Reddit mentions of Philex 19806HS20 42 Strand Clear Speaker Cable - 20m

Are the epee blades actually good? Their in house foil blades are simply terrible.

I find leon paul has a habit of over engineering things. They are quite innovative in their ideas, sometimes, but sometimes its just not worth it.

Their masks are quite good. They last long, you can pull out the lining, which is great. You can change the bib which is also great since my bib has dead spots on it now, and they're more comfortable because of that elastic fit. I was skeptical at first because they feel less solid on your head when you fist put them on, but they're way better. They cost more too though, but I think in this case they're worth it.

To my mind a jacket is a jacket. It passes FIE so it's safe enough for me (especially given many people practice in 350N), and then the fit and comfort is fine - so I don't take much heed of the brand. Looking now, I see that duelist offers jackets for £100 and fence with fun offers about £100 also. Leon paul is at £130 without VAT and 160 with VAT (I don't know what taxes would apply to other ones).

But the blades. Ugh. They feel really good when their new, but after a few bouts, they immediately become soft in the end (you know when every time you bend the blade it just has plastic deformation, and doesn't spring back to its shape?), and then you're stuck with it forever. You don't want to just throw it out, cus it still works, but it's shitty and annoying to have and you just wish it would break. Though Leon paul distributes BF blades also.

And then their tips. The idea of the metal sleeve seems like a good one, and like the blades they feel good for a few bouts. But then it just seems like they wear out way faster some how. Either dented barrels, worn out screws, whatever. The FWF german points are way better. Standard german point, so if you need one a tournament, someone will be able to provide one, and then the extra thick barrels is just wonderful. I get dented way less often now.

To be fair though, it seems like they've done a revision to their tips since I last used them. TiN or whatever. Maybe it's better, but I still think it's not really going to compete with a nice thick german barrel, and bigger tip.

I do like their style of body cords. I feel the solid pins a basically superior to the banana pins. I find the Bayonet cord is abhorred quite a bit in the english speaking world on the international circuit. I've never been lucky (successful) enough to fence on the wireless, but I hear that the two pins have better conductivity for that. Even in the UK where bayonet seems much more common, the international foilists are all 2 pin. Leon paul sells a 2 pin plug, but I don't often see it in the wild.

So basically, if I'm shopping for kit, the things I buy the most, tips and blades, I will immediately go somewhere else. Since I don't care about jacket style, I'll just go to wherever is cheapest/convenient. If the event has a all star stall, great. Though I might go to the leon paul shop, because it's easier to get to than the all start shop. Body wires, I often buy in a panic at the event when mine break - so it will be from whichever stall happens to be there. I have enough body wire parts that I don't need to consider buying them outside of a panic.

As a side note, this video makes it out to seem like they have some custom made wire for their body wires. That's bullshit. It's literally speaker wire. You can buy it in rolls for way cheaper, and just attach one of the hundreds of spare ends that you bought during a panic at an event.

Their boxes are incredibly over priced. They're soviet era technology clunky plastic with incandescent bulbs and big ass batteries. Lightwieght boxes like the firefly undercut them by way more, and have a lighter more compact solution. The cost of a VSM, plus reels, plus a cheap netbook is about £400-£500, which is cheaper than 2 of the cheapest spools plus one of these clunky boxes - AND you get the fullest feature box that is on the market. Then even favero boxes of similar priced, but way lighter with LEDs and normal batteries instead of those giant ones. Generally speaking most scorebox manufacturers need to get with the times and catch up to the VSM, but leon paul is particularly far behind in this aspect.

So I guess they're not so bad, but it's they're nothing special as an equipment manufacturer either, and they kinda market themselves as an innovator and high end fencing brand. I think to justify that sort of marketing, then all their products need to be of a quality similar to their masks. The rest of their products are either behind or run of the mill, and the dismal blades they sell are really not acceptable.