Buying Skydiving Gear

I've put together the following gear price comparison information for skydivers in the market for new or used gear. This is a brief but direct overview on some of the more popular skydiving gear that we see come through ChutingStar. The following info will give you a brief education on how to value used gear against new gear, and then you can determine which is the best choice for you.

Note: Canopies/brands listed below are those that ChutingStar has had the most success with and are the most common within our area.

Also, please see our other articles on buying used gear and using ChutingStar as an Inspection/Escrow service to prevent the seller or buyer from getting scammed.

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Skydivers today have the widest choice ever in which Automatic Activation Device (AAD) to have installed in their reserve container as a backup safety device.

An AAD cuts the reserve container closing loop if the skydiver is exceeding a set speed at a set altitude. For most sport skydivers, the activation speed is the same (78 mph or greater), but activation altitudes vary from 750 to 840 feet. Regardless of the unit, it's a "last chance" deployment for a skydiver who has become incapacitated to deploy or has lost altitude awareness. For U.S. skydivers, there are four AADs that are in the majority of sport rigs world-wide. This article will focus on the CYPRES2, m2 Multi and Vigil Cuatro.

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Firebird, which manufacturers the EVO container and RUSH reserve, now has a stock list of available containers for a quick turnaround time.

Click here for a link to the current list.

The base price is the same as custom, $3000, but you can get it faster than a custom order.

For more details and/or to place an order, contact ChutingStar at this link

Below, and above, are photos of the stock container patterns.

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With more than 40,000 canopies manufactured by Performance Designs in the Sabre line, the Sabre3 has some big shoes to fill. 

The original Sabre was released in 1990 and more than 20,000 were manufactured until the Sabre2 came on the scene in 2001. By 2018, the Sabre2 reached 20,000 canopies sold like its predecessor. One of the biggest improvements skydivers talk about from the Sabre to the Sabre2 is a softer opening.

ChutingStar recently conducted a main canopy survey, and PD's Sabre/Sabre2 line topped every category as the most popular first canopy, your favorite main canopy and the canopy most recommended to others as their first main canopy. It also tops the list as to which canopy you're currently jumping.

Here are some of those comments from the survey when asked what canopy has been your favorite:

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A huge thank you to the 187 of you who responded to the main canopy survey the first two weeks of May at ChutingStar.com! This one was a bit more long-winded than our past surveys, but we felt that was the only way to truly get feedback on main canopies that are so varied by manufacturer, type and size as well as everyone's different experience level. We truly appreciate all of you that took the time to complete this survey. After sorting and reading through all the results, comments and feedback, we've found that we can't sum this up in one article. So we're going to be doing a series of articles over the next several weeks in our blog What we can tell you so far is that the 187 of you who took this survey have a combined 280,876 jumps! The average number of jumps for those responding was 1502 and the average mains you've tried is 9. So the responses were in-depth and rich with information. PD's Sabre/Sabre2 topped every category as the most popular first canopy, your favorite main canopy and the canopy most recommended to others as their first main canopy. It also tops the list as to which canopy you're currently jumping. Continue reading →

ChutingStar's Gear Shop is closed on the weekends so our crew can enjoy their days off jumping, flying in the tunnel or just relaxing with family and friends. But that doesn't mean you can't pickup your gear when we're closed... Besides just having the gear shipped to where you live, or where you're travelling to, we also have a Pickup In Store option at checkout that gives options for pickup at our boogie tour events (when Laura has the boogie van and tent on the road), or at the drop zone our staff jumps at on the weekend, Skydive Monroe.  Continue reading →

ChutingStar is not only your go to resource for new skydiving gear, equipment education and skydiver product reviews, but we also resell a varied selection of used skydiving gear! This can include canopies, containers, altimeters, helmets, jumpsuits, cameras, accessories and random skydiver goods. The selection and quantity varies, but whatever is in stock is always at a good deal, and can be immediately returned if it doesn't fit or is not what was expected. Continue reading →

We know new skydiving gear is expensive, and that it's very tempting to buy a used rig from someone you don't know on Facebook because the price is so much lower. But before you end up spending money on a rig you'll never be able to jump, make sure you read the August 2018 interview with ChutingStar owner Mike Gruwell in USPA's Parachutist Magazine at this link. A used container can be a great deal, as long as it fits you, is in good condition and will fit the canopies you can currently jump. But it can also be the worst deal ever if you can't jump it or get your money back.  Continue reading →

Confused by the volume and names of container options when ordering a new rig or looking through the list on a used or stock rig? Fear not, the ChutingStar Crew has put together a series of 17 short, one-minute videos that explains each option available on a skydiving rig. These include videos on articulation, back pads, MARDs, free fly mods, riser covers, riser types and more! Check out this playlist! Continue reading →

Rigging Innovations has added the long-awaited MOJO MARD system to it's container options for the CURV and CPX harness/container systems. The most well-known example of a MARD system is the Skyhook by United Parachute Technologies. MARD stands for Main-Assisted Reserve Deployment System and is basically an RSL (reserve static line) on steroids. When using a MARD system and you cutaway your main, the main essentially becomes your reserve pilot chute. This results in a much quicker transition sequence from a cutaway to an open reserve canopy. The MOJO can be added to any new order of an RI Curv or CPX container from ChutingStar at Continue reading →