BryanCampau

That was my fault for sticking a jab at the suit in the promo video. I'll try to bite my tongue on suit talk in a canopy discussion. :) The only canopy issues i've had is when my wing loading was around 1.5+. Basically when my wing loading was high enough to potentially turn line twist into a cutaway. I tried the Epicene but hated the F111 flight characteristics. I have to agree with you - i'm currently on a Storm with a 1.3 WL and have no issues.

I certainly see your point. I haven't met someone that has had 40+ jumps on a Jedei, Alpine, and C Race. But i'm sure they do exist but even then we can't compare flysight data since there is other factors. We can only go by what the "feel" is the better suit. The data just doesn't exist to say definitively. The point being it is very difficult to say with any accuracy that one suit is better then another in terms of performance.

I didn't realize people bought acro suits for performance. I also don't know how it can be definitive that one brand outperforms another. I think there is a lot more to do with the pilot than people give credit to. Designs are so close that people are talking about covering their chest straps and three rings to get the edge on competition. Or buying an aurora to flatten the rig. Or buying a more efficient helmet. I think all the performance suits are capable of getting on the podium and finishing first. I think the wingsuit tunnel may be the only legit way to accurately gauge performance of just the suit. It at least gets us closer anyhow. Let's give more credit to the pilots and less credit to Honda or Yamaha or whoever makes the model they are either paid to fly or fly on their own free will.

Haha! Now that's just down right clever.

Haha look at that tail flutter on that suit in the beginning. :) **Slowly steps away from the angry fan boys**

Neat, thanks for sharing that link. I had not seen that yet.

Haha they can suck it up. It's no fun if we all agree. But its even less fun when people get butt hurt about disagreeing. Some people just need to learn to keep emotions out of it when they disagree with someones honest opinion. Perspective is everything.

Haha it definitely doesn't look cool. But it does make sense that if the aerodynamics are truly an improvement then it will be bought so competitors can be at the top of their game. And on the other side of things, it might be pretty beneficial to back flying. I'd like to see the price tag they are going to stick on that ugly thing. I would definitely like to demo one and if the benefits are there then it is worth owning. It would give me a great excuse to never jump without a wingsuit. :) But i'll bet it will be a while before its available for demo or order.

Yes, I have more jumps on Funk1 than anything else. I also have around 50 on the Funk2. And now about 75 on the Havoc Carve. Squirrel is not even close to the Havoc Carve. The Havoc Carve is incredibly smooth and agile. The Funk's fly decent on both their belly and back but are clumsy in transitions and any kind of dynamic flight. It's because their wings are too rigid for acro. The funk 1 lacked forward speed. The funk 2 was an attempt to fix it. But what happens when you slow it down at all on its back? It looks just like a Freak with the tail flapping like crazy. Neither of them come close to the havoc carve in my opinion.

Haha! I know, I know....And I will undoubtedly get trolled hard for stating an honest opinion based on my experiences.

I've got around 50 jumps on a Freak and I have to say it was the largest let downs of all the suits i've purchased. I know i'm gonna catch shit for voicing that opinion but it's the truth. I love back flying but that thing was terrible on it's back. The tail flapped like crazy unless you were flying it maxed out. You basically couldn't play with the range of the suit if you wanted the tail to inflate. I emailed Squirrel with my concerns and they assured me nothing was wrong with the suit and that it was simply not being flown right. Basically just boasting that it requires a lot of skill to back fly that suit. It was quite annoying at the time but now it is laughable. It would appear the Freak 2 release was rushed in response to both Tony Suits and Phoenix Fly releasing their big acro suits that actually can back fly! And of course now they are owning up and saying they fixed the back inlet vents on the tail so it actually inflates instead of flaps. I switched to Phoenix Fly suits after owning 8 Squirrel suits and accumulating over 500 jumps on them. In my opinion their wings are extremely rigid and don't fit the style of flight I like. I enjoy the smoothness of transitions, carving, and just smooth flying overall. The smooth acro flight characteristics are in my opinion what Phoenix Fly does best. Every manufacturer has something they tend to do exceptionally well over the competition. I don't think any manufacturer out there is complete garbage. In this case - I do think Squirrel let their customers down with the Freak and their response to the complaints. My Strix should be here within a month. :) I can compare the two once I get some jumps on the Strix. But with the suit fitting the style Phoenix Fly is known for - I don't think I will be disappointed.

Haha don't get me wrong, I've never claimed to be a canopy expert. But my storm 135 lands with a lot less fuss/skill then my epicene 150 & 170. Body position tends to effect a canopies opening more than what's packed in there. My storm opens good for me, flies well, and lands well. We all don't have to have opinions that agree.

Haha - you are going to disappoint this guy if he thinks he is going to have softer landings switching to an Epicene. Squirrel has great marketing.

