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I was watching the video for the Snatch pilot chute, and this canopy caught my eye. Hard to tell what exactly is different about it from this picture.

Thoughts?

http://i.imgur.com/gkpK1le.jpg

If you watch the video more closely, you can see the 5 vents with the center cell having a larger one. I've been bothering Squirrel about it through e-mail and they said it should available soon.

Nice. I've heard rumors about a new container as well to go with it. I'm curious to see what then end up doing with it.

yea I have been talking to them about it as well. They said "SOON", my guess is with in the next two months, but that's just a random guess base on a feeling

they said it will stack up well against the OSP. I'm going to buy what ever is better for low stuff and tight landing areas.

The best thing for those conditions is smart decision making and excellent canopy control skills not canopy A or B.

touche!

Although true, however no canopy skills can make open e.g. Trango faster than OSP

And I'm pretty sure that squeezing a Rockdragon into a 2 by 4 well is a bit harder that an OSP

I got to jump a prototype last summer for quite a long time.

My thoughts are based on the prototype (not the production version, which I have not yet seen).

It's a slatted canopy (so it's the only competitor to the OSP that way). The slats are arranged differently than on the OSP (the outside slats are further back on the top skin) which seems to make a lot of sense from an aerodynamics standpoint. I can't say how much difference it makes in actual flight though.

It's got a good vent configuration, and the pressurization slider down is excellent.

The canopy shares the OSP's elevator like sink characteristics (probably because of the slats) and sinks better than any other canopy I've flown aside from the OSP.

The canopy has a much greater range than the OSP, with noticeably better glide and a lot more available forward speed (but note that it's really easy to shut down to sink for accuracy too).

The part brake flare is excellent (again, it matches the OSP in this regard and is better than any other canopy I've flown, again probably because of the slat system).

The full flight flare is very strong--probably better than the OSP and on par with the Se7en.

The stability in turbulence is very good compared to any canopy except the OSP. The OSP appears to remain more stable in heavy turbulence than the Outlaw. I tested this by flying a production OSP and the prototype canopy back to back, low across the tree line on a windy day to intentionally put myself into turbulence.

Since I haven't seen the final product, I can't really give a recommendation to buy it, but I will say that I personally intend to purchase one as soon as I can. For an all around canopy, it's very, very good, and I like the mix of characteristics for general use better than the OSP, although for an urban jump in turbulent conditions with a close by landing area, I'd probably favor the OSP over the Outlaw.

In the interests of full disclosure, be aware that I am a dealer for canopies from Atair (including the OSP), Squirrel (including the Outlaw), Consolidated Rigging, Asylum and Apex.

Did it also have the slots, on the underside of canopy like OSP?

Are you asking about the secondary (inboard) stabilizers?

No, the Squirrel prototype had only the standard (outboard) stabilizers.

Nice, I never cared for the braked turn feel of the OSP

Thanks for the great info Tom!

You don't know what you are talking about. Your students always pound into the ground. And there is no way you can can get the conclusive results that you speak of.

Ha! Not true.

Tom, all other things (W/L, canopy size, etc.) equal, which one do you think has a slower stall speed?

I think they're both very, very low. I'm not sure I'd give an edge to either one. It might be interesting to try to actually measure the difference, but in real use I don't think the difference is going to be appreciable. In terms of stall speed, both the OSP and Outlaw have a substantial edge over every other canopy (including the "glide trim" OSP which has much worse sink characteristics than the standard version).

you know, i'd be curious to spend some time sewing and build some base specific trim tabs/risers, obviously an over complication in a sport where simplicity is king, but in the right hands it would potentially give you the ability to add some glide on those long flights out, like the moab mushroom, or switch back to the standard trim osp i love which can land anywhere below you, we would be asking a lot of any canopy to be the best in all scenarios given any gain vs loss in most engineering endeavors but i think i might have just come up with a winter project for myself

talk to ineed2fly... he made some already with all four line sets separate.

