JWest

What is 2+2? OK, now forget what 2+2 is. What is 2+2? We are not capable of intentionally forgetting something. Derek V Oh, Derek.

The last new helmet that "hit" the market didn't exactly go over well. This looks like a decent product but the product video reeks or those crappy late night tv marketing ads. Having problems losing your stuff, is it to hard to operate? Buy product X! Seriously though it just looks like you are incompetent and irresponsible. Your market is going to be really really small.

Guys I did it I finally jumped a camera and didn't die! Ok, that was sarcasm but I did jump a camera and figured I would report back now that I have experienced my first camera jump. I know many of you will be disappointed but I only made it to 181. As I was doing this believe it or not I was thinking about many of the things I read in here. Did my gear check before and after turning on the camera just to be on the safe side. It was all of an extra minute of filming, no big deal. It was an uneventful FF jump with a coach. I obviously minded the physicality of the camera for the 182 climb out but once I left the plane filming was not on my mind. Once stable I did have the thought that my head down coach with the scenery in the background would look pretty cool if the camera got it. Broke on time, pulled on time, Had to lift my slider up a bit higher than I was used to in order to get it in it's keeper but that wasn't a big deal. Now the part you all want to know. Did it distract me? Yes it did but not in the way you probably think. I had no problem completing the tasks of the skydive or any of that. It just made me nervous because I didn't want to be "that idiot who everyone told not to do it" I knew that if anything went wrong on that jump it would instantly blamed on the camera. So I wouldn't say the camera or the filming distract me. It was more the communities possible reaction. Most will say thats semantics thus why I went with yes. As with most worries in life the nervousness left the second the door opened. I jumped a camera, don't really have a reason to do it again and it won't matter anyway because I'll hit 200 before winter comes. Distracted by the thought of being "that idiot" not the actual camera.

Picking on a guy that isn't a native english speaker.

I think people posting dates they think he is going to bounce and comparing him to sangi can be classified as overreacting. Sangi bounced because he started swooping before he was ready. Flying a basic pattern is not comparable. OP I am glad you have decided to stay at the 150. The canopy is more than capable of scaring the shit out of you. So will have fun.

Put it in a mesh bag and then in the washing machine (front load only) on a very gentle cycle. A little woolite is good. Clean my container up real nice. Honestly, I would do the same thing to the canopy after making sure that the lines were really secure.

Looking at the curve sizing chart a vc1 should last you a long time. A 150 is a very capable canopy. There is no reason to have faster, more dangerous, straight in landings when you could start to dabble in higher performance landings on your 150. (with proper coaching) Being forced to fly a canopy conservatively will hinder your progression as a canopy pilot.

Are they as comfy as they look?

It's all about shape recognition. When I look at my VISO I don't think to my self, four thousand five hundred sixty, I see 4560 but really only 45, you see 45 you know where you are without turning it into a number. Yes 45, is a number but it is also a shape.

Get a Viso II, has a logbook and is easy to read.

https://www.chutingstar.com/skydive/exo-hard-helmet-case

That title goes to the D. B. Cooper thread. It was locked at 2326 pages and has about 4.3 million views.

The title should be how AFF-I are going to be killed by their own cameras.

Who cares if we can't post it. No one cares that your a skydiver, and no wuffo wants to watch shitty inside video when they have no idea whats going on.

You need a sarcasm font, or I was mistaken about almost being injured/killed on the highways at least 3 separate times yesterday by youthful looking people driving cars paying attention to their phones. Let's not start this nonsense. Unless you explicitly saw them staring at their phone with their hand(s) on it you have no proof of your claim. It could have been an iPod, food, radio, plenty of other things that were not the phone or texting specifically. Back on topic!

I have used a cypress and Vigil 2. I trust both to do their job. As for the maintenance the cypress does cost more and there is the downtime. However I have heard at some DZs if they require an AAD they will let you use rental gear for free/discounted. Now I don't know how true that really is but it would be worth checking out. Personally I don't mind having a life saving device checked out every few years for the cost of a night at the bars.

We do not need a camera before 200 jumps we want one. Some people want to do night jumps when they get their A license. Some want to pull at 1500'. Some want to fly a wingsuit at 50 jumps. The rules we have agsinst theses are written in blood. No arguments coming from me. Just wanted to inform you why we wanted one.

We do not need a camera before 200 jumps we want one. We are going to suck and we know that. Being able to debrief we have the ability to see why we sucked/what went wrong and improve on it. Hire a camera guy every jump or spent the money on a camera? If for some reason we don't already own one the latter is much more cost affective. Some of don't get to jump as often and we want to get the most out of the jumps we are able to do.

Once the snag factor is mostly eliminated, old timers will just start focusing on the distraction aspect. As DSE pointed out, distraction is the bigger issue, aka 'trying to get the shot.' Distraction should be the go to explanation to discourage camera use by new jumpers. The discussion about new jumpers should include the differences between 'active filming' and 'passive filming.' 'Active filming' is the contributing factor to the majority of the small format camera incidences. However the physicality of the camera should not be ignored while 'passive filming.' There is always the potential to hit or snag it on something other than just a deploying parachute. Turning it on can also be a distraction from gear checks. I believe this conversation should be had with everyone who wants to jump a camera. Weather it be formal or informal training. Last thing I want to point out before I disappear -in fear of tanking this thread- is about the argument involving having a camera from day one of AFF. Having a camera from day one would't make turning it on distraction, it would become the new standard. Yes, in comparison to the old standard it would be a distraction. To people who learned the new standard it would be totally normal for them. It wouldn't be something new, or different. I'm not making the argument that it wouldn't still be a nonessential and the argument could be made that a nonessential=distraction. I am only saying that if that was the standard, turning on the camera would be just as standard as checking handles. I assume it is that way for some of you experienced camera flyers.

Google, google, google, you will be able to read a lot of good articles. Read your country's skydiving manual (if they have one). The safety tab on this website has many good articles; some are outdated but still have good info. Parachutist has a lot of good articles as well. You really can't go wrong with any of the big brands. Each one has pros and cons but they all make good gear. I have a Cookie G3 because it in comfortable. I have used a kiss as well, it is a very nice helmet but I personally don't like the lens glare. As mentioned above the cooke fuel is a good helmet and has good camera mounting potential. For an Altimeter if you want a analog one you can't go wrong with a galaxy. There are plenty of them you can find second hand. I personally have a digital altimeter (viso II) because I like the log book feature.

After I talked to my people about canopy sizes I waited it out during the winter. I was lucky enough to snag a container, AAD, and reserve for an awesome price. I was also able to get am older year canopy that had zero jumps to put in there. It took a total of about 5 months to find everything. Most importantly talk to your people and decide on a safe reserve size. Base the container size off of that and finally get an appropriately sized main that will also fit the container you purchased/plan to purchase.

Since people will be able to tell who you are my advice is to not talk about cameras in the internet until you have 200+ jumps.

That is awesome, looks really snag resistant.

On topic. When I was a student I found inside video to be useful. Since there are ways to reduce the distortion caused by small format cameras the video can be used to roughly depict body position. As this incident points out AFF-Is shooting inside video should have snag-resistant mounts and a helmet cut away for redundancy. Too further reduce the risk of a snag, inside video could be used only by the reserve side AFF-I.

One more disadvantage, it can cause fog on colder days because it blocks the mouth vents.