We've got the Advance Success 4. It's a really nice harness, with a lot of protection. You've
got a lot of foam here at the bottom, that's really big deep foam, there's another block
of foam there, there's foam in the back here, I've got my bag in the back there which is
providing a lot of cushioning so that's pretty much the best all round protection I've ever
seen on a harness. And you've these side protectors here ... there is one of the side protectors,
very hard foam on the inside, with some soft foam on the outside, so those protect your
hips and the top part of your legs and if you standing up out of the harness they'll
still be a little bit there. And I like the way that they've done the reserve
in that if you throw your reserve, the reserve is at the front of the seat area, underneath
the back of your legs so when you throw your reserve you don't end up with a hole in your
harness protection. You should practice to get this grip , the feel of the handle, once
you've got that it's great, the pins will pull out on either side there, and the nice
thing about this is, it has this zip that goes forward as well as back so when you pull
your reserve out this whole area opens up, it's never going to get jammed inside, the
whole thing is going to come out beautifully. Right, I'm just going to show you the leg
clips again, it's just a very nice little quick buckles
and a little chest strap up top, and that's it, some adjusters on the side, everything
else looks fairly standard, the only thing that I can see that is slightly different
is that there's a V webbing that runs through a little slider here which is their balance
system on the seat. We'll see how that works in practice once we get in the air.
[Testing launch transition to seated position]
I felt it was very supportive in the air,
it felt like there was definitely firm pressure from all the foam around, the side protectors
work in the air as well in that they keep you centred on the seat nicely, as you do
weight shift you're up against the side protector, and it's quite comfortable, it's not digging
into your hip because it's shaped. The foam is amazing, I mean, I can feel, the amount
of protection I've got behind my back is phenomenal, so IF I'm going to land on my bum or my back
or down at a slight angle, this is probably the harness I want to be in.
It's very nice flying in the non-pod harness again, I'm used to the pods, and it's jolly
nice, it's a kind of, it gives you that feeling of dangling your feet in the air which is
really special. And for ground handling and running around on the slope it's great, it
really just sits nicely on your body, it doesn't ride up much, it rides up a little if you
stand upright, and if you get into the air you've got to do a little jiggle to get back
into the seat. But you don't need to take your hands out of the brakes or anything,
it's very easy to get back into the seat. So overall I'd say it is expensive, admittedly
but for that expense you're getting pretty much the top of the range harness that you
can get in this class, the protection is outstanding all the way around, the comfort is really
good, I don't see how you could improve the harness comfort-wise, it's responsive in the
air, it's not too stable. It's a bit more responsive in the air than I was expecting,
I was expecting it to be quite rigid, firm and tight-up, but it's not, it's got a lot
of freedom of movement, to a certain point, you can roll and then if you're rolling too
far then it stops you. So that's nice. The getting in and out, into the air, is superb.
That little balance system works very well. A very comfortable harness, supreme protection,
very easy to launch and get into the air and get back into the harness, and get back out
for landing, and build quality is top-notch. It looks like it's going to last a long time.
[Comfort and control]
[Getting familiar with the reserve handle]
[The swoosh test. Very swoosh.]