Cross brace canopy for camera flyers

[Peej 0]

Velo 103 for me with no problems, only ever had one slammer.

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[JGarcia 0]

I've jumped a Xaos-21 108, Xaos-27 93, Velocity 90, and Velocity 84, all with top mounted and side-mounted camera systems. In my experience, the Velocities have opened softer, and consistently than the Xaos canopies. I rarely use packers, but when I do, I'm very picky as to who packs 'em. I'm so used to my Velo's consistent opening and flying characteristics that it unnerves me to jump any other canopy.

Cheers!

--Jairo

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

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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I have heard real good things about the Xaos for consistent smooth openings for camera flying.

That's the Xaos 21, not the 27 though. A Xaos 27 is a poor choice for a camera flyer in my opinion. I own a Xaos 27, 80 and love it, but it's openings are far from reliable and on heading.

[rhys 0]

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I have thousands of camera jumps on Xaos, 21 and 27 cell. Everything from a 105 to an 84 and I absolutely LOVE the openings

how much height do you lose in your opening sequence?

My JVX gives me wonderful openings and I lose no more than 600'.

From what I have observed the Xaos 21's lose alot of height which makes the openings soft?

Xaos' were almost banned from one of our dropzones due to frequent malfunctions (on a few differnt sizes). It is a beach dropzone and a cutaway can be a timely or expensive mistake.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[cloudtramp 0]

>>"how much height do you lose in your opening sequence?"


I'd say 600-800 feet at the most.

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>>"Xaos' were almost banned from one of our dropzones due to frequent malfunctions (on a few differnt sizes). It is a beach dropzone and a cutaway can be a timely or expensive mistake."____________________________________________________________
Banned! That's insane!!! Sounds like they should maybe ban the packers and/or jumpers if they are tired of swimming after chops

I work at a beach DZ as well and have swam out to retrieve many many canopies but never a xaos. In fact, I have never chopped my xaos due to a mal. Chopped once from a CRW wrap on my 88 and once from a number of broken lines on a really old line set.

In reply to the original poster, I am sure that any canopy will work fine for you! It's all about what you are comfortable with. I mainly jump Xaos cause I work at dz that has alot of Precision canopies and I bought a used Xaos back in the day and never looked back. Everybody will tell you something different i'm sure.

[Laszloimage 0]

…later is better than never.
I should have added these followings to this thread earlier:
Besides just saying what X-braced I jump when I shoot video I also feel obligated to
talk about safety and make some clarifications. Probably we all know already, but I just want to re-enforce that X-braced parachutes are not on the top of the list for camera work. Even if they work 100% fine for most of us (just looking at the jump #s and experience of the profiles) maybe it can give a bad idea for others.
Any heavily loaded small parachutes (not only X-braced) can turn very quick against its pilot whether because of a malfunction or traffic situation. Combining any of those issues with wearing a camera helmet and a camera suit can make things even more difficult.
To jump an X-braced parachute (or any heavily loaded small canopy) requires lot of training, experience, skills, knowledge, and even some talent. X-braced canopies only recommended for those who have all of those things listed above. Only for every day skydivers (jumpers who are make at least a few hundred jumps a year).
With these canopies the deployment altitude should be higher, and even more altitude if it used for a camera jump (my personal hard deck is 4000feet with my Velo when I jump with camera gear) so there’s more time to respond to any problem or malfunction if occurs.
Coming in for landing and “dealing” with traffic also becomes more and more difficult as the canopy flies and descends faster and faster. As we know these X-braced canopies are build for speed. So please keep this “aspect of the game” in the mind as well. …sometimes we just have to land our “bad ass” canopy from a straight in approach.
Make this long posting short, X-braced canopies are not generally recommended for camera work! They are may be used only by those who ready for it!!!
…like a couple of thousand jumps. (and lot of camera experience of course if it used for that)
I don’t want to be rude (or a dick) with anyone but I see some guys weighting in only a 3 digit jump#, while a 1000 isn’t really enough either.
Patience! Please learn to walk before you run!

My personal canopy progression: 300 jumps with Sabre-150, 1300 jumps with Stiletto-135, 1600 jumps with Stiletto-120, and then I took the Velocity (so far 1500 jumps)

…who knows maybe I’m wrong, ……..NOOOOOOOOOOT

[rhys 0]

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Banned! That's insane!!! Sounds like they should maybe ban the packers and/or jumpers

They packed their own.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix