Elpnor

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Everything posted by Elpnor

  1. Thanks for the reply Gowlerk. I actually still have some of the mini riser ones in a bag somewhere. What I was hoping for were some for standard width risers. So I guess my main question is who does specialty work in risers and maybe sliders? I know I saw what I was looking for and idiot I didn't make a note of who it was
  2. Anyone know of shops that make specialty skydive gear? I saw one that made the pilgrim hat riser stops that normally come with mini risers for standard rider width, and then I forgot who it was and now can't find them. I'm a bigger guy and my slider often comes down over my soft links and jams my brakes a bit. It's annoying and seems like theres other people in the same boat
  3. I think Westerly's been drinking again. Usually his comments are very safety minded and conservative, and oft i agree with them. The two things that make a tandem lurk inherently more dangerous than a four way rw is the long drogue bridle and the possible actions of a panicky passenger. That being said, I don't think it's terribly dangerous if the ti trusts the skill of the lurker and the lurker has plenty of belly experience with group jumps. If I did convince a ti to let me lurk a friend, I'd definitely flip them a 20 for the extra work. They now have one more thing to be aware of and take into account.
  4. Anyone know the specifications for the battery screw on an optima 2 audible? I don't want to pay 20 bucks for a 5 cent screw. Or where to get one online? On a side note, I've had three orders of cr2325 batteries ordered that were dead, or nearly dead on arrival. The last batch was manufactured in 2017. I think it's a rarely used battery and Chinese manufacturers try to unload their worthless crap on you. Don't be caught short without one, thinking that your two day amazon will get you up and running.
  5. I've considered getting the sessions for just that reason. It seems like it'd be more streamlined. However Binary might be right. It might be the whole helmet is shaking.
  6. Thanks Tabouare. I saw your thread, and started a new one in general hoping more people would see it and give some feedback. There doesn't seem to be many that have tried it. As far as stabilization goes, that's a thought. I'm using a hero 4 still, and I've never looked into camera stabilization. I'll have to see if that one has it, or whether it's time to jump up to the hero 8. I still like the idea of being able to take the camera off the mount easily.
  7. I'm thinking about buying the vmag for a cookie 3. Anyone using it, and any problems or good things to say about it? I have the grelfab and it makes for shakey video in a sit. I never liked the idea of using rubber bands as a mount.
  8. I recently got my vigil back after the 10 year battery replacement and software update, and noticed the difference in the display unit, but just assumed it was basically the same unit. So, they upgraded me to a Cuatro? And did they keep the same cutter? Is there anything I need to know about the new set up? It seems about the same. I've read up slightly on the Cuarto. Does this also mean that I'm good for another 20 years with a battery replace at 10, or should I have the cutter replaced at some point?
  9. Ahh. Yeah, twice a year at best sounds like a once in a blue moon deal. I was hoping that such a busy dz would do them more often, but I'm sure it's a pain to work that late for those concerned, and it's tough to get enough people to commit to fill a plane. I'll hit them up about it when I'm there, but I'll keep the hopes low.
  10. Anyone done a night jump at Perris lately? I've been thinking about heading out in march and it just happens to fall on the full moon. Do they do them often, or is it a once in a blue moon thing? And how easy is it to spot the landing area from altitude? If they light up the runway at night it seems like it would be an easy spot.
  11. Well. Now you got me wondering whether the big problem I was having was just too small of a slider, compounded with being a big guy. Hmm. I'm thinking about talking to pd about it. Still, I like the idea of a domed slider. I think having more curve to the slider is a huge insurance to preventing hard openings. And no, I don't ever have a problem with the slider getting hung up. It comes down alright. It just takes a few moments of a snivel before it decides to make it down the lines. There's been times when my slider comes down with a little too much gusto, and gets past my slinks and i have to push it up over my brake lines. I have the standard wide risers. I've been looking into getting pilgrim hat stops like the mini risers have. Currently no one makes them for the wide risers, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem.
  12. Sorry, Sheeks. I didn't mean to leave you hanging. The old slider that came with my sabre 2 230 was 22" x 30". The new domed slider is 26" x 30" with maybe 5 inches or so of dome to it in the middle. I wish the opening were a bit quicker though. They always take well over a 1000 feet with typical being 1200 to 1400. Anyone want to chime in on how to speed up the openings without sacrificing the pleasant initial hit? 5 inch hole in the middle? Smaller domed slider? I wouldn't go back to the original slider. That thing would bite.
