kimgriffin

Here's a picture of the Vigil battery. I just swiped it from the website...sorry, that's all I've got in the way of a battery picture. It will NOT leak. True, the cost is $125 for a replacement. After 700+ jumps (we've had some last as long as 1000 jumps), you will get a BATLOW signal on the display. You can do a weekend of jumping (about 25 jumps) and then the Vigil needs to get it to your rigger for the battery replacement. Other info on the battery: Battery with Pulsesplus element moulded in metal case LTC for highest energy density HLC for high pulse current Patented technology No leakage possible (sealed battery moulded in epoxy) Two integrated bronze air filters Stainless steel closing screw Positive connector locking system (patented) NATO Stock Number: (NSN) 6130-13-118-8842 Kim Griffin Vigil USA, DeLand FL

Hi Doug. Over the past few months the owners of Vigil in Belgium have gotten the message from 2-pin rig owners (Racer, Strong Tandem) that the demand for a 2-pin Vigil is out there. So, yes, the 2 pin IS coming shortly, about 2-3 months. By mid year the water proof Vigil (swoopers especially are going to shit when they see this thing). Military-specific Vigil in 6-9 months. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand FL -Kimberly Griffin

Hi Eric. I'm guessing this would be more a question for Mirage. The Vigil was designed to do its job (cut the reserve loop) in the industry-standard AAD set up. I've seen the Vigil cut through thick Dacron with no tension (at PIA in the altitude chamber at our booth) so I can't imagine why there would be any issue with the Vigil cutting the reserve loop in the new Mirage set up. Let me shoot this question to JT at Mirage. I'm not a rigger and don't play one on TV.

Of course, the new, stronger static electrical shield was tested. Give me a break. You think they want to make new Vigils for everyone in the world again? I will wait for the engineers to return from Jacksonville and get you a more comprehensive answer. Or, I'll get someone over there to answer your question. We have had no issue since the new Vigils were sent out 10 months ago and tens of thousands of live skydiver jumps, 3 real live activations/"saves" and excellent interest and feedback from the riggers, military personnel and fun jumpers attending PIA.

I saw Sangiro running around w a digi cam in hand. Hello Sangiro

Being the fluent english speaking person on the Vigil team (me being with Vigil USA - and the mfg in Belgium), I realized that "no maintenance" wasn't the best wording since changing your battery is technically maintenance. So, we changed the wording to no scheduled maintenance. We didn't want that slogan to seem deceiving since you or your rigger (depending on the country) will have to change the battery in a minimum of 4 yrs or 700 jumps. So, no, it is NOT a careful approach towards imposing a mandatory check. Just making sure our semantics are correct. There's some pictures of the Vigil booth on their website under what's new... a bunch more to come under photo gallery. I'm just home from PIA... a bit of a headache from the final banquet. Opps!

For sure I've seen men pushing strollers around in the US but I agree that it may not be as common as in Scandinavia. (Definitely not something unusual enough to take a picture. Seems YOU"RE the one who met some unusual people.) But, most US companies don't have paternity leave and also have much less maternity leave when compared to many other countries. While women are gaining on the equality issue here, it's still more common for us to stay at home and the man to bring home the bacon. Ment still get paid more here on the average (for doing the same job as a woman.) If not, the kid's are being tended to by other family members, babysitters or are in expensive day care. Ken, congrats again on that beautiful little one! Klem, Kim

