Vampire 2 vs Blade?

[plutoniumsalmon 0]

Whats the difference? Has anyone flown both? How do they compare?

Thank you

Pointy birds
Oh pointy pointy
Anoint my head
Anointy nointy

[dragon2 2]

Why do you want to know?

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[mccordia 74]

I think the V2 is mostly found in orange/black, and the blade in white/black/red..

And people will be racing at Zflock to see who flies best..

Designwise, both manifacturers sites have sections where you should be able to find pictures and read about the designspecs of both suits..
And if you really want to know, demo both and see what suits your flying style?

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

My Blade has not arrived yet, but I can tell you several things for sure:

-The Vampire 2 is a wingsuit-BASE specific suit. It was not designed at all for skydiving. That is straight out of the inventor's mouth. It is not back-vented and they will never sell a back-vented Vampire. There are plenty of us who backfly Vampires just fine, but they do not inflate at all on their backs. If you want a proper backflying PF suit, get one of their other great suits which are designed for such purposes. If you want to go straight fast, this is a great suit.

-The Blade is front and back-vented and is, by design, a high performance flocking suit. As many, many of us routinely fly around on our backs, I think this is the better suit for people like myself. I'll tell you all about it when it arrives. FWIW, my S6 flys as strong as my V1 and I get much better performance in it than I do a V2 in the flocking environment. I actually like the back-vented Phantom best out of the PF line.

I believe there might be a few people in europe who have sufficient experience on both the V2 and Blade by now to make a reputable comparrison. Let's see what they say.

Chuck

[mccordia 74]

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I believe there might be a few people in europe who have sufficient experience on both the V2 and Blade by now to make a reputable comparrison. Let's see what they say.

ok, im going try and post something without one-liners and quotes about adventures with ponies..

I think there's about 10 people flying blades at the moment at this moment, non of whom have experience flying a V2 (or at least not more then one or two jumps).

Like any suit, Id just give it a few months untill there's more then just a dozen people flying it, and see how its performing in the field..

The boogie season is slowly starting up, and you should be able to see the suits flying side by side if you want to compare.

But in general, I would tend to agree with chucks comments about the enviroment for which both where designed..

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[plutoniumsalmon 0]

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Why do you want to know?

duh...I dont know
cuz maybe I am going to get one of the two and wanted some input.


ps dont have that much of an opportunity to demo

Pointy birds
Oh pointy pointy
Anoint my head
Anointy nointy

[Buried 0]

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cuz maybe I am going to get one of the two and wanted some input

as others said, there are not enough out there yet for people to make any decisions.

The blade does have some interesting ideas and such, but is it worth an extra 300$+ over other 'higher level' suits? I can't say, nor could others right now.


what suits do you have more than 8 jumps with?

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[robibird 3]

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-The Vampire 2 is a wingsuit-BASE specific suit. It was not designed at all for skydiving. That is straight out of the inventor's mouth.

What you are saying is more or less true but it should be noted that the design of the Vampire wingsuits make them suitable for skydiving as well. Evidence of this is apparent at DZs around the world where there are many V-1 and V-2’s flying around.

There are many similarities between the BASE and skydiving environments, however designing equipment for BASE requires extra attention to some specific details. Any equipment designed and manufactured with BASE in mind can be used skydiving, the reverse of this is not necessarily true.

The Vampire series were designed with performance in mind – this is my main point, because performance is what I desire on WS BASE jumps.

WS + performance + BASE = Vampire series…

Skydivers who like performance will also like the V series suits.
Back flying can be done in the V series suits, just like any non-back vented suit, however I recommend a back vented suit for those who would like to look up during the jump.

Robert Pecnik
robert@phoenix-fly.com
www.phoenix-fly.com

[VectorBoy 0]

From a pure "most glide performance" aspect I'm not sure the blade performs as well as the S3s/6. The blade looks to be more of a general purpose flocking suit with back fly ability. It would be nice to directly compare it with the S3s/6. The example I saw was made of very strong materials.

The V2 by comparison might be considered an ultra performance suit, performance as in glide that is. Contrary to what some people say there is a relaxed posture with the suit that delivers more performance and less strain than I've ever experienced in an S3. The design of the Vampire allow the legs to do more of the work than the arms compared to the original S3. Not to be confused with dirty flying, its more of a flat but relaxed mode. The position is pretty static and not for crazy maneuvers. By slightly refining this position you can put on the after burners and get into some ubber glide, this is were the strain comes not in the relaxed position. Few people can hold max afterburner for two minutes. People flock vampires with great results and very little strain. The Vamire does however not fly "dirty"easily, it can be done but requires more skill to do in than other suits and awareness of the vampires strengths and weaknesses.

I can backfly a vampire better than my s3 with back inlets but an Acro would be a much better choice for that. But the Acro may be too skittish for a low time jumper to use if they are new to larger flocks. Then the phantom might be better for this. The blade may also. Time will tell. Once the "average" flyer/flocker, instead of the "marketing" department, defines the envelope for the new suits it will be pretty clear.

[notsane 0]

If you can't demo a suit, my advice is NOT to buy one. Fly it, like it, buy it. Don't listen to folks who tell you their wizbang suit is best and all the others are BS. Decide for yourself .. no-one else matters (at least to you)

IMHO

[plutoniumsalmon 0]

So where can i demo one in so cal?

