Nitro 108

[billvon 3,067]

I demoed a Nitro 108 at Rantoul (loaded about 1.9 to 1) and liked it so much I bought the demo from Beezy for a very good price. I put five jumps on it on Saturday at Perris (hot, no wind landings for the most part) and am very happy with it. It replaces my Crossfire 1 109 that was giving me acceptable performance; the Nitro does so many things better than the Crossfire that there's no question which one I'll be hanging on to.

The openings are very Pilot-like - fairly fast without being hard, and always on heading. They happen in two stages - getting stood up, then a heavy drag (2G's? something like that) for a few seconds until the canopy is completely open. No Stiletto-like hunting or skittishness, which the Crossfire was prone to. Opening happens in about 300 feet.

On one largish jump I found myself very close to someone else at pull time, so I turned away from them, gave them an extra two seconds, and pulled. Opened on-heading and there was no issue; even if she had opened facing me, my more heavily loaded canopy would outpace hers as long as it opened on-heading. The on-heading performance is an issue for me given how many big-ways I do.

Front riser pressure is much lower than the Crossfire, and the recovery arc was much longer. I was getting as long planeouts on the Nitro with double fronts as I was with the Crossfire doing a 90 degree front riser hook. For front riser hooks, it's easy to start the canopy diving hard with one front riser, then hold it in the dive/turn with a little opposite front riser down to recovery height, then drop the fronts, let the canopy recover, then flare with rear riser spread/brakes.

Flare was as good as the canopies I am used to (crossfire/pilot/safire) with no tendency to stall early (a la early Visions.)

This canopy seems like an ideal canopy for people who are just starting to swoop. It's very predictable, the long recovery arc means you can set up higher, and the excellent double-fronts performance gives newer swoopers a great way to start learning about high performance landings.

Aside on Beezy and Hiper -

I put a bunch of jumps on the Nitro at Rantoul, and talked to Beezy about buying that same canopy right there. He made me a great deal on it if I bought it right there. I hemmed and hawed until it was too late.

I called him a week later to see if the canopy was still available, and he offered it to me at the same price. I said OK, and asked him where to send the check. I mailed the check a few days later, and the canopy arrived the same day - he had shipped it out before he even got the check. Now that's customer service. We've known each other a long time, but I still thought that was a really nice thing to do.

[diablopilot 2]

Nice Bill. It is a great canopy. If you ever want to try something a little more sporty the Blade from HiPer is a hell of a performer as well.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Brains 2]

Nice report on the Nitro. I have another question,

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Front riser pressure is much lower than the Crossfire, and the recovery arc was much longer.

Have you jumped a Crossfire2? And if so is the riser pressure lower that it as well? I notice an incredible difference between a CF 109 and a CF2109. Just curious.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[johnny1488 1]

Is the nitro that Hiper is selling still the same as the nitron that precision makes? I got to jump one this weekend and didnt think there was much to the canopy at all compared to my cf2. It was nice enough but didnt do anything for me.

Johnny
--"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!"
Mike Rome

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

That's the beauty of having so many different canopies on the market; there is something for everyone. The things that make some people think "ho-hum" really make some people incredibly happy. I found the Nitro/Nitron to be very, very similar in flight characteristics to my old Cobalt and the original Crossfire. I found the Blade to be very, very similar to a Crossfire2.

Beezy is a great friend and he will bend over backwards to make a customer happy.

Chuck

[billvon 3,067]

>Have you jumped a Crossfire2? And if so is the riser pressure lower that it as well?

Yes; I've jumped the Crossfire 2 109 and I liked it more than the Crossfire 109. Lower riser pressure, but I didn't like the openings as much as I liked the Nitro's.

[headoverheels 333]

Any comment on the Nitro vs. the Nitron? Other than the super deal you got, of course

• Quote

[diablopilot 2]

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Is the nitro that Hiper is selling still the same as the nitron that precision makes?

The Nitron is a copy of the Nitro. It's almost but not quite the same. The designers of the Original Nitro certianly know how to make one nice canopy!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Kris 0]

Well, you convinced me, Bill. I called Beezy today and picked his brain. I've got a Nitro demo on its way to me.

I'll post a writeup once I get some jumps on it.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[ianmdrennan 2]

I think you'll be very pleased with it.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[Kris 0]

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I think you'll be very pleased with it.

That's what I keep hearing. I really had my heart set on a Crossfire2, but after all I've heard, I just don't want to take the chance on their customer service.

Hopefully this canopy will be the all-around performer I'm looking for when it comes to openings, being swoopable, and well-behaved with my wingsuit.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[ianmdrennan 2]

I know a guy who jumps a Nitron with his wingsuit although if you wouldn't do it with a stiletto I'm not sure I'd do it with a Nitro(n). Something like the Sabre2 may be more suitable if you don't feel comfy using a more tapered wing for wingsuit jumps.

