q1w2e3_89

I have owned both a WinX 150 LPV and an Epicene 150. The WinX is better in every conceivable way. There's almost no difference in performance between the LPV and standard ZP versions.

If you can keep your head still and/or have IS, 1/800 is quite doable. However, I prefer to be on the safe side with 1/1000 and bump ISO up on darker sunset jumps. Of course, it depends on the type of jump as well... The less "dynamic", the slower you can go with shutter speed.

My M2 does not turn off after every jump. I suspect something is wrong with your unit. As with most AAD's, they shut off automatically after a period of inactivity (24 hours, I believe?).

Let's think about that for a second... If you fall low on a 40-way, do you expect the other 39 jumpers to slide out of the way? What if 10 people go low? Does it become a game of dodgeball above? It's the responsibility of the jumper going low to act accordingly and avoid compromising the safety of those above. Always.

I am all for RSL and tend to use that argument myself, but the statistics are quite incomplete. We have a decent idea of the probability of RSL causing malfunctions with the reserve, but we do not have definitive statistics on 1) non-RSL malfunctions that would have been avoided with an RSL, and 2) RSL malfunctions that would have been avoided without an RSL. All we can do is speculate. In this instance, a RSL would most likely have given the jumper more altitude, but it is not certain whether he would have ended up facing a whole set of different malfunctions.

I've got a Tonfly 2.5x. If you don't want to go the mirrorless route (if you do, Sony's NEX-series, a6000 and a6300 are excellent), I'd suggest a Nikon D5300 with 18-55mm lens. This setup served me well before I moved on to a D7200 and D750 with more expensive lenses.

I started wingsuiting with a Storm. Terrible for long spots and had awkward openings occasionally. The canopy had a tendency to do steep diving turns even when it opened square and on heading. Line twists, which happens every 10 jumps or so, can get quite unpleasant if the canopy exhibits such behavior. Despite packing in various ways, I couldn't get rid of a randomly occuring snap at the end of the snivel. This was a major neck problem for camera flying. Then I bought an Epicene. Improved openings (and less altitude loss too), better glide, but the flare was noticeably worse. I think anyone denying the weak flare really needs to try other 7-cell canopies of the same size. The responsiveness of the canopy goes downhill after ~400 jumps. Note that this canopy is definitely not suitable if your landing area is abrasive or snaggy. The fabric rips easily if you get careless. On the other hand, packing is a breeze! Now I own 2 WinX's and have never been happier. I had one line twist since I bought my first WinX in March (that's ONE 360 degree line twist in over 200 jumps) and 90% of openings are on perfect heading. I've become so confident that I will not hesitate to pitch in a diving turn or while coming out of a barrel roll even with full camera gear. Excellent glide, soft openings, decent swoops and packs a tad smaller than other ZP 7-cell canopies. My WinX's are loaded at 1.37 and 1.54. Full disclosure: I am a dealer for Atair and Squirrel