LP new Hi-tech Scimitar Fencing Shoes

[BySword]

Leon Paul just released their new Hi-tech Scimitar Fencing Shoes. I already saw a few people wearing them at national. So for those people who have them, what do you think about them? What are the pros and cons of them? how do they fit? How do they compare to the Hi-tech blades shoes?

[fatfencer]

I was impressed with the shoe. I love hi tops so I didnt buy a pair but I was literally inches from buying them until ELI made me a deal on the old Adidas equipment hi tops.

FF

Ps: They don't LOOK good to me but they certainly seem very durable and usable on most floors. Since aesthetic preference differs with most people I'd say buy 'em. WHen they DO make a hi top I will buy fo sho.

[Joe biebel]

I was impressed with them when one of my club mates came home with them from nationals. He let me try them on, and I was really impressed. I left the following day for nationals, went to the LP booth and bought a pair in my size. They are noticeably different from the Addidas shoes I have been wearing, but still very comfortable. In fact, even though I never wore them before (broke them in) I wore them for my matches at nationals. Since I did not win my event, it must have been the shoes Just kidding, they gave me excellent support and protection. Thanks LP.

[akaiyuki]

Since I'm bringing this thread back to life I obviously used the search function

I plan to order a new pair online since I won't be at another NAC to see any vendors with them for another few months and I need new shoes now. So question about sizing, does the Scimitars tend to run big or small? I wear 8.5 women's shoe usually. What size should I order?

[Craig]

Since I'm bringing this thread back to life I obviously used the search function

I plan to order a new pair online since I won't be at another NAC to see any vendors with them for another few months and I need new shoes now. So question about sizing, does the Scimitars tend to run big or small? I wear 8.5 women's shoe usually. What size should I order?

They run big. You would most likely fit a 6.5.

We had a lot of people trying them on in Memphis. Maybe some of them will see this thread and provide their comments.

Craig

[mackillian]

If the scimitar's sizing is similar to the blade's, then if you wear a women's 8.5, you should go for the 6.5.

I wear a women's 8.5 and my blades are 6.5 and fit well.

[qatet]

Since I'm bringing this thread back to life I obviously used the search function

I plan to order a new pair online since I won't be at another NAC to see any vendors with them for another few months and I need new shoes now. So question about sizing, does the Scimitars tend to run big or small? I wear 8.5 women's shoe usually. What size should I order?

They tend to run big. I usually wear a women's 10/10.5 and I took an 8.

BTW - my favorite fencing shoe since the old adidas black-stripes (the ones where the stipes get wider towards the bottom of the stripe). A very nice shoe. I did take the time to break them in by wearing them at home - which I never do with fencing shoes - because they were a bit stiff at first.

[akaiyuki]

Really? They run that big?

The description for the Scimitar on f.net do say that "sizing should be equivalent to a normal court shoe or sneaker." and on the sizing chart I should be ordering a 7.5...

Too bad I can't try them on. I hate shipping stuff back for an exchange.

If the scimitar's sizing is similar to the blade's, then if you wear a women's 8.5, you should go for the 6.5.

I wear a women's 8.5 and my blades are 6.5 and fit well.

Can anyone tell me anything about the scimitar's sizing compared to the blade's?

[mackillian]

Unless the Scimitar runs smaller, the 7.5 will be too big. o_O

[Craig]

Can anyone tell me anything about the scimitar's sizing compared to the blade's?

The scimitars and blades are very close in sizing.

If you are an 8.5 women's, then get the 6.5.

Craig

[Craig]

Post your reviews of the Scimitar to the Reviews Section:

http://www.fencing.net/reviews/censu...ils&itemid=415

[Phaeton]

Looks like Phaeton the Yeti is doomed to the whole Hi-tech thing. Nothing has fit so far except random court sport shoes. I'm hoping to try them at my next NAC, my shoes are at the end of their life.

[tafencer]

I bought a pair and wore them to Nationals and I love them. I wear in a Men size 10.5 in US sizing and I order 9.5 in UK sizing and they fit perfect. The only draw back that I have experienced is while fencing epee is when they touch my shoe the silver part of the shoe rubs off ( I guess I need to move fast enough not to get touch on my shoe and then I wouldn't have that problem) But that does happen and other than that they were great and love them.

[qatet]

Since people seem more likely to look here before they look in the reviews, and since I wouldn't want anybody to repeat my mistakes uninformed...

Sure, the Scimitars were great when I first got them. They fit nicely. They breathe better than the Blades. There was no wear or tear at all, unlike most Adidas at this point.

And then...

And then 10 weeks into it, the "Abrazone" started to rip. Two weeks later and it was a flap. Turns out that that section is part of the stability of the shoe, so now there's nowhere near as much lateral stability. So after 30-40 wearings, the back shoe is nearly worthless. Nice to know that you can count on these bad boys to give you your money's worth! Only $4-5 per wear! Mind you, I wear these ONLY for fencing - I don't do any of our pre-training calisthenics in them, so they're not even getting the extra load and bending from that.

The vendor's response was to inform me that I drag my back foot (despite the fact that I specifically described this as a rip not wear, despite the fact that he's never seen me fence, and despite the fact that I don't drag my back foot). I'm glad to know that LP stand behind their product.

[keropie]

To be fair, unless the vendor was LP themselves (and maybe I'd count LP-USA), LP hasn't had a chance to stand behind their product. Though, as a former retail guy, I'd tell you that if someone tried to return something like that to the store they'd say 'Um, it looks like something unusual (foot dragging) happened. We can't take that back. Here's the manufacturer's contact information, but good luck.'

[qatet]

To be fair, unless the vendor was LP themselves (and maybe I'd count LP-USA), LP hasn't had a chance to stand behind their product. Though, as a former retail guy, I'd tell you that if someone tried to return something like that to the store they'd say 'Um, it looks like something unusual (foot dragging) happened. We can't take that back. Here's the manufacturer's contact information, but good luck.'

Ahhh, but it was LP-USA.

[Craig]

Actually I believe this was me. My initial question was if this was due to foot dragging as I have not heard of this type of failure before.

The factory also responded with this as the first response as well.

I since offered a significant discount on a replacement pair of shoes, which pretty much takes me to break-even (less once I ship them) on a new pair.

I haven't heard of this type of failure before, but without seeing the shoes themselves I can't figure anything else out about the failure. Sending them to me would be one course of action, or sending them directly to Leon Paul (the manufacturer) would be the other.

Craig

[qatet]

Actually I believe this was me. My initial question was if this was due to foot dragging as I have not heard of this type of failure before.

The factory also responded with this as the first response as well.

I since offered a significant discount on a replacement pair of shoes, which pretty much takes me to break-even (less once I ship them) on a new pair.

I haven't heard of this type of failure before, but without seeing the shoes themselves I can't figure anything else out about the failure. Sending them to me would be one course of action, or sending them directly to Leon Paul (the manufacturer) would be the other.

Craig

When I initially wrote, back in November, I offered to send them in, an offer that was repeated when I wrote back two weeks later, having had no response. You requested photos. I sent those, nearly three weeks ago. Since then I have heard nothing back.

While you did offer XX off, that really barely makes a dent in the cost of an expensive item that has, as best as I can tell, a design flaw. If it's not a design flaw, but instead a faulty item, I would expect that it would be replaced. If it is a design flaw, then the same will probably happen with another pair, and even at $XX off, that's still $YY - far more than I, personally, would consider spending for shoes that will last for ten weeks.

[little_old_me]

Methinks it is poor taste to call out a store owner in a public forum. Stuff like this is what email and PMs are for.

[qatet]

Methinks it is poor taste to call out a store owner in a public forum. Stuff like this is what email and PMs are for.

You may note from my last post that I did try that, but got little response. Somewhere along the line I started to get kinda steamed. (Okay, I'm especially pissed as this is not the first time I've tried to get a response from LP-USA, and never had my emails answered. A similar question about sizing several months ago was never answered. When I resent the question several weeks later, the product in question had gone up $30 in price. Bummer. Would have been nice if they'd responded the first time. They did give me free shipping on that item - $6-7, but I still lost rather a lot on that transaction.) I see from reviews in the "Product Reviews" section that others have had similarly frustrating experiences with LP-USA. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between posting such a review there and posting it here in the forum. In the forum Craig has a chance to respond to the larger complaints, if he choses to do so.

If I were contemplating buying these shoes, or anything else from LP-USA, for that matter, I would want to be able to see the problems before I buy, so I posted information.