Skydiving E-tailer and Retailer Rankings

[Bandanarama 0]

Hi all,

I don't know if it has been brought up before but I think it would be a good idea to have listings of all of the E-tailers and Retailers in the Gear Link area where one can look up product information and reviews. I know e-tailer and retailer recommendations have been discussed before in the forums but it would be nice to look up such info without having to search the forums which can be a little more time consuming.

For the people that host the dropzone.com web site, I would suggest creating 2 links under the gear category: E-Tailers and Retailers. I'm not sure what takes place regarding the product manufacturers and their postings but you might even approach the E-tailers and Retailers to see if they would be willing to chip in some sort of advertisement fee to be listed there. I'm sure you guys could use a little extra $$$ for hosting this fantastic site.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I come here for a lot of my research when it comes to selecting skydiving gear and choosing which companies to buy from... I can't think of anyone at my local DZ (Skydive Snohomish http://www.skydivesnohomish.com/)that doesn't take advantage of dropzone.com for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, just in case my recommendation doesn't come to fruition, I will share my experience with regards to my recent purchases from Rigs and Things Paraservice out of Florida http://www.para-service.com/. I had narrowed down my main canopy selection based on DZ peer influence, dropzone.com reviews, and the best online bargains I could find at the time. I selected the Icarus Safire 2. I decided to communicate with Roy Torgeirson http://marketplace.amazia.com/para-service/aboutus.asp from R& T Paraservice based on some positive feedback I had seen regarding his company and customer service. I was planning on purchasing gear from multiple sources but liked Roy's price on the Safire 2.

Anyway, he took the initiative to ask me about the rest of my gear. To make a longer story shorter, he said he would match any other web sites deals if I decided to purchase everything from him.

At first I was a little concerned about buying stuff from some of the online skydiving e-tailers because the sites looked so archaic. Roy's site is no exception but the majority of them are far from fancy too. I can say that it was a safe and pleasant experience and I am very happy with my customer service and the products I received. Roy was very helpful with my selections and he has great deals. I suggest giving him an opportunity to earn your business. At the very least, you will have gotten his price on potential purchases.

I only hope this type of experience can be shared as some sort of ratings or rankings for gear retailers under the gear section of dropzone.com instead of the forums.

I'll conclude by saying that I love my VSE Infinity Container (Elsinore Vengeance Team and DZ instructors strong influences when it came to my final decision too). I also love my Safire 2 and hope not to use my Aerodyne Research Smart Reserve anytime soon. However, I've heard great things about the Smart Reserve and trust it may come in handy at some point in the future. I did order a Kurupee Freefly jumpsuit that I will share my experience when I receive it soon. I'll also post pictures too so people can view colors and quality.

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One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things. ~ Henry Miller