brinary01

SO the first question is how to rate a canopy I have only flown once, sense the only thing I have to compare with are various main canopies I will compare all the canopies with cars. Everyone here drives assume and I imagine most everyone reading this has pushed many cars to the limit. So here is the line up
Saber 2 190 = Ford focus ST
Navigator 210 = Ford Ranger Sport
Vengeance 170 = Honda civic SI
Smart 175 = Ford Focus LX
First sense I was in a dive below 2000FT My body position was Sh!7 none the less the Smart opened nicely on heading. Flight was very smooth and predictable. The flare was nice and predictable. In the end how can you really rate something that is the last resort it opened, I landed on the DZ, I lived to jump another day you will not be disappointed in a reserve canopy.

Ok I got about 40 jumps on this canopy not much but I want to put in my two cents about the airlocks as this is the most distinct feature on this canopy and what really sets it apart from the other canopies I have flown, including Saber 2 190/170, and spector 230/210, and a few others not worth mentioning. Before buying this canopy I read a lot about it, and about the airlock technology. Three big issues mentioned downing the canopy on windy days, cutaways, and packing oh and openings I will address this separate.
Cutaway: well I had to chop it once it was diving when I cut it away and it did not go far and winds I think were around 8 to 10 knots that day I recovered it with no problem but this is a forgiving DZ if there were trees I would have been paying a tree service to get it back but in no way did it fly any more than other cutaways I have seen.
Packing: My canopy had about 400 jumps on it when I got it, I don’t know what every one is speaking of when they talk about it being hard to pack. To me it is not more difficult to pack than any other canopy of equal size in a equal size container, I am packing into a Jav J4 so it is going into a d-bag made for it. It is at the point were it is much easier to pack, but the issue is supposed to be with getting air out of it this has never been a problem.
Downing the canopy: this is the pain about this canopy windy it is a real pain, I don’t bother trying to stow my breaks on a windy day because I will end up fighting the canopy, I don’t bother trying to daisy chain the lines on a windy day because I will end up fighting the canopy. I get to the tail asap and shake it to get as much air out as possible, stick the toggles in there holders, and pick the lines up neatly pickup my d bag n pc then move out. On low wind days if I twist and down it on it’s side just right it will land on the ground up side down (still fully inflated) in this case I do the same as above but stow my breast, and daisy chain my lines.
Openings: not as bad as I had read but still kind of funky not bad at all if I fly the opening, and soft I have opened in a track and it did not slam me if not flown some times it is fine most of the time it opens in a dive, which can be a problem if you have line twist, and opened kind of low like below 3000 in my experience this was enough to chop it as I was loosing a lot of altitude quick I do not blame the canopy design for this as most of the issues that led to the cutaway could have been prevented and were a result of me being in a rush to pack, and opening lower than I planed to. So to summarize a lot of fun to fly, and other than downing the canopy, I like the airlock design, but as I jump in Spain it is quite windy very often, and I will replace it with something similar in a non air locked design if the right deal comes along. Hope this helps anyone considering this canopy.

The only reason I do not recommend it is because it is such a pain to down and sense there are so many canopies that are similar with out airlocks I would say go that way first, but if the price is right you wont be disappointed with the flight.