Is this new pod really the new benchmark in lightweight performance?
20 July, 2026, by Marcus King | Photos: Charlie King
At the last Coupe Icare Ukrainian pilot and harness designer Volodymyr Perevavlov from Nearbirds introduced me to the company’s Apex pod harness. As their lightweight pod for hike-and-fly it sits at the lightest end of their pod-harness range. Others in this category include harnesses like the Advance Weightless, Ozone F-Race 2, Supair Strike 3, Niviuk Arrow P2, Woody Valley Race and Neo Stay Up, to name a handful.
Materials and protection
To reach its weight of 1.7kg for the large size most of the outside of the pod is made of rip-stop, so this will need to be treated with respect. This is normal for this class of harness and it doesn’t feel as...
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