yeah the d'art IIIs are not a perfect shoe and I dont think there will ever be an absolute all around perfect shoe.
that being said, there are a few things that are not so bad about the shoe.
my feet are a bit narrow and long, so usually adidas does a pretty good job with shoes that can conform with my feet. seeing that my last shoes (scimitars) were like bricks due to its bulkiness, I could never fence well with them and used it for roughly a year. the d'art IIIs on the other hand, feel much better than the scimitars, though still heavier than ideal. I had the LP blades for 2 months.....they never broke in...and was worse than scimitars. oops, there goes my 100 and some bucks.
Other people mention the Stabils and feathers, in addition to court shoes. The Stabils (well never used one before..) LOOK reallly bulky. Of course I can be wrong about that. The feathers look pretty good, though I don't know if it can last on metal 'cheese-grater' strips. :/ I liked the adistars 2004, except for that fact it isnt durable and i had to tape it..alot.....oops. at least it was light
Indoor soccer shoes...well theyre like the adistars 2004...light, nice looking, feels awesome, no durability -_-
Another thing that most people overlook (and btw, I have d'art IIIs, so this is NOT speculation), is that even though this is a somewhat outrageous price for a repackaged badminton/court sole, the rest of the shoe is made of better material than the lightsters(sp?). the back side of the shoe of the d'art3 are made of rough leather than can withstand the stress and pressure exerted by the feet on the NAC metal strips. Of course that is no justification for a 50 dollar increase from the original Lightser Beiijings.
Soo whats my conclusion?
The D'arts III are adequate. For me, they work fine and it is after all, in the d'artagnan line. D'artagnan shoes seem to have a rep of being OK. The IIs were solid and I don't even know what the Is looked/were like. Of course, I am sure there are better shoe out there for fencing, but it all really boils down to individual preference. I don't think there will be a company that will design a "perfect" shoe or at least for now. Each person has a different fencing style, different footwork, different feet, and thus, different preference for shoes. I may not like the LP blades or scimitars, but a good friend of mine loves them. I liked the adistars and the d'art IIIs are not that bad for me, but it seems like most of you kinda hate the d'art IIIs.
Just my two cents.
Linear Mode
