Often times the best thing to do buy your first rig, is to look for a good used rig, this has many benefits;
1) Its alot cheaper to Jump, not having to rent boring student gear.
2) It allows you to get some exp. on a rig your not afraid to get a little mud on, which you will do, as you will presumably no longer be flying a student "tent" and you will have to get used a little bit hotter approach,
making your flare a little bit more critical. (He-He) 3)We all have opinions on what you should buy, but the reality of it all, unless you have "beginner's luck" -is You may find yourself stuck with new gear thats not what you would REALLY like, and in order to sell it, you will face unreasonable depreciation.
4) Hey, when you want to buy a rig that you WANT, you can ALWAYS sell it to the next guy coming off student status for probably what you paid for it!
Cool, Eh?
In response to you ques. re: 7 cell vs 9 cell;
7 cells are typically more suited for CREW, and ACCURACY, you can "sink" a 7cell in by coming in at "half Brakes" which is good for ACCURACY.
I'm no expert at CREW (Mainly because the local DZ CREW "Expert" is an asshole, who started doing CREW, because his EGO wouldnt allow critisism on his RW when he was learning. too bad.) But, from what I can dissern, 7 cells are good for CRW mostly because everybody that does CREW has a 7 cell! actually, theres a little more to it than that, but not much.
9 cells typically fly with more foreward spd. than a 7cell, -making them MUCH more fun to fly, and land. 9's usually flare better because of their design, which allows a smaller Canopy (Less pack volume, hotter performance,not ness. in that order.)
So, there you have it -my opinion- for what its worth.