Hey Specnaz007. Yeah, I do believe that info was taken off due to a discrepancy with the guy no longer associated with the company who designed the first website. The owner of Vigil is traveling to the US right now. I'll ask him when we're all at PIA. The new Dec04 website is still in the works - there are MANY pieces that are just not there yet. Testing of the Vigil 3-4 yrs ago has not changed. So, the info not being there doesn’t mean any of the testing has changed. The mfg in Belgium has many ways they have tested Vigils. Have you seen pics of the test chambers and facilities where the Vigil is produced? BTW, in regards to testing, each Vigil is tested in each mode (tandem, student, pro) many times to see that it will fire when it needs to and not when it's not suppose to. It's then set back to 0 jumps and shipped. There was no new design to test. The Vigil didn't need to be redesigned back in Apr 04 when the static electricity shielding issue was realized. There already was a shield for static electrical discharges inside the first Vigils, it just wasn't strong enough to handle a certain hard to reach (but obviously not impossible) high voltage. They shut down production for weeks to do testing and make sure there would be no other problems. They increased the strength of that shielding and reschocked the sh#! out of test units in what they call their Bazooka test chamber. I've worked with 2 other skydiving mfgs (PD and BirdMan) in the past 12 yrs and have never seen those companies release all their testing data. I find it interesting that people ask. But, it's always your right to ask and find out as much as you can about a product. I completely respect that. If you would really like to know more about how the original Vigils were tested and how the new static electrical shield was tested, I would suggest you call the owner of Vigil or his chief engineer. They're insanely busy getting ready for PIA Symposium right now and sure they will be once their back but I can get you that contact info if you would like. If so, email me from my address on the website. K? I’ll probably be away from this forum for a week or so. If you’re at the PIA Symposium, come by and say hi. You can also ask the owner/designer of the Vigil (Jo Smolders) your questions. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand Fl -Kimberly Griffin

Danger29, The problem that you speak of is that the first Vigils released did not have strong enough protection against extremely strong static electrical shocks. This caused a few Vigils to fire on the ground and one on a static line jump. The problem was fixed in early April. A stronger shield for static electricity was put in place. Once the mfg realized what the issue was, it was an easy fix. Nothing else was changed on the Vigil... all functions remain the same. New Vigils were made for all customers and all Vigils replaced at no charge. Since then, 10 months and tens of thousands of jumps ago, there have been no problems. There have also been a few “saves” . One save came about after a guy cut away a spinner at 800ft. I agree, great to save money but you should not base your decision on it. You actually get more with the Vigil and the cost of ownership is much less but I won’t go in to that schpeel here. Germany federation did disallow the use of the Vigil last fall. They claimed that the Vigil had a potentiometer (a dial inside the unit that allows settings to be changed – which the first TEST units did have, of course. It’s very common for test equipment to have such a dial but no production Vigil has ever had one.) The ban was lifted the same week when the owner of Belgium brought the Vigil for the DFV for inspection (like our FAA I suppose). They found not one issue with the Vigil and reinstated approval the next day. You guys would not believe some of the politics behind skydiving. From my knowledge, the Vigil is used and accepted by federations in all countries except Sweden, Norway and Australia. Some federations have more hoops to jump through than others and take longer for all mfgs to get their products on their market. The tolerance/accuracy of the Vigil is the most precise on the market +/-65 feet. The Vigil has a countdown clock and it takes measurements 64x per second, meaning the right when you hit 840 feet at 78mph, it fires the cutter. Basically, it’s waiting for you to hit 840 feet, thinking you need your reserve in 5,4,3,2,1,FIRE. It also has a specially designed and patented battery that is charged and ready to fire right when the activation alt and speed are reached. If you have any other questions, I can get back to them when I’m back from the PIA Symposium. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand Fla -Kimberly Griffin

Shoot, I work for Vigil USA but agree 100% with who ever said go with what makes you feel most comfortable. I would never buy a rerserve or AAD based on price. I suggest you look at the 2 AADs websites, maybe even read manuals to inform yourself. Best of luck, Kim Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand Florida

Just my 2c... I had LASIK by Dr Shugar a couple yrs ago. He had told me to wait 2 weeks before I jumped (coming from a top eye surgeon who's been skydiving for 20+ yrs). I waited a month just in case. All was perfect. Here's the link to "contact us" on Dr. Shugar's website, in case you want to write him: http://www.naturecoasteye.com/index.cfm/contactus/contactform (Sorry if I'm a retard and didn't make it clicky.) Yeah, it's amazing to see so clearly isn't it?? Congrats!!!

