Optimum Reserve

June 24, 2014

Hey folks,

So 2 days ago I had my first Reserve at about 120 jumps.

My super old Sabre 1 (170) with unknown jumps on it tried to kill me, after 70 jumps with super nice openings.

But this time he opened so hard, I saw stars, felt like my neck broke in the first few seconds.
When I recovered from that "hit" I looked up and saw some lines ripped apart.

After 10sec. I was sure I dont want to land this chute, at ca. 700m and a fully opened chute (but uncontrollable), I had plenty of time to make my mind ready for the first cutaway procedere.
Like I expected, the reserve opened fast and clean, I was pretty happy with that :D
The steering is strange with a reserve, almost no pressure on the toggles, I can´t compare with other chutes, but I saw some quick reserve landings from experienced jumpers and know how much they struggle with the landings an steering.

The optimum is super smooth on steering and the Flare is pretty good.

Obviously it´s not as good as a main chute, but I could land the 160 pd optimum super easy and stand on me feet.

I´m very happy for having a good reserve and don´t have to worry when i have to land it.
Thank´s PD, super cool chute, the sabre 1 suckz a little bit with random killer openings, but I will buy a sabre 2 150 within the next weeks.

freakyrat · April 22, 2012

This is my First Product Review I( I know, Case Of Beer) I had to use my Optimum 126 Reserve yesterday. I have an exit weight of 190 lbs. with gear. I don't know how much my wing suit weighs however. After a relatively uneventful wing suit flight I went to deploy and for some unknown reason I couldn't find the hackey handle. All my previous wingsuit dives I had no problems. The opening on this canopy was incredible. Fast but not hard. After I got the suit unzipped etc and brakes un-stowed I turned back to the DZ. The Optimum flies very well and had good penetration in about a 13 mph wind. I was landing slight off the airport in an open field. I went to flare and was amazed how deep I could go with the toggles and how well the canopy flares. My landing was nothing short of remarkable.

airnando · March 14, 2012

Had a new one installed by a rigger, on inspection he found some issues on the stitching quality on the stabilizers, and asked for replacement 3 times, but they kept comming the same. PD told him it was normal. Still, i will give a trhrough inspection on the stiching if i ever use it. I believe this may be because of the thin fabric its made of.

February 15, 2012

Awesome reserve, best reserve that i flown so far.
Deep flair stroke, I can be in full arm length and still sink it down without stalling it. Which come in handy when chasing stuff down.

Compare to similar pack volumed Smart 120 this is much superior canopy. Less twitchy when flying, does not stall out, and it is bigger.

What I love is how it packs, very easy packing, it will crawl into the free bag by it self, rigger should give you discount on pack job because it is that easy. Easy packing means better pack job. better pack job= better opening.

I have two rig and I'm selling my other Smart this year just to buy another OP 143.

tbrown · October 2, 2011

I recently bought an all new rig and went for a 176 Optimum as my new reserve. Yesterday at Chicks Rock, I decided to put a demo jump on one to see what kind of a canopy I've got "behind Door # 2". After a few quick formalities, the PD team quickly and cheerfully installed the 176 into my main container and I was off on my next skydive with a double Optimum rig - one way or another, I'd be landing under my current reserve !

The jump was a casual "boogie" 8 Way belly load, so I threw it out at terminal. The opening was quick, really quick, but quite comfortable. Just what I'd want from a reserve in a real emergency. The canopy flies like a snappy 7 cell (possibly because it IS a snappy 7 cell). I checked for a stall point, and found that I could indeed stall it; briefly repacking it, but it re-inflated smoothly when I let the toggles up a few inches. I flew the canopy downwind, towards the landing zone, but encountered too much "boogie traffic", so decided to head back upwind into the wide open spaces of Elsinore. The canopy covered more ground than I'd even expected.

The landing was stupendous ! Now the 176 is the smallest canopy I've jumped (my main is a 188) and the 7 cell glide path is steeper than what I'm used to with a 9 cell, so I found it comparatively "ground hungry". But I was no more than halfway into my flare, in light & variable winds, that I started laughing out loud. Touched down on one foot and walked it out. I've never had such a sweet landing in my life, under ANY canopy !

In summary, I'd like to thank the PD crew at Chicks Rock for their wonderful friendly assistance - and to thank PD for creating a reserve that gives me a tremendous sense of confidence for the next time things go wrong.

ljwobker · September 24, 2010

This is nowhere near the cheapest reserve, but it's the best I've flown. Don't expect a velocity like flare, but for a reserve it flies better than anything else on the market that I've jumped. A significant improvement on the original PD reserve (which wasn't all that bad to begin with...) and much better than my Tempo. I'd say it flies slightly better than a Smart at the same wingloading, and certainly packs smaller. My view is that you pretty much can never ever have a reserve that's too BIG, so highly recommend getting this one.

daddy1313 · July 12, 2010

The folks at PD not only make the best products they do something harder to find today -- they service them and their helpful teams are both knowledgeable and professional. Thank for the opportunity to demo this reserve.

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