The weight of the sword is close to real swords. I did have some problems getting some of the swords together.

No issues with pommel or tip everything fit like it should. Good weight, POB is a little forward of the guard but not bad at all. Great item definitely recommend, would buy again.

Another reviewer was right- the blade is about 3 or 4 inches too long and flippy but that's a single easy fix with a hacksaw and sandpaper to remove those last few inches. Not recommended for hard thrust attacks after that, but then again, most arming/single handed sword attacks are more cutty than thrusty anyway...

For what it is, it's a decent practice tool for most HEMA use. It's got the usual pros and cons of a nylon waster. The pommel does have to be almost 90 degrees out of kilter to be snug, so I am gonna fix that by adding a "washer" of some rubber to the handle-grip piece, making it a little longer so the pommel doesn't have to screw past its perfect alignment to hold things snugly. I'd have preferred something I didn't have to modify, but modifying things is easy enough for me.

not as good as the black fencer brand, wont do sword binds and the blades are slippery but I still find it useful for sword and shield and sword and buckler training, I would suggest passing on the long sword version on this and get the black fencer brand even though they are more expensive and are harder to come by. I screwed on the extender pommel to make it a long sword and it was still too short, more like a hand and half sword.

This has been a solid training tool, but if you're looking strictly for an arming sword, you're going to run into a problem or two. First, the blade is 34 inches, which is a little on the long side for a typical arming sword. Wasn't a problem though, I took a hacksaw to the thing and cut it down by four inches, doing my best to cut the new tip to shape with the hacksaw. From there, I picked up a metal file and went to work until the tip was rounded again, and reasonably smooth. Go slow with the file, and do not file back and forth. Only scrape away from your body, then lift the file off the material, and scrape forward again. Do this until you get the shape you want. Don't worry about leaving an extra half an inch on thinking it will be taken off in the filing process. Unless you horribly screw up the filing, that won't happen. The only downside is that now there is, in total, less flex in the blade because I removed the most flexible part. Given how much flex these things have anyway though, it takes things closer to the realm of "realism," as much as one can get with a nylon sword. The downside is specifically regarding safety on a thrust, as the reduced flexibility will mean your partner will be more likely to get injured on a thrust.

Second, mine arrived slightly bent. If yours arrives slightly bent, or even massively bent, there is a solution. You can either spend weeks slowly bending it to shape, because once plastic cools, it sets, and it is very hard, without heating it up again, to get it to unset. If you don't want to wait that long, then heat the blade up. Specifically, give it a bath in really hot water. You shouldn't need to take it to boiling, just simple hot bathwater should suffice. There is a Youtube channel out there called Scholagladiatoria, run by a guy named Matt Easton, and he actually has a tutorial vid on how to unbend plastic swords like this, along with a massive wealth of information regarding history in general, and historical swordsmanship in particular.

These work great with the Red Dragon Armory gloves, you shouldn't need anything more protective than those if you're going to spar specifically using Red Dragon Armory synthetics. Do not use the Red Dragon gloves if you're using any other brand of nylon waster, or steel weapons. They just won't be able to take the damage, and your hands will be put at risk. Also, do not use anything less protective than the Red Dragon gloves if you're going to use these. Do not get lacrosse gloves, the Red Dragon gloves provide greater protection than lacrosse gloves. Can't recommend the other Red Dragon protective gear though.

Once I worked out a couple of minor problems with my synthetic arming sword waster, it quickly dominated my practice time. Good training weapon. If you're worried about it not properly simulating the kind of binds that sharps get into, get some friction tape and put it on the edges. You will have to replace the tape frequently, but you will get a decent idea of what binds feel like. I don't recommend using the friction tape all the time, just when practicing a new bind that you're not familiar with. This thing is great for messer, sword and buckler, Bolognese swordsmanship, anything where you're using an arming sword or arming sword-like weapon. There are even other guards you can buy to turn this thing into a basket-hilted sword...you're going to need a new blade for that though if you cut this one down to size.