Storm

Ive done around 400 jumps on Storm 135 loading it at 1.65, before that i had Spectre 150 for 300+ jumps and in between i jumped Spectre 120 for 100 jumps and 135 for 10 jumps.

I love my 7 cells and soft ish mostly on heading openings. I chose to stay on 7 cell so i don't chage the flight characteristics radicly between sky and base.

So Storm against the Spectre. Storm is much softer openings at higher wing loading. 120 spectre pretty much every opening came out...id say pretty brisk. Storm how ever only spanked me once, very randomly. Storm's fronts is so much heavier compared to Spectre. The little 'swoop' distance is similar between storm 135 and spectre 120, speed how ever speed is greater on spectre. I just received brand new Storm 120 so i will be able to compare that soon. I load 120 at 1.86. Also both my stoms i got with casual CReW kit so it kinda pack nearly a size up from normal spectre but similar ish to 120 9cell.

Opening heading is quite questionable. It's more like safire, it snivel snivel and then...randomly goes 90+ any direction. Not a biggie, but not as good as spectre by country mile. Softness, better than spectre and higher loadings. Line twist, had 2 in 400 jumps, 1 just random flat 360, not a big deal, one due to user error (don't even ask) ended up up in a lot of diving twists. Would it have been spectre most likely i could have fixed it, storm, no chance. Once it goes, it f@&in goes. Good job i do my ownn reserves! Fonts, very hard compared to spectre, but im not big swooper. Deffo a canopy for camera work. Great range, reliable and soft openings. Heading how ever is sometimes questionable...

Stay tuned for 120 loading at 1.86 review... :)

I've read reviews about all the on heading openings this canopy has and it's very true. Canopy does open soft and on heading every time (so far). It flys well and is a little sporty. It's almost like a suped up Spectre but not quite a Sabre2. In my own opinion, it has a weird attack angle and takes few jumps to perfect the timing on the flare. With the flare, there is soo much power in the last 6 inches. You really have to dig deep on your flare on days with no wind. Maybe it's just me.

Overall, good canopy for anyone who wants something a step up from a Spectre. I only hear good things about this canopy from the wingsuiters as well.

This is the canopy that merges all of the good things from a Spectre and Sabre2 together. It is either a more dynamic Spectre or a better opening Sabre2 depending on where you are coming from. The majority of my jumps are under a Stiletto. Moving into this canopy was a bit of a change. This canopy requires a lot more toggle input to do the same thing partly due to how thick the Storm is. (top skin to bottom) That said there is plenty of bottom end in this canopy to handle no wind and high wing loads. I'm at 1.33 jumping into a 5,000 ft. MSL landing area with no problems. I don't swoop but the canopy responds very well to riser input. No buffeting. PD done good.

Demo'd a Storm 210 and put about 10 jumps on it over a weekend. First of all, read the flight characteristics found on PD's website for the Storm. I found that to be entirely accurate with the exception of deployment. I enjoyed it's flight characteristics and the flare is very powerful, especially the last 3 inches, if you aren't fully extending your arms you're not using nearly as much power as the canopy has to offer. The deployments though... 180 degree heading changes of the canopy constantly, back and forth, while my body remained on heading during the snivel. Sometimes it would snivel on heading and right before inflation spin a 180 or even 360 degree turn, often resulting in line twist. After 4 or 5 jumps I would grab the risers as soon as the canopy was over head and pull them apart as much as I could which seemed to temper the oscillation during the snivel. I've got about 250 jumps, about 50 wingsuit jumps, and I've had one diving, spinning, line twist situation that almost ended in a cutaway, it was on a Storm. The "super stable perfect wingsuit canopy" description I find to be misleading. The snivel is long and soft but the canopy is very squirrely until it's inflated, at which point it flys very well. I have found a Pilot, Pulse, and Navigator (The only 3 other canopies I've jumped more than a few times) to be much more stable and predictable during deployment than the Storm. After talking to another, much more experienced jumper, I found my experience was not unique. The only other con is the brakes, when stowed you have an absurd amount of excess line to stow, when I first saw it I thought "you've got to be kidding me." If not for the deployment issues I'd give it a 4 or 5 out of 5 but between that and the annoyance of stowing a mile of brake line its a 3. Maybe this is great CReW canopy but that isn't my forte. If you're looking for a all around sport or wingsuit canopy there are better options out there; the Pulse and Pilot being two of them.

