+1 on Strong.

A 20 yr old Strong 305 chute came with my glider. It looked filthy and smelled worse. I called Strong to see if they could sell me a new container. Of course they could but suggested I send it to them for a laundering instead. I did, and boy was I glad. They inspected it, laundered it, repacked it, and sent it back to me in just a few days. It now looks and smells brand new. On top of that they said it was in beautiful condition and should last another 20 yrs as long as I continue to keep it cool and dry. No 20 yr limit BS at all. As WB said, it will take something extraordinary to convince me to purchase anything but a Strong in the future.

Robert

On Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 10:17:38 AM UTC-5, WB wrote:
On Monday, June 10, 2019 at 5:36:32 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I like the Softie line of chutes and fly with one now. And I agree the folks at Para-Phernalia are great to deal with.

But--the manufacturer is one of the few (only?) in the U.S. to set a 20-year life on their products (see below). It can be challenging to get any chute that's more than 20 years old packed--even when it's in superb condition--thanks to the efforts of Allen Silver. Do a search on this newsgroup for (much) more info. But I suspect it will be even more difficult to get a rigger to pack a 20+ year Softie. I wish I'd known this before I bought mine.

"Independent testing of aged nylon materials has proven that its strength degrades over time, therefore, Para-Phernalia, Inc. and Free Flight Enterprises have established a 20-year service life from the date of component manufacture for the Softie Pilot Emergency System and the Preserve line of emergency parachutes."

Chip Bearden

Been flying with a Strong 305 for around 28 years. Got over 3000 hours wearing that chute in various gliders. Comfortable and I like the harness setup. Best of all, Strong stands behind their product and doesn't try to churn sales by issuing an arbitrary "life limit". I send my chute to Strong every year for inspection and repack. They are fast and friendly with getting it done and back to me. If I had to buy another chute, I would definitely look at what's out there with respect to chute tech, comfort, and weight. However, it would take a pretty phenomenal improvement over my 305 to make me consider some manufacturer other than Strong.