Re: [UPS] BASE Canopies
UPS wrote:
Yeah what about the troll, Tom, you said you had have bad openings on it, but its the most popular capony in europe, there most of been some changes on it since your review.
TomAiello wrote:
To address some of the points I made in that review, so long ago:
1) Opening characteristics: After that review (on a very early generation Troll), Atair/Morpheus made several important changes to the Troll which had a great impact on the opening characteristics. The crossports were redesigned, yielding better inflation in the unvented configuration, and, more importantly, the Mono Directional Valve was created and added to the canopy. The MDV technology (which I had retrofitted to the original canopy I was discussing in that review) basically fixed any slider down opening issues. In my opinion, the MDV is clearly the best valve technology on the BASE market today. Unlike the Vtec/Cover (Apex) system, or the PAC valve (Consolidated Rigging), the MDV allows air to flow cleanly through the valve, directly into the canopy cells, with no inhibition of that flow. The MDV also seals better than any other valve system (basically, it seals completely, where other systems allow some backflow even in their most sealed configurations). Further, the valve placement on the Troll DW canopy is far superior to the placement of the valves on the other valved canopies on the market, with the addition of a larger center cell vent. Inflation of the center cell is critical to both heading performance and secondary inflation of the outer cells. Placing a valve in the center cell is a natural outgrowth of the one way valve technology (two way vents were originally placed on the outer cells only because of considerations related to the outflow of air through an uncovered vent in the center cell). Thus far, only Atair has moved on to this next step in the technology, leading the other manufacturers.
2) Brake settings: In my opinion, you should always customize your personal deep brake settings prior to making slider down jumps from solid objects. The current factory brake settings on the Troll appear to be in line with the industry standards, perhaps slightly shallower than the CR factory settings, and slightly deeper than the Apex. It is possible to create serious problems with overly deep brakes, so any manufacturer must err on the side of caution in setting the standard deep brakes. Atair appears to be doing at least as well in this regard as any other manufacturer.
3) Toggle settings: I still find the toggle setting a bit long for my arms. Toggles are another aspect of any canopy that ought to be customized to the end user. The reason that the factory setting feels long on me is that I am a short, fat guy. The toggles are set a bit on the side of a tall, thin jumper (although not too much--the Consolidated Rigging factory toggle settings, for example, are noticeably longer than the Atair/Morpheus settings)
In summary, I think the Troll flies great, and I think the early pressurization issues are not a problem on the present Troll canopies. The Penta MDV valve configuration is superior to anything else available on the market, and the Mono Directional Valve itself is clearly head an shoulders above the other valves available.
In reply to:
But hey, where is Tom A?
Just finished teaching for 11 days straight. Trying to catch up now...
Tom Aiello
Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
Snake River BASE Academy
