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anyone out there want to share their feedback on what are the best tracking pants / jacket set up for BASE??? Phoenix or Birdman or what???

Through discussions with several designers about the construction of the two suits [as well as threads on this site], it seems that the Impact is more suited to terminal tracking [I.E. they will produce significantly more drive and lift than the PF] and the PF suit is more suited to sub-terminal tracking [faster inflation, but less power overall].

That said, I don't think anybody I had this discussion with had actually witnessed or experienced the Impact in a sub-terminal environment. The Impact reportedly has the drive/lift/characteristics of a small to medium wingsuit... it seems to be quite the suit.

But as for how it performs sub-terminal? I don't know. I have seen videos of jumpers clearing the road in a certain Swiss valley while wearing the Impact.

I have some (although limited) experience with the Impact in subterminal enviroment. I jumped the suit in famous swiss valley and also did video for another jumper jumping it. My experience was that the inflation of the suit is pretty quick, I cannot give decent comparison to the PF suit since I've only jumped the full PF suit once but both of the suits inflate very quickly and feel that they produce loads of "float" in very early stages of freefall. My experience was that the Impact (like PF suit as well) feels very "floaty" and requires the jumper be very aggressive on his track. I feel that both suits are very easy to fly very close to stall point and get loads of FF time but not get optimal distance. The Impact jacket inflates HUGELY and offers huge amount of lift but you really have to push it and drive it to get it motoring. I would think that somebody with loads of WS BASE experience finds Impact easy to fly since the flying position (and probably the performance as well) feels very similar to beginner / intermediate WS.

Overall I find that BM has come up with very interesting product that has totally different design than the PF suit. Both suits surely have loads of performance potential, it's just up to individual choice which product suits ones needs and style of jumping better.

I'm not sure that it's really an apples-to-apples comparison to look at Impact v. PF Tracking Suit. Unfortunately, it's not apples-to-apples to look at Impact v. Prodigy either.

What are your criteria for defining something as a "tracking suit" v. a "wingsuit"?

For me, I define a tracking suit as anything you can walk around in/climb in/access the exit point in. If you can raise your knee above your waist... it's a tracking suit. If it just looks like a regular old [though strangely fitting] pair of pants and a jacket... it's a tracking suit.

A wingsuit is beyond all of that. It's a purpose-built suit whose only functional environment is freefall. You wouldn't wear a prodigy to the bar.

Those would be my criteria. That said, I feel that the Impact's flight characteristics are far more "wingsuit" than "tracking suit" and should be treated as such. Also consider my complete lack of experience with either.

I was the other jumper with Maretus. It was my first touch to Impact after one jump from the plane, think it was really nice but i couldnt fly it very well.

After couple of jumps from a plane i have now found the right position of my flying, and I think its really a lot of like a wingsuit flying. hands like in the same, also legs. the forward speed was really fast....and the track was awsome....

MB38, have you jumped with Impact ?
i mean they fly quite well...i flied 11 jumps in non-terminal and i was relly satisfied, eventhou i was a rookie with that one and now terminal from plane a lot...no problem, great track and lots of forward movement...
I really like it....

I have seen live and in person three different jumpers wearing PF tracking outfits clear the road from LM in same valley.

If it has a wing between the legs then it is a wingsuit.

Of course, I've seen many a video of the road being cleared in the PF suit as well. I just brought it up as a point of comparison.

And Pete, I don't have any experience with the suit. Frankly, I lack the experience to warrant even trying the suit... I'd rather put time into improving my track in my normal jumpsuit before I start with specialized suits. But I'm just talking about the sky, there's no BASE for me for a very very long time.