Pointy birds
Oh pointy pointy
Anoint my head
Anointy nointy

[jumpnaked69 0]

Skydive Santa Barbara is going to have some demo PRODIGY suits available in the next few weeks courtesy of RJ$$ and myself borrowing them from Voodew1 (very gracious of him). But the ONLY way to test-jump or demo a performance suit is to find one that already belongs to someone else. And you're going to run into trouble finding someone who wants you jumping their high-performance wingsuit, especially if you have few jumps (like your profile says) and if you have little wingsuit experience (also like your profile says). But beyond that, even if you find someone to lend you a suit, it's not going to be made for you--all of these suits are specially measured and fit to people. You wont really get a feel for which suit offers you the performance and flight characteristics you want until you've got some intro- and mid-level suit jumps under your belt.

[VectorBoy 0]

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So where can i demo one in so cal?

What you will find in the case of V2s is that some of the boogie load organizers/trainers that might have their personal vampire available. But you will find that the suit will be hard "in play" with everyone that wants it and for more than the one jump in order to formulate an opinion . A group of us bought one only after watching others excel in the sky with theirs across the course of months. Not hot shot factory pilots but just regular flyers.Trying the suit yourself is far better than watching a phenom fly a suit and having your results vary poorly.

Typically the Brands don't have high end suits as demos. This was true four years ago when I wanted to test an S3 and was lucky to be loaned Jari's personal wings.

Some PFI might loan you his old V1 as they are flying their V2 now.

Private individuals with many spare personal suits might be inclined to rent /loan a suit if you ask nice.

[dragon2 2]

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Why do you want to know?

duh...I dont know
cuz maybe I am going to get one of the two and wanted some input.


ps dont have that much of an opportunity to demo

Neither suit is suited for someone with 200 jumps. I wouldn't sell you either. Maybe if you had tons of BASE wingsuit jumps already. Otherwise I strongly suggest you stick with a phantom or similar suit, depending on what you've flown before and on what you want to do with the suit.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[RJmoney 0]

"Private individuals with many spare personal suits might be inclined to rent /loan a suit if you ask nice."

Yo glen does this mean we get to jump your v2 if we want? sweet!

word to your mother,
RJ$$
BASE 1117

[VectorBoy 0]

Yo glen does this mean we get to jump your v2 if we want? sweet!

[Pendragon 1]

If you're not a very experienced wingsuit flyer, the difference in flying would be marginal to you

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

[Macthe 0]

go read the last 2 post's in the Tony suit raptor pic's

[pierre3636 0]

damn i got here 2late

~ time is ~ time was ~ times past ~

[LouDiamond 1]

I have been flying the BLADE quite a bit here in Eloy and I can tell you that it is definately not a suit for everyone. Performance is exceptional but if you find yourelf tired when you punch it out on your current suit, this suit will eat your lunch. Maxed out the suit generates a lot of lift and covers a lot of ground. It is easy to fly either on its stomach or back, in fact, its very easy to backfly in and not feel strained at all, even with the wide tailwing. I am able to comfortably backfly in it with all wings taught, and less tailwing flap than on other suits.Overall suit inflation in any orientation is excellent, in fact, some may find shutting the tail wing down to be a challenge compared to previous suits.

The proper body position is going to be the biggest thing IMO for most to adapt to as both the stance and arm position is markedly different than previous suits. It is very easy to fly the BLADE in a "relaxed" position and still have very good flight performance. I am flying in a relaxed position in the attached photo with a slight bend in my knees and arms. Adjusting to the new body position is not hard but like with any new suit,expect a period of adjustment until you find the suits sweet spot. For the experienced pilot, the BLADE will be very fun to fly.


On a different note: Cedric from Matter is here and has shown me one of his new toys to be released in a few months. He doesn't have a name for it yet but it looks promising. Expect to see it around April time frame.

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

[Buried 0]

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Why do you want to know?

duh...I dont know
cuz maybe I am going to get one of the two and wanted some input.


ps dont have that much of an opportunity to demo

Neither suit is suited for someone with 200 jumps. I wouldn't sell you either. Maybe if you had tons of BASE wingsuit jumps already. Otherwise I strongly suggest you stick with a phantom or similar suit, depending on what you've flown before and on what you want to do with the suit.

Agreed and he ignored my question which leads me to believe he's made <10 jumps on *somthing*.

Why run when you should walk?
Now with BM's delivery times maybe he'll have another 50+ jumps on a *something* which would be ok.

You know what, I should order that 79sqft Velo since I should have a few thousand more jumps in 16 weeks and I can plan to handle that.




yeah, it's not exactly the same, but you get the idea.

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[notsane 0]

Scott,

The much larger butt deflector really stands out. The material used is different too isn't it?

[LouDiamond 1]

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Scott,

The much larger butt deflector really stands out. The material used is different too isn't it?

There are several different materials used on this suit, most, if not all, are explained in detail on the Bird-man.com web site BLADE press release. Are you saying I have a big butt?

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

[monkycndo 0]

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Scott,

The much larger butt deflector really stands out. The material used is different too isn't it?

There are several different materials used on this suit, most, if not all, are explained in detail on the Bird-man.com web site BLADE press release. Are you saying I have a big butt?

Not at all. I think he was saying that dress MAKES your butt look big.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[monkycndo 0]

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Yo glen does this mean we get to jump your v2 if we want? sweet!

Yes, similar sized select individuals can. I even offered monkey condo a swap to try his new phantoms backfly ability. Of course candidates must have solid canopy landing skills!!!!!! Sorry Sean.