Product Rant & Rave

The original Rant & Rave from ChutingStar...equal opportunity offenders. Find out the good, the bad and the ugly related to skydiving gear and skate goods from ChutingStar Skydiving Gear SuperStore and ChutingStar Skate Park & Skate Shop!

  1. Picking Your Skydiving Helmet Bag

    With most skydiving helmets over $200, and the most common at $500 or more, it's a smart investment to protect your helmet when you're not using it.

    Most skydiving helmet bags also have additional pockets to carry your smaller skydiving gear and helmet accessories together so you're able to keep everything in one place whether you're at the drop zone, the wind tunnel or traveling around the world.

    Henry Kochen of the ChutingStar Crew took some time to show off a few of our most popular helmet bags this week to show you which helmets fit and the features of each.

    Check out this video as well as a video from Mike Gruwell on the new Cookie Flight Bag, and then click the links below for additional info and ordering information.

    Skydiving Helmet Bag Overview from ChutingStar.

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  2. SonoAlti G2 Unique In Audible Comparison

    Bluetooth connection, 32 alarm sounds and syncs jumps to a Logbook, are just a few highlights of the SonoAlti G2 that shows off the unique design of the newest audible altimeter at ChutingStar.

    Thanks to designer Casey Mongoven of Freefall Data Systems who integrated the Bluetooth connection, you can manage the SonoAlti G2 settings from an app on your phone. Any of 32 alarm sounds can be selected for an unlimited number of alarms for freefall or canopy flight, and then those alarms can be further adjusted by volume, pitch and tempo.

    See this overview of the new SonoAlti G2 below, which is now available at ChutingStar at this link.

    The SonoAlti G2 is one of 14 audible altimeters currently stocked and supported by ChutingStar.

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  3. Prime Time For Cookie G35 Helmet

    Skydiving helmet innovator Cookie Helmets has once again listened to skydivers and developed a new full face helmet that is a cross between the raved-about G3, G4 and Fuel helmets.

    The Cookie G35 is here in all colors and sizes! You can place your G35 helmet and accessory orders at this link.

    Cookie's new G35 is a unique crossover helmet that will appeal to skydivers, tunnel flyers and camera flyers. This modular full face helmet takes a little bit of the best of each helmet in the Cookie lineup, while specifically replacing the retiring G3.

    Improvements over the G3 include:

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  4. Digital Altimeter Features Comparison

    Digital skydiving altimeters have continued to be improved upon the past few years, but the recent release of the DigiAlti plus the Dekunu One SmartAlti. Alti-2 Juno, and AON2 X2 has really shaken up the offerings for skydivers.

    One by Dekunu is the first sport skydiving specific digital altimeter featuring GPS with 3D location tracking. After jump feedback includes jump-path mapping, G-force, swoop and landing zone analysis, which is all synced to the cloud to view, analyze and share. The AON2 X2 has similar GPS features.

    The DigiAlti by Freefall Data Systems features a unique LED LightBar in addition to an LCD Digital display. The LightBar allows you to customize up to 33 different light alerts and affects.

    So far, VISO II+ has stood strong and continues to be the best selling digital altimeter, but that doesn't mean it's the best choice specifically for you. Read on for a comparison of features to make that choice for yourself.

    Skydivers in the U.S. essentially have 7 digital altimeters to choose from. So what are the features of each that would make you choose one over the other?

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  5. Which Full Face Skydiving Helmet To Purchase?

    15 years ago, open face helmets were the norm for skydiving and only RW teams used full face skydiving helmets. But with the increase of wind tunnels over our planet as well as so many different disciplines of closer proximity skydiving, many jumpers and tunnel flyers go straight to a full face helmet as their first and only helmet.

    With several different versions and brands to choose from, which one should you go with? We'll lay out the features, differences, prices as well as highlight some customer reviews, so you can make the most educated choice possible.

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  6. Canopy Patching Simplified

    (Originally published in Skydiving Magazine)

    Learning how to patch torn canopies was a trial and error process for me when I first got into parachute rigging. I had to sew a so-called "basic patch" in rigging school on a damaged piece of fabric, but that in no way prepared me for working on real damaged parachutes when I bought my first sewing machine.

