Tell me what kind of suit to buy

[Joea 0]

I've searched here but most suggestions and advice are for smaller people. I'm a big guy, 6' 3", 260lbs.

I want to buy a jump suit, used or new, doesn't matter. I've looked at freefly and RW. There's even "student" suits although I can't see what makes them different.

Are grips necessary for anything other than formation? Should I look for grips?

I'm still doing static line (two more to go) but there's only two suits at my DZ that fit and they look more like mechanic overalls than jumpsuits. I'm pretty sure one is prison issued.

I could probably have one made for me as they have a fella who comes in to do that but that'll likely be very pricey for me just yet. I want to know what I should be looking for.

It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. - Clarence Worley from "True Romance"

[Halfpastniner 0]

Since your a big guy the one thing you are going to want to look for is a slow falling suit. You will want soemthing pretty baggy so you dont always go low once your doing sport jumps.

BASE 1384

[Blink 1]

A good idea for a first suit, is to get an RW suit, without booties. That way you can do RW and freefly.

Like he said, something baggy that will make you slow down.

[bigway 4]

Buy a superman suit or shit, a greatest american hero suit!!

Get a cheap RW suit to see you through those stages of skydiving before investing in a mean freefly suit.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[DARK 0]

why would you advise getting one with no booties?

i notice at my dz aswell if a student or low number jumper is using one of the dz suits with booties they are made tape the booties around the ankles instead of just using them over the shoe

[Halfpastniner 0]

He advised no booties that way you can use the same suit for freeflying and RW. While it wont be the most efficient at either dicipline, it will be compatible for both. You may never get into the freeflying scene, but this early in your progression its pretty much impossible to tell what you will be into later.

BASE 1384

[Joea 0]

I've used the same blue mechanic jumpsuit for all my jumps and it had no booties. I suppose with no free fall it's irrelevant. I see a lot of the veterans who also have no booties.

I would think that baggy suits would probably be better with booties. Perhaps it's a landing issue? Newbs + booties = broken ankles?

Ok, so baggy is a given... this suit is gonna be freakin' huge! I wish I could find one.

It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. - Clarence Worley from "True Romance"

[bigway 4]

What are you talking about?

Rw suits are not for freeflying booties or no booties.

Rw suits are for learning RW as everybody should before progressing on to freeflying.

If he wants to freefly he should get a freefly suit. For now he should get a rw suit, probably get use to it without booties and then get one with botties.

You dont need a suit to learn to sitfly anyway.


This early in your progrssison you need to learn rw skills to keep you alive.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[bigway 4]

that was not what i said, that was the person above me.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[DSE 5]

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I've used the same blue mechanic jumpsuit for all my jumps and it had no booties. I suppose with no free fall it's irrelevant. I see a lot of the veterans who also have no booties.

I would think that baggy suits would probably be better with booties. Perhaps it's a landing issue? Newbs + booties = broken ankles?

Ok, so baggy is a given... this suit is gonna be freakin' huge! I wish I could find one.

Booties on beginners isn't a good idea in part because it's a better idea to get used to how your body flies first, before adding performance enhancements.
If you're learning RW, you don't need booties right off anyway. The people teaching you may or may not have booties, but they'll likely also know how to work with you not having them.
Yes, they can affect your landings, too, but some people flip em' off once under canopy.
It's more about learning to fly correctly first.

[Joea 0]

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[Booties on beginners isn't a good idea in part because it's a better idea to get used to how your body flies first, before adding performance enhancements.

Ahh.. I love the learning factor here. I would have thought the booties were solely for keeping your pant legs from crawling up in the wind. I never thought of them as something for performance.

Yes, I will definitely forgo any "performance enhancements" until I'm much more adept. The only enhancements I need right now are the "survival" enhancements.

