betzilla

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content

    884

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

  • Feedback

    0%

Posts posted by betzilla

  1. Quote

    I believe they simply split the cosmetics in two different order forms. The A and V seem to be essentially the same as the neXgen, but with a different design for the A or V sign in the flaps, nothing else.



    I'm pretty sure the "A" and "V" have distinct bundles of options included in their respective base prices too. I'm not sure how crazy you can get in terms of adding options a la carte with either.

  5. Quote

    If anything I found transitioning to packing for myself actually made me less nervous as a newbie skydiver.



    Yup. I hate, hate, HATE packing mains. But my openings are nicer when I pack for myself than they are when I use a packer - even my favorite packer.

    OP: you'll be fine. You kind of have to go out of your way to do something that will cause a chop. Set your brakes, keep your slider where it belongs, keep the lines in the center of your packjob, and cock your pilot chute. As for the rest of it, try to keep it neat, and just go slow until it makes sense. And another little word of advice: do something fun on your first few jumps on your own packjob - that'll take your mind off it :)

  6. Quote

    A larger slider on a canopy can actually cause harder openings, as it may allow for faster bottom skin inflation times.



    Yup. One possible solution is a larger slider (**) which is box pleated at the edges so that the edge dimensions are the same as the original slider size - the result is basically a dome-shaped slider like you find on some of the softer-opening canopies.

    It's probably worth noting that slowing down the openings might make them more squirrely. That's a trade-off that bears some consideration, especially with an elliptical canopy.

    ** I have no idea how much larger would be optimal for your particular canopy. But I made a few sliders like this a few years ago when I worked for a guy much smarter than I, for several different canopy models, with generally positive results, iirc.

  7. Quote

    I prefer packing G4 free bags.



    Although I do like using fewer tools (no locking pullup cord, woot!), I find that molar bags kinda suck when the pilot chute has a large base, like the Mirage PC does. So I like the G3 freebag better in spite of the extra hassle.

  10. but by the time you see enough damage on the Vectran to warrant a reline (say, 500 jumps, give or take), the Spectra may have gone out of trim far enough to make openings squirelly, so you might reline at about the same # o' jumps either way. Personally, I'd choose Vectran and enjoy factory trim for the whole life of the lineset.

  12. How do people think this stuff up?

    I don't have any chemical info for you, but for my part, I would not allow that those rigs be jumped -- if that polish is on the portion of the loop that goes through the AAD cutter, you never know what kind of effect it could have.

  15. Mirage made some rigs with tuck tab riser covers, that look, feel and pack like G3s, before the product name "G3" came into use. There are probably some differences that are not super obvious, between those and the actual G3...

    I don't think there is such thing as a Mirage G2. OP, I'd say that if yours doesn't specifically say G3 somewhere on it, you just have a plain old Mirage, without the fancy name, but with all the functionality...

    Congrats on your new/used gear!

  16. If you want to send a pic to me at [email protected], I'd be happy to take a look at the wear that's making you nervous, and tell you whether I share your worry...

    So... you need the single, 'fat' steering line, all the way from where it joins the uppers? Or just the part that runs from the brake setting loop to the toggle? Or everything from the canopy down? Or just the uppers? I'm confused, haha

    IMO, if it's just brake-to-toggle, almost any rigger can manage that as long as she has a zig-zag machine and a tape measure. More than that, and it's a little more time-consuming than it's worth to try to build them yourself, UNLESS you have a love of process (because it is really fun to reverse-engineer something and have it turn out perfect!).

    When I worked for the service center, prices were $70 for a complete set of steering lines (canopy to toggle) and $40 for Lower Control lines. Almost nobody ordered just brake-to-toggle lines, so I can't recall what we charged - probably $10. This was all several years ago, so prices may have risen a bit since then.

  19. Quote

    I felt the reserve fire off my back and then I realized that my hand had slipped off the cutaway handle right before I pulled the reserve handle! I was shocked and realized that had that been an actual in air emergency I would probably of been fucked.



    I had a similar experience the first time I was in a hanging harness. In my case, my hand didn't slip off the cutaway handle - it just stopped moving in response to the shear-force of the velcro. The metal reserve ripcord slipped easily from between the velcro by comparison. After that, I very purposefully changed my visualization cadence to peel-pull-pull (I'm a one-hander), then peel-pull-peel-pull, when I switched to a soft reserve handle.

    I'm fortunate to have a lifetime supply of closed rigs with handles I can pull during repack season (I've been rigging full time for more than a decade). As surprised as I am when jumpers don't choose to pull their handles when they drop their rigs off, I will happily do it a hundred times a year! One thing I have learned is that it matters less, at least in my experience, what kind of handle you have (metal or pillow) than it does that you are visualizing that handle-type. Because I am used to pillow handles, from my own semi-compulsive handle touching on the ride to altitude, I often miss the metal handles when I pull them on customer rigs. Maybe something to think of if you are borrowing gear, and especially when you switch handle type on your own gear!

  20. Buying a used helmet is really good advice, and there are probably lots of used G3's and G2's out there.

    As for jumpsuits, unless there's a local guy selling one, that you can try on, and that fits perfectly, I would recommend sucking it up and buying new. It's worth the $$ for a perfect fit.

    I'm not super familiar with Francois' suits, but I've known him as a customer for several years, and he is more than reliable.

  21. Quote

    You can achieve a better fit around your legs with the 2-piece, imo its only better for those, that got really skinny legs.



    Nobody will mistake me for someone with "really skinny legs," but I like the fit of two-piece leg pads much, much better. It may be totally subjective, but...
    *it's also a much easier job for a rigger to replace a damaged leg strap on a rig with two-piece leg pads (edit: as I look at a Vector3 with one-piece leg pads that just arrived here, I see the leg straps themselves are the same regardless of which pad configuration you choose, so no real difference in repair labor either way).

  22. Quote

    I packed a VR360 that ended up several inches out of trim laterally after it was deployed in a terminal side spin.



    yup. I saw this on a sport reserve once after a single unstable terminal deployment (first repack, even, and less than a week after assembly) - the lines on the left side were literally an inch or two shorter than the lines on the right. Before that, I'd never heard of such a thing, so I asked a far more experienced rigger than I, wtf was going on. I was afraid I'd somehow missed the length discrepancy on assembly, and I was very relieved to learn that jacked up trim after terminal reserve deployment is not really all that uncommon. It is definitely a bummer for you though, OP!