Manufacturer
Purpose
Main
Material
ZP
Cells
9
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The Katana is a fully elliptical nine-cell canopy that is the ride of a lifetime for the experienced canopy pilot. Warning: This canopy is not for the faint of heart. Soft smooth openings, long control range, steep dive, light front riser pressure and a powerful flare make the Katana an excellent choice for those looking for the engine to push their limits. Whether you're considering an 83 or a 170 square foot wing, the Katana can provide the canopy enthusiast with the ride they are looking for now, and will continue to challenge their piloting skills for years to come.

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Dutcher

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  • 5
Sharp, intuitive steering, amazing flare
Not a forgiving canopy

Coming from a Stiletto 135, I was advised an x-fire 119 to be my next canopy. Hated the frontriser-pressure on the Stiletto, and hoped for better on the Crossfire. I liked it very much, till someone let me jump a Katana 120. Now that's what low pressure is about! I instantly sold the X-fire and ordered a Kat 120 from PD-stock. I now have 70 jumps on it and a lot of what people say is true. It can be searchy on openings (X-fire opens like a dream, always, everytime) but I have only had one single twist so far.
It really dives like hell once you let it built up speed on fronts, and you better be careful: I've been a few times deep down in the corner because it tends to keep diving after you let go of the risers. The emergency-digging-out on toggles made me swing forward so fast I pitched up some 15 feet above the ground. Well, I survived without injury, and learned fast...
Now that I am somewhat used to it's characteristics, I start to feel confident about the Katana. This is really the modern way of flying. You have to be active and keen on every aspect of your flight. No more fun-360's and other aerobatics before you start your landing pattern. You'll be on the ground in no time if you do that. Is that a shame? No way!
When flown with dedication the Katana is very rewarding. Fast, clean, yet smooth turns, very predictable. The canopy is diving fast, but puts you exactly where you want to be. Turbulence, strong headwinds, no problemo: It cuts through the air like a razor. Don't be dazzled by it's high speed once it recovers. Don't brake in panick but start your flare gently and higher than you're used to. Once it starts to decelerate you can easily flare it to a full stop, surfing with your toes through the grass forever. I really love this canopy, but handle it with care and respect! Still a lot to learn, but getting there. Starting my 270's at 800 ft and ending up a little high, but that's good for now.

BTW: Have to keep my fullface closed, since I wear lenses. The relative wind blows them out of my eyes in a steep turn. A speedy ride, everytime. And big fun!

PS: Some extra advice on the openings. Katana has a reputation for it's unpredictable openings, easily leading to twists. After about 150 jumps I have found out wat works for me just right te prevent this.
1) Divide the slider between the line-groups and push it down firmly and tight to the sliderstops and keep it that way until you put your lines on the first stow.
2) Keep your stows fresh. Replace them when they start to wear out, don't wait for them to break. Line dump is a bad thing for openings, but the Katana really hates it.
3) And most impotant: perform a fast and "positive" throw-out of your pc, after that immediatly fix your shoulders and upperarms and look at the horizon. Try NOT to look up at your opening canopy before you feel the snivel has finished. Body position is everything.

Perform this way you will experience the Katana is a very smooth, somewhat slow opening canopy (900 ft is normal) that keeps heading quite well and is a relief for your back. Stressful openings are often caused by fear of line-twists, resulting in a quick head-up and/or shoulders-turned bodyposition, making the opening progressively worse.
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Arcticanalog

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Responsive harness, wide range in rears, flare for days, dive for days
800-1000ft openings.

I bought a 135 loading it at 1.64. I clearly didn't know anything about good flare before getting underneath this wing. Transitioning from rears to toggles is an absolute pleasure. Just when I think I used everything up on the rears, the breaks make any swoop a nice soft step off the curb. I could never really get too much harness input on my sabre2 either. I can basically spiral this thing with my breaks stowed. The openings are in no way as bad as everyone says. I was terrified at first. I've put 100 jumps on it and it's only twisted up on me once which was definitely packing error. For the most part, despite the sometimes searchy-snivelly openings, they are on heading. I dig it and plan on jumping it for sometime to come.

