Epee Fencers - Zip Tip Question

[remise]

How many experienced epee fencers on this forum use Zip Tips and still use them?

[swordwench]

Originally Posted by remise

How many experienced epee fencers on this forum use Zip Tips and still use them?

Why has nobody jumped into the fray here? Too many Zip Tip threads out there?

Disclaimer: I'm not what you'd call an experienced fencer (if by that you mean... GOOD). But I fence a fair amount.

I outfitted one of my StM blue blades with a zip tip I bought at the Pomme de Terre last June, just to see whether it worked. It's still going strong. The weapon probably sees about 3 hours of fencing a week, as I alternate using that weapon with blues with regular German tips. It has never failed me or gone flaky, period.

Also, I do ALL of my private lessons using the zip tip weapon. And any dry epee that I do (maybe an hour a week). Of course, that's mostly because my eyesight is too bad to search for and replace tip screws.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I tried one recently.

Its not the tip, its the way I fence. If you like to throw shots to the bell or really close to it, these tips are naught for ye.

[CvilleFencer]

I got a couple for the holidays and I used one of them at the last tourney I was at when my beater blade threw it's point across the room. I have to say, the fact that they don't come with a spring drastically lessens their utility as an "emergency tip", which is about the only way I see to use a plastic tip with plastic tabs in place of screws. Once you get a contact spring fitted, it is easy to adjust the travel, but I keep my spare points pretty much set already and use magnetic screwdrivers, so having to fiddle putting on a new contact spring took just as long or longer as replacing it with a normal tip.

The last few touches warming up and my first pool bout it felt nice and smooth and seemed a good fit in the barrel. However, turns out I ended up fencing most of that day with my weapon that had my normal LP GT point on it on it after the zip tip failed testing the second pool bout due to the contact spring loosening up during the previous bout. My weapons generally don't fail, so this was rather annoying/embarrassing to me. I adjusted the travel with a new contact spring but did not use it for the rest of the event.

I tried it at practice the other night, and over the course of the night, I could tell towards the end that it had slipped again. So far, I am not a fan. I will try some loctite on the spring and see if that helps so I can use it long enough to say how long it lasts...

[wheeringa]

Originally Posted by remise

How many experienced epee fencers on this forum use Zip Tips and still use them?

I did use the search function once and found it really helpful...