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My buddy has been letting me use is old rig and Im looking to get my own set up. But heres the problem I am not good with choosing gear and what is reliable. Im 6'0 235 and I just need some help choosing gear. So Im coming here to ask you great people. Thanks for any help.

My advice is here.

thanks for your help

  Your mentor is also a good resource to not overlook.

well...

a good starting point is the gear you borrowed. ask yourself things like...

- what were it's strengths?
- what were it's weaknesses?
- what do you want to see improved?
- what is important to you?

the more you think through questions such as this, the better you will understand what folks say to you.

I think looks are important

You can't be good unless you look good!

btgoalie21 has been given some food for thought
and the thread has already drifted so I am gonna
bore some with a story.... of course since text is
green most people will already know to skip this.

Warning - Skydiving Story, Circa 2003

So I am at the dropzone when this slick kid shows
up, he has on $400 jumpsuit, is from Deland, and
was flying a very expensive still camera plus he
was friends with one of the best fliers on the DZ.

I wanted to get a photo of me deploying so we
organize this multi-way freefly jump where at
break off everyone tracks off but him and me.

The jump goes well, broke it around 5,000 and a
low timer bumps into me, I shake him off me,
he tracks, I face off with the kid, and right as
I am waving off he drops his head, instead of
pulling I looked at him cause I also fly camera
and wondered what the hell he was doing.

He dumps, no wave, just dumps, I immediately
assume the "track or die position" because I'd
heard that you can not win the quick draw game.

His canopy passes by my feet, barely, and I look
up at him thinking: that dumb fucker almost
killed me, then I look down and realized I was
about to kill myself.

Lesson I Learned: Shiny does not equal good,
I mean hell just look at me in BASE - ha ha
but yeah, now I always ask about experience
if they are gonna be in the same air as me!!

How much money do you have to spend? And how's your BASE eperience?

Sometimes you can get lucky finding a container used that fits but usually it's hard.

Anyway assuming your looking for new. Get a helium from Morpheus! And get a vented fox with Zp nose. You can't to wrong with that choice! Both are very good in ALL BASE environents!

Good luck!

Supporting your local gear manufacturers is often a fine idea.

For instance, when I lived in Boulder, CO and Moab, UT was a nice weekend trip Marta and Jimmy at Vertigo (now Apex were local. A lot of the Colorado crowd bought Apex their gear and we often got guided tours to interesting exit points.

I don't know if any one in the skydiving gear industry in Florida has spun off into BASE.

Morpheus Technologies

See my review of them here:

http://www.basejumper.com/...ear/review.cgi?ID=27

umm

Actually you don't need a skydiving rig makers gear because Morpheus is there in Z Hills.

I'm personally a huge Asylum fan so my choice would be a Perigee Pro. I have no qualms over Apex or Morpheus because their gear is high quality also.

With the currently available canopies, my choice is still BlackJack and Ace.

i found this very helpful and i think i might go this direction in terms of gear. Ill also probably get more experience by doing some courses with them.

Rob and kathy kick ass! Luv all the stuff they andphoenix fly do!

But if I were you I wouldn't base your decision from a guy with that number of BASE jumps and espeacially that low of number of jumps on that gear as well! He's tree'ed in already and quit jumping when he first got started cuz he down winded on a beach and hurt his thumb or some shit!?!? Like that! All n' all claiming to be a canopy pilot?

But whatever you really can't go wrong with rob and kathy at Morpheus!

Don't know much about troll canopys though? But , lots of people jump em' so you'll be ok at Morpheus for sure! Just do more searching for more longtimers! I'm not one of em'!

Lots a luck to ya dude! May you have a awesome BASE career!

I appreacaite the input man, do have any suggestions in terms of gear and such. Like what you recommend.

Apex gear is top notch. I would rate the FLik as the best overall canopy out there.

Why? I'm not trying to contradict you, I'm just wondering why you say that.

Thanks

Personal opinion based on the types of jumps I do;

Initially, I was all set to get a Blackjack (which I also feel is an excellent canopy) when I got my first gear because of the simple fact that is what my mentor had.

Now, as a side note, I think that a lot of people getting into the sport are predisposed to buy gear that matches what they learned on/mentored under just for the simple fact that they're just more familiar with it, not necessarily because it's the best combination for them or for the types of jumps they are doing.

The main reason I changed my mind though, and went with the FLiK, is that for two years I sat at the bottom at Bridge Day and watched canopy after canopy land. I noticed, overall, that the people landing FLiKs had consistently softer and better landings.

Now I know that it's purely a subjective observation on my part and that there are going to be a ton of variables affecting these landings including winds, experience, pilot error/skill, condition of fabric, etc... but after watching hundreds and hundreds of landings from hundreds of people jumping a wide spectrum of gear under varying conditions, the ones with the FLiKs seemed to consistently pull off better landings overall.

I talked to several (more experienced BASE jumpers) about the FLiK and never got a negative comment about the canopy or about Apex so that's what I went with. FLiK 266 (non-vented was never an option for me) and a DP6 to put in it.

I've got probably 40 jumps on it in the last 5-6 months and I love it.

Now, after saying all that, if you are getting your first gear and you stick with a BASE specific canopy from an established manufacturer and the canopy is suited for the types of jumps you are doing then you're really pretty hard pressed to go wrong with anything you buy (as long as it's not a ragged out piece of shit that's never been taken care of...).

You know, it's really hard not to get a biased gear info from all the jumpers here

I've read and heard that Troll DW is best overall canopy It must be, I mean come on, Dwain Weston tested and gave improvement suggestions, so it must be damn good

everyones got their opinion. im sticking with a troll cause its the only thing ive flown more than once with the exception of a mojo

Unless you jumped all the others out there, your statement is absolutely useless.

BTW, I HAVE jumped all the major canopies out there, except for RockDragon. multiple times.

I normally jump a BJ in a Perigee II Velcro. I absolutely love this combination and have comfortably used it at terminal however I'm not keen on having that bridle knot flapping about and of course Velcro can be improved upon for such jumps. So I bought a Helium. I messed up the sizing but Kathy took it back and made major changes. The build quality is not at all expressed by its name rather it utilises heavy weight cloth, top notch build quality and a seemingly bullet proof design. It’s amazing which is obviously a subjective comment and of no use to anyone.

But in truth I'm only using the above as an excuse to have a word with that guy who keeps writing in Green. You'r right I didn't read your text 'cause I think you should grow up and start writing in normal colours like other adults. Perhaps you got the idea from your teenage daughter 'cause that's where it’s at.

Yeah I know your excuse about brand and frogs and its all very cute but seriously, get a grip.

Just drives me mad to see a grown-up do that stuff.

Rgds

John

All (not just John, as I've removed the 6 or 8 posts following on),

This is the Technical forum. I'd appreciate it if you could confine your posts here to technical issues.

Please take all discussion of other posters grammar, spelling, text color, etc. to the Hangout forum.

Thank you!