Epee Hitmate
December 20th, 2009
For the low cost, I can definitely put up with any small problems, and can't wait for the Foilmate to come out!
Blessed are the Fencing Geeks, for they will put us in a modern age!
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June 9th, 2009
Hits to he nude unarmed hand are registered but I do not find it a big problem because they do not happer very often.
Since I have had it for a short period I cannot say anything about durability, battery life or possible faults. Anyway, in my club, the traditional recording machines have faults very often.
I am very happy with this invention and it is wonderfull to be able to practice fencing in the garden or wherever you want.
I bought the Epee Hitmate about 6 weeks ago from Fencing.net. I no longer fence regularly in any club and usually fence my wife in the local community rec centre racquetball court. We have been using the Favero mini-boxes which are fine to detect hits but hopeless at distinguishing doubles from singles or indeed who hit first.
The Hitmate comes in a small box containing two color-coded transmitters and the scoring box, all with batteries already installed. The use is caveman-simple - just hook up, turn on and go. The system functioned faultlessly out of the box. The transmitters fit in the pocket and more importantly stay there during the bout. Personally I think it is much nicer to fence unattached to a length of cable.
The wireless reaches diagonally across the racquetball court with ease (the largest distance tested). The buzzers are loud enough for us old folks to hear (and many outside the court!) The lights are bright and stay on long enough to see who got the touch.
The box detects doubles and singles but I cannot testify to the accuracy of the timings - they felt right but I have no means to confirm this.
Initially there was no problem with detecting bell guard hits. After a fourth or fifth use we noticed that the testing became somewhat inconsistent. It seemed to be more so with one particular weapon. I did all the tests described in the manual (well written and helpful, BTW). The tests to insulated surface and to grounded surface were fine. Activation by bare skin and bell guard, however, was inconsistent. I changed the batteries, swapped the body cords, body cord positions, boxes and weapons around and still could not get a handle on the problem. I then measured the resistances of the 3rd pin to the bell (all 0.4 Ohms or less), pins 1 and 2 to the bell (all greater than 20 MOhms) and between pins 1 and 2 with the contacts closed. The three weapons showed resistance around one Ohm but the iffy epee showed minimum resistance of 2 Ohms going up from there, sometimes as high as 25 Ohms depending how hard one pressed on the point and in what position. This epee needs re-wiring with a new point and I hope this will cure the fault.
Incidentally, I have not experienced the 2-second lock out that is described in the manual and by some on the forum.
Even with the bell guard problems the system is a vast improvement on the previous arrangements let alone dry fencing, all at the cost of less than half of the cheapest corded electrical system. The ability to detect the priority of touches and distinguish doubles from singles reliably alone makes it worth while. The facility to use the system almost anywhere opens the way to all sorts of possibilities. The whole package is so small that it can be carried anywhere for impromptu fencing practices unlike having to drag a big box and two full reels around. For small clubs, just starting out, this should be ideal on cost alone.
I think the creators of this system should be congratulated on a first class product. It should also be noted that the warranty extends for a full year.
All in all, it is money well spent and I would recommend the Epee Hitmate to anyone.
February 28th, 2009
When we first tried out the new Epee Hitmate, the first thing that came up was convincing a couple of people to try it out: two of our epee guys weren't interested, stating that they found that the tug of the wire gave them a sense of orientation, and they weren't big on the idea of RF as a result. This was a surprise to me - I hadn't considered the loss of haptic feedback as an issue. After finding a couple of more open minded fencers, we spent a couple of minutes hooking it up as recommended, with the body wires under their shoulder/arm protectors.
After getting that out of the way, several bouts were contested with the Hitmate, and it appeared to work reliably, to the satisfaction of all. One of our better fencers absolutely loved it.
It is well thought-out, with features like a sturdy carrying case that has compartments to store spare batteries.
We had some issues with bell-hits not being ignored on one epee, which either had an intermittent ground connection or high-resistence anodizing on the surface, but otherwise it worked well.
One minor issue that came up is that the receiver/beeper unit has a two-second lockout after a touch, and this initially made us believe that it was intermittent, when a fencer would touch the floor to test it, get a beep, and then try to do it again without waiting for the reset interval. This lockout interval also seems to occur when first plugging in the body wire, when the receiver gives a long beep to indicate the connection.
The solution for this is simple enough - let it reset, but if you aren't expecting it, it could mislead you into thinking that there is an intermittent problem.
A couple of very minor comments on things that could be improved:
- It is not apparent how to get at the battery compartment in the receiver - you have to remove a protective rubbery sheath that protects it, and it is not obvious how to do so.
- If I were designing the product, I'd be inclined to cover the transmitter units with rubber covers as are used on the receiver, just for a bit more protection if they were to get whacked with an epee or someone was to fall on one. Time will tell how durable the transmitter units are.
- I would also give some visible indication on the transmitter units on how to turn the units on, and off (to save battery life, press the tip switch for > 5 seconds to turn the transmitter off), and I'd add an On indicator light to the transmitters. You shouldn't have to make everyone read the manual to find these things out, or rely on word-of-mouth to extend the battery life. I've put a sticker on each transmitter telling how to turn it off.
Anyway, so far so good, after several hours of use. The Epee Hit-Mate does exactly what the manufacturer says it does, and it will be particularly useful for traveling venues, like fencing demonstrations and classes at local high-schools and colleges, as well as a backup for the reel-based scoring units when training at the salle. It also opens up another lane for epee practice when needed.
Fencing.net is offering one-year warranty coverage for the Hitmate, which is outstanding, considering that most electronics carry a 90-day warranty these days...
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