Gear Advice

[Bryan]

Looking for advice from seasoned jumpers on what the all-around best gear selection (PC size/s, Pin/velcro etc...)would be best, given the type and height of the objects in my area. Keep in mind I'm brand new to BASE, so try to think in hind-sight.

Objects:
A couple really low B's (Sub 300')
One or two S's 200'ish (not suitable for newbs)
lots of A's. About 10 between 4 and 700' and At least 4 over 800'. The highest being 1150' which given the security is pretty much un-jumpable.
Maybe 2 E's Right around 300'(not suitable for newbs)

As you can see, 95% of the jumping will be off of A's

I'm asking because I'm about to purchase gear so that I can make it out to Twin Falls with an experienced friend. Don't want to waste any money.

Feel free to flame the FNG, but I would really appreciate some usefull information.

-Bryan
Headdown25@hotmail.com

[imported_Tom Aiello]

Hi Mick:

Could we add a "recommended gear for beginners" section to the "Starting / Instruction" part of the Knowledge BASE?

It seems like this is the kind of question that gets asked a lot.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu

[imported_Tom Aiello]

I'm guessing that most, if not all of your jumps will be from slider up Antennas. So, here's my advice based on that. Once you have more jumps from them, and want to do your lower/harder objects, you'll probably want to start re-thinking your gear (although most good BASE gear would be suitable for the occasional jump for those objects as well).

As always, get as much input as you can, from as many different people. Trust no one but yourself. It might also be useful to read the gear reviews here at BLiNC.

Container:

First Choice: Vision
Second Choice: Reactor 4

I'd recommend a Velcro container for your first. I know that lots of people are moving to pins (I currently own zero velcro rigs, myself), and that all the cool kids are jumping pins, and that all those guys getting minute delays off big walls in Norway jump pins. But, for your first gear, especially if you are an American planning on jumping mostly at home (and mostly sub-terminal), I'd go with Velcro. Velcro is simpler, takes less skill/practice to pack, and can be packed using the patented Gary Cunningham roll technique (that's a joke--Gary's pack jobs are wrong, wrong, wrong; they are an abomination to nature and abhorrent in the sight of god; anyone jumping pack jobs like that is certifiable and ought to be locked in a padded room and kept well medicated at all times).

So, which Velcro rig? My personal favorite is the Vision (Gravity Sports Ltd/Dennis McGlynn). The Vision is loose, comfortable and easy to pack. It also has burly velcro that will stay put once you close it. I also like the Reactor 4 (Basic Research). I am not a big fan of previous Reactors (they were way too tight), Perigee Classics or Perigee II's. All three of these are, in my opinion, too tight, and had trouble staying closed (both on approach and in freefall) because of it. Whichever rig you buy, be sure that you understand that Velcro replacement is not optional. You need to keep the velcro maintained, or any rig will be in danger of premature openings.

As a side note, I'd avoid the Odyssey (Paratech). The last one I inspected (in KL three weeks ago) did not have stiffeners in the side flaps, which can inhibit the shrivel action in a head down deployment (by letting the side flaps shrivel with the shrivel flap, and stay attached), which could potentially result in a pilot chute in tow malfunction.

Canopy:

First Choice: Ace
Second Choice: FOX (non-Vtec) or Mojo

A BASE specific canopy is mandatory for any serious BASE jumper. That means that your options are limited to a FOX, FOX Vtec, Mojo, Ace, Blackjack, Dagger and Troll. There are a couple of other early "BASE" canopies out there (Dragon, Pooster, Mustang) that you might see for sale used. Avoid these, as they were often worse than the skydiving canopies they were intended to supplant.

For a first canopy, at reasonable altitudes, I would avoid bottom skin vents (secondary inlets). Vents are very useful for some jumps, and not so necessary on others. However, they do add some considerations (for example, we are only just now beginning to understand the opening backsurge they can create, two years after we started jumping them) which you shouldn't have to worry about as a beginner. Also, they can create some added maintenance concerns. So, strike the FOX Vtec and Blackjack. Note that my opinion on vents is not necessarily shared by some very experienced jumpers who I like and respect. Perhaps one of them will chime in here with an opposing point of view.

