Dilemma - Choosing a Weapon

[BoondockDuff]

Hey there,

I'm in the process of ordering a new electric foil and I have narrowed it down to three decently priced ones. I'm pretty prone to flicking so I would prefer a more whippier blade, but with enough stiffness to parry effectively. The weapons are:

Electric Foil Complete PBT Ukraine -$62.00 from FencePBT
or
Leon Paul -$69.00 from TheFencingPost
or
Triplette TCA Electric -$54.00 from Triplette

I'm a college student with a meager budget, but I would like the best bang for my buck. All those blades are non-maraging because it is too rich for my blood. Any feedback and/or recommendations would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Dave]

don't buy a none maraging LP blade they really aren't that good. The maraging blades are well worth the extra money as they feel a lot better and last much longer.

[frenzl]

don't get the Triplette blade

[marianjvfencer]

Buy the Triplette Blade]
I just bought one with a spanish offset grip and it has never done me wrong.

It's a bit stiff but I really have no problem flicking with it.

Hurray for Triplette

[Tireur]

How do you reconcile

"it has never done me wrong"


with

Sure We Marian Central Fencers may be devoid of
working equipment,

[neevel]

The Leon Paul will be the lightest and whippiest. From my experience, LP blades stay in one piece for pretty much the longest time of any blades in that price range, but they become very mushy and prone to taking kinks as they get old. You may reach a point where you'll want to replace it even though it hasn't broken yet.

The Triplette (Blaise Freres) blade will be a bit heavier and very much stiffer than the LP. If your flicking technique is good and you don't make lots of really extreme flicks then you shouldn't have much trouble landing them. The greater stiffness means the point won't wobble around quite so much after strong blade actions. I've seen some non-maraging BF blades have a relatively short lifespan-- more so than others in the price range.

PBT uses a Lammet blade for their non-maraging weapons-- it'll be heavier than the other two, and somewhere in-between in terms of flexibility, with the flexion biased somewhat more towards the forte of the blade. It will tend to take kinks.

-Dave

[Talyn]

I say you up your price and go FIE , it's worth it in the long run.

[BoondockDuff]

Okay, I've decided to spend the extra dough on an FIE blade. Now what would you guys recommend? I don't want to spend more than $120 for a complete weapon, and I fence only about 2 times a week in college. I had always bought from Triplette, yet I found myself sending them back because of a permanent kink in the foible after fencing with it, even after I bent it properly. So I'm trying to stay away from Triplette. Any suggestions?

Cheers

[Talyn]

Uhlmann sells pretty damn good maraging blades for 120...

I just got 3 wired ones and after haveing my grip fitted on they, truley rock.