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What's your experience level? My answer to the bit about ZP and packing may vary if you are fairly new.

(a) opening performance

Virtually identical. From above, I can tell differences between the various canopies openings, but from underneath, almost any vented canopy feels the same to me. I have not observed any quantifiable difference in opening headings between any of the vented canopies on the market today. I think the vented/unvented part of the equation is, at this stage in canopy design, more important than anything else. (For what it's worth, watching from above, I think the Blackjack has an edge over the Flik vtec on slider down pressurization, and that the Troll MDV DW--the one with the center cell valve--beats them both).


(b) glide

Advantage Blackjack. I've actually gone so far as to measure glide and flight speed on similarly loaded Blackjack and Flik canopies, and the Blackjack both flies faster and glides better. Note that the Blackjack I did this with was both newer than the FLik (by about 50 jumps) and had ZP foreskin, so although both canopies had less than 100 jumps at the time, the Blackjack had a certain advantage. Honestly, for your purposes, I think that either the Flik or Blackjack (in my opinion they are the two best glide ratio canopies on the market today) are going to be fine.


(c) flare

Advantage Flik. I think that from full flight the Flik has stronger flare than the Blackjack. Some of this may have to do with the toggle settings (I find the factory toggle marks on CR canopies incredibly long and always end up shortening mine substantially). From part brakes, I think that the Blackjack is a bit nicer to flare than the Flik, but with decent accuracy the vast majority of your Moab landings ought to be made from full flight.



(d) does the ZP foreskin provide enough benefit to compensate for packing difficulties?

Yes. It's not too hard to deal with it given some practice. If you're willing to spend a weekend in Twin Falls doing pack-and-jump to get used to packing the ZP, you'll have no issues with it in Moab. I'm assuming you're an experienced jumper (otherwise why would you be going to Moab?) with at least 50 jumps or so.

Hey Tom,
What about toggle and riser input? I sold my Flik years ago but I could safely say that rear riser turns on my Black Jack 280 is way faster than it was on my Flik 293. In fact, I think the Black Jack 310 was more responsive than the Flik. What are your thoughts on this.
That being said I do agree that the Flik is a great BASE canopy. I just prefer the Black Jack. I think Tom Manship said it best when he told me to find a canopy that suits my jumping style.

In general, I think the Blackjack is more responsive to riser input that the Flik.

If you are using the factory brake settings and turning with the brakes still set (as you would if using a riser turn to avoid an object strike, for example), this effect may be exaggerated by the fact that the factory setting on the Flik appears to be noticeably shallower than the factory setting on the Blackjack (which can mean that a riser input on the Flik gives a "flying turn" which resembles a toggle turn, while a riser input on the Blackjack usually yields a "stall turn" where half the canopy is stalled). This also means that the canopy making the "stall turn" is losing a lot more altitude than the canopy making the "flying turn."

Define substantially? I really enjoy my Blackjack, and others have commented on how much canopy time I get under it compared to what they get on their canopies, but I am having a hard time dialing in the control line length. Seems like it may be six or eight inches too long from the factory, but I keep taking it in little by little. Are you seeing the need to shorten them that much?

Yes.

Remember that the appropriate toggle setting is a function of your arm length relative to the canopy's control stroke. A tall, skinny jumper will have a smaller canopy (with a correspondingly short control stroke), where a short, fat guy (like me) will have a very large canopy (longer control stroke) but stubby little arms.

I've had to shorten control lines on 310 canopies by a much as 12 inches for slider down use. Your needs will vary depending on your canopy size and arm length.

Scubadivemaster,

I raised the toggles up on my BJ280 by about six inches and find it perfect for "slider off" however when "slider on", brakes released, toggles fully up against the guide rings (canopy in full drive) I notice that I have a marginal deflection of the tail which will reduce the glide slightly. In theory I should lower the toggles back down the brake lines by about two inches for "slider on" jumps but haven't come across any objects as yet that require absolute max glide so I let it go

John

Hey Tom

As a long time skydiver with only a few base jumps, it's ironic/refreshing to see discussions like this one on basejumper.com. Back in the 70~80s, this was a common 'thread' of converstion. Tweaking your brakes to perfection was common. Nowadays, typical skydivers just jump the factory settings and never know how much performance/safety they're missing out on.

Back then, my old Fury 220 (pretty hot at the time)was dialed in perfectly for radical rear riser collison avoidance and best performance in full flight.

To all you guys commenting ... good work!

Ditto!! I see many people who have no clue
on how to adjust them either, which is a sad
thing for the Ken & Barbie jumpers.

John,

I may be wandering too far off topic with this, but I lengthen my control lines every time I put the slider on/up, then shorten them back down for the slider down/off jumps. I'm changing the control line length just over 6 inches for this transition just to keep what seem to be the same control characteristics.

To my best recollection, making that adjustment every time is what I was taught in my FJC, and it makes sense to me, but it seems that most people believe that the lines going through the rings makes little difference in the control lines functional length.

Maybe it makes more of a difference on larger canopies. because of their greater overall line length . . .

(And to be fair, perhaps I have no idea what in the hell I'm talking about, I've reconfigured my canopy many more times that I've actually gotten to BASE jump it, and the only times I have jumped it slider up have been from A/C).

Also to consider is your wingloading. If your jumping in Moab alot and depending on your weight (where you are between the canopy sizes ) you may want to opt for the larger canopy.Theoretically this will give you a better glide, slower sink rate and slower forward speed.