Re advice on Pdf Merit and Electra canopies
Kim & Anne Fairclough
Pdf Merit or Electra canopies. I am goinjg to purchace an Atom and wan't to
use a Pdf canopy but have had no experiance with them and don't no any-one
hwo has.I have heard that the Merit has a tendency for hard openings.
Advice please i am new into the sport and have 20 jumps up but should have
about 50+ by the time my rig is ready to jump.
Blue skies and soft landings
Kim Fairclough
Matt L.
when I pulled sub-terminal at 2500' straight after exit!). I can't offer an
opinion about the electra as I haven't jumped one. Have you thought about a
Paratec canopy? they're German so you'll still get a good exchange rate (PD
canopies are Very expensive at the moment due to the high $/£ exchange
rate...). They have a canopy called the Quadra which is very similar to
PD's Sabre -probably even a little more docile. I don't know the address of
their website, but they advertise in the mag. IMHO one of the right size
would be okay for a beginner like yourself. As always though, ask an
instructor and make sure that the CCI at your dropzone is okay with you
jumping it too 8o)
HTH
Matt.
Kim & Anne Fairclough <hen...@ihug.com.au> wrote in message
news:9178bv$vhl$2...@bugstomper.ihug.com.au...
erica_...@my-deja.com
> Could any one out ther tell me if they have or still jump the
> Pdf Merit or Electra canopies. I am goinjg to purchace an Atom and
wan't to
> use a Pdf canopy but have had no experiance with them and don't no
any-one
> hwo has.I have heard that the Merit has a tendency for hard openings.
> Advice please i am new into the sport and have 20 jumps up but should
have
> about 50+ by the time my rig is ready to jump.
Hi Kim
A few people here in Ireland have ordered them however no has had a
chance to jump them cos the weather has been crap. If anyone gets to
jump over the weekend I'll update you.
I ordered one myself a 130 but couldn't take it cos I wanted a 000
container (being the size of a 12 year old child) so had to replace it
with the springo 120
I believe they are the replacement for the merit the new updated,
better version & with a much better name (but I would say that a friend
of mine came up with it) so therefore they are suppose to have better
openings etc.
BSBD
Erica
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
cll...@yahoo.com
Hi Kim
I've had my merit 150 for a few years now and have done about 400'ish
jumps on it and on the whole it does tend to be a bit brisk on opening
but not neck brakers, that's just poor packing. I jump video and
stills with mine and I want to get into doing wing suit jumping next
year so I'll be selling mine (hint hint)and will be changing to a
Spectre/Triathlon due to there more slower deployments but don't let
that put you off getting a Merit. They are quite responsive canopies
and you'll get nice surfs off them as well and they are a dream to pack
from brand new due to the fact that the bottom skin is F-111 and the
top is ZP and also have a small pack volume. I hope that's of some
help to you.
Cowpants
Mike Vogeleer
> Have you thought about a Paratec canopy? I don't know the address of their
> website
That's http://www.paratec.de
The Quadra is a great canopy.
The new "neXt" is a very very good rig. They even make them with extra soft
padding on back & shoulders.
George Katsoulis
170 then moved down to a 150. I note the comments about fast openings. I
have heard this a number of times before and had the same problem until
I learned to pack it. Nearly all the jumping I do is Tandem video and so
I can't tolerate too many hard openings. A simple pack job is required.
Nose open (i.e. not rolled or folded) in the middle, BIG slider, two
tight folds of the tail around the lines and 4 or 5 more rolls at the
bottom of the tail.
I find the Merit fun to jump. It's semi-elliptical and this is
noticeable on hard turns where the canopy tends to dive hard in
comparison to squares, but it's no where near as radical as the fully
elliptical canopies. It's openings are consistent and on heading. I have
experienced end cell closure (quite rare) and the slider not coming
fully down. When the latter became too frequent I fitted a new line set
and this has solved the problem.
My main criticism is that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of lift
from the canopy on landing. It's not as good as the Sabre for example
unless you approach the ground at speed which of course requires a
greater level of judgement which, if you get it wrong... This may be to
do with the F111 bottom skin creating more drag as the canopy is getting
older, but I don't know.
All in all I like my Merit, but I wouldn't buy another one now. I would
recommend it for someone with 150-200 jumps if it's properly loaded and
if, like me, you like a safe ride to the ground with a bit of fun up
high now and again it should do you for a long time.
George Katsoulis
John Carter
The Merit is a nice low-medium experience canopy once its open, but the
openings can be fairly hard. It was built by P de F before they had learned
how to build soft openings into their canopies. Although you might be able
to learn a technique for packing in softer openings, they can still be hard
at higher hotter DZs.
Why buy a canopy which requires a critical packing technique for soft
openings when you can get an equally nice flying canopy that also gives nice
openings like the Spectre or the Triathlon?
JC
Alex Busby
"John Carter" <j...@doctors.org.uk> wrote in message
news:91jgi2$mm1$1...@plutonium.compulink.co.uk...
> Hi Kim,
>
> The Merit is a nice low-medium experience canopy once its open>
Snip
Why buy a canopy which requires a critical packing technique for soft
> openings when you can get an equally nice flying canopy that also gives
nice
> openings like the Spectre or the Triathlon?
>
> JC
We have had Triathlons on the RA PArachute Team for some time now, and
whilst I can agree they are a very good canopy(that good weve just brought 4
more). We experienced a lot of very slow openings with them to start with.
This was due to the tail being rolled, and it is recomended by Aerodyne that
you do nothing to the canopy once you have brought the tail round to the
nose. It is advid=sed that you lay the canopy down and put it straight in
the D Bag.
Once we had this sorted we have had lovely openings every time since.
If you happen to get a Triathlon with the bridle that runs through the rings
on the top skin, I would advise, unless you are doing CF, that you replace
it with a standard bridal or kill line. We have discovered that no matter
how carefully you pack them you can still get damage from the rings.
Alex Busby
www.raparateam.freeserve.co.uk