  13. I still have the original slider sitting in my skydive bucket. I'll take it out and measure them both and get back to you
  14. I was looking over this thread again because I've put maybe 100 jumps on my domed slider and I'm very happy with it, except for the longish openings. I chuck at 4 and am open at 2700 feet. I've been thinking about talking to PD about putting a mesh hole in the middle to speed up the canopy inflation. This strikes my as a good design. A domed slider to catch more air and prevent the slider from slanting down the lines, and an air feed in the middle to speed up inflation of the canopy. Anyone have any experience with this? RiggerLee? I've also wondered about the friction of the lines with hard openings and whether anyone has thought of a sheath or a different material for the first foot or so of line that would impede a fast slide down of the slider. Something that would grab the grommets a bit and allow for a momentary hesitation of the slider and prevent a slammer. By the by, I had a premature opening fairly recently in a sitfly. It was likely caused by a loose BOC, and a bit of fabric exposed. I usually do maybe 165 in a sit, being the big anvil that I am. The opening was pleasantly soft. For a big guy like me, I consider a domed slider to be a needed safety feature, and I won't jump without one.
  15. I jumped at Mesquite a few years ago. Very nice dz. Great plane, good peeps
  16. How much did you weigh when you jumped last vs now? A problem big guys have is the equipment is not really meant for us. Faster fall rates with more force make hard openings more likely. I highly recommend a domed slider. PD made me one and it made a huge difference in my snappy openings. I'm 6 8, 260, and feel your pain.
  17. My rig is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'm thinking about buying a new one. Anyone want to throw out 4 cents and give an opinion on the most comfortable rig for us really big guys? I'm 6'8" with a 50 inch chest and broad shoulders. I currently jump a vector with a sabre 2 230 which has never been terribly comfortable. I totally understand that the patterns for rigs aren't meant for my species and will never be ideal, but maybe some are better than others.
  18. Oooh, I like these risers! I have had a toggle knot from pulling through the excess line and now I do a ridiculous weave to secure my brake line loop. Big canopy, long excess. I wonder if I can get them to make me pilgrim hat grommet stops for standard width risers.
  19. Every review I've read on the Vog has been positive, and I don't mean to disparage it as a quality voice altimeter. I don't doubt it's a well made device. I was just wondering if there's another one coming down the pike that I'll be able to compare it to, or if I should just pull the trigger and buy this one. At 400 its a tidy sum.
  20. Are there any other manufacturers working on a speaking audible besides vog? I like the concept, I'm just not sure I'd buy one from a start up that doesn't have experience with altimeters. I'd much rather buy one with say LB initials before it.
  21. I reverse s fold my canopy. The end with the slider is the last thing I put in my bag, and I always give it a last push up against the stops. Minus the movement of the slider under tail, is there anything else terrible about this packing style? Yuri makes a convincing argument
  22. Anyone else like the idea of having an exposed slider outside the tail wrap? This got me thinking. I use to pack that way. Mostly because I wanted to see where my grommets were just before putting them in the bag and to make sure my slider was all the way up. I started packing with a more traditional tight wrap around the lines. I was having a problem with hard openings but didn't think this might be the problem. I am also a heavy jumper, more so than yuri. I recently had pd make me a dome slider and it softened up my openings tremendously. Now I'm thinking about going back to having an exposed slider so it's the first thing the wind hits. Any thoughts on how much tail wrap around the main part of the canopy? I do probably more than I should to make an easier pack job.
  23. I had a brutally hard opening three years ago. Knocked unconscious for a few seconds, broken left riser, out of sequence cutaway, but a safe reserve land. I spent a lot of time researching hard openings and concluded it was likely bag strip. I'm a big guy with a faster fall rate, jumping a sabre 2 230. PD sent me a new sabre 2, and I took a little over a year off. All of last year, my opening were brisk bordering hard. Often I had a sore back for days. It made me want to quit the sport. I contacted PD to see if a larger slider was a decent idea, but I was already kicking around a pocket slider or a domed slider. They said they could make me one, and had a brave test jumper lead up and put some jumps on it. I've jumped it maybe 30 times so far, and it's been a huge improvement. I've yet to have even a hardish opening. My openings have always been longish, even when I was getting rocked a bit, maybe 900 feet consistently, and with the dome they are 1000 or slightly over. I'm slowly getting over my trepidation of reaching for my pc every jump. I think all sliders should have have some curve to them, and a solid dome mandatory for bigger jumpers. I also think hard openings that cause neck and back damage are much more endemic than people think. Perhaps some sort of slider attachment to the stops would work as well. A snap system or magnetic connect seems promising. I do wish this issue could be addressed by the manufacturers as opposed to it just being chalked up to poor packing and something we have to live with.
  24. I just did a balloon jump in Perris Ca and that was the slickest balloon jump Iv'e ever done, out of maybe 10, with most being at eloy. 8k altitude, landed on the dz, and amazingly pleasant and professional people running the jump. I haven't jumped at eloy for maybe 7 years, so maybe theyve gotten better there, but I'd highly recommend going to Perris for that type of jump. They'll go any day as long as they have enough people and the winds are good.