wardhessig

No, we're not taking it as a personal attack, we just know how the forums work and its best to stop the ridiculous stuff before it spreads. About the sponsored jumpers, thats a tricky area as they are leaving another manufacturer that they have been with for quite some time so I can't really let the cat out of the bag just yet. I can tell you some that have definately joined our team, one is Amy Chmelecki formerly of the Sugar Gliderz team who now works for the Arizona Training Center alongside Dusty Smith and T.J. Landgren, Another two I can let out for sure are Brooke Schultz, and Kate Hoffstetter, 2/3 of the team Sugar Gliderz 2.0 led by Melissa Nelson. Melissa is still with Sunpath, but I am trying to woo her, keep your fingers crossed. Another is Kaz Sheekey the top female swooper in the world. (notice all the hot girls, theres a reason) The others I just can't elaborate on right now. As for the new stuff, still a little top secret but no need to hold off on ordering cause its a bit down the road. Its not a complete overhaul like from g4 to g5 but just some real good stuff. Swoopers will love it. I've probably said too much so I'll stop there but keep your eyes peeled.

I think I have enjoyed reading these posts more than any others on dropzone.com I agree with everyone on here. It is not saying that a rigger is not worth his or her salt because he can't make the rig look as good as the factory. We are very good at packing our containers here, and yes......we should be. I also love the quote "rigger, you better know your shit quote" because it is very true. Tempo's tend to have a mystery bulk thing with them, some of them pack nice and big and some of them pack undersized, its a crap shoot. The size tempo you have in your m4 is larger then what we recommend for you container. But I think the real question you are asking here is does the new pilot chute work or help? Yes, it does help quite a bit. It makes a rigger who doesnt know all the little tweaks and tips, look like they do. If you don't want to buy a new container, reserve, or rigger. Throw down the 100 bucks and call it a day. By the way Pendejo, thanks for the shout out............and if I recall, didnt you use that reserve that I packed up??? Now where did I put that bottle that you sent me???? wait a minute..................

Dropzone.com is such an amazing place to spread a wealth of good knowledge, but it is also a great place to spread worthless gossip. Normally I read and laugh at most of them but I don't want this one to grow. No, Mirage Systems has not and is not filing for bankruptcy. The company is at its strongest point, look for some great new innovations that you're going to love coming very soon, and wait until you hear what big names have recently joined our team of sponsored jumpers.

God bless you Bonnie, I knew I liked you so much for a reason

I just thought I would put my two cents in on the issue. As posted above, stainless is more than just bling bling, read the posts and that should explain most of that. About the difference in ringed harnesses. I have lots of jumps in all different rigs with and without ringed harnesses as I used to do quite a bit of gear sales and the difference really is quite substantial. But probably the biggest place you'll really notice it........and it was only touched on in this thread is hanging in the harness. The way your weight is distributed throughout the harness and if the harness is basically running as straight as possible with your main lift webs not binding makes quite a bit of difference if you will just think about noticing once you're under canopy. Chest rings allow your main lift web to pivot at that junction and still run straight to your hip ring junction without binding or twisting. If your harness binds or twists your body will feel it. Kind of like if your seat belt is twisted even a little you really feel it digging into your body, and especially if you lean against it. thats about the best analogy I can come up with. I dare not advertise on dz.com but our unisyn system adds another element and if anyone is interested you can contact me at the office. But one of the biggest things we like to do to show the effectiveness of the articulated harness is to hang the person in their non articulated harness from a hanging stand, then we put them in the articulated harness and let them feel the difference, if you get the chance do that without all the outside inputs of being under canopy distracting you from noticing the feel, it is quite a difference. So in my opinion, articulation is worth it by far.

Your rig isnt too far from being done, your baby will be back to you soon. It should fit like a glove.

No problem, our pleasure, let me know if we can do anything else for you anytime. ward

We can get you a new pilot chute out tomorrow overnighted if you like. We have had a high demand on them but we are caught up and can do so if you wish. Call me at the office and we'll get you taken care of if you aren't already. thanks ward

Well if you want to look at it that way I guess even speaking the words Mirage would be promotion coming from me since I am a manufacturer representative. I think promotion would be more like describing the selling points of our rig, announcing specials, or anything along those lines. If you'll look through every post I've ever made, you won't find that. It is just a signature line of my beliefs about our product. Dropzone.com is a great tool to reach the skydiving masses and I am using it to provide customer service, if that isn't allowed then I am definately guilty.

I don't think it is even close to advertising, I havent promoted our product once, I've been trying to provide customer service via the great tool that is dropzone.com

No problem, I just thought I would let you know because he is busier than a three legged cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond (thanks JT for that one). Anyway, it is mostly technical interpretation junk but he has gotten some answers for you already and I think you'll be happy with the answers but he'll have to explain all the details. ward

How could I forget?

Derek, Just a note for you. Jeff the maker of the Mirage is working on your request for info. But there is one thing about Jeff, he is EXTREMELY thorough. He definately isn't blowing you off but he has been working with the FAA to give you a completely researched and proper answer on this situation. He's busy as hell around here and basically runs the show so give him some time but he is working on it for you and will give you more details on the subject then you thought existed.

Hey thanks guys, It makes me feel good to hear that. Whats weird is that I feel like I know you all like we have been jumping together forever, Matt Petito and the which way embroidery, Linc and all of our nice long talks about the tie dye, and F16 driver, hell yeah, how are you doing? Man jump starting that cessna sure didn't make us look very good did it. I remember how bad you sucked at trivia but thats ok. We are trying to do our best to make everyone happy but as you can imagine, skydivers are the hardest group in the world to make happy, its just our personalities. And Hi Bill, nice to hear from you as you can imagine I hear your name quite often from people that say.......when Bill was there or I dealt with Bill, I'm sure you can empathise with my position at the moment. Is there ever a time when everyone was happy? Anyways, thanks for the good notes fellas, and for everyone else......We'll do all we can for you, we really do care about each of you and your happiness with our product and service even if it doesnt seem so at times. stop getting that pretty rig dirty Linc.