I personally don't know enough about the Dagger to comment, so I won't give you a recommendation on that canopy either way.

I think the Troll is still far too new for a beginner to try one out. There are two reasons for this: 1) you won't have any basis for comparison, so you won't know if it's a good canopy, and 2) if it turns out to suck, you don't want to have wasted your money. Without commenting on the canopy (I'm around 25 jumps on it, and still don't feel educated enough to express an opinion), I'd recommend that you avoid it.

What does that leave us? Ace, Mojo and FOX.

At the altitudes you are jumping any of these ought to be suitable.

You are unlikely to find a used (hence cheap and quickly available) Ace. If you are willing to buy new, and can wait for delivery on an Ace (currently quite slow, although the rumor is that things will accelerate dramatically in another month or so), I'd recommend buying that canopy. I think that the Ace has better openings, stall performance, and deep brake flight characteristics than either the FOX or Mojo.

A used Mojo ought to be relatively easy to find (there are tons of Mojos out there, and many people are selling them to buy Aces) at a good price. Back before the latest wave of canopy innovation (Vtec, Ace, Blackjack), the Mojo was my favorite canopy. It has good openings at any airspeed, approaches well in deep brakes, and has a low stall speed. Many people (particularly people accustomed to skydiving canopies) have trouble landing the Mojo. I've never had this problem, but it is one to be aware of. So be aware that you may end up pounding in for a while until you get used to the canopy.

The FOX is a good canopy for your uses too. On the plus side, the FOX is simple to pack (everything lines up perfectly, making it easier to flat pack than a Mojo, and far easier than the often tricky Ace), which is important as a beginner. It is also very burly, so it will stand up to the abuse of your first 50-100 jumps (and attendant tree landings, pavement drags, and fence hookings) better than a Mojo (the Ace will probably be just as tough as the FOX, but no one really knows for sure yet--there just aren't that many Aces with 300 jumps on them). On the down side, the FOX has poor low airspeed openings (so you probably won't want to freefall your low objects on it later in your career--although you could if you sent it back to BR to have a Vtec mod installed). The FOX also lands nice in full flight, but has a relatively high stall point, making steep approaches a bit tricky.

Pilot Chutes:

The classic advice is: Get one 42" PC for everything, one tiny PC for terminal, and one fat PC for really low stuff.

Looking at what you want to jump, I'd say:

Get a 38" A/V PC from CR for your 700-1100' antenna jumps. This will be your workhorse PC, so it's worth putting in the extra few dollars for the A/V option.

Get a 42" PC (A/V or not) from any manufacturer (I've had good luck with Paratech, Morpheous, Consolidated Rigging and Basic Research--I'm sure most everyone else makes perfectly good standard PC's as well). If you have the cash to grab an A/V, I would. If money is really an issue, skip it on this PC. Use the 42 for your jumps off that legal span in Idaho.

When you decide to jump the lower stuff close to home, you'll need to invest in a bigger PC. I like BR's 48 (the one with no handle). I find that handled/capped PC's have a slightly greater tendency to hesitate on zero airspeed deployments, so I avoid them for low stuff. I'd also avoid A/V PC's, which ought (intuitively) to have slower inflation (like rounds with an open apex vent) for really low objects. But, you can wait on buying the big PC until you really need it.

If cash is really an issue, just go with one 42" PC, and use it for everything (if this is the case, dig through your couch, find all the change you can, and cough up the extra ten bucks for the A/V).

Risers:

Usually, your risers will come with your rig. But, if you have a choice, I'd get Integrity (reversed--no hole) risers with large rings and an LRT toggle setup (BR and CR sell these standard). I personally avoid small rings (I own several rigs and want to be able to exchange parts) and non-integrity risers.

Note that if you buy a used rig with Zoo toggles (the weird ones with the pin through the toggle), it is well worth the money to buy a pair of LRT toggles (or have someone refit yours to LRT). I'm not talking about Dennis' new Line Release Toggles, which look pretty sharp (although I haven't gotten a chance to use them yet), just the old style Zoo toggles (I think BR made them).

Ok, enough of my rambling. I hope this helps.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu