TheDZKID

I use two neptunes. One as an audible and one as a wrist-mounted altimeter --both as logbooks. I bought the first one three years ago at DeLand. It worked the first time and every time after that. I replaced the battery about every 150 jumps, or six months. I mainly used it as an audible and a logbook. I loved it so much that a year ago I ordered a neptune2. It worked fine, at first, but then it started shutting off when tapped. So I had some freefalls with just my neptune in my helmet. Turns out the battery went bad, fast -- in like a month. So I replaced it with the extra battery that came with it. It too went bad pretty fast. So replaced it again with a battery from Square 3. It went bad in about a month too. So now I went to radioshack and bought a generic bettery, maybe it will work better? When I talked to alti-2 they said the normal battery life is 3 months. So I have one good neptune and one not-so-good neptune2. I don't know what they did in-between, but I prefer the older one. Still works great.

I grew up and made all of my jumps at SDHI, it is a wonderful place. Even though they do many tandems every day it is still easy to get on a load, and usually the wait is 15-30 minutes, unless they are extremely busy trying to do 100 tandems in a day. The caravan they operate is comfortable even when full, and the benches allow you to see out the window's so you wont miss anything (neighbor islands, waikiki, whales, turtles, etc.) on a clear day. The facility has about anything you would need. The only aspect that they really lack is food, they do have a snack bar and some vending machines, but for good food hale'iwa is just a 10 minute drive away. The landing area is easy to find, and comfortably large enough to land in and they're are lots of alternate landing spots, just in case. Overall it is a unique experience. the whole time you are surrounded by beauty. A lot of people who have jumped in the mainland are astounded by the view in freefall and under canopy. Yeah SDHI is pretty cool, since its right in between the mountain and the ocean. I hope to see you out here! -Blue Skies