My home dz is Skydive Carolina. If you are willing to make a short drive down sometime i'd be happy to help. Or if you can find two other people up there I can make the drive up and do the course there. Shoot me a PM on here and we can work something out.

The epicene is fantastic if the ONLY thing you care about is a smooth on heading open and ease of packing. The landings/flare are terrible on that canopy. My ankles were sore after every weekend of jumping that canopy. It's also really hard to make it back from a long spot. Life span of 500 jumps is a real drag too. I've got probably 250 jumps between the epicene 150 & 170 i had. I upsized to the 170 thinking it would be easier to land softly since i loaded it a 1:1. Still wasn't the case. I've now switched back to a Storm 135 and absolutely love it. Very consistent and fun to fly. I don't plan on switching up my canopy choice any time soon.

Phoenix fly - Havoc Carve. 3 weeks from submitting the order form to arrival! And that includes the week of international shipping. This is my third suit from them. Awesome customer service and great quality product as per usual. Just sharing some positivity. :)

I've flown them both so I feel like it's fair for me to drop my two cents in. With that said - i've only got 450 WS jumps and 300ish are on Squirrel suits. So still a noob in the long haul but have flown the full spectrum of squirrel suits, good majority of Tony suits, and a small handful of Phoenix Fly suits. I gave PF suits a try after talking extensively with Jarno. Lead times were shorter than Squirrel and quality is top notch. In terms of manufacturing - both are excellent choices. The Freak is a suit that if you are comfortable in Squirrel suits then you will feel right at home. They all have the same "feel" and are rather easy to fly in a relaxed body position. It's super easy to get a slow fall rate in this suit. Forward speed is decent but noticably slower if you fly with some C2s and Craces which isn't surprising. On it's back it has some inflation issues with the tail. If you aren't dug in on your back, that tail will flutter and not be inflated. It takes a lot of playing with and I honestly have found it to be incredibly disappointing in that aspect. Transitions are fairly easy in this suit. And it's pretty stable in a dive. The Hunter takes some muscle to fly. It didn't feel natural to me but i have a lack of experience in their suits which may cause this. I felt like i wasn't in shape enough to fly it to its full potential. lol Great forward speed and stable in dives. Tons of fun to fly. I couldn't get the fall rate quite as slow as the Freak but that may be my lack of experience in their suits. Transitions were super smooth and it is solid as heck on its back. Very impressive suit if you can find some friends that want to do large acro suit flight. My questions is why not a Havoc Carve or Funk 2? Typically you don't meet many people doing large suit acro which leads me to not fly those suits nearly as much. I think this suit size is perfect for fun jumps with some acro.

I ordered two suits from Phoenix Fly (Shadow & Hunter) to add to my wingsuit arsenal. These being my first two suits from them I had some doubts when readings post such as this. Despite that - I was extremely pleased with the order from start to finish. Received the suits 5 weeks after ordering. I ordered through none other than Jarno and received excellent communication/customer service. I haven't had a chance to fly the suits yet but I'm excited to. They are extremely well built and super light weight (parapack). Just posting on here to say I didn't experience any of the negative stuff talked about in this post. :)

Completely amazing suit. It is exactly as described in the advertisements. Massive range in the internal pressure. Super easy to transition and fly steep. Deployments are amazingly easy and you don't fall out of the sky. It feels natural to fly and is a ton of fun. I highly recommend this suit. (i've flown only Tony suits before this one)

I don't have a membership there due to the fact that you can ONLY fly during the week. They won't let you use your time on the weekend. It makes sense from a business standpoint since the memberships are at such great rates and are intended to keep people flying during the week. If I had the ability to go up there and fly during the week I would take the 30 minutes every week. That's just me! I love their tunnel and always look forward to my next trip out there!

Everyone is different and has their own opinions but I like to do at minimum 30 minutes every trip. I try to get 45 minutes each trip out there. I do 15 minutes in a session and give at least an hour in-between sessions. That gives me plenty of time to review the video with my coach and pre-plan the next session. The first 15 minutes of each trip always seems to be a bit of a warm up. The second session is good progression but the last session is where I really feel and see the improvement. Before I started doing this I flew an hour and 45 minutes at a tunnel camp in two days. And before that I had a few 15 minutes sessions each visit to the tunnel. The 30 or 45 works best for me! PM me if you would like to see progression videos. I've got one for the camp and then three others for my 30/45 days at the tunnel. Good luck and have fun! The tunnel is amazing!

Thanks for sharing! So neat to see the progression.

I got this canopy a few weeks ago and have put about 15 jumps on it. I was expecting to get hard openings but it didn't happen. The openings are brisk but far from painful. The flight characteristics are great. Fantastic landings. Really fun to fly. And you can get them at great prices!

I'm looking to learn about and make my first wingsuit skydive. Hoping to find an instructor in NC. But I'am doing an airshow in TN next weekend and wouldn't mind skydiving some more.