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Yes the cobalt is a nice canopy. I have flow it and have been really impressed by it. However, don't let them fool you. This is a high performance elliptical canopy and it will kill you if you don't know what you are doing. And no amount of its easy to fly hype will save an unexperienced canopy pilot. It may just be me but it seems that the canopies are being marketed to the first time new canopy buyer not the experienced canopy buyer. Whats the difference you may ask. Well the new canopy buyer is usually someone that has about 100 to 400 jumps. Feels pretty confident flying the PD whatever they bought second hand and now wants something a little more sporty. The experienced canopy pilot on the other hand is someone with 500+ jumps that knows exactly which canopy s/he can or cannot fly. Believe me there is a big difference. Don't let the smooth openings and slower foward speed fool you I have seen people get hurt with a Sabre 150 loading it 1 to 1. Cobalts are elliptical and are only for the experienced pilot.

The Racer NOS is the best harness/container on the market. This harness fits you like a velvet glove, it's the most comfortable system I've tried and I think it has also a cool look... I'm actually jumping with the BirdMan wingsuit and my Racer is perfect for this kind of jumps. In fact, the main container has no corner, so you can alwais have safe deployments. With this harness you have also more movements freedom, and I think this is very important in wingsuit jumps. Also, the Pop-Top system gives you a consistent freebag deployment, and this is the best thing do you want when you have a lot of burble beyond you and you need to use your reserve canopy. If you're buying a new container, I suggest you to buy a Racer. It's the best choice !!!

Chuck Blue has said a lot of things that i was going to write on this review. I would like to add little more. I recommend reading Chuck's review if you are interested in jumping Cobalt. I jumped three different cobalt 95 demos at 1.75 wing loading. I also have jumped alpha previously. Dan from Atair explained about the flight and opening characteristics before I started jump them. So I expected the canopy to open and fly "well." I jumped the first one twice and it slammed me really hard. I told Dan "hey the doubly staged opening is not there at all." He gave me his rig which was hooked up with another Cobalt 95 which he said had about 400 jumps. This one opened really nice and gentle as Dan and the Cobalt brochure explaine. Dan told me the first one I jumped was extremely out of trim. I guess the opening characteristics depends on line trims very much. Might be a good indication for the line replacement The third one I jumped was brand new and it opened and flew identical to Dan's canopy which already had 400 plus jumps. Openings: The opening is really soft. There cannot be anyone who can complain about the opening characteristics of Cobalt unless the fast opening gives you psychological comfort. (I have met a few "experienced" jumpers who like fast openings because the the part of skydive that contribute to most malfunction is over quickly.) In my opinion, the Cobalt did not open slow compared to other nine cell ellipticals. It might open a second or a fraction of a second slower, but you would not have doubts if it would really open or not. My first malfunction was a streamer and I don't like too long of a snivel. The Cobalt did not snivel but instead it opened in stages. The stages can be seen easily by looking up the canopy and these stages can give you some idea if the canopy will give you a malfunction(s) or not. It does open very very gently, but it doesnt open slow. I hope you know what I mean. A friend of mine demoed Cobalt 135 at 1.63 wing loading. I saw his opening from the above and from the side during different skydives, his Cobalt 135 opened nice and soft in both occasions. Looking from above, it opened like a BASE canopy. (The Cobalt opening seems like a BASE canopy opening after slider down jumps.) You should see the opning pictures on Atair website. Flight and Landing characteristics: It flew like stilleto. The toggle movement was really smooth and it is not too heavy. The front risers were light. (I cant say much more because I believe it takes about 100 jumps to know a canopy.) You really should give Cobalt a try if you are looking for a nine cell elliptical. It seemed to me that it was easy to gain speed doing a curving turn. I was jumping Cobalt in a really windy week. (20-25mph with gusty wind) I still had a nice swoop and the Cobalt flew nice in high winds.

I have had a Nvertigo now for about 4 - 5 months and have attached a camera and chin cup. I have only one complaint, which seems to be the general complaint of fit. I will admit I have a large size head, so when putting on the helmet I have to bend it wide to get it in there. Other than the fit, it is a great helmet.

I have recently went with the spectre 150 after several years (5) of swearing by sabre. But, after an incident in 98', I had to gradually get back into the swing of things. I tried a triathlon and then went with the spectre 150. Best decision of my skydiving career. I absolutely love this canopy. I can either swoop the piss out of it or let it drop me down for a tip toe landing... As for performance in the air, it is completely awesome. Where some of your 9 cell canopies start to buck a little in high wind days, not this one, PD outdid themselves with this 7 cell. On a scale of one to 10 (10 being the best) I give this canopy a much deserved 10. Highly recommended for anyone.

