Equipment Purchasing-Please Help with some questions

[Anari]

Hi, I've been floating round the place for a bit and reading etc. I fence in Australia, hehe, and my father asked me the all important question...what do you want for Christmas? Now, my foil blade that I bought from Jeff Gray at the beginning of the year, broke pretty damn quickly (and nice and jagged too!!). It was FIE and I wasn't pleased so I decided to turn elsewhere. Now, from about May I gave my father the price list of what I wanted and he said OK. But I missed out on the U17s...but not the U20s in Melbourne!!!

So to the actual point of the topic (just thought you'd all like a bit of background info :P), I've been selecting my items and we have a budget of up to $5000 (I was a good boy seriously!! Dad's doing well and I've been winning lots of state competitions ). I am investing in ALL THREE WEAPONS to FIE standard. I actually fence all three and love all three. Now I've looked at Uhlmann and Allstar (same company it seems) but they sell the blades to Jeff so I'm not keen on them. I'm really, really, really keen on Leon Paul at the moment and have received EXCELLENT reports about them from other fencers in Australia.

I was wondering if there was anything wrong with some of the equipment, and more specifically (as I am easy to impress by big long words ) are the lightweight series (i.e. guards, lames, etc) worth paying the extra money? (We have the money, it's just if they are the same quality it's no point buying more.) Also, if anyone can think of any OTHER brands that I haven't really encountered (Heard about suppliers like Blade and Triplette) I'd like to hear about them too.

I am actually being dead serious, I really want all of the equipment, but I don't want my Dad to buy it all for me, and then some things break again (He was REALLY unimpressed, especially with the jagged break and that it only lasted four months...I've been told I fence very hard, though I'm not sure this is the case).

Thankyou for your comments

[penguin_2000]

Blades are going to break... that just the nature of them, especially if you hit hard (which other people seem to think you do, as you've indicated). On your budget, just buy what you like and hope it lasts. Since you're basically working with an unlimited budget ($5000 is damn near unlimited), get a good brand, like Allstar/Uhlmann/LeonPaul/Negrini... much better than "house brands" like Triplette/Blade/BG... etc.

I like the lightweight guards from Leon Paul. It seems to last (probably not as long as conventional), although once the weapon is put together, the difference in weight is hardly noticable. What I might recommend above those is the titanium guards from Vniti or Allstar. The Allstar titanium guards (check The Fencing Post's price) are about half the price of the lightweight guard from LP. I'm still waiting for titanium sabre guards :drool:

I don't have any experience with the lightweight lames from any company, except I have an Allstar lame that I think is pretty lightweight, especially compared to house brands of the common American suppliers. The Allstar keeps me cooler than the other brands.

Well, have fun and live it up... $5000 to spend on fencing gear would make me smile like this ^______________,^


Oh... I just realized you probably meant australian dollars... not quite as much as I though you meant, but still a very hefty sum (~$3700 US, according to xe.com).

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

For foil or epee, if you want a very durable blade, get the vniti blade. Its a tank.

[penguin_2000]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

For foil or epee, if you want a very durable blade, get the vniti blade. Its a tank.

Over the past 2-3 months, I've seen a rash of broken Vniti's around my club... Their consistancy may be a bit questionable.

Oh... and I think Vniti's aren't balanced as well as many other blades.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Originally Posted by penguin_2000

Over the past 2-3 months, I've seen a rash of broken Vniti's around my club... They're consistancy may be a bit questionable.

Oh... and I think Vniti's aren't balanced as well as many other blades.

Agreed, vnitis feel terrible. The one I have has lasted long though.

[RebelFencer]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

Agreed, vnitis feel terrible. The one I have has lasted long though.

Really? I love the feel of Vnitis...other blades feel weird after fencing with them.

[KD5MDK]

First off: With that budget, I'd say go with the Leon Paul Sydney uniform. Same with the masks, 1 Foil/Epee and the other Sabre.
The Lames should be Estoc. I don't know if you can get it from France. In the US, it is available from http://www.sword-masters.com. The body cords (I recommend 2 prong for F/S, but it depends on what is most popular at your club, really) should be Negrini, also available from Swordmasters, or from Negrini direct.

I'm not qualified to recommend Foil and Epee blades if you want FIE quality. For your sabres, as long as they're S2000 it really doesn't matter.

[Anari]

Well thanks for the opinions , still waiting on a few more before I hand Dad the printout.

penguin_2000-$5000 in Australian money, is a lot to Australians :P, but yeah, it's not as much, the price lists I have constructed range from $2000 (not so good quality) to $5000, I can't believe it costs more to buy equipment in this country than internationally!!!

I'm kind of iffy on Vniti's, they feel rather heavy, though if their really durable I suppose that's really good.

KD5MDK-Definitely a two-prong man with the German retaining clip. I was debating about that with my foil coach and she proceeded to demonstrate (in a later bout) that the two-prong with retaining clip was a lot better than a bayonet for the simple fact it stops opponents from inserting the point in between your wrist and the wire, then flicking the point up to your chest four or five times, removing the wire, and also your ability to counterattack because of an annoying white light...I ceded to her pretty damn quickly, especially as we were fencing competitively and it was kind of embarrassing.