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Mirage Systems released its G4 container system on July 1. Earlier this year we had a sneak preview of the rig when it was test jumped by Team Method and Skydivegear.com at Atlanta Skydiving Center. The freefly team and gear company raved about the comfort of the new Mirage container. Last week, Chuting Star Rigging Loft assembled the first G4 ordered through Skydivegear.com. Sandy Dunn, a regular jumper at ASC for the past few years, ordered a purple and silver G4 MXS with all options. We assembled a PD 113 reserve, Cypres and PD Sabre 120 main into her new G4. For the jumper, the most noticeable difference between the G3 and G4 is the backpad and elastic lumbar support. The backpad has elastic cut-ins with padding around the shoulder blade area and an adjustable elastic lumbar support system. Both features add to the comfort of the rig, but I have concerns about the wear and tear of each. While the lumbar support is field replaceable, the elastic-covered shoulder blade area is sewn into the backpad and may be susceptible to wear during packing. We’ll find out how durable the area is over the next year. Sandy also has the “Fancy Pants” option, which is another version of a leg strap connector for freeflying. Again the system looks great, but wear and tear may be an issue with “Fancy Pants.” For the rigger, Mirage has constructed the number 3 flap deeper into the container fixing the occasional problem found in G3 containers of a gap between the bottom and side reserve flaps. Mirage has gone to a molar bag for the G4, which seems to make the reserve container closing procedure a bit easier. And Mirage has changed its reserve pin cover flap to completely cover the top of the reserve, while shortening the actual pin cover. While the comfort enhancements are great, I would stick to the G3 for unknown wear issues and for the lower price as the bridle/pin protection for freeflying remains the same.

A parachute manufacturer in the Czech Republic is beginning to make itself known in the United States with the release of its HOP tandem main. The 330 square foot elliptical tandem canopy developed by JoJo Wing was first promoted and tested in Australia at Sunshine Coast Skydivers. According to Sunshine Coast, tandem masters have made more than 15,000 jumps on the HOP tandem mains over the last two years. Earlier this year, Atlanta Skydiving Center received a demo HOP tandem main and has since ordered and assembled 5 more. From the first jump, I fell in love with the HOP. Just to give you a bit of perspective, I have made more than 1,000 jumps on SET 400 mains, about 300 jumps on Icarus/Precision 365 mains, 50 jumps on HOP 330 mains and a few jumps on PD tandem mains. While PD is not getting a fair shake in my evaluation, the HOP reins supreme. From deployment, you know you have a new kind of canopy. The HOP has an extremely staged and slow opening. The opening snivel, with the slider at the top, seems very controlled compared to the “searching for air snivel” of the Icarus/Precision mains. As the slider works its way down, the canopy seems to open to its full shape in a defined cell-by-cell pace. This is unlike the SET 400 that has an almost never-ending snivel followed by a fast slider drop and full canopy inflation sequence. Once fully open, the light toggle pressure is amazing, even with all control lines attached to one toggle, as on the Strong system. If the slider starts making a lot of noise, which has only happened once in my 50 jumps, it can be collapsed with two drawstrings. Flying the canopy does take some getting used to as it feels like flying a Stiletto with just toggles. The canopy flies well in deep brakes and the landing flare is powerful. For more information, visit http://www.scskydivers.com/HopDoc.html or www.jojowing.cz.