Crossfire: I have 2 Crossfire 169's, i have been jumping them since july, ihave over 50 jumps on them, i switched from a Safire to crossfire, This canopy and its performance is the best i have ever seen. My wingloading is at 1.49, and i can tell you that Icuris did it.

The Factory Diver is great for 2 reasons: It's simple, and it works. Visibility is great, you don't notice it in freefall. It's warm, and as long as you exhale through the vents... it doesn't fog up. I've jumped mine when it's been less than -25 degrees at altitude with no problems. They've also got their delivery time down to 4 weeks for custom orders. Troy even sent me a free t-shirt for telling him that I liked the helmet! Can't beat that!

I have flown Stilletto's, Sabre's, Spectre's, F-111's but nothing compares to Brian Germain's Samurai. Beautiful opening's and flying characteristics makes this one a winner. Light risers and powerfull flair. First class service and attention to detail are second to none. My canopy of choice for the new millennium.

I will preface this review by saying that I do not have the "thousands" of jumps that many more experienced canopy pilots have. I do however have a reasonable amount of experience on moderately loaded ellipticals of different manufacture. I am currently jumping a Crossfire 149 loaded at 1.55 lbs.psf. I am very pleased with the canopy and especially enjoy the opening characteristics. Although the openings are slower than what I was used to (stiletto/batwing), the majority of them are predictable and on heading. I like to fly my canopy from the front risers and find the pressure very manegeable. I can easily derive long, diving turns from the canopy . Landings as most other aspects of this canopy are delightful. The canopy has a very powerful flare and a fantastic surf which increases in distance with the level of agressiveness on final. I look forward to accumulating the experince necessary to be able to fly this canopy at high wing loadings. I am sure it only gets better. The crossfire is also nice in the respect that it has no countersteer like the Stiletto or other hp ellipticals. Toggle inputs are quite crisp and responsive, coupled with a quick turn rate. I have yet to run out a landing into the wind (albeit the occasional downwinder). The flare seems to last for ever. I am glad the people who taught me to fly canopy, Andy Anderson and Jared Douglas to name a couple, pointed me in this direction. As they may reasonably have biased opinions concerning Icarus, I do not. I continue to be impressed with their products, and recommend this particular canopy to any experienced, competant canopy pilot.

Cobalt 85- This is a smooth opening and fun to fly canopy. Less agressive then it's PD counterpart, allows for downsizing. Good parformance at a good price.

I recently got a Sidewinder O2 and just love it. I jump it with a Sony PC-3 and it fells great. The helmet seems alittle sideheavy on the ground, but have had no trouble in the air. Sighting the helmet is easy and doesn't take much. The only modifying needed was to drill small holes for the Cam-eye into the the LANC port, and turn on switch. Very comfortable for RW and also for video groups. The flip up lense fits tight and not a fog problem. I would recommend the helmet for all new comers to video.

It is nice to see the canopies start getting the attention they deserve. I have been under one since the beginning of the season; loading a 120 at 1.875 and have had the pleasure of turning a few people on to them. Every one who tried them at Quincy seemed to have a good time on them whether they were feeling out an elliptical or were doing a 90’ in to 270’. Like all other elliptical canopies they are prone to similarities. There are a few differences that do set this canopy apart from the pack. Some folks who have jumped the canopy have actually said that they don’t like the openings. This I could not believe. However, after consideration and reflection I came to the idea that if you have hundreds or thousands of jumps on a certain canopy whose opening characteristics are not the same; you’ll have to first be open to the idea that different canopies will open differently. So sometimes you really cant compare the two. For example I used to jump a saber. If you get used to that type of opening you may be uncomfortable not feeling the opening sensation riddled through your body. Personally I wont fly a canopy that doesn’t have this soft of an opening. I always have time after pull to get in to a good body position. I never get slammed on openings, and it opens on heading. Some one must have really thought this out… Opening is not an exclimation, but a process under this canopy that is Soft, accurate and predictable. Flying characteristics are such that transitioning from a saber to the Cobalt is practically instinctive. The transition from one to the other is natural with a low learning curve. Weight dispersion is evenly swept through the middle of the canopy giving it some flying characteristics of a glider. Accomplished canopy pilots seem to effortlessly swoop and carve. Other elipticals tend to weigh down the nose, making them less forgiving. In wind and properly flown you can, as I have been observed, tacking and getting lift. (A large easily observable, enviable amount of lift.) This is one of the coolest things about flying the canopy. The canopy, when properly weighted has the tendency to glide out of the corner. Even when you are tight in it. I have seen people with less then 150 jumps getting impressive swoops. If you are in to canopy flight, you have to spend a day under the double diamonds. Dr_Groove D-23206 Blue Sky Ranch