Why I got the storm...

I've got ~450 Jumps now. Before I got the storm, I did a bit more than 300 jumps on a Sabre2 170, which I think was the perfect entry-level canopy for me. I spent those 300 jumps doing a Flight1 canopy course and working actively on my canopy piloting skills. When I was able to safely and repeatedly execute precise, clean and smooth 90° frontriser-turns for landing I decided it was time for a new canopy, and I selected Crossfire2, Sabre2 and the Storm as possible candidates for my second canopy. The Crossfire would have been the most powerful choice, but given my low experience (~350 jumps at that time), I decided it would be better to get a more docile canopy that would be more forgiving if I ever fuck up a landing (Murphy says I will at one point). I already knew the Sabre2 (and sincerely loved it), but it would be nice to experience a new canopy, and since I do a lot of wingsuiting, I decided it would be a good idea to get a Storm 135 as a next canopy.

I load the canopy around 1:1.35 and have put a little more than 100 jumps on it.


Toggle turns:
Quick and responsive, with a very long range on inputs. You can fly them quick and responsive, and also slow and altitude saving. The brake setting seems quite deep, so when you unstow the brakes the canopy goes into a relatively deep dive, which you will get used to quickly.


Harness turns:
On the fist jumps I quickly noticed is that its a lot more responsive on harness input than I expected from a 7 cell, you can easily turn the canopy around with harness right after opening with your harness while the brakes are still stowed, which is great for wingsuiting. The counter part of this is of course that especially after downsizing, you might sometimes perform accidental 180° turns during inflation, I learned to control this after a couple of jumps though.


Openings
I found the openings to be generally nice, it's got a longish snivel, but the last inflation phase tended to be a little bit brisk, which I didn't like, because I'm jumping heavier cameras frequently. So I tried to find a solution in packing, and guess what, I found it. During the last 50 jumps I stopped flaking the canopy during packing. I only check the lines, give the canopy a decent shake and directly quarter the slider. I do not even touch the inside of the canopy in any way. This gave me a noticeably (!) softer second inflation phase during opening, and safes me a couple of minutes while packing, which is great!


Recovery-Arch
As I mentioned earlier, I'm very interested in learning the basics of high-performance-canopy control, as I simply like the learning process, and it's tons of fun! At the first landings I found it a lot harder to load the storm with power, than it was on the Sabre2. Although 2 sizes larger, I had much more power and longer swoops on the Sabre2 170 with 90° turns. This on one side seems to be due to not yet perfect technique and on the other side the much shorter recovery arch of the storm (7 cell - thicker profile). I managed to refine my technique a lot during the last 100 jumps on the storm, but the first jumps were very frustrating. I had to put down my setup a lot lower than I was used to from the Sabre2 (which I found scary). Since the last 100 jumps I got used to the quicker recovery, and while refining the technique I could put my setup back up to less scary heights, but still, the storm loses the power much quicker than the sabre2 (no real surprise, is it?).

This is a con if you wanna have long swoops, but then swooping is not the reason why you would get a Storm. On the pro side, the short recovery-arch makes me very comfortable landing in tight spots with that canopy, since I know I can get it to a stop very quickly and safely.

I'm flying a Storm 120 (loaded at 1.51) with my wingsuit and it's a perfect fit. Not only the openings are always soft (sometimes not perfectly on heading, but that can be from my crappy pack jobs), but any (rare!) line twists are always recoverable. And by always i mean it will keep flying straight until you get rid of them all the time. You can check an example here: https://vimeo.com/36719263

In 3 words: Greatest canopy ever.

I wasn't sure of getting a 7 cell at first but now I've had my Storm for just a few jumps and I can tell you for sure I love it.

The openings are always soft and on-heading even with a crappy pack job.

I found it is very responsive on the toggles and the glide distance is more than ok.

Also, it's easy to land, it has a nice flare and you can even swoop a little bit with it ;).
Hope it helps... I recommend it!

I've jump the Storm 150 for 160 jumps often with wingsuit and a wingload of 1,26. It's a really funny canopy. The openings are mostly soft and on heading. 

You can fly it easy and soft to the ground but when you wanted the Storm can fly really responsive.

He is  very maneuverable in deep brakes and flat turns are real flat with low descent. With applied brakes and input from rear risers the Storm can turn sharp and really aggressive. At landings he has a powerful flare, also you can make little swoops if you want. It was funny :)

I tested storms from 150 to 120 sqft (wl 1.25- 1.6) under several windconditions through the last season.
Finally I got me a 120 with CF kit over the winter and flew it when ever I didn´t go for swooping only.

Independent of the size it has an increddible speedrange. the lift on rear risers is verry strong, what comes in handy when docking from below.

I tried it heavily in any kind of landings from quite deep brakes for the accuracy zone as well as swooping it down the swoopingcourse in downwind. Loaded 1.3 and higher I was surprised by the dive and especially over 1.5 there is serious power on the rearrisers after a good turn.

openings were not alway perfect on heading but never a problem at all.

When buying it with CF-kit (600 Dacron lineset) remember that it will pack about one size bigger.

All in all it is the perfect allround canopy for me. If you are not dedicated to swooping it will offer more than you will probably use... top openings, wide speedrange, CRW- fun, good for wingsuit...

I just received my Storm 170 from PD and compared to a Spectre 170, the Storm is so much more fun to fly. Great flair in no wind condition with a wing load at about 1 to 1.14. I didn't experience what I read about in others forums, like having to counter steer to straighten back up and power more at the end of my flair. I was amazed by the lift I got during my landing with no wind. What a great ride the Storm gives. I can't wait to get back in the air. Blue Skies.

Demo'd a Storm 150 with a wing loading of ~1.5:1. Looking for a canopy I can use for wingsuit flying but still fit in my current container (home to a Velocity 103). 10 jumps, all my pack jobs were shi*; it was like trying to fold a trout into a sardine can to get it in the d-bag...ugly ugly! But my fear of openings were soon relaxed; I had quick, staged and on heading openings each time. Even had some fun landing; lot's of power in the end of the flare.

Have one on order that I'm trying to have made w/out the packing tabs...and I'm getting a larger d-bag!

After 51 jumps I finally bought my own gear. A Mirage G4 M6 with a Turbo Z205 main and a Swift 200 reserve. One jump on the Turbo Z and I knew I had to buy another main canopy. After alot of research for a soft opening canopy I decided to buy a Storm 210. The first jump went well. Front riser turns are responsive, rear riser turns are virtually effortless. Toggle turns are different in the fact that it take a little more togle input to start a turn. The brake lines seem long but resist the urge to shorten them. At a wing loading of 1.1 I could not stall the Storm with the toggles. Didn't try it with the rear risers yet. The landings are sweet. For me Storm is alot easier to land than the Sabre 2 210. I flared too high and the Storm let me down very gently. In my opinion the Storm is a very docile canopy with a little faster glith speed than a student canopy. I would recommend the Storm to anyone coming off of student status who wants a fun canopy to fly!!! One thing that I noticed was people telling me it was a CRW canopy but PD has a CF Storm that is geared more for CRW. The basic Storm is just right for me, a low time weekend fun jumper.

I enjoy the dependability of this canopy. I have two PD Storm 170's with over 500 jumps on each. I have never been smacked, or had a malfunction. In the past 600 jumps I have not even had line twists. Off heading and line twists seem extremely rare, not even 1% of my previous 400+ jumps. I find this canopy is easier to land than the Spectre 190 which I previously owned.

However in the words of a very experienced canopy pilot "everyone likes his ride" -- this is true. I have been married for 33 years and I guess I will continue to stay with the PD Storm, as it will suit my camera, wingsuit and Crew jumps - dependably and safely

I've had a Sabre 1, Sabre2, and Spectre. The Sabres were good, but sometimes smacked me on opening. I bought the Spectre for the soft openings, but I wasn't happy with the landings, especially the low wind/down wind ones. I just couldn't get it to level out during the flare so I could burn off speed.

The Storm gives me everything I want/need in a canopy. The openings are soft, AND CONSISTENT. Even with a late 90 onto a downwind final, I was able to stand it up without even having to run it out. Both toggle and rear riser turns are responsive.

If you get one, the brake lines may seem long. Resist the urge to shorten them until you've jumped it a number of times. They are long by design, and while they're much longer than anything I've jumped before, I feel no need to shorten them at all.

Based on about 5-8 jumps on a Storm 170. Previous experience about 200 jumps on a Sabre 1 - 190 and about 5-8 on a Sabre 2- 170. I tried both the Sabre 2 and the Storm the same week.

Conditions ranged from windy and turbulent to calm with no wind. My windloading was perfect as the storm cut through thermals and turbulence beautifully (the main reason I was downsizing).

Turns were very crisp with no hesitation, perhaps not as forgiving for a student but it really followed my input. Flat turns were, well, flat. I didn't try a full brake turn, half brake turns were very quick!

Front risers in general were tough to pull with lots of pressure in both level and turns. Not too difficult, just tough. Rear risers were sweet for slowing, flaring or turns.

Full speed straight and level flight semmed faster than the Sabre 2 and much steeper. Partial brakes leveled out the canopy and really offered comparable (Sabre 2) glide distance. A long spot would have you in partial brakes a long time but brake pressure was not unreasonable and glide was much shallower. Slow flight somewhere around half brakes was not mushy but maintained good cell pressure and felt fully controlled.

Openings were actually faster than I expected but without the shaking and sometimes whomping I get from the Sabre 1. Openings seemed to be on heading for both my packjobs and packs by the pros...No tendency for end-cell closure which I did see on the Sabre 2 (to be fair, it didn't affect the openings on the Sabre 2 anyways). What did affect openings was body position, any reasonable change in the harness as the canopy was inflating affected heading. I like this as you can actually steer the thing as it's opening.

Unstowing the brakes/collapsing the slider! What a suprise, reaching up for the toggles/collapse cords has to be done at the same time otherwise I was able to turn the canopy easily just by shifting body position. My Sabre 1 has a single cord to collapse the slider so I reach up with one hand while steering with both toggles in the other. Bad habit! On the Storm I had to collapse the slider with two hands then unstow the brakes. There is so much extra brake line stowed that the canopy really picks up speed as you release the brakes. I'd hate to inadvertently release one brake early! Not bad, just different.

Now for the amazing part. FLARE!!! I flared early, I flared late, I flared twice, I think I even forgot to flare until it was too late. I swear this canopy actually went upwards when I pulled my stoppin ropes! The steep approach took some getting used to but once you decide to brake, there is so much energy left in the canopy to flare, it does just that. Flare slowly from too high, it keeps flying. Flare hard from too low, it keeps flying. Flare too high, goof and let up, pull again lower, it keeps flying. Even on no wind landings and higher wingloading (for me) the Storm levels out beautifully during flare, holds for a second or two, and let me down gently (all but one time, but that was my fault, and the grass stains are coming out just fine thanks.)

My overall impression is that the Sabre 2-170 is a sweet stable canopy. The Storm-170 is a sports car that even I can handle! Last year my instructors suggested that I downsize to the Sabre 2. I don't think they had tried the Storm when they made that recommendation.

I was jumping a Sabre 1 and it was time to get a new canopy. After much research I went with the Storm. I only have approximately 10 jumps on my new Storm 190 and I could not be happier. It has a fantastic crisp opening, fun to fly and a predictable powerful flare. As always PD got it right. Not much more I can say because I don't have that many jumps on it yet, but I look forward to all of my future jumps with this canopy. Additional Feedback added 11/13/08 - I recently learned on my Storm 190 that it will get you back to the DZ from a bad spot. I started to look for an alternate landing point but decided to try to make it back. I made it back with 1000 ft of altitude to spare. This parachute really works as advertised.