It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. - Clarence Worley from "True Romance"

[DSE 5]

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Ahh.. I love the learning factor here. I would have thought the booties were solely for keeping your pant legs from crawling up in the wind. I never thought of them as something for performance.

touche'! I never would have thought someone would think of booties as being something to keep their pant legs down, either. We both learned something new.
Velcro on the bottoms of the legs of a jumpsuit will keep those legs from creeping, but if you're on your belly, this likely isn't a big issue for you yet.
FWIW, I'd recommend looking for used for the time being, with baggy arms/legs, in a slow fabric. I'm not as larg as you, but I'm large at 195/5'9" or so.
Eventually, you'll figure out what best works, but you probably don't want to spend the $$ for new just yet.
Once you've got 100 jumps or so on a used suit, you'll start to have some ideas about what you want in pockets, zippers, cuffs, grippers, maybe booties, and the ever important color that must match your rig, shoes, headgear, and altimeter color.
Grips can be added to most jumpsuits by a rigger, so don't worry *too* much about those, either. I met a guy at Eloy wearing Porsche mechanics coveralls with added grips and velcro ankles/sleeves, and damned if it didn't look great (red with trim that looked like carbon fiber fabric). He told me his employer had given him the suit, and he had a rigger add the velcro and grippers. they looked kinda like these.

[edit] In the event you can find a great deal on an RW suit w/booties, you likely can find a rigger or seamster/seamstress that can remove the booties and make them regular legs. Just be sure the cost of the suit plus cost of mods doesn't add up to more than a new suit or a good used one w/o booties

[Joea 0]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

Always happy to teach you young fellas a thing or two.

I've searched pretty heavily on-line. It's tough to find large used suits. If the height is right, the weight isn't, or at least mine isn't... (slowly but surely, I'm working on that). I may have to wait until my DZ opens in Feb, and start sniffing around there.

It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. - Clarence Worley from "True Romance"

[pilotdave 0]

I'd recommend booties right off the bat for an RW suit. You will probably want them eventually (although some jumpers don't use them), so you might as well get used to them from the start. I added booties to my jumpsuit when I had ~200 jumps since I was advised when I bought the suit that booties weren't for beginners. I think all that did was hold me back for a while. I really didn't start using my legs until I got booties. I think not having them just gets people really focused on just using their arms for control. Legs are much more powerful, especially with booties.

And if your instructors don't want you using booties for a while, tuck em in and tape em down. You don't have to use them just because they're there.

Dave

[DSE 5]

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And if your instructors don't want you using booties for a while, tuck em in and tape em down. You don't have to use them just because they're there.

Dave

this is what I did, but the tape kept failing, so eventually had a rigger tack a small section down. Coupled with the tape, it worked well.
However, I disagree with booties for beginners, as I did have them, and it screwed me up in my progress, IMO.

[Fledgling 0]

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Newbs + booties = broken ankles?

I would think it very un-likely that you would break yourself due to booties and you can easily pull them up while under canopy which I would recommend due to novices having a habit of tearing up their booties on rough landings. They do feel a little different to fly with initially but are very easy to get a handle of and anything other than your mechanic suit is going to feel a little different anyway, so if you were to buy a rel suit I would have booties added straight up.
On a side note you should also consider a heavy fabric like what is on the mechanic suit as it will help you heavier guys to slow your fall rates with out much effort or ridiculous amounts of bagginess.

[pilotdave 0]

I think your progression was a tad more accelerated than normal...
Dave

[DSE 5]

Yeah, that's so. Jay Stokes helped me find a camera suit that had booties. You shoulda seen my first jump w/it (jump 26). You'da laughed your ass so hard you'd likely have broken a leg on landing. I'm amazed I got stable enough to deploy, and did have what I thought at the time, was nasty line twists. Little did I know. Note to self: don't buy a camera suit before finishing AFF.

DZO taped up the booties, and I didn't have any problems after that, and didn't undo the booties until around jump 100. I quit using that suit around jump 150, as I didn't like the smaller wing, and don't need the booties for most things, but occasionally jump with that suit for giggles or four-way.