I can't tell if JT likes Tom or not...

ITS NOT A MATTER OF LIKE!
as an author, im trying to picture; im a mother troll, ive just given birth to a litter of troll cubs, all of them covered in placenta, pouring at my many teets for the VITAL, life-giving colostrum, and im thinking.....hmmmmm "teacup"

its just not BELIEVABLE. and if I dont believe it, the readers wont believe it.

Tragoneous. every time.

Now that we're done loving each other, can anyone speak to its effectiveness slider-up? Similar to the OSP?

Smart decision making involves picking the best available equipment for the job. It's not somehow a separate category.

I did not make any slider up jumps on the canopy.

Is it F-111 or low bulk?

Squirrel told me that it will be available in a lightweight version and standard weight. They also said it can be taken to terminal.

Just not in one of their containers

Another shot of the bottom skin. Mike replied to my inquiry and said they're hoping to have it out in another 2 months.

Does anyone have an update on the LOBO? Considering either, or just getting an OSP.

i dont have info on the lobo, but when i was in twin in mid november, all i know is that i watched jimmy, on numerous jumps, literally ride his rears down with that canopy straight down in a beautifully controlled manner and gently put it on the beach.

that dude flies a canopy backwards FAR better than i can forwards. it was the lobo

I have no doubt that the Lobo is a fantastic canopy. Just hoping I can objectively compare the two before I decide to buy either.

My mojo still kicks ass though

Google Alerts told me this just went up: http://squirrel.ws/parachutes

I was trying to wait till this came out, but it looks like its going to be a bit to late. ill be ordering an OSP in the next 2 weeks. Can't wait to hear more on it though

Man there's some crazy stuff going on with the nose there. The skin tensioning/nose shape is very reminiscent of a paraglider airfoil.

http://squirrel.ws/outlaw
Looks like a there are quite a few differences from the current stable of BASE canopies.

Very interesting... :-)

Very interesting indeed. Finally a venerable competitor to the OSP.
It is great to see this level of innovation coming into the canopy market. The Outlaw and Lobo are the first multi-purpose canopies to hit the market in years that are all new designs and not directly derived from the very first base specific canopies.
I'm excited to fly it back to back with my OSP and see how it stacks up.

watched one open and fly yesterday, it was interesting to see the two slats on the center cell, forward and aft. unfortunately i didnt get a good look at the nose because i was up top, but it opened rock solid and flew beautifully. its about 1500 feet from opening to LZ and it looked like it flew gorgeous in extremely deep brakes. very trippy canopy, especially with the mini vents on the a-lines. squirrel has outdone themselves yet again.

i would get one, but ive got an OSP and i fuckin love it

HEY EVERYBODY!!! LOOK AT MY OSP!!!

HEY EVERYONE, WATCH MY FRIENDS CLIMB UP AND RECOVER MY CANOPY BECAUSE I TOOK A WEAKSAUCE DELAY AND SLAMMED STEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

too much? love you beal. come to seattle, weve been having fun

I meant to do that...

Hi Tom, any updates on comparison production version outlaw to osp?

We've done some side by side video and some data log testing, but I'm not sure I have any conclusions strong enough to post on the internet.

My initial subjective observation is that I would prefer to be under an Outlaw if I had to avoid an object strike, and under an OSP if I was free falling a sub 200' jump, but as I said I haven't put together enough data to really post any strong conclusions yet.

Fitting that since I started this thread, I should give some early feedback.
I'm coming off of ~80 Mojo jumps - so the Outlaw is a bit of an upgrade. I'm not sure how it compares to an OSP as I've never flown one. Also, I haven't made any slider-up jumps with it yet. Maybe someone else can speak to that aspect of the Outlaw.

