Two-prong vs bayonette

[Strydus]

Is there any particular advantage of a two-prong cord over a bayonette style one (or visa versa)?

[Inquartata]

They're easier to repair. OTOH bayonets tend to NEED repair much less often, so it's a bit of a toss...

[epeemike81]

you are probably gonna find that users of each think there are advantages to their choice. In reality, though I personally prefer Bayonett, there is probably no true advantage to either.

-m

[counter riposte]

I personally like the bayonnet socket simply because it has less of a chance to come loose during a bout. But the two prong is much easier to wire and repair if it ever needed it. (I have only had to repair my bayonet once, due to the ground wire breaking, but other than that, not much)

[Gav]

The only +ve point that anyone I know has made about 2 prongs is that other femcers are much less likely to walk off with a 2 prong Foil , or a 2 prong bodywire.

[mifencer]

Originally posted by Gav
The only +ve point that anyone I know has made about 2 prongs is that other femcers are much less likely to walk off with a 2 prong Foil , or a 2 prong bodywire.

I've found that it's easier to 'borrow' someone's 2 prong, since they're more common (at least the in my area).

[Gav]

Originally posted by mifencer
I've found that it's easier to 'borrow' someone's 2 prong, since they're more common (at least the in my area).

They're very uncommon over here in the UK.

[epeemike81]

Originally posted by mifencer
I've found that it's easier to 'borrow' someone's 2 prong, since they're more common (at least the in my area).

in the northeast, Bayonett is much more prevolent.

-m

[neevel]

Leon Paul-style Bayonet--

pro: easy acess to wire contact screws for tighening (just pull back the rubber boot), stays in socket much better than Prieur 2-prong (assuming socket isn't worn).

con: the retaining nib on the plastic socket body can get worn down over time so that the plug will tend to twist loose. Also, on knockoff that aren't either chrome-plated or of stainless steel, the large number of metal-to-metal interfaces between the parts of the plug can be affected by corrosion. When the offset plastic body of the 3-pin plug breaks, it won't make a good contact with many reels.

Prieur 2-prong--

pro: inexpensive, easy access to contact screws for tightening, socket lasts.

con: the plastic retaining clip gets lost easily and doesn't work very well even when present, the screws seem to work loose more frequently, and on the 2-pin socket the screws can fall out and be lost if the work loose.

Uhlmann/Allstar 2-prong--

pro: best quality materials for the plugs and pins, the quality of the machining means screws generally won't come loose as frequently. Reliable retaining system. Socket lasts.

con: have to take apart the whole plug to tighten loose screws when they do occur. Uhlmann sometimes will get a batch of cheap wire that stresses easily. Knock-off versions can be of inconsistent quality.

BG "easy fix" 2-prong (variant of Uhlmann design)--

pro: easy access to screws for tightening, retaining system works.

con: built to a price-point. The spring-casings on the pins (which make the fit between the pin and plug) are easily damaged. On the earlier production runs, the metal retaining clip was a bit too long and could shift over and ground the foil by touching the B-line plug below the insulating washer (Mr. Chen has since rectified this, but there still are plenty of the earlier ones out there).

Carmimari bayonet (not common in the U.S.).

pro: most elegant weapon-plug and socket design, IMO. Retaining system works. Durable socket.

con: uses solder connections for the wire (I don't like solder connections for body cords or weapon sockets-- while in principle more reliable, when something does go wrong the overwhelming majority of fencers who don't carry a soldering iron and solder with them won't be able to fix it at a tournament). If you buy a complete body cord instead of just the plug, the wire used from the factory is cheap.

On the whole, you're best off using whatever is most prevalent at your club.

-Dave

[Inquartata]

Of course, some contrary sorts prefer to use the one that's least common where they fence---so they don't have people always borrowing their gear!