Just as Derek said. It's not defective materials, the materials are perfectly good that can wear or be subject to damage over time. If your bright red cordura fades over time in the sun or your type 17 risers stretch and lose strength after many jumps, they are not defective. They are just subject to wear and damage....know what I mean? I tell this to all my customers who want standard hardware.

Well I certainly don't have the expertise that Bill Booth does but here is another angle. I don't think that stainless hardware are affected by the hand oils on the hardware so in my opinion feel free to spin the hell out of them. But....I have seen regular hardware risers come in with the hardware plating chipping and chipped off. There have even been a few cases of riggers grounding them because the chipping was so bad. The customer wanted us to replace them as a defect but unfortunately that is a characteristice of cadium plating, they don't last forever, they can chip. Another reason to spin them could be to feel that they are rotating smoothly and there are no chips, but a look at them will reveal that as well. But if you are rotating them to reveal the chips you are putting hand oils on them.....so you're screwed either way.... The moral of the story is......buy a new Mirage with stainless hardware and spend the time that you would have spent in the plane spinning hardware trying to get the cutie across from you to get extra altitude.

Just thought I would chime in. Most people rotate their rings to know and feel that they are still circular. In the past there have been cases of hard openings bending the rings to an oval or off circle shape which would make a cutaway harder or prevent it worst case. When you spin them you would feel that they are oblong. And as far as undoing your risers and massaging the memory out of them, its a good idea. Makes for cleaner cutaways. Another reason for spinning the rings is to know that they are not attached to each other, and what I mean by that is they are not rusted together. Believe it or not I have seen a set of main risers with regular hardware where the rings had rusted together after humidity or water had soaked the rings and they had sat unjumped for some time.

Sorry all, It has been crazy busy but I have been working on all of your issues. John, I have spoken with you, send it in and we'll get it taken care of. Pwert, give me a call here at the office and let's get it taken care of. 386-740-9222. Supergeil, I don't recognize your user name, I don't know which question I answered or what you are sending to your rigger, refresh my memory and let me know if you need anything from me. Kris, any chance you can be without your rig for a bit? I would love to get the rig in here and do the measurements on it as far as pack volumes. Tempo's have a mystery pack volume and vary greatly so that may be a bit of the problem. Other than that if the container varies greatly from what it is supposed to be along the lines of cubic inch main and reserve containers we will take care of it. Let me know. Feel free to call me and let's talk about it. We will get it taken care of. Anyone can give me a ring at anytime, sometimes it takes a bit to get on here or to check emails just due to sheer volume but I always have an ear open. You will all end up happy or I won't sleep.

Sorry I didn't reply last night it was getting late and I had to hit the rack. I will bring up this issue Monday when I get in the office. You paid good money for your rig and we want you to get your hard earned dollars worth. The service has improved greatly and this isn't the end of this issue. Can you give me the serial number on your rig?

Well there is no excuse for poor service but the threads you posted were when an entirely different crew was in charge. Since that time we have made a very concentrated effort to improve our service. What size rig did you order and how did you come upon that sizing? Did you speak to anyone at the factory? As for the legpads, you have 90 days from the day of purchase to return the rig to be corrected of errors made by the factory with sizing free of charge. Did you contact us with the problem? What was messed up on the embroidery? No one is perfect but we are trying to improve upon our deficiencies and do the best we can to make our customers happy. We want you to be happy with the product and the service so let me know what we can do to fix the issue.

I don't think anything should be kept secret so i don't mind airing it out on here. Can you elaborate on how the rig wasn't made the way you wanted and how you got poor service, maybe there is something I can do to fix it.

might I ask, why will you laugh so gleefully? Are you unhappy with your mirage?

Come on Mirage fans!!!! You're not going to let this thread end with some yahoo saying to go with an Odyssey are you? I am a little biased and can't really respond to that one. Help me out here!

Ahhh, You're a man after my own heart, chicks come and go, but a sweet G4.................eternal.

I replied to this request per email that I just received but I will reply to it here as well. We get around 1200 emails per day and unfortunately sometimes the spam blocker takes some of them that aren't meant to be deleted. This is the first that I have heard from this customer. Also, if the spam blocker doesnt delete them, just from the sheer volume of inquiries it somtimes takes a day or two to get them all replied to but they will all be answered as soon as possible. As the other posts on here point to, any Mirage rig can look just as good after the mod as it did before if packed right. It is all about bulk management. I personally have packed around 200 or so after the mod and they all look fine g3's and g4's. And in several cases as customer service to prove the case I have taken customers rigs in and done the pack job for free just to prove that it is totally possible if packed correctly. I will be more than happy to talk to any riggers who are struggling with it to teach them the simple tricks to mastering it. They can also go to one of our service centers websites to get pointers as well. It is www.chutingstar.com We put the mod out to make our rigs safer from information that we acquired from the constant evolution of our sport, not to be a pain in the butts or make our customers unhappy. But just for a little teaser, we are developing some rigger friendly stuff that will alleviate the problem entirely with no extra packing techniques needed whatsoever. I can't say too much but it will be released very soon. Go to our website and sign up for the newsletter on the first page to be the first to get the information on it as soon as it is released and for great information about our product and all sorts of great stuff. Rest assured that we always have our customers in mind with everything that we do and we will do everything in our power to address any issues that a Mirage owner may have. We are skydivers first, and we still care about our family.