Ron 7 #26 April 8, 2003 Well the suit flies great...If it lasted, and the service was any good I would recomend them. But 4 out of 4 on my 4way team fell apart, and she basicly told us "Oh well, your problem" Ron"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Watcher 0 #27 April 9, 2003 My suit had 4 hours of tunnel time, and 350 jumps put on it. Not a single problem with the entire suit (other than stinky knees because the knee pads make the knees stink, but man I miss the knee pads in my bev suit.) All 3 of my merlin suits are holding up great for that matter, except for the small bit of red clay that got on my white suit (anyone know how to redye white?). We ended up getting Bev this year just because she had our suits to us in 2 weeks, and I was able to send my suit back to get the booties shortened (I like mine really tight) in a week. Both are great suits, the merlin has supreior booties though. I like the grips on the Bev better. --Jonathan Bartlett D-24876 AFF-I Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #28 April 9, 2003 I have three Michigan comp suits; two with Knife Edge booties (Joe Trinko actually designed that) and one with regular comp booties. I love them all and use them for everything: all RW, tandems, AFF. We have a good raport with Mike, so customer service is always great here. Before that, I was a combination Tony (Pit Special) and D'Annunzio (now Paraclete) guy. I think that pretty much all suits wear and perform the same to me (a generalization), but it boils down to cost, delivery time, and customer service after the sale. This, unfortunately varies wildly from region to region. If your gear store or dealer has a better relationship with a vendor, then you are going to get treated better...period. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weid14 0 #29 April 10, 2003 Bev will put pads in all you have to do is ask.... booties better on Merlin? doubt it, but when you switch it does take a little time. Hemlin like the Bev suit better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RozeAY 0 #30 April 10, 2003 When we asked Bev this winter about putting pads in the knees she said she couldn't do that. As far as the booties, I can get my Merlin booties on and off much easier than the Bev Suit (without zippers). I'm going to make the mods to fix that though. And in any case I love my Bev Suit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weid14 0 #31 April 11, 2003 Quote When we asked Bev this winter about putting pads in the knees she said she couldn't do that. As far as the booties, I can get my Merlin booties on and off much easier than the Bev Suit (without zippers). I'm going to make the mods to fix that though. And in any case I love my Bev Suit. well, I guess we were special then, cause Jim got them once you wear the suit a bit, the booties will come off easier. I can take mine off under canopy no problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
base570 1 #32 April 11, 2003 Quote Tony Suits....Never did fit me right...Its all I ever owned. Then the Army bought me a Michagan suit....I love it. Michagan Suit...Fits great. I like my booties longer than most people. I called Mike, sent the suit down, and had it back in a week. Perfect fit! I have 300 jumps on it, and about 10 hrs in the tunnel on it. No problems at all. I just orderd a new one last night for my new team. I have no problem getting another Michagan, or recomending them to anyone. His suits are great, and they are stong...His service is fantastic!!!! I have seen him fly to Zhills to look at a persons suit. Merlin....Uh, we were sponsored by them last year....It took 4 mths longer than we were told to get the suits. Then with about 4 tunnel hrs,and 30 jumps, the zippers on two of the teams suits had to be replaced. 3 of our team suits have ripped knee seams, The other guys suit ripped right up the ass seam. So 2 zippers, and ALL 4 SUITS WITH BAD SEAMS. OK, we are hard on suits....We called, as a sponsored team, and got blown off. Never gonna wear a Merlin again...and its a shame, it fit and flew well. But the endurance of the suit was sub par...And the service sucked. I will not wear one, and I will not recomend them to anyone. Bev...I hear good things about them, and I was thinking of getting one this year. But the team got sponsorship from Michagan, and hell I love his suits. So I can only tell you that they look good. Sorry don't know anything about Body Sport. Ron Hey Ron, your experience with Merlin Suits sounds like my teams experiences with Michigan. Over the last 5 years I have had at least 8 Michigan suits custom made and not one fit correctly. The past batch was really shabby workmanship and the suits fell apart after just one or two weekends. It's sad to see the quality going downhill on his suits, I always thought they were the most well constructed suits out there and they could take a lot of abuse, not so anymore I guess. Getting the suits was also like pulling teeth. We were getting 2 suits a year with the second suits arriving a few months before Nationals so we could fly in them and get alterations (if needed) before the big show. Well, almost every year the second suits would come in a week before Nationals (if at all) and not fit. I don't think that in all the years that I have competed at Nationals my team has had the same suits. I couldn't understand why Mike would allow our team that was supposedly representing his company to go to the Nationals and look like, well... crap. Oh well, those are just my experiences with Michigan Suits. I will say that the booties are the best out there... when they fit Peace Jason Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #33 April 14, 2003 http://www.hawksuits.com/ Marsha goes above and beyond the call with her suits. reinforced knees, 3 types of materials to choose, special tailoring for appearance (men's suit design and womens style are different since they have different shapes). Gorgeous suits too. The booties 'rudder' very effectively. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fudd 0 #34 April 15, 2003 I'm not familiar with those suits. (got a SD collection suit myself. Really good suits from norway) I just would lilke to recomend you get string booties. They are adjustable, and will make the booties "sharper". Anyway, just my 2c... There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #35 April 21, 2003 Alrighty, here's what I did. I talked to the Body Sports people, and they were dead set on making me a suit with swoop cords, which I don't need and sure as hell don't want, but since they were dead set on it, I had serious questions as to if they would build the suit just how I wanted or try to do what they thought I *needed*. Thus, they lost the sale. So, I went with Bev Suits, getting the comp suit (I wanted the HotBod suit, but they wouldn't let me ) with all the "go slow" features besides swoop cords (poly-cotton, with liner, afterburners...). Once I get it and get some jumps on it, I'll write up a review of the entire process, my dealings with BevSuits and my thoughts on the suit. --"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,381 #36 April 21, 2003 >I am NOT getting swoop cords (I been averaging 120 and getting >down to 115 in a suit that should be a fast suit on me), especially > since swoop cords are worthless once you learn to fly right (as told > to me by my Skydive U. coach). Swoop cords let you fall slower. They're useful if you're trying to stay with a very slow falling base on a big-way. I have one suit with swoop cords and it's saved my butt more than once. On the 300-way I was considering them for the "team" suit but I figured "hey, airspeed is setting the fall rate! It will be fast." After eight jumps at fall rates of 105-110 (and after going low twice) I was really wishing I had them. I ended up using a blue sweatshirt for extra drag. And I was in the _base._ There were a lot of swoop cords used on that dive, and it turned out that the heavier guys were actually having less trouble, because they were used to the go-slow tricks that the 150 pounders never learn. One nice thing about them is that you don't have to use them if you don't want to - they tuck back in your sleeves pretty easily for 4-way or what have you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robskydiv 0 #37 April 22, 2003 Hi Dave. I anticipate your results with the impending Bev suit. I think that you'll like what you get especially when it comes to RW. A friend of mine has always used Bev suits and he likes them alot and he is a terriffic relative worker. With your experiences with SDU it sounds like you too are headed towards being a skilled RW flyer as well. I hope you like the suit. Harry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
