My son also likes them (foil and epee) a lot because of they are quite light. They tend to be soft and bend easily. Out of 6 SG blades that we have (3F/3E) none have broken yet in 6 months of routine use in the club plus 2 NAC and Summer Nat. The only problem that I have had was with one epee blade. The foible of that blade bends to the right

intermittently, this began in the first 5-10 bouts of use. I now only use it against my coach (heavy padding).