[pilotdave 0]

Well, I really think there's a big difference between using booties on a camera suit and using them on an RW suit. I have them on my camera suit (for 4-way video), but I don't think they help all that much for that. I probably do a lot more controlling with my legs since I have my arms out of the way of the camera. But for RW, you learn to use your arms and legs together... I really had trouble using my legs for anything until I got booties. I guess I think there's a bit of a difference between what you're trying to learn for camera and what you're trying to learn for RW. Get the booties and learn to control your legs.... or else ya gotta relearn it after you pick up habbits...

Dave

[heavydude 0]

Howdy, I posted also on some other questions you had. At 240ish I was about at the limit at my home drop zone.(used to lift lots of weights, not particularly useful in skydiving) As in my previous post on stability I just wrapped up AFF in Dec and am doing solo jumps. I bought an off the shelf cheapo free-fly suit to do solos and it is working out OK. However in my research it looks like Bodysport Cratersuit will be my next purchase, looks to be running about $260 w/ booties, std grips. I am however intending on spending some time in wind tunnel flying it before its jumped. Bodysport adjusts suit cut to tailor to your FF speed. (I wish I knew my current speed, dont have a Dytter) Really when you look at cost of this sport for jumps, gear, etc. it makes sense to me to get a good suit. I intend to get a stylin all-black color to make me look cool.
Reviews of suit are on this site.

[NeedToJump 0]

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Rw suits are not for freeflying booties or no booties.

No, definitely not. One should never freefly in an RW suit...

Sorry, I had to do it

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[pchapman 279]

[Note that I'm commenting as a jumper in general, but not as one with any particular insight into jumpsuits for particular disciplines.]

I'll add some more in to the mix of usually good ideas already presented.

When picking suits there's always something else to buy if one wants something "better" for a particular purpose.

Around these parts most new jumpers seem to get a basic freefly suit to start with, as it can be used somewhat all-round, and everyone wants to freefly. It may be a slight bother for others to grab onto their jumpsuit fabric when doing some casual formation jumps, but it is doable. Learning to sit fly with big RW grippers (and booties taped up) is on the other hand is probably not easy at all.

So a freefly suit is more "generic" in its usefulness.

If you're a bigger guy, yes, you'll want something baggier to make it easy to stay with other jumpers. Take a look around the DZ to see the relationship between body size and suit tightness.

It seems jumpsuits are a bit like canopies in the sense that one's first choice will never be the one one wants down the road. So unless one has plenty of cash, I recommend to start with something simple and used if possible.

If one later gets into serious freeflying, then one may need another freefly suit, for the first one may have been a bit too baggy, as it is easier to learn in a baggier suit. (Experienced freeflyers would know more about just how baggy is suitable for novice freefliers these days.)

Belly RW is still the basic skill for safety and for learning to play well with the other kids in the sky, so one does want to match others' speeds.

If getting into more serious RW, one's first suit choice may or may not give the fall rate one really wants relative to others. With a brand new suit one could get the sizing right, but with a used one it is harder to get right. If one likes RW, then yes, learning to fly booties from early on will speed one's learning.

I've seen people "make do" with a particular suit for a while, but then realize they need to make a change, otherwise they'll always be the guy who floats on or sinks on a formation.

I wouldn't worry about looking like a student in the DZ's coveralls...because you are a student. But I agree a larger choice of big guy coveralls would be better.

I personally still use a pair of loose coveralls for simple jumps. Fast and easy to put on for solo hop and pops, CRW, winter jumps with extra clothes, or when I need more drag to stay with a slow student. Then I've got a suit that is usable both for freefly and for casual RW. And I have a bootie RW suit with bigger grips for when I'm trying to do a little more serious RW.

Since you're a big guy, it'll be interesting for your coaches and instructors when they start joining you in freefall. It would be handy if you had a baggier suit of some type at that point! Also, do make sure your coach or instructor has a plan for their own speed, otherwise your feedback may not be as good if they're observing you from way above. As a skinny 150 lb guy, I've had success sitflying next to big students, when observing as a coach (rather than doing the later RW training for the A CoP). See you at STI.