    I would probably be embarrassed if I ever came across my first 20-30 patches. Opening a drop zone loft meant I got enough practice and work that I just eventually became proficient at patching damaged canopies. But it took me about a year, 30-plus patches, and several visits to other riggers for lessons, tips and tricks to get to that point.

    Fast-forward to now and I'm very comfortable, efficient and fairly fast at patching a damaged canopy. Yet I see the same pain and frustration in other rigging students or riggers who don't patch canopies very often. So when Red Payne of Flight Concepts called me about a set of canopy patching tools he had helped develop, I jumped all over purchasing a set.

    EZ-Patch Template
    EZ-Patch Template

    The canopy patching tools, called EZ Patch, are actually a set of 2 square templates to use on a variety of different damage areas on a parachute. The metal templates have two rows of holes on each side along with a 45-degree angle slit on the inside of each corner.

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  7. Pandemic Delays, Shortages Affecting Skydiving Gear Too..

    ChutingStar did start out as the Rigger Rant & Rave...so true to form...it's time for some ranting...and then some raving.

    To all you complainers out there who have been living under a boulder or in some weird bubble, we're living in the middle of a freaking pandemic. COVID-related deaths, disruptions and shutdowns are real. Be happy you're even alive to read this.

    Some skydiving gear manufacturers, stores and drop zones have gone out of business, some are having staffing issues and others just can't get the materials needed to complete manufacturing. Some are communicating well to dealers and customers, and some are a complete overwhelmed mess of misinformation.

    Anything skydiving-related not currently in stock at ChutingStar, and still available to order from manufacturers, is on the way to us, being manufactured or on some sort of backorder awaiting the manufacturer to manufacture. We are in touch with the manufacturers about delays and backorders on a daily basis so we can communicate to you expected ship dates. But even then, those get pushed back due to more manufacturing or shipping delays.

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  8. The Impact-Rated Helmet Revolution

    For the last 25+ years, impact-rated helmets have not been an available skydiving gear option. Helmets with impact ratings, such as from the motorcycle world, tended to be too big and bulky for sport skydiving. But in the past two years, we have seen helmet manufacturers figuring out how to create skydiving helmets that are passing impact testing, and be comfortable and form-fitting for the heads of jumpers. And in a recent ChutingStar survey, we found that nearly 75% of jumpers want or need an impact rating. So what are the options available? Continue reading
  9. Customizing Your Cookie Fuel Camera Helmet

    Cookie's Fuel is the easiest "plug and play" option for a skydiving camera helmet available today.

    The majority of the available options can easily be installed through the modular mounting system on the top and sides. Additional options for larger camera mounts are available that require drilling into the helmet or attachment via VHB tape.

    Check out our video below that outlines many of the options for the Cookie Fuel, and then click through the links below to order the helmet and/or the additional options.

    Cookie Fuel Camera Helmet Set Ups from ChutingStar.

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  10. Smoke Grenade Options for Skydivers

    ChutingStar has long carried and used the white Sport Smoke Skydiver Smoke Grenade, which is a big part of demonstration jumps.

    Skydivers use one of our smoke mounts to attach the smoke to their shoe or ankle, and the smoke gives a definite "wow factor" for people on the ground whether it's used in freefall or under canopy. For several years, we've had requests for colored smoke but we could only find specialized manufacturers with complicated ignition systems and/or the smoke canisters needed larger brackets.

    But we were recently turned on to a UK smoke grenade company, Enola Gaye, that now distributes in the United States. Skydivers, drop zones and demo teams had started trying two different "wire pull" smoke grenades from the company with great success.

    The EG18 and EG18X smoke grenades not only come in several colors, but have a lower price than the Sport Smoke and can be used with all of our existing skydiver smoke grenade brackets. And then this year they added two larger "pro" smoke options in the CM75 The Cloud Maker and the SD75 The Fastest Cloud Maker giving skydivers the most options for smoke grenades every!

    Here's a comparison of the 5 different smoke grenades (4 in multiple colors) we carry for skydiving:

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