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Ya. May be uncommon, but the magnet doesn't work that well anyway and I'd prefer sharp metal pieces not be in my stash bag being thrown around and dumped.

Is that 2 magnets instead of dummy velcro? I have never seen that before, & would have said that it was a good idea. I guess not so much now. I like the innovation though.

It's a regular production option on Apex rigs now. I can't recall off hand how much it costs, but I want to say in the neighborhood of $30 or so. It basically puts a matched set of magnets in with one in the bridle and one in the shoulder of the container.

Is the magnet sharp enough to do damage?

Its different from the velcro on bridals as far as i know the magnet is used to help with hand-held jumps allowing the jumper to attach the bridal to the container, for more assurance of a clean/snag free jump

 

Ah so thats what the picture shows.
It looks like he took the picture with a super wide GoPro and in a very dark cave
I could see something that looked like a screw but was not sure, and I thought why would he have a screw on his bridle?
But now it's much clearer.

In my opinion that is just bad luck, nothing else.
Well maybe that he did not look at his landingarea good enough

But you say that it's not as effective as you would want, got any video of when it "fails"?

rather than taking the magnet out I would have bought or made a new bridal...
It would scare me to hell to use a scissor or knife on my bridal.

It is held in a simple pocket for ease of removal.

One thing thats always crossed my mind on tucking in your bridle vs having velcro/magnet on the shoulder and the bridle (I prefer magnets because velcro is evil but thats another story) is that theres no set distance from the pins to the tuck, so the bridle could be under a corner, through a leg loop, pulling tension on the bottom pin, etc, and you wouldn't know it. If theres a magnet or velcro the distance will always be consistent from the bottom pin to the magnet/velcro. If the bridle was under a corner or through a leg loop or something it wouldn't reach. Not the intention of the design, but kinda serves as an idiot proof backup. The magnet grabbing debris is an interesting point though.

How much material is the magnet behind? If I recall correctly apex makes a pocket out of the same material as the bridle, and not sure about the shoulder. On my container I sewed the magnet under 1 layer of cordura and used binding tape, and it works great.

And to play devils advocate you'd have to have one hell of a magnet to cause a PC hesitation

magnets - problems
veclro - wear, and 99% of the time whatever piece you use to cover it up, you end up loosing

why not have a piece of elastic a little wider than the bridle. And reinforce the part of the bridle that tucks with an extra layer of type IV webbing.

problem solved, and it's not a snag factor. And replacing elastic isn't exactly a rocket surgery type of task

i fail to see an existing problem to warrant the use of velcro or magnets.

maybe this weekend i will create an instructional video of how to control your bridle the way an awesome jumper would.

the "tuck" i can at least agree with, however, i rarely do that either.

The Neo has something like that in-between the pins to hold down the slack in the bridle, for some reason...but it would work well for a shoulder tuck on HH jumps. What are the problems you're talking about with magnets?

Unsurprisingly, I agree with you.

but for those who want a complex 7 step Carry-with-you SL system, a mechanical way of managing bridle oh a HH jump is a must.

if it's not complex, it's useless, right ?

The exact same ones that the OP posted about - sometimes you land and need to get the fuck out of there. And it's more likely that a jump in need of a quick getaway is also the type where your LZ has things that will be picked up by a magnet. I don't want to mash my canopy in a stashbag next to a screw or a nail :(

Also I still haven't theorized how and even if it may happen, but the bulk of the magnet, no matter how small, is still bulk and worst of all is incompressible/bendable, unlike the bridle - so perhaps there's a situation where that may be a detriment...

regarding bridle management...

- hold bridle in right hand
- find pin/bridle with left hand
- apply tension with my right hand
- feel for free play with left hand

feeling that it will work should provide more comfort than a "fixed distance" that does not necessarily ensure zero snags.

exactly. rocket surgery.

My OdysseyFX has that too. I think it is to ensure that the first pin pops before tension is put on the second pin. Would work great for the shoulder, and lighter than a magnet on the bridle, and more durable than velcro.

are they like little tuck tabs? I dont know if I would want anything that isnt flush with the bridal... that could be asking for a knot..? maybe? I know its only about 2.5 feet from the attachment point and close to the pins, but I like velcro, tucking in the shoulder flap with no extras or the magnet over the idea of something more bulky sticking out past the width of the bridal.

The magnet pocket on the Apex bridles is designed so you can slide the magnet in or out without cutting anything.

Thanks for covering that groundrush. He's right about what I meant on not working well and also about the magnet being super easy to take out. I prefer just a little tuck. I can (mildly uncomfortably) reach where the bridle goes into the pin flap to check for snags anyway.

Sorry for the picture quality. I lazily took the gopro off my head, took one bad picture in a dimly lit room, and went to sleep. I had just gotten home after a B (musta picked up the screw in the parking lot area I landed in...it's not a pretty parking lot :p). Funny story though. My rope got hung up as I was pulling it down from an attached access building you solo (rope is only for hauling up gear...there isn't enough room behind you as you climb to take the gear up. It'd get stuck on power lines that run pretty close to the building). I ended up having to re-climb and downclimb to unsnag the rope...right next to an absolutely wasted Alabama fan (this was right after the AL-LSU game) that was vomiting in the alley. The confused look on his face was worth it lol

This.

Honestly, you can easily fix any issue by either reversing the pins or shrivel flap, or simply by routing the bridle back up under the pin cover flap and out the top. You can do this on virtually any rig in service today without modifying or altering it in any way.

Thats a good idea too. I never really had any reason to do so until my buddy told me he had the wind blow his bridle under his BOC and cause a slight hesitation.

(I never remember to do it, but I have to agree that reversing the pins during hand held is a good idea.)

right, i should've said, i don't see any problem that can't instantly be fixed with proper technique on the standard gear you've got.

One solution is to tape the bridal to the riser with several wraps of ductape and maybe industrial staples. But I prefer to just take the pilot chute and bridal off completely and tard every building in town, problem solved. This of course is because I am an expert.

If you have any issues with me TARDing a building, jumping, or otherwise existing, talk to me about it in person. We can either sit down like big boys and talk or you can make a new account intentionally imitating someone elses and troll around wasting your time making yourself feel superior and get absolutely nothing accomplished.

awesome !

now, would you mind letting us know your skydiving experience (including when you started) and your BASE experience (including when you started).

muchas gracias !

hey Grounrush117 !

Your previous userid Greenstripe117 promised to stop posting in these forums 6 weeks ago. re: http://www.basejumper.com/...post=2947797#2947797

Did you get the shakes ?
Did you get your A license yet ?

I've filled out my profile. Any other questions you might have, just PM me and we'll talk privately instead of hijacking a useful thread in the technical forums and turning it into what will surely devolve shortly.

ok, very cute. Let's see what you tell me via PM.

Well Keith, I don't have issues with you risking your personal safety per se. However if you're bent on dying I would prefer you did it in a different way than base jumping. I think your a nice guy which is why I've hung out with you the little that I have, but tarding buildings, burning an elevator, and jumping on shrooms from the bridge during your FJC is fucking stupid especially when you have only fifty skydives, and all within the course of barely over a month! If you want to "meet like big boys", code for have an old fashioned playground-after-school fist fight because your feelings are hurt then thats fine. But my post wasn't aimed at you so quit your crying. And claiming that I impersonated something or someone is rich considering Greenstripe's choice of new handle.

No...I legitimately meant sit down and talk. Have you ever known me to be hostile? I've been pretty straightforward and as nice as possible to everyone.

As to those other things. I think it's a viable opinion that TARD heading (when executed correctly) is very reliable...as well as opening altitude obviously. And I also told you that the amount I had was negligible in regards to any effects. I would not have jumped otherwise. The elevator (which you were at and voiced no concerns over the elevators well being or how it was being operated) was used properly as per diagrams and obvious instructions.

EDIT: Seriously guys. For the sake of a decent forum can we take it to PMs?

My magnet works awesome but when I pulled my gear out of the bag last night there was an old rusty nail stuck to it. Haven't checked my gear for damage yet but that magnet is out and not going back in..

I was thinking about putting one in. Seems like it would make solo hand helds a little easier... but then again I've never had to leave in a hurry, so there would be time for a quick check before stashing it. Maybe I'll get a removable one like tom was talking about.

I'm still a beginner so I might be totally off the Mark - I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm talking shit. I added the magnet option on my first and only rig (Apex DP). I can see how it works well for handhelds with the main problem being that it's location on the bridle is fixed. This works perfect for if you route your bridle from the top to bottom pin. If you chose to jump bottom to top pin on handlhelds you end up with loose bridle flopping around the back of your head/helmet/gopro... It might not be much but routing this way does increase the length of exposed bridle between your last pin and the magnet. So does the way you s-fold your pack job.

To perfect this you need to either rig the attachment point yourself or I reckon just forget the magnet.

Never personally had a problem with it picking up screws etc, it's not a very strong magnet but I appreciate this could happen.

There are 5 methods I know of for
managing the excess bridle on a
hand held jump:

1) Route the bridle such that it comes
out of the top, works with pins or velcro.

2) Use the magnet option you bought.

3) Use the velcro option that is there.

4) Tuck a pinch of bridle under a flap.

5) Use your hand and care to keep
the bridle going from bottom pin to
your dominant hand without going
around anything else.

You only use ONE of these methods.

I have used all of them except the
magent option, my favorite is #1
but requires you pack for the jump
with HH in mind.

Can you route the bridle from the bottom pin, back to the top through (the inside of) the pin protector flap? Seems that there's less snag hazard this way.

Yes.

You can also do the same thing in reverse.

Either;

1) Use a traditional stowed bridle routing and then instead of routing the bridle down to the BOC, just double it back along itself and come out the top of the flap, and over to your hand. This is useful if you plan on stowed and then decide to go handheld.

2) Use a handheld bridle routing (out the bottom or middle then to the bottom pin, then to the top pin), then double the bridle back along itself to come out the bottom of the pin cover flap. Next, route the bridle down to the BOC and pack the pilot chute. This is useful if you plan on going handheld and decide to go stowed, or if you aren't sure if you will go stowed or handheld, and want the flexibility to make the choice at the exit point.

I've tested both these configurations sufficiently that I am totally comfortable either jumping them myself or putting students off with these routings.