I think the Sabre 2 is a great canopy made by Performance Designs. I have owned a 190, 170, 150 and 135 throughout my skydiving progression. Here is a breakdown of my experience with those wings, exit weight around 200lb.
Openings: Usually what the Sabre2 takes the most flak for, inconsistent headings on opening. Overall my experience is really good, most jumps are smooth and on heading, some have a small 90 turn and the random one a bit more. I would say the most consistent thing about this canopy opening is the closed-end cells. Anytime I had a 'bad' opening I would blame it on my body position or not coming out of the track enough, still totally acceptable openings though. Never had a line twist with this wing at any size.
Control Inputs: Risers are a great tool for controlling the canopy, I found all the pressures to be acceptable and I can maneuver the canopy easily without having to use toggles. Fronts are great to get that dive started before a landing and rears feel powerful, though I don't have much to compare too (Mainly a Crossfire 1). Flare is sensational, practice stalls up top and it seems like you can pull the toggles down forever before it stalls. When coming in to land I never have any problem using my toggles to convert all my forward speed to lift.
Harness: I have never really been impressed by the harness inputs on this wing. The crossfire I jumped for a while, was at less wingloading, but had way more control using the harness. I can definitely finish my 90 swoops with harness after some front riser input but I really have to lean to get some output.
Overall, it's a great wing to learn on. I have about 600 jumps across different square footages and wingloadings and have loved every second under this canopy. I would call this wing the jack of all trades and master of none, there is a probably a canopy that does a specific thing better than this one but this is one where you could flare out your big WS, chuck your PC, then ride down and do a 270 and drag pond
Sabre2
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in Main Canopies
I think the Sabre 2 is a great canopy made by Performance Designs. I have owned a 190, 170, 150 and 135 throughout my skydiving progression. Here is a breakdown of my experience with those wings, exit weight around 200lb.
Openings: Usually what the Sabre2 takes the most flak for, inconsistent headings on opening. Overall my experience is really good, most jumps are smooth and on heading, some have a small 90 turn and the random one a bit more. I would say the most consistent thing about this canopy opening is the closed-end cells. Anytime I had a 'bad' opening I would blame it on my body position or not coming out of the track enough, still totally acceptable openings though. Never had a line twist with this wing at any size.
Control Inputs: Risers are a great tool for controlling the canopy, I found all the pressures to be acceptable and I can maneuver the canopy easily without having to use toggles. Fronts are great to get that dive started before a landing and rears feel powerful, though I don't have much to compare too (Mainly a Crossfire 1). Flare is sensational, practice stalls up top and it seems like you can pull the toggles down forever before it stalls. When coming in to land I never have any problem using my toggles to convert all my forward speed to lift.
Harness: I have never really been impressed by the harness inputs on this wing. The crossfire I jumped for a while, was at less wingloading, but had way more control using the harness. I can definitely finish my 90 swoops with harness after some front riser input but I really have to lean to get some output.
Overall, it's a great wing to learn on. I have about 600 jumps across different square footages and wingloadings and have loved every second under this canopy. I would call this wing the jack of all trades and master of none, there is a probably a canopy that does a specific thing better than this one but this is one where you could flare out your big WS, chuck your PC, then ride down and do a 270 and drag pond