lewmonst

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Gear Reviews posted by lewmonst


  1. The Xaos-27 is the best all around cross-braced canopy. It opens soft enough for me to trust it with a heavy camera helmet on thousands of jumps. It is very responsive, as any cross-braced canopy is, and fun to fly. My W/L is between 2.2 and 2.7.

    The openings are long, around 800ft usually, and soft. Sometimes there is a little bit of left-right shake as the cells inflate, but not enough to call it "rough". It opens better and more predictably in my experience than the Velo or Katana. It does not open as well as a Xaos-21 or Crossfire. I trust it for jumping camera. However, if you have a premature toggle release, it does spin up fast if you don't counter-input before full-inflation.

    It's trim is steep allowing for a lot of speed and long recovery arc, ideal for swooping. It stays in a dive, like a Velo, so swoops must be initiated high. Yet there is a lot of input on rear risers, for trimming it up and making it back from a long spot or to plane out of a dive exactly when you want to. The front riser pressure is lighter than a Velo, but not as light as a Katana. It's very responsive to harness input and easy to initiate turns and swoops with just harness.

  2. ...why camera flyers specifically? because the openings are a dream. Soft, and I mean, really soft, and on heading 99% of the time. Rare 90 degree off heading, but that's it. It doesn't dance and want to spin like other x-braced canopies on opening. Never been slammed by it, used several different packers and packing techniques. Flight characteristics are awesome. It stays in a dive well and very maneuverable in the turn and dive. Good response to harness input, very powerful rear riser input. Strong flare with a long stroke to finish it off. I highly recommend it. Do yourself a favor, just demo jump it before you order anything and you'll see for yourself.

  3. I had about 50 jumps on a Crossfire 1 119 (1.65wl), and about 50 each on Crossfire 2's 109 & 119 (1.80/1.65wl). I bought a Katana 120and have put about 100 jumps on it. The Katana is more aggressive than the Crossfire2. I think the Crossfire2 has slightly more consistent and slightly softer openings. I was debating between the two several months ago. It came down to price comparison and experience with the company. I had emailed Simon at Icarus several times asking about a stock canopy listed on the website without any response. PD has always responded quickly to emails and phone calls. In my opinion and experience, PD also has a better reputation overall. I bought a Katana and I love it. The openings tend to be offheading at first, still soft thought. I've tried several different packing techniques... and I've never had a hard opening. After about 50 jumps or so the canopy seems to have broken in very nicely and the openings are much more consistently on heading. I jump a couple cameras and have a girly neck, so that should tell you something. One more thing, with the Katana having a very steep angle of attack, it is more ground-hungry. You can get back from a long spot, as I often have from tandem videos, but it's work on your rear risers. The more I jump the Katana, the more I love it. I want another one. It can be very fast on landings in no wind with slight front-riser input, and super fast coming out of a hard 90 or 180. Swoops are long, longer than you expect at first... just as it's about to drop, you can extend the flare a little more and keep going, which nicely slows you down for a tip-toe landing. And I've found myself caught having to follow a pattern downwind with it also, which was fun, I opted to slide in since I can't run that fast at the moment. I definately recommend it to someone with enough experience.

  4. i like the helmet, it fits pretty well, i haven't baked it yet. but i got a dbox for the pc5 and have seen a few issues. I guy in Pahokee in March lost his camera in the same set-up as mine. the dbox is closed with just one strap and a plastic buckle. i've been paranoid so i add rubber bands. And i doubt this is bonehead's fault, I ordered it from pier ltd., but the mount was such that the camera was angled too far down. i had to pretty much brake my neck trying to get anything but the ground in the shot, that's beely flying, or flying camera over a 4 way, i had to have them behind me about through my legs. And this is probably pier ltd's fault as well, but the velcro for the padding wouldn't stay in place, i pretty uch held it in place till i put me head in. and the audible is horrible... it doesn't align with my ear or the hole in the padding. Cmon bonehead, that's easy. so i took the d-box off, drilled new holes in the helmet, reglued my velcro in place, and cut a hole close to hear my altimeter, which i still have a hard time hearing sometimes... but i figure that would still have been easier than trying to send it back for modifications...
    other than that, it's a sweet helmet, and i still like it better than any others i've tried.