I bought a Monarch 215 for use as a first main canopy. My belief at the time was that it would be much like a Saber, but it was considerably cheaper (I bought it used). When I started jumping the canopy I had about forty jumps. I was loading it at about 1.05 (suspended weight 220). After putting nearly fifty jumps on the canopy, and about fifty on smaller, high performance canopies (170's), I began to realize just how high performance the Monarch was. First, it has an amazing forward speed. I never once found myself backing up under the canopy, even when jumping in 20+mph winds. Every high-performance pilot on my dropzone was always amazed at the speed the canopy had on landing. After putting nearly 20 jumps on a Sabre 170, I think the Monarch and the Sabre have nearly identical forward speeds. Second, the Monarch has a much flatter glide angle than almost any other square parachute I have jumped. It approaches what I achieved on elliptical 170's with a little brakes applied. To give an idea on the speed and glide of my 215, I was once on a cross country jump under the canopy, and a buddy of mine was on a Stiletto 150 with a suspended weight of 215. We managed to do some end cell-bumping under canopy with very little effort. He had to apply a little brake (less than 1/4) and I had to ride with my front risers down about 1", but in this configuration, we flew completely relative to each other. The responsiveness of the canopy was fine for use as afirst canopy, but I after I got up to around 150 jumps, It was getting a little sluggish. This is probably just because the canopy was so big. I found that the canopy spiraled with a toggle pulled to about halfway between my hip and the bottom of the control range. The "sweet spot" of the flare was about at this point, as well. I found that if I buried a toggle and held it, I the canopy would stall-turn and twist the lines up, so the canopy was still capable of fast turns. Front riser pressure was very stought with a slow rate of turn. On the flare, the canopy had plenty of lift to plane out, but the flare was pretty deep in the control range, as mentioned above. Due to the forward speed and flat glide, the canopy would surf unbelievably well. The openings on the canopy could get ugly. I found that it had end-cell closures almost every jump, and if the closure occurred on only one side, I would get a diving turn in that direction. I had several hard openings under the canopy, but I also had a few soft ones as well. I found that rolling the nose did almost nothing, but slider placement was critical. By pulling the slider mostly out in front of the nose, it seemed to make the openings comfortable. All in all, I would say the Monarch opens comparably to a Sabre, with the exception of the frequent end-cell closures. All in all, I was very happy with the Monarch as a first canopy. I no longer believe that the canopy is basically a Sabre copy. I think the Monarch has a flatter glide, higher forward speed, and better "swoop-ability". I think it would make a good intermediate to high performance canopy as well if flown at higher wing loadings. I would be interested to fly a 195 or a 175 to see if the responsiveness and the flare got any better.

I think Chuck pretty much went over the background of the COBALTS. I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I started jumping these canopies at the begining of this season and now have about 250 jumps on various sizes of the Cobalt. There is so much to say about these canopies that the only way to sum it up is "WOW" You have to fly one to believe it. From the moment you get this canopy and feel the unique South African zero p (which packs like F-111) with the double diamonds sown as part of the canopy, not sown over existing fabric, you will soon realize how easy it is to pack. Now its pull time you throw out you pilot chute to be welcomed by the "LEXUS" of openings. Cross ports in all cells but 3rd and 6th allow for smooth, controlled, 2 stage soft openings. Next, you look up to see the unique double diamonds found only on the Cobalt canopies. If you like attention, the diamonds are definately the way to go. So now you start flying around, doing spirals and just checking out the whole behavior of the canopy. The best way for me to explain it is very "user friendly." This thing feels like it is part of you. It responds immediatly to you every command. But wait, thats not even the best part. Since jumping the Cobalt canopies, I don't even think I remember how to run out a landing. I have never taken more then 3 steps on landing with the Cobalt. It has so much lift it will amaze you. This is all around, the best canopy I have ever jumped, and I plan to keep on jumping them as long as Atair Aerodynamics keeps making them. I recomend the Cobalt to everyone. From the new guy who wants his first high performance canopy, to the most experienced jumper who is looking for that 100 yard surf. Like I said before You have to try one to believe it. Thanks - Mike Gocke D-23590

Hi, I've got about 100 Jumps now on my Sabre 135 and I' ve never got painfull opening. Okay with my 65 Kilos it is big enough for me, but the weight does not have so much to do with the opening (having 10 kilos mor or less). But all in all, it was a good canopy to start in the ZP-world and get experiences but since I tried a Stiletto, I know, what I really want and need.

