maretus

Sabre is all-ZP canopy whereas Merit has top skin ZP - lower skin higher porosity material so Merit is easier to pack. Also I think that Merit is semi-elliptical, it's trailing edge is tapered. So It should be bit quicker on the turns than the Sabre.

Couple guys from my home DZ jump with Boeri snowboarding helmets. Since the styrox stuffing inside the helmet is something like 3 cm's thick, these fellas bought themselves 2 sizes too small helmets and then scraped off the extra 2 cm's of stuffing. That works absolutely fine.

I don't think that performance variables 1.550,75 EUR is such a high price for cobalt, since here in Finland Crossfire costs 1878,10 EUR (Taxes included) and Vengeance pays 1,801.73 EUR (Excluding taxes !). Is that 1.550,75 EUR from perfomance variable with or without taxes etc ? I'd also like to hear from cobaltdan (or anybody else), what would be the easiest and cheapest way to get Cobalt in Europe and what would that price be ?

Gecko Head Gear website : http://www.geckoheadgear.co.uk/ And when it comes to the size of the audible port, I can fit my Pro Dytter very nicely in my Gecko.

I'm a proud owner of a Gecko and I like it very much. It gives you much more protection than Gath because of the hard outer shell. The helmet is very comfotable and that internal audible port almost guarantees that you hear your audible every time. Gecko also comes with cool color options and the customer service was wery good, I ordered it via email straight from the factory. I don't own a camera but I'm confident that Gecko would be suitable to that too.

I personally liuke to freefly with an open face helmet, but you could also remove your visor from that factory diver and use standard goggles with it. Then you will feel the wind on your face but still have that extra face/chin protection factory diver gives you.

"the PISA heatwave is almost identical to that Diablo and I can get them brand-new in custom colors for around $950. " Little off the topic, but am I completely wrong because I've always thought that Diablo is 7-Cell elliptical and Heatwave is 9-Cell elliptical and therefor NOT almost identical ?

It depends much on what you have previously flown. Couple weeks ago I put approx 10-15 jumps on a Vengeance 120, loading it 1.48. Since I regularly jump a Stiletto 120, It didn't feel much diffrent. Front riser pressure was little lighter and when front risering it, the canopy felt little more solid (than the Stiletto), due to the airlocks, I presume. On openings I experienced a funny habit, the canopy came out straight and nicely, but immediatly after inflation it turned 90-180 degrees offheading. However, with your hands on risers immediately after deployment, ready to steer the canopy, that should not become a problem. As a conclusion if you have jumped HP ellipticals before, especially Stiletto, you shouldn't have any problems what so ever.

Check out http://precision.aerodynamics.com/psycho/psycho_pack.htm . Psycho packing is packing method ment to make putting your canopy inot the D-Bag easier. However the method is somewhat controversial among skydivers, others say it produces best openings and others say it doesen't.

PISA actually has a website. Here's the URL : http://www.sadid.co.za/SADID_6/files/c_pages/p066.html. However the page concentrates on military parachutes and offers no info what so ever conserning sport canopies. They only mention in one sentence that "they manufacture also high performance sport ram-air canopies" or something like that. I found that page from google using "PISA parachute" as a search term.

------------------------------------------------------- The Hornet is primarily a turf-surfing canopy ------------------------------------------------------- Is that really so ? I've always thought that Extreme Vx is primarily a turf-surfing canopy and Hornet is more like a mid-performance semielliptical allround canopy.

There were couple of very interesting points made at the Diablo thread conserning 7 cell's performance compared to the 9 cell's. I found even more interesting comments when I surfed through manufacturers webpages. Aerodyne's page says (http://www.aerodyneusa.com/2thisisques2.html) "The Triathlon was the first truly high-performance ZP 7-cell and proved superior to the Sabre-class ZP 9-cells in every aspect." and icarus's page (http://www.icaruscanopies.com/canopies/EXTreme_VX/): "Jumpers have known for years that 9-cell canopy's out perform 7-cells" ?? Anybody else find this interesting ??

"On my Silhouette 170 loaded at 1.1:1 I lost around 250 feet" That's an interesting piece on information right there. It would be very interesting and useful too to see comparison about different canopies and different wingloadings and how much they lose altitude in 180 toggle turn and 180 front riser turn.

