Mirage owners (especially M0/1's!)

[brabzzz 0]

Helllloooooooooo!

1) Unisys - Worth the money or would a hip ring have sufficied? Is unisys just the addition of chest-rings to a hips only harness? Anyone care to shed light on the 'patented unisys harness stitching' that only the factory can repair? Sounds like an excuse to get bent over a barrel for future repairs....

2) Am I right in thinkign the cadmium (sp?) hardware is still nicer then other manufacturers plain old steel?

3) Has anyone got a pilot 140 filt inside a M0 or M1? It's packs 5% bigger than a Sabre 135 (on paper). I've been warned it's gonna be tight. Is that tight as in tight or tight as in tiiiiiiiigggghhhhht?

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Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club
www.skydivebristoluni.com

[EricaH 0]

I would get chest rings whatever that means. Here's why... sorry for the long response.

I have an M1 on a G4.1... and when freeflying specifically after transitioning to head down from a sit, one of my shoulder straps slips off to the side. My boyfriend's MX (I think or an M0) does the same thing. However, having the Unisys harness allows us to really tighten the chest strap down (my laterals end up only 5 inches to reduce the slipping). Note that both containers were custom... I've complained to Mirage & they're response "if you jump a canopy as big as a 135 we expect you to be a larger person & so the yoke is wider".. I have complaint threads all over dz.com, yes they really did respond that way.

I stick with it since the harness is SO comfortable otherwise. However, when I'm ready for a new container, it won't be Mirage.

Sorry, I don't know answers to your other questions.

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[AggieDave 6]

So you're using the chest rings as a bandaid fix for a deisgn problem in which the company produced the rig with a yoke that was too big for you?

Is that really the best solution?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[EricaH 0]

Yup & nope.... but it works.
Because of the chest rings, the chest strap pulls the laterals out of straight lines, but they're not bent, pressure is still applied evenly through out the webbing.

It works till I can save up enough $ to get a new container. And I can post all over the internet about how a company has bad yoke design - yea!

At this point i've been over it dozens of times w/ dozens of people in the know about gear, ie. multiple (at least 6) riggers, dzos & Mirage themselves, reps & company contact. It comes down to the fact that the everything but the yoke fits perfectly & Mirage can't fix that (I don't know if it's actually a won't, but to me it's the same as can't).

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[riggermick 7]

Quote

Yup & nope.... but it works.
Because of the chest rings, the chest strap pulls the laterals out of straight lines, but they're not bent, pressure is still applied evenly through out the webbing.

It works till I can save up enough $ to get a new container. And I can post all over the internet about how a company has bad yoke design - yea!

At this point i've been over it dozens of times w/ dozens of people in the know about gear, ie. multiple (at least 6) riggers, dzos & Mirage themselves, reps & company contact. It comes down to the fact that the everything but the yoke fits perfectly & Mirage can't fix that (I don't know if it's actually a won't, but to me it's the same as can't).

The way Mirage and just about every other rig is constructed makes it impossible to just replace the back pad/ yoke without replacing both main and reserve containers along with it. Which is essentually a new rig. It all has to do with the width of the reserve container which in turn affects the width of the main container which in turn affects the width of the back pad (of which the yoke is part of). It's all intergraed and designed to function as a single unit with many overlapping parts. Your choice of canopies as well as your size have a very large bearing on how the rig is built.

That being said Mirage should have eaten the rig and built a new narrower one, I had to do that several times. It's a pain but it is the right thing to do.

Mick.

[riggerrob 643]

This problem cropped up several times when I worked at Rigging Innovations. It took a looong time, but we finally convinced Sandy Reid to re-think shoulder yokes for people with shoulders differently sized than Sandy.
A Japanese women's 4-way team asked for small yokes, so we built a batch of Talons for them with small yokes.
When tiny Terry Irvin (Canadian National Style and Accuracy Team) visited R.I. I spent two days cutting down, test-fitting, cutting down again, etc. a small Talon until it fit Terry's tiny shoulders properly.
Meanwhile, a retired professional football (American rules) complained that the standard shoulder yoke was too short. It took a while, but we finally convinced Sandy to design a yoke 2 inches longer between the top of the reserve container and the 3-Rings.
Similarly, Sun Path offers O, A, B, C and D sized yokes for different sizes of shoulders.
Jump Shack was one of the first factories to offer differently-sized yokes, including its Narrow Over the Shoulder (NOS) yoke for people with small deltoid muscles.
Shoulder yokes are the most complicated part of parachute containers, with: reserve top flaps, Cypres channels, ripcords, RSLs, cutaway cables, main riser covers, etc. ... so complicated that it is easier to build a new yoke. Since the yoke is integral with the back pad on most rigs, it is simpler to build a new rig.

