RPrice375

Big thanks to everyone, even Goonieskid. lol. I know you're looking out. All great info and input. You guys definitely helped me get pointed in the right direction. Thanks again!

Maybe a few hundred jumps, maybe a thousand, maybe never. Every jumper is different. You might not ever have the skills to safely fly a 1.4 wingloading, or you could have those skills within a few hundred jumps. You might decide you are happy with something in the 150-170 range for the rest of your skydiving career. There is no rule that says you have to downsize. Thanks! I was under the impression this was the norm. I'll worry about my first rig and safely flying it for now. Thanks again.

Welcome to the forums AND to skydiving. You'll quickly learn on here, just like any other forums, that there are certain individuals who rarely give any useful advice and just want to talk shit when they have nothing of value to add to the conversation. It's how they feel good about themselves for some reason. The best you can do with those individuals is to ignor them and focus on the responses that offer valuable info. You've already gotten some good responses and there will probably be more to follow. Some of the people on here that will offer you good advice, based on years of experience and an interest in your safety and long life in the sport are: Popsjumper DSE Davelepka Skymama Billvon Airtwardo NWFlyer And many others. Spend some time reading through older threads and you'll begin to see which people are offering good advice based on REAL experience. A word of warning though. If you ask a question, don't expect any of these folks to give you the answer you want to hear. They are gonna shoot straight with you. If you ask a question that you should know better than asking, i.e. "is it ok to fly a camera at 50 jumps?", or "I have 75 jumps and am ready to start swooping, any guidance?" Stand by, you're probably not gonna like some of the responses you get. If you ask good honest questions that show you are truly trying to learn and improve your knowledge, these folks will offer you a wealth of information. Don't try to go too fast as far as downsizing goes. Thoroughly learn the canopy you start with. Take a canopy course such as those from Flight-1 or Brian Germain. My advice, with my vast experience of about 80 jumps, would be to look for used gear with a main somewhere in the 190 Sq ft size. Also the model of canopy is important. As a starting point, you might consider going to Performance Designs website and reading the descriptions of the different models of canopies to get an idea what model canopy might be a good starting point. http://www.performancedesigns.com/products.asp Used gear can be a really great way to get started, but be cautious before parting with your money. Have the gear sent to your rigger for independent inspection before you pay for it. Once you've sent your money, you may have little or no recourse if the rig doesn't fit or isn't everything it was described to be. Read other post on here regarding purchase of used gear and you will find a lot of valuable advice and some horror stories of people that didn't exercise due diligence and got burned. I bought a used rig off of the classifieds here on dropzone.com and went through the process of having it sent to my dz to be inspected. Everything was exactly as advertised and I got a great rig with exactly the kind and size of canopy I was wanting. I paid the seller once I got the ok from my rigger and have been very happy with my purchase. The money saved buying used instead of new has allowed me to make more jumps and pay for a couple of canopy courses, furthering my education in skydiving. Blue Skies Thanks for taking the time on the reply. All great info! With everything I have got so far it looks like Ill be searching the classifieds for a used 190. I'll continue to do my homework, I still have time. I just wanted to start to get an idea. Thanks again!

Something to think about. If you buy a new rig for somewhere in the $4500 range (which is a pretty reasonable budget for a decent used rig that will likely have good resale value) you'll be able to get the majority of that value out of the rig when/if you sell it. That won't be the case with a new rig. You can also pull the AAD out and put it in your next rig if you decide to downsize. You might decide not to downsize your reserve (because bigger reserves are a nice thing - few people look up at their reserve and say "wish that sucker was smaller!") so you might be able to use that in the next rig as well. Meanwhile you've got an extra $2K that you can use for a well-fitting custom jumpsuit (a really nice tool to have in your toolkit), skydives, coaching, or canopy courses, or all the other things that will make you a better and safer skydiver. Think of new gear like new cars - the guy that drives it off the lot takes the biggest hit in depreciation. (Just to give you two examples from my own experience. First canopy, a Spectre: purchased with 400 jumps and a brand new lineset for $850. Put 200 jumps on it and sold it two years later for $800. Second canopy, a Pilot: purchased with 200 jumps for $900. Put 300 jumps on it, put a new $300 lineset on it right before I sold it, and sold it for $1150 3 years later.) You make a great point. Thanks!

Perfect!! Thanks for the info. Exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks! I'm definitely using my instructor as well but this forum is full of experience so I figured I'd use it.

Thanks for the sarcasm! What wing load should I be looking at then? Again, NEW HERE!! That's why I'm trying to use this site. Thought some of you experienced guys could give me some QUALITY info as well as my instructor. I was also looking at used rigs and they look to be around $4500 for anything decent. If I could get a new one for $6500 and use a couple different canopies in it that would get me a few years of use I would be ok to spend more. That's all I am asking here. Thanks in advance for any help.

Hey guys, I am finishing up my A license and will be looking to buy a rig. My question is what size can I expect to be using once I have my A license and how many jumps will I get out of it before its time to drop down a size. I am 6'1" and 170 lbs and I am assuming I will be looking for a 170 sqft main. I was looking at used rigs but I'm also not ruling out a new one as long as I can get some use out of it. I talked to someone from Aerodyne and they said I can fit a zpx 168 canopy in their ICON I4 container and go all the way down to a zp 132 before I need a smaller one. That's all well and good, but I have no idea what kind of experience level I need to be using a 132 at 170 lbs. If it's a matter of 300 jumps or a few years then I can see spending the money but if its less I'll have to start looking used. Any input would be great as far as a time frame and number of jumps I would need to safely be under a 132 at 170 lbs. Thanks!!

Hello from NY. I'm in the AFF program now working on my solo's. I have ten solo's and my coach jumps left to do. I hope to be licensed by the end of next month.