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Rigless

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  • 5
Dive, "no pressure" risers, good range on rears, powerful flare
Nothing

So I got myself a Katana 97 loaded at around ~1.5, coming off a Safire2 129. It's truly a high performance wing.

Openings require good body position if you don't want to get into linetwists and with such a small wing you really don't want to! So be careful and be ready cause this is a demanding one.

Once open it flies like a dream, it is true that it's very ground hungry, with fronts it dives like a beast, super easy, practically no pressure risers, contrary to what others say very good range on rears, got me from a long spot no problems, though not much altitude left for any HP turn after that.. But hey you can't always have everything. Also has a very powerful flare that starts early.

Overall an amazing canopy, I've got nothing bad to say against it, it's just that it's a high performance canopy and demands careful attention to every bit of the flight, but it's designed that way.

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erdnarob

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Nice, soft and openings, fun to fly, powerful flares
none

Opening are very soft and consistent. Average (on 10 jumps) vertical distance for opening is 600 ft calculated with data obtained from my Vigil download. A lot of fun to fly even at low speed. I load it at 1.65. No problem for landing even with no wind at all. The best flare I have seen. Packers love it for packing. The Katana is soft and pliable when flying, not a stiff piece of metal above you like some other canopies, long toggle range giving you more precision, easy on toggles. People I have met flying a Katana feel about the same. Nobody so far regret it. Very docile canopy when flown conservatively but with a full potential if you want a challenge for swooping for instance. I have now about 320 jumps on it.

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jvaliente7

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  • 4
Risers are very light, nice response to leg work, nice flares
off head openings

loading it @ 1.81 it flies pretty smooth, nice dives and light toggle and risers, when in the corner responsive enough to make safe landings with toggles. Its is pretty fast so can get back from distances to drop zone on brakes.

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2ndgensteinke

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Openings, flare, recovery
none

Love my Katana, great recovery ark, and great flare even in the end, loaded at 1.5. Great "next step" canopy, already looking for another one as backup rig

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bzreel01

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  • 4
Great openings and wonderful control
A little slow on the opening but I just pull a little higher with this rig!

32 year old Male 135 lbs
485 jumps
45 on Katana 120
3 years in the sport

I really enjoy this canopy it is a great step up from a sabre 135. I feel it is not to advanced for my skill level. The openings are great and on heading but they are a little slow for me... like 1200 feet to open i'd rather be open in under 900 feet. Thats just me tho.I am learning to do high preformance landings and so far I have not been in the corner with my Katana 120...If you feel you are ready for a step up I feel this is a great choice.

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serge32

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  • 5
swoops
none in my opinion

I have about 1000 jumps on a katana and obviously its a nice canopy when its open. I used to have none heading openings as well but now i installed the lazy bag system which provides you with a little harder openings than before(which is still nice n comfy on a katana) but they are on heading. I think the rest was mentioned in the other reviews already

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meinert

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 4
Light riser pressure, nice dive and recovery made for swoop
Inconsistent openings

Had my Katana for a couple of hundreds jumps...was coming from a Sabre2-120, which i loved, but it was very hard to hit the "sweet-spot" coming out of my 270 because of its natural recovery-arc. Furthermore the riser pressure of the Sabre is pretty hard doing 270-turns.
Jumped a Katana 120 for a while getting used to the canopy - which is completely different from the Sabre: Much lighter riser pressure, more responsive on harness (doing all of my turn on harness now), easy to keep in a dive when getting out of a turn to high an still getting the gate. Now I jump a KA107 and I am still in love...

Only con is the openings....they are soft..thats for sure....but often off heading (everything between 0 to 360 degrees - if 360 degrees of heading opening actually can be called of heading :-)
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tonka

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  • 5
Dives like crazy, fast, and light front riser pressure.
Rear riser pressure is a little tough and long spots can be a problem.