Yes, are you speaking of Vigil or FXC? As someone stated above, if the AAD was mounted on the outside of the rig, it was NOT a Vigil. The Vigil is internal and fits in to a Cypres set up. I was at this year's WFFC with a Vigil booth and think I would have heard if there was a Vigil fire. Secondly, no matter the AAD type, be careful in stating that 2 canopies out means a misfire. There may be another reason that the AAD fired that you are not aware of. Whether you're speaking of FXC or the Vigil, you might want to make sure your facts are clear and 100% certain before you go slamming a company on a public forum. Things at Vigil have been going very well actually. Thanks, Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand Florida

Heard some drunk guys talking about it in bar 13 yrs ago. My friends and I in our drunken state agreed that would be a really fun thing to try. The next weekend I found the first DZ in the phone book (California City, Calif.) and made an appointment for a static line jump. My friends all chickened out so I went solo and, like most of us, was immediately in love/hooked.

OMG... that's a funny story! Too bad no one filmed you in your Protec and Newmann gloves trying to catch it. Thanks for the laugh this morning. ~Kim

I hope 2005 kicks ass for you, Jussi, Jaripoika, Kim, SkyMonkeyOne, and all BMIs and birdpeeps. Hard to imagine a better suit than the S3 but it wasn't too long ago the ClassicI was cutting edge. It's funny to think that about 5-6 years ago Jari was asked to leave a dropzone with his certain-death ClassicI demos. Ha! Scotty, Jari's been in Sweden, and has been organizing at a holiday boogie in Brazil, he's probably not on email much right now. Doubt they have high speed at the boogie in Brazil.

Ha... Glen... perfect, that's exactly what I need! Fins and a weightbelt to keep the fwd and downwardwith the longlegged fatboys.

Thanks for the thought. Yeah, there were a few of us BirdWoMen on the big ways, very nice! Although, when it comes to flying with the big boys... I wish I had a tailwing extention and have thought of adding lead on some jumps. (Which I wouldn't do, I don't think.) The base on the big ways was very easy to keep with though. -Kimberly Griffin

There have no reports on Vigil misfires since the static electricity shielding was increased (8 months ago) and all Vigils replaced. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand, FL -Kimberly Griffin

The Vigil fits in to any modern-day AAD set up in any rig. If you have a question about a specific rig, you may want to contact the manufacturer. I've worked for Vigil USA for over a year and there have been no issues in packing the Vigil in to any one-pin reserve container. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand FL -Kimberly Griffin

The owner of Vigil in Brussels, Belgium, recently had to discontinue the use of the drop test videos over a discrepancy with the owner of the footage. Sorry to those of you wanting to see it. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand FL -Kimberly Griffin

There are no moving parts in the Vigil and it is programmed to do a self check every time it's turned on. If one parameter of the self check is not met, the Vigil will not turn on. Computer chips in the BMW air bags do similar self maintence. ~Kim Griffin Vigil USA DeLand Florida -Kimberly Griffin

Robert used to design suits for BirdMan, as someone mentioned, he's doing his own thing now. He's probably one of the most experienced wingsuit BASE jumpers in the sport. I couldn't believe that video. I know Robi and maybe it's just because I'm a chick but that made me want to say, "What the fuck are you doing, Robi?!" Wow, talk about no room for error. Yeah, but it made for great footage! dammmmnn!

Check out this picture of Pablito on the RWS website at http://www.relativeworkshop.com/contactus.html Make sure to put your mouse pointer over his picture - you'll get to see Pablito Swauve from another angle.

Yeah, I'd like to preview some of the pics first to see if I want to pay $25 for the CD. Thanks, Ray. ~Kim

You can also cut the cable to the correct length (making 100% sure you won't make it too short at it's max extention) with cable/wire cutters, melt the rough end with a lighter (away from your suit). When the yellow material is soft and melty (but not scortching) you run your thumb and finger over it to smooth the plastic over the rough end. Sometimes you have to do this a few times before you get it smooth enough that it's snag free. I did this when I shortened my LQRS eons ago (I'm way too lazy to stow it in the keepers) and I've done this when I've had no choice but to use long cables on a short demo suit. (Or you can stow the excess inside the wing... I've never noticed wing damage in doing so but you do have a good point there.) Hopefully I'm not repeating what anyone else has said... didn't read all the posts.