Maybe an experienced wingsuit jumper can comment (I know Chuck's used his velo on many wingsuit jumps)?

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[Kris 0]

I've had zero problems with my Stiletto, but I would prefer something that doesn't hunt as much on opening. It's not a bother, it's just "busy", if that makes any sense.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[tfelber 0]

That's my limited experience with the Sabre2 and Stiletto. At least a 90 degree change of direction is highly probable with these canopies.

The Nitro 135 I'm jumping has turned about 45 degrees once. The rest of the jumps have been on heading every time.

The TurboZX 165 I was jumping previously never opened off heading.

[Peej 0]

I have very limited ws experience but after chatting to Chris from Precision at the WFFC i did a couple ws jumps with a 150 Nitron in my container and loved it.

The canopy opened smoothly and predictably and in one instance where i was close to another jumper on opening it responded beautifully to harness input.

Just my newbie 2 cents

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[LouDiamond 1]

Chris, while your at it,demo a Firebolt as I think it will provide you with what you are looking for and is Birdman friendly. I use it for everything from tandem camera to Birdman.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Kris 0]

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Chris, while your at it,demo a Firebolt as I think it will provide you with what you are looking for and is Birdman friendly. I use it for everything from tandem camera to Birdman.

No offense, but that one's a little too new to market for me. I'm also interested in seeing how the flight characteristics hold up after several hundred jumps since it has F-111.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[billvon 3,067]

>Chris, while your at it,demo a Firebolt as I think it will provide
>you with what you are looking for and is Birdman friendly.

I recently got a brand new Pilot 150 at an insanely good price; it's an awesome Birdman canopy. On one opening I had a premature brake fire. It started to turn slowly. I unzipped as fast as I could and grabbed the risers; by the time I got to the risers it was still just turning slowly. Now that's a forgiving canopy.

[apoil 0]

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Is the nitro that Hiper is selling still the same as the nitron that precision makes?

Differences between the Nitro and Nitron (that I know of).

Material.
Nitron uses the slippery ZP common to US canopies.
Nitro uses Galvenor fabric which is ZP but a little bit more waxy feeling when it is new. Super easy to pack at first. Rumored to have a shorter lifespan.

Different Slider weight/size - this could affect openings.
The kill line system on the Nitro is bulky and inefficient.

The Nitro has the leading edge constructed from a separate piece of matierial, while the Nitron has it as a continuation of the topskin. I'm not exactly sure how Precision was able to do this and have it be the same canopy but it does seem to be the same. This allows for the Nitro to have the leading edge in another color.The Nitro also has the checkerboard color pattern available on the bottom skin. Precision shows this in the advertisements for the NITRON but they don't offer it, or at least they didn't when I ordered one. The Nitro scheme with the top/bottom skin in one color and the checkerboard, leading edge and winglets in a second color is super nifty.

[piisfish 140]

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The kill line system on the Nitro is bulky and inefficient.

not 100% sure but doesn't the kill line system belong to the POD which belongs to the harness ?? IMO it doesn't belong to the canopy...

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[beezyshaw 0]

He was referring to the collapsable slider, not the pilot chute. I disagree that it is not efficient; the drawstring system on the Nitro always stays closed, unlike the type with the "barbs" that get can jump back inside the slider and allow the slider to re-inflate. And most people who demo or buy a Nitro (or Blade) really prefer our slider.

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I will also agree that the system used on HiPer canopies (and Atair for some time) absolutely will NOT creep/pop out on you once you set it. I have never used a "common" type kill-line slider that hasn't come undone on at least one side from time to time. Tightly rolling your slider and stowing it on your rig or jumpsuit by other means controls this problem, but see it happen all the time on people who don't pull their slider down and stow it more securely. Nothing bugs me more than having a slider half-inflate behind your head as you are setting up for a swoop. While slightly bulkier, I actually like the plastic slack retainer things better than the "tits" used on most other sliders.

[billvon 3,067]

>demo a Firebolt as I think it will provide you with what you are looking for and is Birdman friendly.

I tried one Firebolt and loved it; tried another one and it opened hard, had a built in turn, and had a crappy flare. That was about a year ago, so they may have gotten the bugs out of it by now.

[Kris 0]

Thanks for the info, Chuck. I'm interested in seeing what their slider system looks like.

My Stiletto slider is pretty good about staying stowed, but sometimes, when I get really aggressive with it, I've had one side or the other pop out, start inflating, then the slider starts rising from behind my neck.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[LouDiamond 1]

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I'm also interested in seeing how the flight characteristics hold up after several hundred jumps since it has F-111

Well I have several hundred and counting on mine and so far I have yet to see anything change in it's performance due to the F1-11.


As for the hard opening and turn Bill mentioned. Like all manufactuers demo lines, there were a couple demos out there that took a beating and developed some nasty habits but they were quickly identified and removed. It is an incredibly fun canopy to fly especially when you start to load it. I have also been getting some fantastic swoopage out of it as well.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING