gmac324

The HC7 has a new opticial image stabiliser, might not work in freefall?! I guess someone will just have to buy one to find out. The HC5 has a very similar spec to the HC3, the HC7 is a higher spec camera altogether. I wish I could afford either right now!

The build quality is bound to be good, I am very impressed with my azimuth camera helmet. It's really up to you to decide if you can cope with looking like an android?

I found this on cisma's web site, looks very much like a picture of a neos to me http://www.cimsa.com/engineering_eras.aspx

The best risers you can buy are the ones that you like best Seems kinda silly but in terms of function all risers are almost identical, it's just a bit of webbing to connect your lines to your harness. The things that make them different are: The length, 20"-24" is the kinda normal range. The Toggles, easy grip, line stowing etc. The front riser appendages, blocks, loops easy grip loops etc. I decided a couple of months ago that there was nothing on the market that actually did exactly what I wanted so I ordered some custom risers from point zero in the UK. 24" with no fancy toggles and a clean set of dive blocks on the front risers. And to top it off they were only £90 including shipping, took abut 3 weeks. Sunpath is ~£120 all in and takes almost 2 months to deliver custom risers. Most manufacturers are similar. I would definitely have a look at custom risers, give point zero a call and see what they'll do for you. Graeme

Maybe you line stows are just a little small. 1 inch seems awfull short. I could see how that might shift about a little when you close the container.

I have a TJN witha PD126 reserve and a crossfire 109 in it. I have paked a sabre2 135 in there too with no problems. A pd143 reserve must be pretty tight in that? Graeme

It totally depends on how much cash you've got to spend. Most of the cameras you listed are discontinued new. You can pick up a new PC 1000 for under £600 from ebuyer.com An hc 19 is also a good choice only £228 from dixons or amazon. I'd personally go new if you can, saves any hassle with unreliable cameras out of warranty. Graeme

decisions, decisions, decisions.... I've basically looked at firefly, flitesuit and tony. I have no idea which one to choose! Gary, what are the cuffs on the legs and arms like on the tony 2 piece you have? Graeme

I'm in the market for a new camera suit, currently got a merlin freefly camera suit# and do a lot of front and sit flying in it. I'm really not sure what to get, but it won't be a merlin because the suit's beginning to fall apart after only 200 jumps. I'm kinda thinking of a tony suit with freefly bloused arms and legs, any other ideas? How do the wings attach at the bottom on a tony suit with c wings? I'd quite like something with rsl shackles and no velcro! Graeme

No it's not on the list :-) The actual recommended wingloading is up to 2.1. I find it actually flies very well at 2 and could be loaded much heavier. I have a sabre2 120 as well and have loaded that up to 1.94 with excellent results, still plenty of stopping power left. I guess it really depends on the design. Graeme

I actually just got new brake lines on my crossfire, a very good alternative to vectran is 550lb Dacron. It works very well for the lower brake lines and it wears much better than vectran. The breaking strain of the original brake lines is 1000lbs I think, but since the lower control lines aren't loaded on opening it doesn't really matter that it's less. Cost me £10 for a new set. Graeme

I did my first couple of jumps on an original crossfire 109 @ 2.0 at the weekend and noticed than when I was flying on rears from deep spot the tail of the canopy seemed to flutter a little. It didn't really concern me, the canopy felt pretty solid except that. Is this completely normal for a crossfire? The rears seem very light compared to my sabre2 and stiletto. The crossfire is 5 years old but only has 150 jumps on it because the owner stopped jumping 4 years ago. Was never on the service bulletin list. Any input is appreciated, Cheers, Graeme :-) (edited to add it was an original crossfire)

I got a 0.3x just last week, seems very well made and they are very good with prompt shipping and easy to contact. He even threw in a couple of pairs of free goggles. Graeme

I currently jump a sabre2 120 loaded at 1.93 ish. I think it flies very well at that wing loading, I previously had a 135 loaded from about 1.6 to 1.7. It has a nice long dive for swooping, but equally will completely shut down on a nil wind day with a straight in approach. It did take a bit of getting used to the flare though! I have jumped a spectre 120 at 1.9 as well, I would have to say it took a bit of effort to get a nice soft landing out of that, and I'm not sure I have the skill to land it safely on a nil wind day.

Going to be going out to skydive arizona next week (15th November) for about 2 weeks. Was looking at possibly staying in the bunkhouse. Anyone stayed there recently, what's it like? Cheers, Graeme