[EricaH 0]

I really do understand (well, not actually since I'm no rigger but I can grasp the concept) how difficult it would be to have varying yoke sizes. I can also actually see how Mirage would have to build me a new rig & can't just replace the yoke.

It's so aggrivating after all the testing I did to end up loving basically the most expensive new rig on the market, deal with one of the longest delivery times on the market. jump the rig & love it sit flying. Then when I work on learing Head Down have the dang thing slide off one shoulder every jump.

On top of basically having a rig that has a very important safty feature (holding the rig on your shoulders) not fit, I was told by this mfg... who based on price & delivery time should be some of the best, that there's nothing they can do about it. When I pointed out that some very small girls (I'm not one) jump 150's & would actually fall out of my rig, the response was "well, I can't tell them they should be jumping a smaller canopy, but basically ya, they would fall out." Come on!!

Especially after being fitted by the Mirage rep, who measured my shoulders & neck & asked if I wanted my rig to fit lose, snug or tight - to which I responded tight... just aggrivating.

but now I've totally hijacked this tread & really truly didn't want to. I've also been over this problem with so many people here & in person that I'm tired of hearing myself complain..

And, finally someone at Mirage, from reading this thread has contacted me & asked me to contact him directly.... now I just have to wait for them to come back to work from being sick. So, we'll have to see, perhaps this man has my perfect answer. I can only hope.

If he does come back with something that fixes my problem (and dosn't cost tremendously), I will go back and happly respond to all my negative posts (there has to be over 10) with glorious praise.

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[EricaH 0]

Yes, I'm replying to myself - oh, well. I just need to get it out there that my Mirage has been fixed!! Yea! now it is perfect!! When tightened to jump run ready I can barely even pull the shoulders off my shoulders. The "big guy" took a full inch out of the harness under each mud flap & all the stagger out the leg strap attachment (the webbing between the leg straps & the hip rings).

Now it is the most comfortable rig ever!! There are no con's to a Mirage. Also, I believe that the person at the company that gave me cr*p for my complaint was actually full of cr*p - I've been basically promised that Mirage does not agree with what was said in the first place.

Anyway, I complain when stuff is wrong & I give praise when things go well. Now things are great & I am giving praise to Mirage!

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[freakyrat 1]

The Unysin Harness allows for an easier MLW harness adjustment if the harness MLW is too short or long. It took Mike at Mirage four hours to fix mine just by removing and replacing the center sections of the MLW. Any other harness would have to be completely torn apart and rebuilt.

Chris

[billvon 3,071]

> The Unysin Harness allows for an easier MLW harness adjustment if
>the harness MLW is too short or long.

True of any articulated harness; only the section between hip and chest rings needs to be replaced.

> It took Mike at Mirage four hours to fix mine . . .

I assume he took a lot of coffee breaks then! On a Talon, you'd have to pick out the stitching on the cutaway/reserve pockets, remove the webbing, cut new webbing to length, sew the new webbing between the rings, then sew the pockets back on.

[freakyrat 1]

Bill

Mike showed me some of the stuff they had to do to take the old center webbing out etc. and picking the stitches etc. Mirage made some things easier it seems for this to be done. That is the beauty of the fully articulated harnesses if they have to be resized.

Chris

[Jeffrey 1]

Quote

It took Mike at Mirage four hours to fix mine just by removing and replacing the center sections of the MLW.

Do you mean Mike at Chuting Star? Here in Deland it only takes 20 minutes.

Jeff

[freakyrat 1]

My apologies Jeff. It didn't take you long to fix my harness and the Unisyn harness was well worth it because of the simplicity of adjusting the MLW sizing. I recall you did say it woould take about 30 minutes to do it. I had other things to do in Orlando that day and picked up the rig the next morning.

Again I stand corrected.

Chris