I ordered my Outlaw on April 20th, it was delivered on May 21st - amazingly fast.
Squirrel was awesome throughout the entire process, including shipping a 42" Snatch that I ordered with it overnight so I could jump it right away. I could review it separately, but my friends whom I jump with say it works just as advertised. It inflates and stays in one place throughout extraction.

It came in a nice heavy-weight drawstring bag. I'm planning on using it to store a wingsuit or two.


Squirrel didn't say what color the lines would be, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were black, with white control/innermost C&D lines.


I thought the vent design was interesting. It's 8 strips of 2 inch wide F-111 sewn on 3 sides and down the middle over the mesh. I wish I could compare them to Apex/Atair/CR. I also wish I could compare the ZP nose, the slats/float flaps, etc to a more modern canopy.


Here are the two slider brake inserts:


I hooked it up using the all ZP slider brake. I didn't take a long delay out of the plane, and the opening was brisk. The brake settings are very deep (I'm loading at .66, so the stall point comes up quick). Squirrel sent out an email informing customers that based on early feedback they would be shipping future Outlaws with a shallower brake setting. Here's their chart:

During the skydive I learned that the Outlaw is extremely, almost unbelievably, stable in very deep brakes. Certainly the OSP is as well, but the slow flight characteristics came as a surprise to me. Transitioning from forward flight to vertical descent to backwards flight is predictable (as promised). Otherwise it seems to be a dependable all-around canopy, I'll know more after more jumps.

After the skydive I decided to shorten the brake lines by approximately 3-4 inches. I packed in shallow brakes and headed out to a freestander to get PCA'd and find out more. The canopy was much easier to turn and flare with the brake length adjusted.

Earlier this week I took a longer delay from a different tower and was happy to find the canopy was open and flying in much less time than my Mojo. With the shallow brake setting, it was flying with very little forward speed.
One thing that surprised me how responsive the canopy is. My usual 90º turn to set up accidentally became a 120º turn. I'm not sure if the Outlaw actually turns faster, or if the faster deployment speed means the canopy was just flying earlier than I'm used to. My Mojo will "jellyfish" chord-wise on opening, which I assume makes turning take a bit longer.

It's been rainy here, so I haven't gotten to make any more jumps on it. I am going to the Perrine at the end of June, so I'll know more then. So far though, I like it a lot. If you're like me and looking to upgrade from an older canopy, it's definitely a step up.

All this said, I feel obliged to share the best piece of advice I heard when I started base jumping.
"Don't take advice from someone who has 80 base jumps".

the vent on the OSP is a mesh similar to the the FLIK.

I assume the the vents have a one way valve configuration like the osp

Yeah, the valve is achieved by sewing each piece of fabric along three sides of the mesh vent. The unsewn side is facing the tail.

I believe it is similar to Apex vents, except the Outlaw utilizes 8 strips of fabric instead of one piece.

Here is the vent on my FLIK, the valve on the OSP has four flaps of fabric, the valve in the Flik is bit different.

Here's the vent configuration on the Outlaw.


They've been described to me as "Shark gill style", I think that's apt.

Updates? Reviews? Consensus on the outlaw canopy by squirrel?

I like it.

Outlaw is a good canopy. The brakes are set very deep from the factory. I know they've changed them a little since the prototypes and first release. If you jump in good conditions with a high level of margin it's a fine canopy you'll get delivered in record time.

That being said if you jump in marginal conditions with tight landing areas you'll be better suited with an OSP. It's a far more stable platform with a stronger flare even with an extremely deep braked approach.

I find the Outlaw marginally easier than the OSP for tight landing areas. Both are excellent though. They are basically the two apples (slatted canopies) in a canopy market otherwise full of oranges.

The Outlaw also has a less violent stall recovery.

For low free falls (sub 200') i'd prefer the OSP because it has faster pressurization.

I'm pretty sure the manual says that you should customize the brakes for technical jumps. Which is a good idea anyway, on either canopy.

and damn that Outlaw is LOUD !!!!!

Thanks for the feedback.