New to fencing! What is the best online supplier?

[SpencerM]

Hi all,

I'm new to fencing and was looking to purchase some quality starter gear for foil.
What are the best online sites to purchase?
Are the 'Starter Sets' worth it?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated!!

SpencerM

[Ordway]

Welcome, Spencer!

I have found the "starter sets" to be a reasonable way to get the gear you need to get started, at a reasonable price. You can check the value by adding up the prices of the items separately and seeing if you're getting a better price for buying all the items together.

The PC set you link to looks like a nice set, but you don't mention whether you're looking for the lowest possible price or whether you have the cash to go for a more expensive set if you like it better. Most of the people I give advice on equipment to are college students with extremely small budgets, so I generally suggest less expensive sets like those at Blue Gauntlet or Absolute.

[JEC]

About two years ago, F-Net members voted The Fencing Post and Blue Gauntlet as the two best suppliers. Since then, somebody who was working at Blue Gauntlet created Absolute Fencing. In addition, F-Net also created its own store with excellent service. Thus, my four recommendations out of the 10+ vendors are:

Absolute Fencing - link: http://www.absolutefencinggear.com/
Blue Gauntlet - link: http://www.blue-gauntlet.com/
Fencing.Net Store - link: http://shop.fencing.net/
The Fencing Post - link: http://www.thefencingpost.com/

[CvilleFencer]

I would agree with JEC about his list, although I much prefer Absolute to Blue Guantlet. Amanda, who started Absolute, seems to have been what gave BG their good service. Just has not been the same without her, but Absolute is better than BG ever was in my experiances with them so it worked out well.

I would avoid going through Physical Chess, Blade Fencing or Triplette. They are the most problamtic as far as quality/customer service issues. If Consumer reports scored fencing vendors they would be at the bottom.

As far as gear, I suggest you get the best mask and jacket you can afford. An FIE mask is not a bad Idea. The best are the Leon Paul and the Uhlmann masks IMHO. Also in the opinion of most F.net members if you check out the product reviews section. I would go with a front zip Nylon jacket from Leon Paul, Uhlmann/allstar, PBT or Absolute in that order. Keep in mind that an LP jacket, even non-fie costs a fair bit more than most starter sets but it is safer, more comfortable and will last you a few years. If you are sure the sport is for you. If you are not so sure, go with a Absolute starter set that has a Nylon front zip jacket in it and you will have decent kit to fence with.

Welcome to the board!

[LUDICROUS]

I'm gonna say Leon Paul, because they shipped stuff from London to Auckland (thats a LONG WAY) in less than a week

[El Chucko]

...I generally suggest less expensive sets like those at Blue Gauntlet or Absolute.

Stay away from Blue Gauntlet. For inexpensive/beginner's gear, I would go with Absolute. I have also heard good things about the Fencing Post, but have never ordered from there myself. If you can afford higher-end gear, I love my Leon Paul uniform and mask, and the weapons I get from Swordmasters are expertly assembled.

Seriously, stay away from Blue Gauntlet though. And Blade, too, for that matter.

[KD5MDK]

Starter sets can be a decent deal, but I would recommend not dealing with Physical Chess. I bought an all Nylon set of their gear, and while it works, it's not as nice as the PostSport (Fencing Post) or Absolute gear my teammates have that cost about the same.

Where are you located? I would recommend if you can spare the time, to go to a largist tournament in your area with a vendor and try stuff on.

[Smyles]

If you have the money go with LP for jacket, mask, breeches, lame jacket (lightweight). They're by far and away the most comfortable I've ever tried. Also, if you're in the states, the delivery is free

Picking a weapon you like is much more of a personal preference - I strongly suggest you use the weapons in your club for a while before deciding what you like.

Other than than that, welcome to the sport and I hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us

[akaiyuki]

On a side note a bit... I personally don't see absolute better than BG quality-wise. The absolute body cord feels cheaper than the BG one. I got an absolute mask with removable bib, and it's totally falling apart after two months of use. Not only did the mask get horribly dented, the removable bib is actually in pieces. My roommate got the mask with removable bib from BG and it held up for years, plus, the removable bib is actually still intact.
I've heard good things about fencing post. The 20% email discount makes it cheaper, if not just as cheap as ordering from BG or absolute. I might order my christmas present for myself - FIE mask (yay), from them.

[SpencerM]

Thanks all, for the tips. As quality and fit are my most important considerations, I decided to try the Leon Paul starter gear. I appreciate the warnings about some of the other vendors! We will see - I await the arrival!

[Katman]

Not to troll or anything, but the product review section of this site does have a vendor review section.

Having said that, I dig The Fencing Post.

[Torg]

i have personally bought things from blue gauntlet, blade, and absolute. of the three, absolute was the quickest (in terms of packaging and shipping), the highest quality products, the most helpful in terms of customer service, and the best website.

if you have any specific questions about any piece of absolute gear, i can answer, for my team has lots of new equipment from them.

