Blumpkin

excellent info. this is the kind of info i am looking for. Thanks

thats great people, but I am not interested in the speed because of its pack volume. I am interested, like I said before...... in the nano or optimum.

good to know, thanks for the info. Its nice to have someone who is on the same page with either the icarus or pd and not trying to sell me on some reserve I have never heard of.

I see this thread has been hijacked...... Im not interested in a speed reserve. Im inquiring about the icarus nano and PD optimum.

What are your thoughts on the Icarus Nano or PD Optimum reserves?

cool beans

Great stuff dude. I think I am going to just stick with the mamba. Im putting together a second rig right now and will more than likely get another mamba but maybe a 132 or possibly a 124, but probably the 132 simply based on what you were saying about mushy bottom ends at higher wing loading. the 132 would put me between 1.7 and 1.8. Thanks for all the info.

Thanks for the tips man. I am going to get some serious coaching for sure. I plan on taking the flight-1 courses and probably going to get some personal coaching from some pros before I start doing anything out of my experience level. Good to know about the flare getting worse as the wing loading gets higher. I still might go for a mamba 132 after I get the 140 dialled in and then we shall see whats next after that. Thanks again for the info. If you have any other recommendations on awesome canopies to try after I am ready to downsize and my wing loading starts to increase I would love to hear about them.

Excellent info. I knew the sabre2 was not as aggressive but have been told that it might be a good canopy to learn to swoop on. I am really happy with my mamba and would like to stay with something of similar aggressiveness. I have heard that the katana is very steeply trimmed but that is really all i know about it. I have also heard that areodyne canopies typical have mushy bottom end flare. As I said before, the canopy I flew before the mamba was a sabre1 190 so really I have nothing to compare it to. I feel like the mamba has a pretty decent bottom. My eventual goal is to be flying something cross braced in the 104 to 114 range. I am in no hurry to get there but that is the goal. I like how aggressive the mamba is right now. Originally I was hearing that the mamba had crap openings. I was having pretty unpredictable openings for quite awhile but now that I have sorted out having better body position on opening my openings have improved significantly, and are for the most part on heading.

I have 720+ jumps and 400ish of them are on a mamba 140. Im 225 exit weight. very comfortable on this canopy and stand up all of my landings, even downwinders. Im not really doing and high performance landings yet but I am interested in them. I love the mamba and I know it is an aggressive canopy and given the right pilot could be swooped like a hott damn. Most people I talk to have suggested the PD route. I am interested in a sabre2 135 but I am also really interested in learning on the mamba. I have been told the sabre2 has a long recovery arc. I really don't have anything to compare recovery arcs to because I was flying a sabre1 190 before. Do you know what kind of recovery arc the mamba has? I feel like it has a fairly long one based on me flying it.

What is a good canopy to learn how to swoop on? Also can someone tell me if the areodyne mamba has a short or long recovery arc?