Usually jump a Competition Cobalt 85.

Demoed a Katana 97 and 83.
83 opened and flew much better.
Basically it flies better at 1.9-2.0+
Put 25 jumps on each canopy.
Review is based on the Katana 83.

Packing-
Trash pack. Shake it out-No flaking.
Shuffle nose in a little bit.
Pull slider Out

Opening-
Sweet smooth on heading.
Not too fast but not slow.
Never wanted to spin up or jerk me around.
Easy to steer during snivel using harness unput.
Smooth opening for such an agressive canopy.

Flight-
Very steep trim. Canopy wants to be on the ground.
Long spots are a little trouble because it still sinks in brakes or on rears.
Cant hang out and wait for others to land- Falls out of the sky too fast.
Very stable and fun to fly.
Fairly hard to stall using toggles.
Hard to stall on rear risers.
Not super fast responsive but thats good. Makes for smooth flying.
Any more responsive would be too much on such an agressive canopy.

Landing-
Very light front riser pressure and moderate rear riser pressure.
Harder to plane out using rears that my Competition Cobalt.
Keeps speed and a dive very well.
Swooping into the wind is no problem-
Cuts right through the wind.
On the 83 loaded at 2.0+ started 360 turn at 800-1000ft. Dives like crazy.
Come out of turn at 200+ feet and put pressure on rears right away.
Planes out very nicely on rears using this technique.
If you are late on the rears use toggles because it will not plane out right away on rear risers.
Can hold double fronts to keep in a dive if needed.
Not a forgiving canopy.
Has good flare.
Not quite as much flare as my Cobalt and Competition Cobalt.
At higher speeds and correct dive altitudes there is much more flare.
Lower speed- Decent flare. (Enough to have a nice stand up but you can feel the need for more)
Low turn=Not much stopping power. Dont do it because you will not pull it out of the dive even if you are deep on the toggles.
270 turn worked best for me. @600+ft
Whether doing a slow carve or a fast dive swoops are great. Fast dive and then hard on rears makes for super fast swoop. Carve makes for a long smooth and fast swoop.

Had to do an aviodance braked approach and landing. Landed much better than expected. Almost half brakes until full flare and it still landed me softly.

Canopy can be jerky if the transition from rears to toggles is not smooth.
Just fly it smoothly.
Jerky Motions(Rears and toggles)=Loss of speed and shoter swoop.
Not much or really any running out landings.
Flies until its almost stopped.


Overall-
Awesome canopy.
Swoop machine.
If you like to open low then the spot better be good because you will be on the ground shortly.
Most agressive canopy I have flown.
Approaching the dive and long recovery of the Velocity.
Great canopy to try with 750+ jumps and good canopy control and progression.

Not a good idea if you are not current or dont have the swoops mastered on something else.
Competition Cobalt is a good transition canopy to the Katana.

Main negative aspect is that it doesnt fly as well at slow speeds as my Competition Cobalt.
The Cobalt will continue to fly going slow and keep gliding at that slow speed.
(End of a swoop)
Once the Katana starts to die out it will lose the speed and the swoop is over. Still flies well at that slow speed but comes to a stop sooner.

Swoops were longer in distance but seemed shorter in time than my Cobalt.
Meaning it is much faster and covers ground in a swoop very fast.

Great product from the best in the biz. A+ Canopy
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rlstkev

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Very sweet canopy to fly
None

This canopy has all you need, greet openings, dives very well but careful, likes to stay in the dive more than a stiletto. pd has once again put out another great canopy. I have put 50 jumps on my 97 and all I can say is WOW , this canopy is one of the best PD has made. I start my 270 approx. 825 ft and this thing dives very well comes out alittle on the slow side but all in all it leaves me 2-6 ft off the ground in a swoop and is very fast has great shutdown power riser inputs on the front are light as are the rears this canopy reacts very well to all inputs .this is to me a all around GREAT canopy for the advanced canopy pilot it will do everything you need it to do

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Pawel

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  • 5
Nice openings, fast, toggle pressures.
Openings 90-180 off

Great canopy if you starting to learn how to swoop. Great openings if you body is in good position other wise will turn 90-180 degrees. No issues doing video with it and coming from a long spot. Great riser pressures on turns. Canopy likes speed but be careful. I demo the Katana and purchased it same day. Second Katana got week later for 2nd rig.

