced them all with properly proportioned Vectran lines to ensure no problems. They did some small changes but IMHO xfire or xfire2 no difference. By the way all xfire ones they offered to have linesets changed on and most people did the mod anyway.***

Just curious where you got this information. I had heard the problems with x-fire 1 were design related, and that bad models actually came out of all three factories.

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

Au contraire!
I heard that it was only a few Crossfire 1s, built in the USA that had the wrong length of B lines.
We had a couple of Crossfires - from the bad batch - at Pitt Meadows.
I performed the Service Bulletin on one and the other was re-lined at the factory.

[murps2000 86]

The information I got was from where I have most of my information of late, a competitor of Icarus'. I wonder what the real story is, though. The crossfires (1 & 2) that I have jumped, have been phenominal flying canopies, but I know of a few people with bad Icarus stories. One involved a Safire 1 that was very obviously sewn wrong. It was more than a line length issue. You could look at the nose and see that the ribs were not parallel, yet, when sent back to the factory (I'm not sure which), they didn't fix the canopy, but adjusted line trim to make it fly straight. The Icarus that I fly opened very hard due to a design flaw that I was lucky enough to find out the truth about, and get fixed by a master rigger, but now I'm worried about what will happen when I have to have I relined.

They make some really great designs but I'm not sure about the company itself.

[trigger 0]

All this mention of line sets being the problem with the crossfire1.

A friend of mine owns a cf1 that was a recall, it came back from the factory with a small patch sewn to the trailing edge of the centre cell anyone know what the deal was there?

Patch approx 2"x4"[from memory]
i don't know if the lineset was changed tho,regarding this canopy.

.CHOP WOOD COLLECT WATER.

[Canuck 0]

This is just a guess, but is it possible the canopy had a tear in it, and Icarus just decided to fix it?

I had a Crossfire 1 that was on the service bulletin, and know of a few others, and the mod was a lineset thing, not anything to do with a patch.

Canuck

[murps2000 86]

I don't know, and I wonder if the skydiving public ever will. From what I've gathered from one canopy manufacturer that I spoke with at length, there is a lot about design problems that we have no idea about, and rumors seem to abound.

Anyway, enough of thread hijacking. If the originator of this thread is still reading, go with the Jedei.

[trigger 0]

Here here.
Failing that[jedei] a cf2.[my personal favourite]

.CHOP WOOD COLLECT WATER.

[larsrulz 0]

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Anyway, enough of thread hijacking. If the originator of this thread is still reading, go with the Jedei.

If you can get your hands on a used jedei, as Big Air Sportz doesn't make them anymore, then power to you. But if you want a new canopy or can't find a used one in the right size/price (they are expensive) then I definitely second the samurai. I've never flown a jedei, but I love my samurai and much prefer it to a stilleto, especially for swooping.

I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF