Triathlon

I've had my Tri 190 for about 2 months and 25 jumps now , it's my first canopy post-AFF graduation (I rented student gear previously) . I may not have experience , lots of jumps or multiple years of USPA membership but I can tell this is a damnned good canopy:-

1: I've had no hard openings (That's right , none) despite it being the canopy I learned to pack with. In fact the only iffy openings have been line twists due to my own stupidity and they are so easy to kick out of on this canopy it's unreal.

2: I've not found it hard to transition to at all , even though I'm 200lbs and a total rookie and the smallest thing I'd jumped before was about a 230sq/ft PD (I think)

3: It's EASY to land , fly it like a plane - taper off the glide angle as you come in and then just put your feet down when you run out of glide. Even with no wind it's just a case of a brisk trot to lose your forward speed or get your feet down early and slide if it's a flat/smoothish DZ . Obviously it's a bit more sensitive to relative toggle position at flare time than an old F-111 so keep it symmetrical and all's well.

4: It's simple to pack. Even I can do it.

5: Turn recovery is mega fast , a bit of opposite toggle and you're right back under it.

6: As someone else mentioned , you can sink in under brakes REALLY easily and take lots off your approach without sacrificing flare to any appreciable level.

7: Aerodyne research are incredibly helpful and great to deal with.

In short - I can't find anything wrong with the thing. Perhaps one day I'll want more speed , but when that happens I'll probably just buy the next size down.

I love my Tri... I had been jumping a Monarch 175, and after having the beating of my life, repeatedly, I decided it was time for a change of canopy. I demo'd a Tri 160 and thought "Wow, what a fun ride, but I want a little more, so I ordered a Tri 150. It opens soft and on heading. It is quick and responsive in turns and feels stable even in hard deep turns. It handles turb very well and does not seem to throw or buck much. Landings are great and I can get a fairly good surf out of it. Even with a wing loading of just over 1.4 it handles great. The ZP material is different than most. It does not have that slippery and crinkly feel. It is much softer and smoother. My first pack went into the bag smoothly and easily, not like most greased pig chases I have seen on new ZP. Overall it is all I could have wanted in a canopy. Blue Skies. Shawn

1st Chute I've owned. I weigh 195 pounds and I could not get the 190 to fit in my container so I tried a 175. It was fast for my experience level, but I still felt safe with it. It opens softer than any other chute I have jumped. It turns fast and I can ride it in brakes and shorten my landing approach if need be. This chute is very nice for a first chute and yet challenging (for a beginner 100 jumps or less) if you load it a little (1.3). I really like it. That's just my 2 cents, but I've probably jumped 10 different chutes in 56 jumps and 20 of those jumps were on the triathlon.

I recently purchased a Triathlon 175, and am very impressed. I had jumped several Tri's in the past and really liked them. I could tell they definetly had an advantage over other canopies I had jumped( Sabre, Monarch, Pd's). The openings are so soft I have to double check to make sure it is actually opening, and I am not a little guy under a big canopy. Probably the number one selling factor is the packing properties of this canopy. I have spent many days doing nothing but packing, and I would always enjoy packing the triathlons and diablos because they were a relief from the hassle of other rigs.

The Triathalon is a very versatile canopy that I highly recommend. They're very good for novices, and very forgiving. They're exceptionally stable in turbulence - part of the benefits of being 7-celled. At light wing-loadings you can do a full flare, or a light turf-surf, but the Tri still lands great at higher wing-loadings. The only thing that made me stop jumping my Tri 99 was that I got a Diablo 88. I used to jump all the various ellipticals, but I got sick of worrying every opening about line twists and malfunctions and all the nasty stuff that can go wrong . I bought a Tri, and now a Diablo as well and never looked back. Openings are pleasant now instead of worrisome. And the Aerodyne ZP fabric is so much easier to pack than the slick stuff I would hate to go back.

I am no expert, but thought my experience transitioning to the Triathlon 190 after only 5 square jumps might be useful to other novices. I weigh about 195. I jumped rounds from 68 to 79, 99% under surplus canopies with only a couple of Paracommander (PC) jumps. I got the bug again a few months ago and made several AFF jumps with rented gear at Skydive Santa Rosa CA, a well run and very friendly DZ about 50 miles North of San Francisco.

I jumped a giant PD 340 three times (getting very helpful radioed landing instructions which calmly explained what to do and why)and then a Fury 220 twice. Both the PD and Fury were F 111 canopies I believe. I had no trouble with canopy control or landings under either of these gentle giants and doubt that anyone paying attention would. The Fury flew a bit faster than the larger PD, and I actually liked the Fury a lot, very stable, predictable and reasonably responsive. I then bought a Tri 190 and jumped it next. It opened slow and soft the first time and every time since. The higher flying speed was a little intimidating at first, but I figured I was going considerably slower than the tiny postage stamp canopies being flown around me and therefore I should not panic. I opened high and spent a long time experimenting with different control inputs and canopy responses.

The Tri turned MUCH faster than any of the prior canopies and I found to my chagrin that it could actually wrap up the lines in a turn if the turn was started abruptly and the canopy was turning too fast for my body to catch up. I stopped the turn and kicked out the twists vowing to be careful not to repeat this. I practiced flaring many times on the way down. The Triathlon flare seemed to generate much more lift much more quickly than the F 111 canopies I had flown. I knew I would be able to start my flare very low and still be fine. Eventually even a high opening gets down to the dirt and I again was a bit apprehensive as the forward speed became more apparent close to the ground. I landed in gusty winds and found that the Tri was MUCH more responsive than the big F111s were to my tiny steering corrections to keep me headed directly upwind. I thought, "you know, this canopy might actually be easier to land than the others" because it felt much more like an airplane than a blimp.

I could make it do what I wanted RIGHT NOW, not a second or two from now. I waited until about 5 feet up and began a gentle progressive flare being careful not to move my arms or body in a way that would induce an unintentional turn. I was rewarded with a nice standup that was actually softer than my F111 landings. I have jumped the Tri since then for a couple of months and have had consistently great openings, flights and landings, no exceptions. I am sure I will get my butt kicked on some landing sometime, but the Tri is pretty forgiving. I found myself flaring high once and just slowly raised the toggles and then brought them down again when I was about 15 feet closer to the ground. This novice's error was forgiven by the Tri which flared beautifully the second time and let me have a completely undeserved gentle standup. I am a very low time square canopy pilot and have plenty to learn, but thought that many like myself, who have been told that they must do a lot of jumps on big F111s before jumping a moderately loaded ZP, might find my experience useful. I think the Tri is EASIER, much easier, to fly and land than the big F111s I tried earler.

The quicker response to control inputs and greater lift generated with the Tri's flare made approaches and landings simpler for me. It is very comforting to know that you can stop that high descent rate RIGHT NOW with a smooth flare. The big canopies seemed like ponderous jellyfish by comparison to the Tri, although even the big F 111s seemed like an absolute dream come true after jumping surplus rounds for years and often backing up at 10 knots in a 15 knot afternoon wind. I thought it could never get any better than a Paracommander and MAN WAS I WRONG!!!! You jumpers who have never jumped a round, especially a 28 foot high porosity surplus round, don't know just how good you have it now.