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skydivekid

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 4
Dive, riser pressure, responsiveness, flair...the list goes on
Twitchy openings sometimes spins up on me

I picked up a Katana 135 demo from PD. loaded at about 1.5, Flies great and is extremely responsive to riser and toggle input. The landings are great, the katana has a long dive, sweet swoop and powerful flair to shut it down. Most of my approaches are 270 hook turns, but the katana also lands great with a straight in approach (landing out). It is pretty good at making it back from a long spot.
The only problem I have had is the openings can be twitchy and sometime it starts to spin and dive.
Overall a great canopy for most disciplines (camera, freefly, coach, etc)

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jc106wcu

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Soft Openings, Strong Flare, Very Responsive
None

Great Canopy for the skydivers that are serious canopy pilots. Great soft on heading openings, light riser pressure, and powerful flare. High wind loadings are not need to fly this canopy. I'm loading at 1.4 and get plenty performance out of it. Make sure and practice plenty up high before bringing it lower. Very ground hungry! Not a canopy to take lightly. Get approval from S&TA before attempting to fly.

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davec18

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
flys great opening are great
none yet

Only put 6 jumps on it, opens on heading
but opens quick not hard just quick,
great input on rears& harnis and front
risers, this canopy love speed .
pd got this one right.
dave c

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JumpRu

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  • 5
soft on heading openings, long dives and super strong flare.
NO

I’m very happy with my KA107 with HMA lines loaded about 1.7. I knew it has light riser pressure, long dive and strong flare but I was really surprised that it opens better then any other canopy I’ve jumped. I made about 20 jumps on it and all my openings were super soft and on heading (got to be that HMA line set!). With this canopy I just smile at pull time :o) Good job PD!

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Beverly

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  • 5
A great all rounder
None yet

I had the best fortune this past week of being given the opportunity to fly a Katana canopy. Coming from South Africa and being somewhat sheltered, I have not had the opportunity to see them in action on my home turf.
Being a girl and somewhat of a ninny when it comes to canopies, I have not been very adventurous when it comes to flying and really working them.
I don’t know too much about canopies, other than I like canopies that don’t clash with my hair and eyes, but this is my experience:

I was given a demo to try for a few jumps on a recent trip to De Land.
I did not really know what to expect out of the canopy.
It was bigger than the current canopies I have been playing with, so I was not too concerned on my capabilities under the canopy.

I did dedicated canopy flights to be able to play and experience the canopy to it’s fullest and get the most out of the experience.

First off the opening.
WOW! It was the softest opening I have experienced in a while.
Even more so than the Pilot that I jump for wing suiting.
Now everyone knows that the Pilot is renown for it’s long and smooth snivels, and this out did that.
There was an initial hesitation from my side as thoughts of “this is taking too long” flashed in my head, but as I looked up and watched this beautiful canopy slowly unfold, I knew they were unfounded.

Once the canopy was fully open, I collapsed the slider and un stowed the brakes.
There was not a huge amount of slack, as I normally get with the canopies I fly, and I started to play with the canopy.

The turns were responsive but recovered quickly. Something that would help in situations that require fast evasive action.
Front riser pressure was awesome, something I have struggled with in the past being a 120 pound girl.
I found that the turns both on risers and toggles were as effective as each other and the back risers evened the canopy out even faster than just waiting for the canopies own recovery.

Now being the conservative canopy pilot I am, and having played with a few canopies in the past year, some of which have been Pilots, Hurricanes, Stiletto’s, Icarus FX and the Vision, I can safely say that this would be the most forgiving canopy of them all.

The canopy has stunning flying characteristics, giving you all the “whoop!” you can ask for under canopy and in the sky, followed by a consistent, recovery arc and soft, tippy toe landing.
Definitely making it a graceful landing and making sure you look good.
There is enough flare left at the end of a reasonable swoop to give some lift at the end and safely plant you on the ground, without the hard shin and ankle splintering thud that normally accompanies most girl’s landings.

Since I have taken a further interest in canopies and landings, I have been watching my fellow team mates and skydivers land in all wind conditions.
This canopy can defiantly be used by anyone doing lots of work jumps, team jumps and camera.
The consistently smooth openings (Even after horrific rushed pack jobs) is ideal for the skydivers doing many jumps in a day/weekend/week.
The responsiveness of the canopy in flight and the smooth and soft landings definitely make for a canopy that will allow for many comfortable and safe skydives for years to come.

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atomclassic

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
The optimium all round canopy
haven't found one yet

By the way, KATANA is in Japanese, but the center logo is not originated from Japan. And its not "HA". Its a Chinese character, which mean Knife or Blade. So happen that japan has the same writings with the chinese ones. So eventually PD get it right. By the way, if you do not like that logo on your canopy, would you wanna sell it to me, hehehe.

atomclassic

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Casquito

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  • 5
Fast, Long recovery arc, great flare
Openings (sort of)

I've recently put a lot of jumps on a Katana loaded @ 1.8 and have one on order. I'd have to agree with what's already been stated. It's a fast canopy geared towards more experienced jumpers with tons of performance potential.
Openings: a bit nervous at first with at least a 90 on opening, but never hard. I now steer my openings a bit and they're dead on, but it's still very sensitive to body position. I've tried various ways of packing it, but now just pack it like any other canopy and take care when I open.
Flight: Great range. It flies well with canopies loaded at 1:1 when on rear risers and trying to get back from long spots, but in full flight it is FAST. I don't know how accurate my Neptune is but it reads a vertical descent rate of 32 fps on average when in full flight.
Front risers have VERY light pressure and it never buffets or feels twitchy in a dive. The recovery arc is long and it takes a bit of input to pull it out of a dive on landing, but I can start the dive much higher and have more time to build speed and set up the landing.
Landing: Great flare. I have a broken ankle (2 mo out) and land it with no problems. Fast coming in, but you can shut it down and land without running it out much.
Like many others I debated between the Crossfire2 and Katana, but went with the Katana for several reasons:
1: lighter front riser pressure
2: great flare
3: great range (XF seems to stall under rears at a much higher speed as well)
4: feel- very nebulous, but I liked the feel of the canopy all around compared to the XF (which is still a great canopy that I love to fly)

One thing I don't like which has nothing to do with the canopy is the freaking Japanese character all over it. I'm not sure anyone's noticed, but it doesn't say Katana. It says "Ha" which is the actual edge of a blade. PD got the character wrong. It's not bad when it's on the patch on the stabilizer, but when it's a huge red logo on the canopy top/bottom skin, it's pretty silly. Japanese jumpers always laugh at it...

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bogwarrior

0 of 0 members found this review helpful 0 / 0 members
  • 5
Nice opening and not too extreme while still an exciting canopy
None that I saw.

I tried a friends Katana 97 and with my wright it was loaded at 1.6. I have previously flown a Velocity 96 but sold it as I hated the openings. I normally jump a Stiletto 107 which is my work canopy.

Throwing the pilot chute to open the Katana I wondered what i was going to get , but a nice soft snivel that transformed into a smooth opening awaited me . Snatch was nice and deceleration also nice. I did have a 90 degree off heading in the end , but it wasnt a sudden jerk like the Stilleto and especially the velocity gave me .. i was well able to keep up in the harness..

Once opened I knew i was flying a different canopy than used to.. i could feel the speed and the descent rate. Let the brakes off and it took off.

I did a few practice turns 90 degrees buidling to 270 and was aware that It loses a lot of height in a turn. The riser pressure was light and remained light whilst picking up speed.. nice.. the velocity was somtimes a battle with turns having to be finished with harness only..

So now at 2000 feet ( i dumped at 6000ft ) what type of turn would i try for the landing ? I decided to be conservative and go for 90 degrees only. Having set up , i picked my moment ( or rather my height ) and initiated a smooth turn ( loving the riser pressue ) . Noticable was the dive in the turn and speed build was nice .even from the 90 degrees. Four seconds of netural flight and onto the rears ( ok I slingshotted a little ! )..again nice with no major pressure ( decided on next jump to find the rear stall point ! ).

I enjoyed the swoop which was about 40-50 metres which was pleasing for my first go on the canopy.

In hindsight i transitioned a little early and popped up a foot or two on the flare... the flare is good on this canopy too. Lots of lift and stop when you need it and it seemed less fussy than the velocity..

Overall I had a grin from ear to ear having tried the Katana and after another lob or two on it have orderd my own..

All round nice canopy in the right hands , but definatley has the capacity to spank you if you dont treat it just right...

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mysky

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  • 5
Incredible swooper for a non cross brace.
Non if you read the reviews from PD first

I have about 50 jumps on my Katana 120 with the wing loading at about 1.9. I have read many reviews from people saying the Katana is a ground hungry canopy and they list that as a con under the dropzone.com review section. Perhaps if these folks would have read PD's review on this canopy they would understand this is not a con but how the canopy actually is. This is the closest thing to a Velocity that they make. I have a Velocity 103 and I have to say my 120 Katana is pretty damn close in the performance department. Although my Velocity still takes the cake there are things about the Katana I love. I have not had a bad opening yet. To me what I notice with the Katana even more then good packing are 3 things for a great openings, 1. Body position, 2. Body position, 3. Body Postion. Steer this canopy with your body and the openings are dead on and beautiful. Yes it's ground hungry but what do you expect from a canopy that swoops as well as this one. The riser pressure is the best I've even flown and ANY canopy. It never buffets no matter how long you hold those puppies down. I think PD put quite a bit of work into this one. I am absolutely amazed at the performance especially from a non cross-braced canopy. I would compare it to an airlocked canopy but I had 2 difference Vengeance canopies and was not happy with either one of them in the performance department and think that a Stilleto performs better then the Vengeance any day of the week. Anyhow, before you get a Katana do a little research so that you know what to expect before you buy it. Ground Hungry-Yes, Openings tricky-Only if you make them that way. All in all one of the best canopies to come around in years if you know what your getting into. Blue Skies and Safe Dives!

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hkf

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  • 5
Everything
Nothing

Just when you thought skydiving can't get any better, along comes the Katana.
I now have about 150 jumps on a katana 107 loaded at about 1.6 to 1. I'll still go on any load just to get another canopy ride. I've previously jumped Sabre 2 120, Vengeance 120, Stiletto 120 and Spectre 97. I expected the performance to be similar to the Vengeance, but it was in a different league. The riser pressure is light, and can be held down at will. It generates great speed in long carving front riser turns and has an awesome bottom end to finish the swoop off. Many times it's made my Protrak flatline as it plains out for the swoop. Initially after a soft snatch I would get thrown around a bit on opening, but found that it was sensitive to body position, after I started really flying the openings it has been consistently on heading.

This canopy is so cool that I had to re-write a song from The Lion King;

Hookin-The-Katana what a wonderful Phrase
Hookin-The-Katana aint no passing craze
it means long swoops for the rest of your days
it's a cross-brace free Velocity
Hookin-The-Katana........