My point excatly. I too am not sure wheter the "9 cell = better surf than 7 cell" -rule applyes to every single comparison but I feel that the opinion about Diablo having the best flare amongst non crossbraced canopies is quite strongly said, if the best flare means best/longest surf.

Although I've never jumped Diablo, I still have doubts about one thing. Rhino wrote: "Probably the best flair you will get out of a non tri braced canopy." What do you mean by best flare ? If you are talking about toggle pressure or handling/controlling the canopy in flare you might be right. As I said, I've never jumped a Diablo. But I really think that overall 9 cells generate more lift than 7 cells and so they have more powerful flare. Diablo might be a great canopy and I'd like to try one, but I'd still prefer 9 cell elliptical as a turf surf machine.

The Sabre really is a great canopy. Forgiving and docile but still fun to jump and land. I bought a 150 (loaded it about 1.2) as a first canopy. During 170 jumps on it I only experienced one very hard opening and I presume that was my packing error. I really have nothing bad to say about and would definetly recommend it both as a first canopy but as a more experinced choice. Don't know wheter I had extremely good one but I didn't have to take any extra effort in packing. Just normal propack and that was it.

The TSO-standards can be quite confusing. I found the following explanation from fliteline's webpages : -------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL STANDARD ORDER (TSO) CERTIFICATION At present there are six levels of TSO Certification is use. There are systems built under TSO C23(B) in either low speed or standard category. There are systems built under TSO C23(C) in either category A, B, or C. As of 6/1/94 TSO C23(D) was implemented and TSO C23(C) was superseded. TSO C23(C) Parachute assemblies shall be tested to minimum limits of persons up to 115 kg (254 lbs..) fully equipped, and up to 150 knots. TSO C23(D) Parachute assemblies shall be tested to minimum limits of persons of up to 119.7 kg (264 lbs..) fully equipped, and up to 150 knots. -------------------- At the moment I believe that all sport equipment are tested at least TSO-C23 (C).

You can read price comparison between Voodoo, Javelin, Vector III and Mirage from http://www.rigginginnovations.com/voodoo/product_compr.htm That is of course from rigginginnovations pages but it should be quite right.

No prob in quicktime, though I like formats that can be viewed through windows media player better (mpeg). How about if you make two different copies of each movie, one with better quality for wide bandwith users and another more compressed one (worse quality) for those with limited bandwith ?

Great movies dude but why the crappy Quicktime format ? When compared to the skydiving nationals trailer (mpeg) your quicktimes are really messy.

A friend of mine did the same "experiment" with his NVertigo and it didn't suffer any damage besides a little scratch on the paintjob. It landed near the runway to the grass.

I agree with Albatross as long as we are talking about rigs with throw out PC. However, in student rigs with springloadedPC and a ripcord, there have been hard pull malfunctions explained with too tight loop. They are very rare though and I totally agree with the idea that adjusting the loop to the right tightness is really very easy way to increase your skydiving safety.

I don't recall excatly what was said in basic training about situations like that but I'd prefer riding down in the plane. What makes your situation tricky is that there was no door in the Cessna. Had there been door, the only reasonable thing to do would of course have been shutting the door immediately and reopen it when the plane is down and safe and stopped. That situation of yours is potentially very dangerous situation. If the open reservePC gets out of the door and inflates, it propably means byebye for the whole plane and everybody in it. So as a conclusion I'd think I'd sit down and ride down in the plane. If this was a real situation how did you act ?

I totally agree with Cacophony. No offense, cobaltdan, but I too am under impression that Cobalt is a high performance elliptical canopy and therefor it is NOT suitable as a first canopy. It really can't be compared with Sabre even if it's loaded lighter. I know you are trying to sell your products but to sell a high performance elliptical to newcomer as a first canopy just sounds irresponsible to me.

No you won't if you flare it correctly. ;) But seriously, I had a Sabre, loaded 1.2, as a first canopy and didn't have any problems what so ever. I can't say anything about Safire because I haven't tried one but the wingloading sounds pretty good. As we are talking about hard openings on Sabre, I had one very hard opening in 170 jumps and I presume that was my own packing error. So I would definetively give thumbs up for Sabre as a first canopy.