Kaos666

I've made my own 3D printed mount that has been going strong for over a year and a half now (originally made for the AS15). Printed in ABS plastic it's strong as hell. If anyone has access to a 3D printer I have the files available for free download at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:394641 It wouldn't take much tweaking to fit a G3.

I purchased a 16Gb 1.8" Kingspec SSD with ZIF connector that's used in some of the Sony Mini Viao laptops. It was only $42 on ebay. As soon as it arrives I'll plug it in to the XR500 and let you know how it goes. If all is well I might go for something a little bigger only problem then will be finding a Black Box to put it in.

I've put about 65 jumps on a Sabre2 190 with a WL of 1.15 and can say without a doubt that it's a great canopy and fun to fly. Openings are super soft taking anywhere from 600'-800' to open and are usually on heading but you do get the occasional 90 deg. off heading opening. End cell closures seams to a be consistent occurrence on most jumps which isn't really a big deal, a little pressure on the rear risers and they're inflated. Toggle turns are quick, stalls are smooth and recovery is pretty gentle provided you don't release the brakes too quickly. You can float around for ages in breaks and flying back from a long spot is a breeze on rear risers. Front riser pressure is fairly light but you do get the occasional buffeting on deep front riser turns. Landings are simple even in nil wind and the flare is powerful. I'd definitely recommend this canopy to anyone wanting a good all round canopy that's also great fun to fly.

Capital Idea! A 1.8" SSD with a ZIF connection (like the KingSpec SSD) should do the trick since the XR500 uses a 1.8" Toshiba HDD with a ZIF connection. They seam to be readily available on ebay. I'll purchase one next week and try it out.

Ok, Thought I'd experiment with removing the HDD from the XR to use the camera as a CX... It doesn't work. After removing the HDD and powering up you get an overheating error message and as such can not use the camera even though it's set to record on memory stick. Was worth a try though.

@ Billvon, thanks for the info. I think I'll be sticking with the CX110 and GoPro then. My thinking was that the HDD is just another type of media like the Memory stick and the camera doen't require it for start-up (like the CX's) and given the drive isn't in use, the heads would be parked off the disk so no damage could happen. I have a bunch of XR's laying around so might experiment.

Seriously, how is recording to memory card on the xr500 any different to recording to memory card on the cx100? If you're not recording to HDD then it really shouldn't matter.

On the XR500 you have the option to record on either HDD or Memory card so I don't see why this camera shouldn't be considered as an option.