Full disclaimer right at the start: I have been asked by Nick, the owner of Jedi Air wear to write a review for his products. I have not been paid to do so though I do measure for Jedi Airwear and have received suits in payment for that. I also consider Nick a friend. That said, for those that don’t know me, I’m rather blunt and to the point and tell things as I see them. I am taking the time to write this review because of the commitment to improving their products year after year and customer service I have received from Jedi Airwear. I hope this review helps people evaluating different brands of suits and offers insights into how Jedi Airwear treats customers and product development. So keep that in mind when reading the following.
What does a jumpsuit need to do? Well that depends on what you’re doing as a skydiver. As a full time instructor I have a couple of suits; my go-to red and black Instructor suit, camera wings and swoop shorts, and a freefly/tunnel suit.
My Instructor suit is my day-to-day suit. It needs to be able to take a beating while doing tandems, offer lots of range for AFF and have a pocket for my phone, a pocket for bungees and, most importantly, it needs to be comfortable as some days I’ll end up wearing it for 14 hours at a time. My current instructor suit is one of the original Jedi Airwear Instructor suits and does all these things well. Double lined Taslan with Cardura knees and butt and a YKK zipper mean I am not worried about the knees when I am packing or the butt when I have a heavy tandem on a no wind day in the middle of summer when the ground is hard and rough. Three years and 1500 jumps on my current instructor suit form Jedi Airwear and it’s still going strong and only now starting to show signs of wear. It’s tough, it’s affordable and it does the job well. As a bonus I have seen the latest iteration of the Instructor suit which have been tweaked slightly with updated pocket closures and single layer options.
My camera wings are used for filming both tandems and formations. Four years ago when I first started wearing Jedi Airwear products I wanted a different wing shape and mounting point than was offered at the time. Jedi Airwear worked with me to change the shape and bring the mounting point forward which resulted in a bad@ss camera jacket that matched how I wanted to fly. Filming in sit with tandems or formations from underneath with loads of range and an easy transition or staying above and in control while filming belly formations from 4-14 way this jacket has never let me down and has helped make my camera jumps easy. I have seen Jedi Airwear do various different designs to match customer requirements frequently over the last four years.
The freefly suit, well actually both of them as I am lucky enough to have a short sleeve and normal version, fit well and feature the same Taslan, Cordura and YKK as the instructor suits with a nice fitted design and spandex in the right places to keep movement unrestricted. Used for tandems a bit during the summer as well the suit has held up well. The company is now working with Steve Howes on tighter, more advanced, tunnel specific suits. The one thing I would change is the Velcro closure over the zip, but as that’s my biggest gripe with the suit I am pretty happy.
As for the swoop shorts? They do what’s expected; they take a beating and they keep my legs cool on the hot days. They have an inbuilt belt with large fastex clip and zipper which both work well and the design suits my legs well with good coverage over the knee with cordura when seated, standing or kneeling and they don’t bunch up around the crotch when my rig is on. They have original pocket design, which was placed similar to jean pockets, which was a bit inconvenient but after learning from this design the new swoop shorts have a pocket placed on the thigh with a horizontal zipper.
Bottom line there are many great suit providers out there offering various features at various price-points however I feel Jedi Airwear represents good value for money with a suit that matches my flying ability and needs. The quick turnaround time, usually 3 weeks or so, is a nice bonus too.
About the author: I have been a full time instructor since 2012 and have earned various AFF, tandem and coach ratings in Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK with a little over 5000 jumps and 30 hours of tunnel time (I like to pretend I can freefly). I own Overdose Industries Ltd and am also a rep for Squirrel wingsuits.
--
David Keevers
Director
Overdose Industries LTD
Company Number: 10574178
T: 0747 6824 317
www.overdoseindustries.com
120 mph Nose picking session with my buddy Robert Titchner www.jediairwear.co.uk suit testing
Full disclaimer right at the start: I have been asked by Nick, the owner of Jedi Air wear to write a review for his products. I have not been paid to do so though I do measure for Jedi Airwear and have received suits in payment for that. I also consider Nick a friend. That said, for those that don’t know me, I’m rather blunt and to the point and tell things as I see them. I am taking the time to write this review because of the commitment to improving their products year after year and customer service I have received from Jedi Airwear. I hope this review helps people evaluating different brands of suits and offers insights into how Jedi Airwear treats customers and product development. So keep that in mind when reading the following. What does a jumpsuit need to do? Well that depends on what you’re doing as a skydiver. As a full time instructor I have a couple of suits; my go-to red and black Instructor suit, camera wings and swoop shorts, and a freefly/tunnel suit. My Instructor suit is my day-to-day suit. It needs to be able to take a beating while doing tandems, offer lots of range for AFF and have a pocket for my phone, a pocket for bungees and, most importantly, it needs to be comfortable as some days I’ll end up wearing it for 14 hours at a time. My current instructor suit is one of the original Jedi Airwear Instructor suits and does all these things well. Double lined Taslan with Cardura knees and butt and a YKK zipper mean I am not worried about the knees when I am packing or the butt when I have a heavy tandem on a no wind day in the middle of summer when the ground is hard and rough. Three years and 1500 jumps on my current instructor suit form Jedi Airwear and it’s still going strong and only now starting to show signs of wear. It’s tough, it’s affordable and it does the job well. As a bonus I have seen the latest iteration of the Instructor suit which have been tweaked slightly with updated pocket closures and single layer options. My camera wings are used for filming both tandems and formations. Four years ago when I first started wearing Jedi Airwear products I wanted a different wing shape and mounting point than was offered at the time. Jedi Airwear worked with me to change the shape and bring the mounting point forward which resulted in a bad@ss camera jacket that matched how I wanted to fly. Filming in sit with tandems or formations from underneath with loads of range and an easy transition or staying above and in control while filming belly formations from 4-14 way this jacket has never let me down and has helped make my camera jumps easy. I have seen Jedi Airwear do various different designs to match customer requirements frequently over the last four years. The freefly suit, well actually both of them as I am lucky enough to have a short sleeve and normal version, fit well and feature the same Taslan, Cordura and YKK as the instructor suits with a nice fitted design and spandex in the right places to keep movement unrestricted. Used for tandems a bit during the summer as well the suit has held up well. The company is now working with Steve Howes on tighter, more advanced, tunnel specific suits. The one thing I would change is the Velcro closure over the zip, but as that’s my biggest gripe with the suit I am pretty happy. As for the swoop shorts? They do what’s expected; they take a beating and they keep my legs cool on the hot days. They have an inbuilt belt with large fastex clip and zipper which both work well and the design suits my legs well with good coverage over the knee with cordura when seated, standing or kneeling and they don’t bunch up around the crotch when my rig is on. They have original pocket design, which was placed similar to jean pockets, which was a bit inconvenient but after learning from this design the new swoop shorts have a pocket placed on the thigh with a horizontal zipper. Bottom line there are many great suit providers out there offering various features at various price-points however I feel Jedi Airwear represents good value for money with a suit that matches my flying ability and needs. The quick turnaround time, usually 3 weeks or so, is a nice bonus too. About the author: I have been a full time instructor since 2012 and have earned various AFF, tandem and coach ratings in Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK with a little over 5000 jumps and 30 hours of tunnel time (I like to pretend I can freefly). I own Overdose Industries Ltd and am also a rep for Squirrel wingsuits. -- David Keevers Director Overdose Industries LTD Company Number: 10574178 T: 0747 6824 317 www.overdoseindustries.com
