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Thursday, December 24, 2009

ADVANCE SIGMA 7 26 (70-95)












I was testing the SIGMA 7 26 loaded at 95 kg all up the last summer. Here is what I found.

One cannot deny the excellent finish and details.
When you open the glider bag you find yourself looking at an ASTON MARTIN car.
Very neat and classy details.

The risers are thin and look like a piece of art. RATE 9.8/10

























Launching is a child job and getting airborne is easy and quick. RATE 9.8/10



















In the thermals the SIGMA 7 is a pleasure to fly .Very crisp and moderate pressure, with outstanding precision puts the glider in a mosquito path !
RATE 9.5/10

Flying the SIGMA 7 26 at 95 kg loaded at top , in moderate to weak thermals, was
pure joy and happiness with comfort. RATE 9.5/10

When landing, the glider forward speed could be reduced to none, even heavily loaded, and enabled me to land in narrow places without any funny behavior. RATE 9.8/10 !

In transitions the SIGMA 7 could match any EN-C glider without any trouble. The glide is close to 9.3

the trim speed is around 39km/h much like the ARTIC 2 or exactly! and the glide also is same.

But what i really like about the SIGMA 7 is the accelerator!!The bar is really light, but when you activate it, you find yourself sitting in the TGV.

Very fast and on "RAILS" Wahooooo!!with the impressive feeling of total security and superb "efficient" glide at first bar !RATE for bar efficiency 9.7/10

Pressing the bar is like you have in the kitchen a delicious piece of chocolate cake, whenever you enter you should taste it ;-)

Having said that, it also differs from other newly gliders is that when pressing the bar ,the roll feeling stops.

Now for the very strong summer thermals in our 3000m spot. Well the glider behaved very well in the strong stuff (+9 m/s) ,but it does really need quick and precise imput to stop the surges as the glider needs very active flying in the "houla houla" stuff !! You surely cannot sleep below any glider but this one needs attention!.

Conclusion: The SIGMA 7 is a superb EN-C glider with great "usable" performance. It needs an educated active pilot to fly safely far away.







5 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this wing.

Unknown said...

Can you make a comparison between Sigma 7 and Vega 2?
I would like to ear what you have to say.

Thanks

Ziad Bassil said...

Hi Jorge,
They are complete different gliders,intended for different pilot skills.Axis paragliders are very good.The VEGA 2 is a superb glider in its category.
Flying the VEGA 2 Small is easy and the EN-B certification for it shows that.It has a fairly fast trim speed and a toy in the air.The SIGMA 7 is a step further in performance especially at first bar,and require more pilot imput than the VEGA 2 Small i have seen and flown a bit.

Unknown said...

Ok. Thanks a lot for your remarks

Unknown said...

Hi,

Could you please comment on the Artik 2 versus Sigma 7 as a first DHV 2 wing? I am planning on upgrading from a Gin Sprint DHV 1-2 wing.

Thanks very much!