Maddingo

Nice, you bought it from stock or custom?

At my weight the difference between 210 and 190 was quite thrilling, very fun, but you just know you have to really pay attention. Everything moves a lot quicker. You come from the sky much faster. As someone told me... it's not a problem when you are high up, you could fly a 120, it becomes a problem when you start to come close to earth. The biggest difference I noticed in landing was the little surf. There is no more stabbing the canopy or you Will get pulled back up and fall to the ground from a couple of meters. This is the point where you have to start fine tunning your approaches. I have 1.3 load at 190. The jump from 230 to a 190 is quite large in my experience as I jumped it last just to warm up for my first 190 skydive. :)

Missionary sex with extended arms. And really plow her hard. Raise your head and admire the ceiling. You must look like you are having sexual intercourse with the help of divine intervention.

Yeah, everybody knows that your first handle is on the right. But think of a spinning malfunction on your back, where the forces don't allow the best viewing angle of your harness. It is way easier to locate bright (red) colors with your peripheral vision than the dark ones. Or think of a situation where you cannot use your right arm and you have to search it with your left arm etc. Most emergency handles/buttons in the world are red with a reason :) @mbohu yes, that is even worse haha, both the same color... why not have a bit of a gamble with yourself and take a chance pulling the wrong one first

I changed my training from static to aff. I was thaught both. First was 1 hand on each handle and peel pull peel pull. The other was 2 handed. I use the one handed now. It seems more bullet proof than the second method. And since I'm a big guy with bigger hands I get a really good grip on the handle. I don't doubt when the time will come I will have the strenght to rip that pillow of with one hand. Adrenaline does magic in those situations + the normal strenght. I can see the two handed variation is better for student because of the RSL/skyhook system which deploys reserve for you. The thing I will never change due to fashion is the color of the cutaway handle. Mind doesn't work ratioanlly in emergencies but on reflex. Since I got use to the red color that is what I will have in the future. I don't get it why some people pick black or camo colors for their emergency handles.

As far as I know there are facilities being built (and some are already working) in US. I know for certain one DZ is an official dealer somewhere around Miami.

Just bought mine from a trusted source. And the worksmanship is top notch. It comes down whether you like the design or not. I bought it with all the bells and whistles. Peoduction time I think it was around 2-3 months. I posted a couple of pictures in the other thread. Here are more. It is not assembled obviously :) I was picking between Icon, Infinity and Vortex. If you have additional questions feel free to ask.

Thank you and I already wrote small pieces but desk jobs keep getting in the way. :S

I agree with no winds statement above. There is ALWAYS some wind. I learned that fact when I landed a pattern that gave me a little more push than I expected from a no wind day. I ran like hell when I touched down and we are talking 1-2mph boost.

No, there is not. I've seen it fire a couple of times on the designated altitude without any hesitation. It has multy mode it will last you 15 years without service and it costs around 25% less. I bought it for mine. There is no reason why you would pick the other brands.

My experience with buying a container is... everybody is cheering for their own team. Till this date I haven't seen a single evidence one is better over the other. All tso'd rigs are good. The only thing you should really care for are technical problems, such as the Wings reserve tray that in some cases did not extract properly. The main crowd will cheer for the Vector because it's the "coolest" and oldest design. But it's price tag (like any other "top tier" brands) is trough the roof.

At the end it is a matter of personal taste. For myself, I'm leaning away from PD since the flight characteristics don't suit me. They are fine canopies (obviously), just not my taste.

Just got my brand new Vortex today. More pictures when it gets assembled. It's a V-6. You can already see it has some tweaks compared to the 2016 model.

I made the same mistake with measurments. Always leave 2cm of slack when you measure yourself. Most companies sew it like it is your first skin. Very uncomfortable, unless you desire it that way. The cheaper suits follow a certain sizing model, so they do not actually sew it to your body, but what is the closest to the measurments you gave them. It is probably different with high-end suits, which cost 400€+

Use your gut, if you feel in control you are probably alright, couple that with opinions of people who saw you fly adn theese internet downsizing charts and the truth is somwhere in the middle. I never jumped bellow 0.80, since I'm on the large side. The first real difference came when I went on a 1.1 wingload. from 0.7 to 1.0 it is pretty much the same. When you pass this mark things become faster, more responsive (more fun), dives get longer and flares get stronger but with smaller margin for error. I dialed in the "pop up" effect inside 4-5 jumps. For every new canopy I have jumped I use the same routine. I deploy around 1500m, go into full flight where I pay attention to angle of attack the canopy produces and the speed it gains, then I test the toggle turn capability, next I check the flare characteristics where I always use the 3 stage flare. This tells me where is the flare's sweet spot, next is the harness input responsiveness, then riser flare. At last I find the stall point of the canopy, so I get a rough idea how far can I push it during the final approach.

I noticed a lot of you meantioned the cost of protective full face helmet. Basic motorcycle helmets are less expensive than say a mainstream full face skydive helmet, yet they have a lot more certified protection. There are also ski helmets etc. I mean, theese plastic shells (g3,kiss etc.) cost 350$ to 500$. So tell me, why are they so expensive now? I hardly believe that the production of a G3 is more expensive than a good ski or basic motorcycle helmet. It seems it's all about the branding and the fact skydiving is unique and regarded as a high class expensive sport with a small market.

Do yourself a favor and add the Volt canopy on your demo list. It is one of those canopies that is heavily underrated but stacks up easily to the big three in the class.

You tell me you do not know this stuff that they do not teach you? In our country it is mandatory that you pass a safety test with 100% score, otherwise you don't get the license. It is a block of probably around 200 questions covering every single possible safety concern in skydiving and it's remedy. Looks like skydiving courses are somewhat shitty in some countries.

+1 on basketball shoes

You could probably get away with that, but it's your sweat at the end. I was packing regular zp too big not low bulk, so yes I can say you could pack a 230 into a 210 if the fabric is low bulk and the lines are not dacron.

Safire 2, 3, S-fire, Pilot, Volt etc. You have a million options other than that.

Any outdoor basketball shoes, period. Excellent foot stabilisation and ankle protection, flat bottom with big surface.

I would suggest you check out horse riding gloves from Roeckl, better than any skydiving glove fit, feel, comfort and grip vise. They are a bit on the expensive side though 30€ + I jumped with theese and sadly lost them, now I use the PD regular skydiving gloves and they don't come close: https://www.loesdau.de/roeckl-reithandschuhe-madison-41098.html Theese are for winter.

In my opinion you will see the biggest increase in performance when you will transition to a 210. First you will notice the 230 sport canopies behave very reactive, but it will be a nice fresh breeze and fun. When you will step down to a 210, that responsive potential will increase two fold and you will go whoa, I wonder how a 135 Katana flies or how could I handle that in the future. :P

Don't do it. Don't buy a 190 Javelin and stuff a 230 Pulse in it. You will curse every packing and hesitation on opening. Not worth it, wrote about it in another thread when I packed a 250 pilot into a max 230 icon. Also, a Pulse 230 and a Nav 240 are a totally different beast. No, you are not somwhere around Pulse since you've flown only student canopies. You are going into totally unknown territory. Which is fun, but don't evaluate canopies based on your previos experience. It's the same as if I would say a 190 square was fine, I'm in the range of a 170 elliptical now.