[JayhawkPawn]

Absolute - Amanda is the best, by -far-, Vendor to deal with, but the absolute jackets are not as well made, and shrink faster than the BG, LP, and Uhlmann ones. Their base model mask is a bit smallish, and takes nasty dents if you fence epee three times a week, although their Advanced 3-weapon mask has taken some wicked hard hits form a 80's BF blade and not dented at all. Their starter set is nice, if you're an average size, just order your jacket a size larger than normal. Their blades are average to so-so, but that's probably a bit of bias on my part, as the only foil blade i use anymore is a Vniti FIE.

BG - Jackets are nice (beginner-wise) their masks hold up to nasty hits, and their 1000N masks have taken some of my more viscious hits and kept on ticking. Their blades have ranged from stiff and non-flexible to extraordinarily flicky. Quality is comparable to thefencingpost's JL (Cheap chinese) blades.

Leon Paul - Their jackets, even the club range 350N are very nice, I've had a number of clubmates who adore them, and love their fit, but if you're a large fencer, like me (6'6" 250lbs.) then their cut is much less forgiving than the Uhlmann, even after custom tailoring. Their knickers are the tops, and my Competition range 350N have lasted two... three? I think, years of stupidly abusive epee use. Their lower priced foil blades are quite nice, and their masks simply cannot be beat for comfort and protectiveness.

Uhlmann - Pretty much everything I said about Leon Paul applies to Uhlmann, except that I like the cut of their jackets better, but I don't believe their website is as quick to reply, or as expediant in shipping as LP, or Absolute.

Thefencingpost - Their postsport line is comparable in price to Absolute's beginner stuff, but the quality isn't as high in general, and their blades are complete crap, JL blades are about as safe to use as France-Lame's, but Saul will probably uprade your blade in a beginner set, their customer service is really good, but always make sure that you tripple check your reciept from them, as I've been overcharged a few times due to bad math on their part.

Hope this helps!

[KD5MDK]

Uhlmann doesn't have an exclusive US distributor, so you can buy there gear from a lot of places.

To simplify blade buying, unless you're doin Epee (that is, this advice works fine for both foil and sabre), just buy StM blades from whoever your vendor is. They'll almost certainly have them, and they're a perfectly good budget blade.

[Reepicheap]

I just ordered some starter gear from American Fencing ( http://www.amfence.com ) and was very, very pleased with the customer service.

I had tried an American Fencing stretch nylon jacket that our club had; it fit well and felt good, so I went with them. They had one for my daughter in stock, but mine was backordered, so they threw in some free stuff as well. Not even asked for!

[Purple Fencer]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"]I just ordered some starter gear from American Fencing ( http://www.amfence.com ) and was very, very pleased with the customer service.

That's 'cause they actually speak English there...

[El Chucko]

That's 'cause they actually speak English there...

I don't mean to offend anyone, but that really is a concern with some of these vendors.

About 3 years ago, I was looking for a particular bag that I saw on the German Uhlmann website. They asked me to order through one of their US vendors, rather than buy it right from Europe. I tried to deal with the 2 vendors in question by e-mail, but they didn't seem to understand what I was asking for. I called by phone to ask verbally, but had even more difficulty. These vendors may or may not have had the product, but I could not find out because of the language barrier.

In the end, I explained the problem to Uhlmann Germany, and they sent me one. It's pretty sad when it is easier to communicate with salesmen in Germany than with vendors in your own country.

[Purple Fencer]

I don't mean to offend anyone, but that really is a concern with some of these vendors.

No offense should be taken....it IS a problem with Blade, PC, BG, Absolute, etc, depending on who you get.

Amanda at Absolute is a great person, but my GOD her accent is thick!!!!

At least if you deal with me and I screw it up, you can chalk it up to simple stupidity!

[parrythis]

There are several factors to consider when selecting one or more vendors to do business with. Price, quality of products, variety of products, availability of stock, and customer service are some of the top criteria. Each customer puts different weight on each of these criteria. I, for example, am willing to shop around for price, quality, variety, etc., but insist on dealing only with those vendors that can provide good customer service. What good is a cheap product if you can't get a refund on it if you have to return it?

Here is a simple test you can perform to evalueate vendors' ability to provide customer service: Send each one of them two or three simple e-mails requesting specific additional information about some things that they sell. Those vendors that do not reply should probably be crossed off your list. After all, if they can't be bothered to help you to buy their product, they're unlikely to be very accessible if you've got a problem. If they take a long time to reply, it could be bad timing (they could selling at a tournament) or they just might be slow to respond. Sending the e-mails in batches a week or so apart will help to tell the difference. Those that reply quickly and courteously should be at the top of your "good customer service" list.

If you don't trust e-mail to be reliable (sometimes a valid issue) try phoning them and asking a couple of questions. You'll get a feel for how helpful they are willing to be.

[Alex_Paul]

Here is a simple test you can perform to evalueate vendors' ability to provide customer service: Send each one of them two or three simple e-mails requesting specific additional information about some things that they sell. Those vendors that do not reply should probably be crossed off your list.

This is true to some extent but at LP we try to make life as easy as possible for the customer by supplying as much info as we can on line eg check out the extra info and pictures available for our masks: http://www.leonpaulusa.com/fencing/a..._Range_79.html and compare the level of detail with ANY other vendor in the whole world. Hopefully the info on a majority of our products should mean that all of your questions are answered for you!

Of course any vendor that doesn't take time to respond to e mails is more than likley a non starter!