sup homies I've seen a few people asking some questions about the newish aerodyne container, wondering if it's any good. A few months back I went for a new container for a bunch of reasons (notably price and skyhook availability) hoping for the best. I'd like to list a bunch of things about the container to help people who are tossing up between this container and others. (FYI this is my second container, I've about 350 jumps, mostly freeflying [im a tunnel flyer predominantly]) Firstly I'd like to say this was manufactured in South Africa, not the US. There may be differences in the manufacturing between the two sites, I don't know. The container I got was an i5, with full options including magnetic risers, skyhooks, padding, soft reserve handle, etc. etc. The good: Seems solidly built, materials all super firm and shiny (new after all) magnetic risers seem super firm (I had doubts about them but decided to leave them on) soft handles chunky, feel good in hands It is sexy as all hell, feels really good. Seems to be hard wearing as well though that only time will tell. Like I said the magnetic risers shut tight. I had a friend telling me he didnt like them and that they came loose a bunch of times in freefall though that may have been because he removed the magnets and placed them in the wrong way around. My experience has been good so far - no problems in steep angles, head up head down blablabla The bad flying on my back, the rig seems to lift off a tiny bit. this is a custom rig so I expect a better fit. It's not a huge deal, and i don't feel it when I'm head up, but still. some parts seemed a tiny bit unfinished - the hook knife pocket has a bit of fabric on the inside that is held in place by the tack. its not important and does NOTHING, but its frayed, and it came frayed, too. this has no functional bearing, but on a brand new rig? come on... more importantly, the loops used to stow excess break lines have these sharp edges to them that pick at the break lines and like to unfray them... really? there are two on each riser so I double them up through the ones without these sharp bits but it does seem to be a bad idea in general.... finally, and probably most importantly, I've had like 5 toggle fires in 25 jumps. I've had a couple of packers, a packer A (aussie speak for can pack reserves), and a rigger look over how I stow my breaks, and its all checked out. I guess the toggle pins must be a bit too "free" and can wiggle out. What has been annoying me most is that I've emailed aerodyne about these things (twice, actually) and have gotten no response. On the customer service side it, by the way, it did take me in excess of 20 weeks to get my rig, with a promised waiting time of 8-10 weeks. anyway these are my experiences so far. I'm actually pretty pleased with it, except for the toggle fire bit. It's comfy, looks good, cheaper than a jav, doesn't have the waiting time of a vector. If anyone is still contemplating and has more questions go ahead and ask, anything to keep me procrastanating from the study I need to do. IF anyone from aerodyne sees this, I've had like, 5 toggle fires guys... wtf? churs.
