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In this guide, we try to give you all necessary information to buy a used rig online. For the manufacturer where we have the information, we even built a calculator!
Harness fit is one of the most important things to consider when buying a Rig. Unfortunately, weight and size are only estimators and not sufficient to decide if a harness fits or not. When bought new, the harness is custom produced to the measurements of the buyer. Not all manufacturers show the exact measurements on the Data Card.
To reliably assess the harness fit, you will need the exact measurements of yourself and of the rig you are looking to buy. The manufacturer has the data of which rig has what exact measurements. It largely depends on the manufacturer how easy it is to find this information.
This guide walks you through everything you need to know and do before buying your rig, depending on which rig you are looking to buy.
If you have any information on sizing calculation of rig manufacturers or would like to give feedback, please contact us over our contact form.
To understand the measurements of the harness, you will need to know some basic components of a harness that are critical for fit.
Mirage is a great manufacturer when it comes to supporting you when buying used gear. This section will walk you through the most important parts when you are looking to buy a used Mirage rig.
You can find Mirages own guide here.
You can find the instructions to take your measurements according to Mirage here.
Mirage has the measurements of the rigs harness written on its Data Card, which is very helpful. As measuring is quite complex and individual, we always recommend to contact Mirage directly as they have great customer support and are responding quickly.
To figure out if the harness of the rig you are looking to buy fits, you need 2 things:
If you have this, you can contact them with your measurements and the rigs Data Card under the following contact details:
To calculate your Harness Size, use this calculator. Make all measurements according to Mirage’s measuring guide (linked above). The calculations are based on the size references on the Mirage website.
Important: Harness sizing depends on many factors, including professional experience. This calculator is to give you an approximate overview. We always recommend contacting the manufacturer with your measurements and the rigs serial number, especially as Mirage responds quickly.
Common Yoke adjustments (Optional)
Interpretation
Sun Path shows the Yoke and MLW size on the data card. Furthermore, we have made positive experience with their customer support team.
You can find instructions on how to take your measurements according to Sun Path here.
On the data card you can find the serial number which you can use to contact Sun Path with your measurements which will help you to figure out if the harness would fit you.
To figure out if the harness of the rig you are looking to buy fits, you need 2 things:
If you have this, you can contact them with your measurements and the rigs Data Card under the following contact details:
They usually respond within 24 hours during the week and on Monday morning for inquiries on weekends.
To calculate your Harness Size, use this calculator. Make all measurements according to Sun Path’s measuring guide (linked above). The calculations are based seminar by Tom Parker & Rob Kendall from Sun Path which you can watch here.
Important: Harness sizing depends on many factors, including professional experience. This calculator is to give you an approximate overview. We always recommend contacting the manufacturer with your measurements and the rigs serial number, especially as Sun Path responds quickly.
Interpretation
Although Wings does not show the exact measurements of the harness on the Data Card, we have made positive experience with their customer support team.
We could not find a public measuring guide from Wings. You can just use the one from another manufacturer. E.g. UPT. Just make sure to inform them about which one you used if you contact them.
On the data card you can find the serial number which you can use to contact Wings with your measurements which will help you to figure out if the harness would fit you.
To figure out if the harness of the rig you are looking to buy fits, you need 2 things:
If you have this, you can contact them with your measurements and the rigs Data Card under the following contact details:
They respond quickly and provide you information on if the rig fits.
UPT does not show the exact measurements of the harness on the Data Card. However, it shows the Main Lift Web measurement and the Yoke adjustment (the + or - after the MLW number). Keep in mind that UPT rigs do not have chest rings, which makes a potential adjustment of the MLW expensive, make sure it fits decently!
You can see tips from UPT themselves for buying a used vector in this video.
You can find instructions on how to take your measurements according to UPT here.
On UPT's data card you can find the serial number as well as the size of the MLW (here 18.5) and the Yoke adjustment (here +2). If that fits well, a master rigger can adjust the stabilizers and leg straps relatively inexpensive if needed.
We could not find out how the MLW and Yoke adjustment are calculated according to UPT. If we find anything out, we will add it in this guide. In case you can't reach out to UPT try talking to your rigger or try on different sizes of Vector rigs from jumpers on your dropzone.
To figure out if the harness of the rig you are looking to buy fits, you need 2 things:
If you have this, you can contact them with your measurements and the rigs Data Card on this contact form.
The contact form is exactly for this purpose and UPT will provide you information on if the harness would fit you.
Aerodyne does not show the exact measurements of the harness on the Data Card. You can try to contact them with your measurements and the serial number of the rig you are trying to buy. However, we have to honestly say that we did not manage to contact Aerodyne so far.
When in doubt, try to go and try the rig on in person and send the listing to your rigger, he might be able to give some inputs. Alternatively, you can try on Aerodyne rigs with different measurements from jumpers at your dropzone to get a feeling for which sizes fit you.
You can find instructions on how to take your measurements according to Aerodyne here.
On Aerodynes data card, you can see the harness size (here "C-B-B-E"). According to information we have received from a rigger, the measurements stand for "MLW-cheststrap-stabilizer-legstrap". However, we could not yet find out why they include the chest strap as this is adjustable and where you could see the yoke adjustment. Furthermore, we did not find any information on what sizes the letters correspond to or how the calculation is made. If we find out more, we will add it here.
You can try to contact Aerodyne with the serial number of the rig you are looking to buy and your measurements on their contact form here.
If you know the exact Harness Measurements (for example because the seller has stated the information on the listing), that is great! You can determine much better if the harness will fit you.
However, most manufacturers determine harness size differently. We still recommend contacting the manufacturer with your measurements to determine reliably if the harness will fit you. If that is not an option, try to contact your rigger so he can help you determine if the harness would fit you.
To give you a broad idea on how to determine harness fit by yourself, you can use the calculation method of Mirage or SunPath.
