Niviuk Arrow M During those 30 years, and of all the harnesses I test flew, this is my first Niviuk harness! There’s always a first time :-) I have here for test flying the Niviuk Arrow in size M which has 95 % the same specification as their new Hawk but with a nice elongated fairing. The size M goes to 178cm pilot height. I’m 1.81 tall, but when I sat in an M size when I was at the Coupe Icare, it felt ok. So I ordered two sizes. One M just arrived and one L should arrive in a month or two hopefully. As you will see in a close-up in the video attached, the finish details and the work done, the sewing, on this Arrow harness is indeed superb and put the NK Arrow among the top-end harnesses for a clean finish detail in the market. The Arrow pod can be replaced easily if damaged by mistake with side zippers. There’s a seat plate on the harness. Under the seat is a pocket that fits a 4 kg water ballast. On the right side...
OZONE Zeolite GT MS The original Zeolite was used in the latest X-Alps. Ozone released a little sturdier version, but still quite light as it weighs 3.5 kilos, the Zeolite GT. The Zeolite GT is a 2 liner, with a little wooden handle on the B’s. Launching the Zeolite GT at 93 all up, in nil wind is very intuitive. The glider inflates well, and fast. I think it reacts like any C glider in terms of launching. In strong air, the brake authority is present to stop the surge. The brake pressure is on the moderate side. Firm brake pressure, linear handling, and very good authority for a 6.7 AR glider with very few lines! Turning in thermals is quite nice on the Zeolite GT. A very good authority on the brakes that enables its pilot to have a direct response and feel. The turning behavior is surprisingly nicer than the M7 for example, in homogenous conditions. In turbulent conditions, the authority is still present but the Zeolite movements are quite pronounced, and the work on the...
UP Summit XC 4 SM After my beloved Trango X-Race :-), here’s UP new B glider the Summit XC 4 in SM size. I took a bit of time to write this test, but finally here it is. The XC4 has a aspect ratio of 6.3 with an EN-B rating ! Honestly i wasn’t a fan of the XC3 SM when i test flew it…The overall performance and usability didn’t convince me at the time. Today with the Summit XC 4 i took my time to explore it a little bit and finally managed to get a Carrera plus SM to complete my comparison. Launching the Summit XC 4 is like any mild 6.3 aspect ratio glider. It’s easy to launch…Not like the 5.4 aspect ratio gliders…But it has a homogenous and straight launch. Once airborne, the Summit XC 4 gave me the same brake feel as its bigger sister the X-race ! with a slight more forgiving and filtered feel. But the Summit XC4 strangely has the ‘same’ DNA ! With a medium brake pressure, the XC 4 has a moderate to good agility, A very nice coordinated feel, performance oriented turning ra...
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