7 years ago
So I'm looking to purchased my first freestyle glider and these two have been the most recommended so far. I have around 75hours and have completed my first SIV course in oludeniz and learned the full stall and SAT on a enB glider and have enjoyed it so much I plan to continue learning and progressing at a safe level.
Many people have said to get the Octane2 due to its forgiving and safe nature and that the freestyle 3 may be a little to hot for me, however I know many pilots who transitioned to the freestyle 3 as there first acro glider and love it. I weight 65kg and am considering the 20m in both gliders.
Can anyone offer any insight on my decision between these two gliders? Or feedback in general.
Thank you in advance.
Latest Comments
Hi,
had Octane 2 22m (95kg take off weight) for two years. Before that was flying for 5 years Nikitas 19m. I have about 20 years of experience in flying. I have also tested the F3 22m last year and now I decied to buy it. Im not considering to return to pro acro gliders becuse dont have much time for training. Im also not considering to buy XC glider because I still love acro figures. I was looking for something between...
So in my opinion the Octane 2 22m is really really safe but it is not perfect freestyle glider. It should be called "good glider for acro beginners" but not freestyle!
1) In thermaling its worse comparing with F3 22m. F3 is better in weak conditions.
2) The Octane speed is also not the best comparing with F3 22m. F3 is way much faster.
3) The Octane wingtips has really low preasure, so be prepare for many small collapses in many figures, even in sat entry or exit. F3 has really stable wingtips with higher aspect ratio.
4) Performance in XC flying is also worse then F3 22m.
5) Octane has low aspect ratio and sorther lines then F3 so its safer but with less dynamics.
From my point of view F3 is the best freestyle glider I have ever tested. Nice for weak thermaling, nice for cross country and acro. Trimmers are also ok for soaring. There is less pasive safety comparing with Octane but this choice depends on pilots skills. So if you are learning fullstalls, negatives, asym.sats, tumblings. Go for Octane. If you allready now that stuff buy F3. F3 is universal glider for many different things. Octane is not. Hope that helps.
Regards,
Jarek