Ragnarok

I have had the Solo about two years. I hear some complain about the battery life, but I have none. Besides, I always have spares on hand.

Best part about the solo is that it can be changed in the plane. You can easily reset it anytime, skydive to skydive.

Flying camera??? This is one thing you don't want to be without.

I gave this canopy a 4/5 because it is an amazing canopy in nearly every aspect that is important for me to enjoy my skydive.

Openings: Simply put - SWEET!!! Gentle, on-heading, and surprisingly forgiving of packing method. Even with a camera helmet, I have never been wacked. Twisted, maybe once, but never a "bad" opening. If you fly camera, this is the canopy for you.

Flight: This is a fun canopy to fly, period. Responsive, stable, predictible. Easy to dial in, and once you do, you can touch down light as a feather or you can "turf surf". The canopy planes out nicely and will have you skimming for a bit, especially on a 'downwinder'. Never a worry landing this canopy, even in turbulance it is forgivng and quite stable.

Packing: Let me start by saying that I am picky about how I pack and I like to enjoy packing my chute. My canopy has 300 jumps on it and it is slicker than a greased pig. I flatten it out and it just wants to re-inflate. I have to fight it into the bag more often than I like, and it takes me longer to pack than my triathlon.

All things considered I would not want to fly another canopy, though I am partial to 7-cell canopies. I just hate packing it. I have 50 jumps on this (got it second-hand for a great price) and won't make it to 100 because I am selling it and going back to a triathlon. Why? I actually enjoy packing my triathlon, which makes the whole skydive that much sweeter.

I am looking at learning to flat-packing, it has packing tabs. That may change over the next 2 & 1/2 months. If so, I may end up feeling diferently about this canopy.