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lewmonst

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  • 5
fast, fun, very responsive, long swoops, great flare power, good openings
steep angle of attack = ground hungry, NOT for an inexperienced pilot, somewhat off-heading openings at first but that s

I had about 50 jumps on a Crossfire 1 119 (1.65wl), and about 50 each on Crossfire 2's 109 & 119 (1.80/1.65wl). I bought a Katana 120and have put about 100 jumps on it. The Katana is more aggressive than the Crossfire2. I think the Crossfire2 has slightly more consistent and slightly softer openings. I was debating between the two several months ago. It came down to price comparison and experience with the company. I had emailed Simon at Icarus several times asking about a stock canopy listed on the website without any response. PD has always responded quickly to emails and phone calls. In my opinion and experience, PD also has a better reputation overall. I bought a Katana and I love it. The openings tend to be offheading at first, still soft thought. I've tried several different packing techniques... and I've never had a hard opening. After about 50 jumps or so the canopy seems to have broken in very nicely and the openings are much more consistently on heading. I jump a couple cameras and have a girly neck, so that should tell you something. One more thing, with the Katana having a very steep angle of attack, it is more ground-hungry. You can get back from a long spot, as I often have from tandem videos, but it's work on your rear risers. The more I jump the Katana, the more I love it. I want another one. It can be very fast on landings in no wind with slight front-riser input, and super fast coming out of a hard 90 or 180. Swoops are long, longer than you expect at first... just as it's about to drop, you can extend the flare a little more and keep going, which nicely slows you down for a tip-toe landing. And I've found myself caught having to follow a pattern downwind with it also, which was fun, I opted to slide in since I can't run that fast at the moment. I definately recommend it to someone with enough experience.

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BlackDagger2

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  • 4
She is Fast, A pilots canopy
Ground Hungry

I am 5'11" and about 190lbs my background is about 300 jumps on a Safire 139, and 150 jumps on a Stiletto 135.

I got a Katana 120 to demo this past weekend and she is sweet. I made 8 jumps with her and as time went on I became more impressed. Openings were not bad but I had 90 to 180 degree off heading openings half of the jumps no mater how I packed. The control lines came set from PD and I think I would have been more impressed from the first jump if I had tuned them in for me. I didn't want to change the setting and the lines had about 3 to 4 inches of slack in them. Once I got used to that it was off to the races. The canopy is very responsive in toggles or risers. She dives for the ground when you tell her and she will recover from that dive slower than a Stiletto but when she planes out you can expect 25% to 45% longer swoops. She also saves a bit more energy than the Stiletto on the end for that last little pop of the toggles and tipsy toe walkouts. (Found myself 4ft up instead of 1ft more than once.) Over all I would have to agree with what I have read form other reviews. This should not be a first canopy for anyone!!! She was like a date with the singer Pink. Fun, Fast, and Sexy, but if you are not careful she can hurt you.

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jumpflyer

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  • 4
Dives Great, Light front riser pressure, super slow shutdown speed
Inconsistent openings

I recently had the opportunity to demo a Katana 120 (loaded at 1.81:1) and put 40 jumps on it during that week. The weather conditions ranged from 18mph winds to no winds and even some beach landings with lots of hot turbulent air surrounding the beach and parking lot.
Even during a few cross counrty jumps where we opened at 13,000ft, I knew the Katana would get me back to the DZ.
In every aspect the Katana performed great. Using rear risers it got me back from some very long spots, which I had my doubts about. The Katana proved me wrong.
In high winds and turbulence the Katana behaved very predictably and still cut through the air very well, which provided me with some great swoops. In no wind conditions this canopy really comes alive, it build speed very quickly using harness turns and some front riser input to fine tune my approach. Even when I was too high, with the light front riser pressure it enabled me to keep it in a dive much longer than the Stiletto ever could. The shutdown speed impressed me the most, even though this canopy has the ability to go very fast during the dive and swoop, when your feet do eventually touch the ground it is a very smooth transition to a slow/medium jog.
The openings were a little disappointing, they were not very consistent, but this may have been due to the crisp new ZP fabric that did not want to get into the bag without a fight. After about 15 jumps it seemed to settle down. I found that if you packed it like the manufacture recommends, and do not push the nose in or pull the slider out I had much softer openings. The openings did get even better by jump 30 thru 40.

All in all this is an awesome canopy, be careful if you are jumping a stiletto as the Katana has a much longer recovery arc.
Great job PD.

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