Skytronic FX

I bought a GFX online and have had nothing but problems with it. First of all they sent it to the billing address (different from shipping address) When I recieved the GFX and put the battery in the screen was all messed up showing unlegible characters and the navigation button didn't work very well when clicking down, you have to use LOTS of force to make it register.

I have since emailed info, help, customer service for Parasport and they never responded back until I sent them a nasty email after sending me another advert for other skydiving gear.

They put me in contact with Unfeathered. The girl there was great to deal with very friendly and curtious. She said send the unit to me and i'll take care of it. I sent off my GFX in June, it's now comming October and I still haven't recieved my replacement yet. Comming from Canada our season is only 6 months and I have been jumping without an audable for the majority of the season.

I would avoid Parasport at all costs

I had a FX for about 100 jumps. It worked fine, but was not user friendly to access functions. And, I had difficulty hearing it in freefall. It would be nice if it had adjustable volumes. I dropped mine, and sent it to Italy for service. They emailed me that they received it, but in 2 months, never emailed whether or not it was repairable, and never responded to multiple queries about it's status. I bought a ProTrack, and like it much better.

Yes, the Skytronic FX is a little cheaper than the ProTrack, but you get what you pay for. First, the Skytronic's instructions are almost non-existent, although there is a much better version on the company's website. Also, you cannot preset your current number of jumps and freefall time, so the totals will not be correct unless you bought it before your very first jump ever. (You Can preset that info on the Protrack.) Also, the Protrack comes with 2 extra sets of batteries and a mounting clip, whereas the Skytronic comes with only the batteries installed. The Protrack is a better value, I think.

Well, I had two ProTracks previously and lost them. I have had the Skytronic FX for about five months. I like it just fine, but to be honest it isn't quite as user-friendly as the Protrack. It has almost all of the same functions as the Protrack too, but its a lot cheaper. The user "map" - not a manual really - is lacking and I can't determine what kind of software or hardware is needed to connect to the PC. I have emailed them and will hopefully have an answer shortly. In general, the Skytronic is worth its price because it is almost as good as the Protrack and a lot less. All in all, I am happy with my purchase.

i had a problem with mine a few days ago.....a bunched of fudged numbers and it was 1000ft off on the ride to altitude
last week. thank god i noticed....i always cross check my audible with the altimeter on my wrist. then it just showed a bunch of weird numbers and stuff. i took the batteries out......after only 40 jumps and put new ones in to no avail....still the screwy numbers. was getting ready to send it back and wham.......started working perfect and no problems since the for the money its not bad......would love a pro-track...but i only have 125 jumps and will stick with what works.
Bobby

I've had this audible for about 5o jumps now and so far haven't had any major problems with it. Some minor inconveniences have been

1. If you FUBAR an exit and end up in someones burble the freefall time may register very short, ie 3 seconds, I think that the pressure change in the burble fools the audible into thinking that you have pulled and stops counting freefall, the audible portion however still works correctly at breakoff and pull settings.

2. Do not use this as an audible to rely on if you are doing a high altitude jump out of a pressurized aircraft. I recently did a jump at 18K (not real high) after the aircraft pressurized at 10K, this fooled the unit to read goofy, at 0 ft AGL it still believed that it was at 1100 feet AGL, which incidently was what we were at ASL. However, this same jump goofed up some other audibles (dytters). Be forwarned, realy on you eyes and your visual altimeters if jumping out of a pressurized aircraft.

3. They operating manual (if you can call it that) is woefully lacking in detail, be prepared to figure some stuff out on your own, like maunually setting your base altitude (see point 2)

Other than these minor things so far I really like it, loud enough to be heard, good value for the price. I would reccomend this audible.

Dave
B4365