I've probably put about 600 jumps on my Crossfire 2 129. When the Crossfire 3 came out, I ordered a 109 size (wing loading about 1.7)
The flare is about the same as a Crossfire 2, that is to say, quite strong.
Straight off, I noticed the openings were faster. They weren't painful or even uncomfortable, just quicker than you'd get with the Crossfire 2s. The Crossfire 2s had beautifully slow openings, though it burned up a lot of altitude. My guess is the feedback is that they wanted something that opened a bit quicker, and that's what the 3 is. It's still a well staged opening.
Another change from the 2 is the trim. I didn't notice it at first as I was super conservative in my flying (most of my patterns were done on rear risers for the first dozen or so jumps) as I had changed my wing loading a bit more than I wanted to.
But as I got more comfortable with the 3, I noticed my turns bled off more altitude. It has a longer recovery arc than the 2 does, and the even if doing conservative turns you'll need to start your pattern higher than you would with a 2.
The jump in wing loading can account for some of this, but generally people have also said they're trimmed steeper and the recovery arc longer.
Crossfire 3
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in Main Canopies
The flare is about the same as a Crossfire 2, that is to say, quite strong.
Straight off, I noticed the openings were faster. They weren't painful or even uncomfortable, just quicker than you'd get with the Crossfire 2s. The Crossfire 2s had beautifully slow openings, though it burned up a lot of altitude. My guess is the feedback is that they wanted something that opened a bit quicker, and that's what the 3 is. It's still a well staged opening.
Another change from the 2 is the trim. I didn't notice it at first as I was super conservative in my flying (most of my patterns were done on rear risers for the first dozen or so jumps) as I had changed my wing loading a bit more than I wanted to.
But as I got more comfortable with the 3, I noticed my turns bled off more altitude. It has a longer recovery arc than the 2 does, and the even if doing conservative turns you'll need to start your pattern higher than you would with a 2.
The jump in wing loading can account for some of this, but generally people have also said they're trimmed steeper and the recovery arc longer.