I have had a Nvertgo for about a year now. I bought the helmet and it was too big, neither Square 1 or Sky Systems would replace it for a smaller size so I was stuck with it. The Skydial broke after 20 jumps, and I get a lot of air coming in when I go flat and track. I have recently bought a camera, and I just purchased a Bonehead with a D-Box for it, that is what I should have done in the first place.

I owned a Falcon 235 which I bought used with about 400 jumps on it when I had about 120 jumps. At the time I weighed about 200. It took me a while to learn to land it on no-wind days, but I never had a hard opening, the worst was an occassioinal 90 - 180 twist (flatpacked - usually quickly). That canopy has Dacron lines, which may have something to do with the soft openings. When I moved to a Batwing about 450 jumps later, I sold it with a lot of regret. That same canopy is now on its fourth owner, each having put about 400 jumps on it. As far as I know the total now is roughly 1500 with ZERO malfunctions and even more amazing, still the original lines. I trust it enough to use a Falcon 195 as a Reserve. Nuff said.

I have jumped Triathlon's, Viper's, Stilletto's, Safire's, and a Diablo. I found the Samurai to be superior to them all. Openings are very nice, crisp, but not too fast, and always on heading. The glide ratio is excellent so getting back from a long spot isn't a problem. The turns are quite snappy, and the canopy does dive longer than a Stilletto or Viper. The landings are very nice, the diving capabilities allow you to build a nice amount of speed which makes for great swoops, or if you prefer the straight in approach, it is more than accomodating. The canopy I jumped was a Samurai 150 at a wing loading of 1.4:1. I am purchasing a Samurai 140 at a loading of 1.5:1. I have also received outstanding customer support from Brian Germain and his staff at BigAir Sportz, keep up the great work.

I do 1000 camera jumps a year and 200 jumps ago I donned the Mirage. Its superb!! In this time I have had a bag lock mal (my fault) and the cutaway/reserve deployemnts were quick and smooth. I love the idea of hard housings in the risers. No doubt this rig is well made and well thought out for today skydiving - some great features that make me feel confident in my choice of gear. I have chosen a M1 size container with a PD143 resereve, which is the max size for the rig. Because of this I have a relatively small rig, but the compromise comes in the form of a firm packed reserve that perhaps doesn't mold to you as well as a smaller reserve or larger container might. NOTE: This is not a ctizisim of the rig, just an observation of reserve size v container. I guess it just feels a bit more "blocky" than my old rig which was bigger with a similar sized reserve. Lessons learnt - Follow the rigs packing manual closely. I beleive my recent Mal was caused by me not making sure that the stows decrease in size as you reach your last stow (one looped through the other). Also the manual suggests that for asthetic reasons it is good to place the D bag in the tray "lines first" and then pivot the grommet side down into the tray. I beleive this is very important and also helps make sure that unstowed line is not caught around any stows. You can monitor the free-line easier if you put the bag in this way. Plus, Mirage are right it fills the bottom of the container better. State of the art rig and well made!!

What can I possibly add that the others have not already covered? I love this canopy! Pain in the keester to pack at first. I just make the first S-fold a little bigger and that seems to help. The snivel on this canopy is A LOT! My slider MUST be too big. *GRIN* This thing takes 1000' + to open. That's ok..I'll just ride some brakes and tuck up my legs to make it back on the long spots from our pilot who's affectionately called "Long Spot". Spankers just simply do not exist! This canopy opens slower and softer than an old man easing into a hot bath. On a long approach I burried the front risers and got a pretty decent turf soar on it. Loaded at 1.18 it's very fun and well behaved. There is soooo much flaring power, the only way I can botch the landing is flaring too much and lifting back up off the ground and then thud in. That's why you need to use the 2 stage flare. This canopy can get real slow as well. Good Pack, Trash Pack it doesn't matter...It'll still open nice and soft. Big questions now. Will I buy another? Would I recommend it to my GF? Absolutely I would, to both questions!

Unlike the previous jumpers I have little experience. With just over 200 jumps to date. My previous main was a sabre 150. I was looking for a little more performance with out killing myself. I,m very happy with the smooth head on openings and the great stability in turbulent air. The landing caracteristics seemed very natural and I enjoyed the long swoop availability if desired unlike the sabre. At this time the only thing I would change is I would have bought a 120 instead of the 135. I'm 5'7 and 155lbs. Maybe that says everything, even with the little experience that I have I had no problem with adapting to this new main ( even on my first jump ) do to the preditability of the chute.

Most versatile canopy on the market, I,ve owned three of them, 190,170,150. 600 jumps altogether and no problems. Blue Skies