matt3sa 0 #1 June 10, 2009 Just wanted to stir up the Sensei topic again. I've browsed through all of the posts on it and found brief discussions dating as recent as last month. I just put in for a demo request. I've gathered that nothing official has been put out about the canopy flight characteristics. I would like to ask the small group of people that have jumped the Sensei to comment on it's flight characteristics compared to a Velocity (if you folks are familiar with the velocity). If you aren't at will to comment that's understandable. More specifically I wonder about riser pressures, turn rate, and dive. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phoenixlpr 0 #3 June 18, 2009 What do you expect? Its a new canopy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voodew1 0 #4 June 21, 2009 Expect reviews early next month --- orders are about to be shipped in the next week - I hope My Sensei 81 is showing available 6/29 --- I am to assume other orders should be about the same The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
980 0 #5 June 21, 2009 I think you will find that the majority of early adopters of the Sensei are dyed-in-the-wool Germainians. That is to say, skydivers who have gone directly from a Samurai to a Sensei without ever even trying other crossbraced canopies. So I think it will be a while before you get some useful replies to your questions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bigway 4 #6 June 21, 2009 Quote Expect reviews early next month --- orders are about to be shipped in the next week - I hope My Sensei 81 is showing available 6/29 --- I am to assume other orders should be about the same Orders coming out on the 26th should be with customers around the 7th. lots of people who have been patient should be seeing their ZPX pilots and Senseis over the next two weeks hopefully. If only PD could start releasing their Optimums, It would be a good month for dealers being able to finally get so many orders shipped if that happened. Please God, let July be the month of Magic and happy customers with their long awaited canopies .Karnage Krew Gear Store . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faicon9493 141 #7 June 22, 2009 Quote Quote Expect reviews early next month --- orders are about to be shipped in the next week - I hope My Sensei 81 is showing available 6/29 --- I am to assume other orders should be about the same Orders coming out on the 26th should be with customers around the 7th. lots of people who have been patient should be seeing their ZPX pilots and Senseis over the next two weeks hopefully. If only PD could start releasing their Optimums, It would be a good month for dealers being able to finally get so many orders shipped if that happened. Please God, let July be the month of Magic and happy customers with their long awaited canopies I wonder when demo canopies will be available? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildWilly 0 #8 June 22, 2009 Quote I think you will find that the majority of early adopters of the Sensei are dyed-in-the-wool Germainians. That is to say, skydivers who have gone directly from a Samurai to a Sensei without ever even trying other crossbraced canopies. So I think it will be a while before you get some useful replies to your questions. I guess that's me. Haven't jumped any other crossbraced canopies til I got my Sensei last Sept.(last prototype before the Aerodyne deal) And so far I love it. Openings are smooth and not too seeking( 600-700 ft.) It flies awesome, front riser pressure is less than my Sam, and it will dive as long as I want. It has lots of power on the bottom end and I can still shut it down on no wind days. I only have about 25 jumps on it so far so I'm not pushing it to the max yet. But so far I have no compaints and only praise for Brian's design. He's got another winner!! Oh Ya it goes really FAST!!!!!Enjoy, Willygrowing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voodew1 0 #9 June 22, 2009 I have never jumped a Big Air Sports canopy -- so not to worry my review will be just that - unfortunately I am not one of the super swoopers of the world - just a hack having fun --- I will be comparing it to my Velocity 79 that I currently jump The pimp hand is powdered up ... say something stupid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSE 1 #10 July 6, 2009 I had the opportunity to put just a couple jumps on a Sensei at the American Boogie and thought I would share my experience. For reference I jump a Velo 79 which I love. Packing/material – One of the most impressive things to me was the new ZPX fabric. Packs up much smaller. The 81 seemed to pack a whole canopy size smaller than my 79. The canopy had only a handful of jumps on it and was still a little slippery but of course packing was easy. It will be interesting to see how this new material holds up over time. Openings – Faster than the velo. It opened up quickly with little snivel, but not hard. As a camera flyer I think would prefer it to open slightly slower. Flight Characteristics - One of the most outstanding parts of the canopy is its response to harness input. Just a little shift in the harness can produce long diving turns. Front riser pressure seemed fine while rear riser pressure was slightly greater than the velo. I always felt like the velocity is a little mushy on rears though. I think that the rear riser performance of this canopy has A LOT of potential. Landing – I had some difficulty swooping this canopy coming from a velocity. It does dive well, but not as much as the velocity. My biggest frustration is with the recovery arch – its fast. I kept coming out high even though I started my turn much, much lower. The toggle sweat spot was slightly deeper than PD canopies although it is possible that the brakes were not properly adjusted for me. Overall I think this canopy is much more comparable to a Xaos than a Velo. A good friend who is an outstanding Xaos pilot really liked the canopy and swooped it well. To me it flew more like a 27 cell canopy than the velo. It also seemed to fly a little bigger and may need to be weighted up slightly more than the velo/what I’m loading it. The sensei definitely requires a different flying style. I wish I could have done more jumps on it but I didn’t want to hog the canopy. I think given time I could make it perform well. That being said, I was really happy to hook my velo back up. Even if I were in the market for a new canopy right now I still would choose that over the Sensei, but that’s just my personal choice at the moment. Pros: material, harness turns, rear risers. Cons: openings, dive/recover arch P.S. I guess I owe beer because the aerodyne rep told me I was there first person in the US to demo a sensei. Anyone want to dispute that and save me the cost of a case? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSE 1 #11 July 6, 2009 Also, I absolutely recommend jumping this canopy if you can. I know it is going to make some of you very happy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BirdWoman 0 #12 July 7, 2009 Just to note on the openings: I have been flying two of Brian's prototype 81's for over 1100 jumps now. I am loading anywhere from 1.73 to 2.00 (depending on how much weight I have on), all while flying full video and stills. I do not find the openings hard or snappy at all, in fact they are quite plesant. I don't know if the openings you experienced are due to the new material or the build; I am hoping to get ahold of a demo soon so I can give better info on the aerodyne version."I don't know where it is that I'm going, but wherever it is there I'll be!" --quoted by me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSE 1 #13 July 7, 2009 Didn't open hard, just not what I would consider super slow. The aerodyne rep expressed having a similar experience with the same canopy. Also, I'm use to ridiculously slow openings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gearless_chris 1 #14 July 8, 2009 When I was talking to Brian at SDC a few weeks ago he said he put considerable time into making the rears very effective. Some of the other things on the list were, fly like a 27 cell but still pack small, being able to let go of the controls for freestyle moves, and being sensitive to harness input (he really likes harness turns). He also said he is working on bigger sizes for fat guys like me ( 131 and 141), but he's having issues with the rib height. This was all after a few shots of tequilla, so you can't hold him to it."If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chutingstar 1 #15 July 8, 2009 I received my Sensei 81 with the ZPX and 350 HMA on Monday and made a couple of jumps that day. The local swoopers are passing it around this week to try it out as well. Just a few quick notes on my impression on the canopy after those jumps. First, I currently jump a Comp. Velo 84. But jumped Velo 90s for the past 5 years. I'm 210 out the door with weight. Openings were much better than any cross-braced I've jumped. Very measured and even. My first impression is that this would be a great canopy for jumping with my video setup (which I had to do on my 2nd jump with it). But I've only been slammed a handful of times on my Velo 90 over the years. I didn't have a removable d-bag/pc/slider on the setup. I'm sure that is affecting the performance a bit and will need to add that setup to get a better comparison. But the front/rear riser pressure seemed fairly similar to a Velo. I started my 450 turn at about the same altitude of my Velo 90 on the first jump and it seemed to have the same dive and plane-out. The only surprising thing was that it stalled immediately when I transferred to toggles...I did just get on the bank of the Farm pond to avoid drenching it and myself on the first jump. The brake lines did seem on the tight side up high, but didn't notice an early stall point in full flight...yet coming out of rears at the end of the swoop and then to toggles induced a quick stall. I've lengthened the lowers 4" and will try that out later this week. MikeChutingStar.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sangi 0 #16 July 8, 2009 I think what everyone wants to hear is: can it out swoop or be on par with comp velo's and JVX's?"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
verticalflier 0 #17 July 10, 2009 Mike, the toggle setting (factory made mark) was too short on my demo as well. I made it longer by 12cm from the mark. This fixed the problem of stall right after rears to toggles transition. AS FOR THE POST FOLLOWING MIKE'S:Can it outswoop comp velo? You would need to give the similar size Sensei and Velo to the same pilot going back to back and flying it the same way to see. The ZPX Sensei 81 pack very nicely into Icon I1 which was build for 96 sf non cross braced zp canopy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
henrik.anderson 0 #18 July 13, 2009 Give me some more input, is this THE canopy to buy? Regards /Henrik Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflye73 0 #19 July 13, 2009 Quote Give me some more input, is this THE canopy to buy? Regards /Henrik Why don't you ask "uffe" if he can get you a demo. and make it a 101 so i can demo it after you //JF Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflye73 0 #20 July 27, 2009 Does anyone else have some input on the canopy since it's been awhile since the last post regarding how the canopy perform and hopefully more jumpers had the chance to put some jumps on it and share there experience with it.. //JF Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 2 #21 July 27, 2009 We had a boogie at Skydive Utah recently, and Aerodyne was there with demos. I jumped a Sensei 101 for about 10 jumps. I was pleasantly surprised with the canopy: I had a good list of likes and no dislikes except the fact that I don't have the $$ for my very own new one right now Openings: very similar to Pilot openings. What I got was a medium initial snatch, then shake-shake, then canopy completes the fill... and open on heading or very close. I'd be comfortable using a Sensei for camera jumps. This was the best-opening crossbraced canopy I've jumped yet. Flight is fun, with a pretty wide range for getting back from long spots. In every jump on this I could tell an improvement on how much swoop I could squeeze out if it. There's still lots of room for me to improve my approaches with the Sensei, so I know it would take another 100 or more before I could really compare the swoop performance to other canopies. Compared to my X-mod VX109 however, I was already getting more distance with the Sensei 101 after 7 or 8 jumps. Packing: This one was brand new, but it was not so difficult to pack. It was made of the new Aerodyne ZPX fabric. I was doing fast pack jobs, just leaving the nose cells hanging in the center, and quartering the slider. It opened smooth and on heading every jump. I like it :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phoenixlpr 0 #22 July 27, 2009 What was your wing load on that canopy? Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 2 #23 July 28, 2009 QuoteWhat was your wing load on that canopy? Thanks! 2.2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
