Red Dragon Armoury Synthetic Sparring Longsword, Silver

This is an excellent choice for both fencing, and stage combat. I've been fencing for over 15 years, and this sword is revolutionize the way I can train. It is lighter than a steel sword, but not by a huge margin. Switching back and forth I don't find that it feels awkward or imbalanced. a lot of people seem to be complaining about the blades lack rigidity, I for one am glad that when my friends stabs me the blade bends instead of jabbing me hard. it's thick edges disperse the impact as well, so it's much less painful. It allows me to spar for much much longer then if I were using a steel sword alone. I've seen some complaints about the blade bowing, and that's easily fixed. Lay the blade flat on the ground or a hard surface in a moderately warm area. The blade will reset itself to flat. Also store it this way, or hanging, and that will prevent it from bowing. The plastic will bend in the heat, so if you leave it in a bag, or standing on its tip or pummel it has a chance of temporarily warping. this is also a great tool for teaching stage combat. I can give it to my actors and know that they have far less of a chance of seriously injuring each other than they would with a steel sword. It also is inexpensive, so I can afford to buy enough for an entire class. and since it requires no maintenance, it's one less worry I have to have when letting a group of inexperienced students handle them. These words are well worth the money, and I haven't come across a better product for training and teaching yet

I bought this in order to begin practicing HEMA, it was this or dropping $375 on a steel Feder. Rubber grip is very, very grippy. The cross guard is a bit wobbly under stress, as well as just being plastic, but that's because its only held on by a rubber grip. Its a bit blade heavy but nothing to crazy. The blade warps a bit when bent under extreme stress, but just bends right back. Heat it up if it gets too bad. The blade isn't as flexible or soft as some of the other reviews state, perhaps they fixed it? Its pretty light but its a plastic sword so it makes sense. There is a steel rod down the center which adds a bit more weight. All in all its a really great tool for the price if you are like me, a total newb to HEMA, and want to start practicing on your own or with some friends before you decide to drop a car payment on buying an actual steel long sword. Ill post measurements and some pics later.

I quite like this thing. It's balanced pretty well and is quite durable. However, I have a few little gripes. The sword comes in four pieces: The blade, crossguard, pommel, and handgrip. The only issue I've noted with the blade is that it's curved backwards a little in a way it's not supposed to be. The curve isn't enough to really impact its performance, but it IS noticeable if you're taking more than a cursory look at it. The crossguard itself is fine, though the fit isn't exactly perfect. It tends to wobble around a little. Again, not enough to impact performance, but enough to be noticed. The pommel is fine, I have no complaints. My biggest issues, however, stem from the handgrip. It's rubber; which immediately feels odd in the hand, especially from what is supposed to be a traditional sword. Apart from the feel, the handgrip is incorrectly sized both in terms of length and in getting a snug fit around the tang (the section of the blade which extends into the grip). When I first got it, the grip was too long - preventing the pommel from being screwed on securely - and too loose, making it shift as the blade moved, making the rubber feel even more awkward. These issues were fairly easily resolved by cutting off some of the excess material from the end of the handgrip, and setting down several layers of tape onto the tang to improve the fit; but it is still something to keep in mind. Overall, I like this thing, but it's not perfect.

Looks good, feels good. Mine came in slightly warped although not terrible. It’s strong and the grip is amazing. Slightly on the light side but still a good stepping stone to heavier real steel. Would work well for cosplaying although I use it to study hema and stands up to the sparring very well. 100% worth the money

This is based on the Rawlings design of wasters and in comparison to others has a far less flexible blade than the older whippy ones. Blade seems to hold its shape well enough but leaning it against a wall for weeks would probably warp it. The sword has about 6 inches or so from the hilt, which is a fairly good balance. The hilt itself is made of a flexible plastic that feels prone to breaking if hit full force a few times by another waster. Rubber grip slightly moves around when twisted but still gives control over the weapon. Wish it had a snugger fit, but its not that much of an issue. Pommel is light plastic, screws in and is nothing special. Because it is based on the Rawlings you can replace the pommel and grip with metal pieces offered elsewhere if you choose. Sword is fairly light, being a bit over 1.7 pounds.

This is a pretty awesome practice sword for those getting into HEMA on a budget. Its a fairly accurate representation of an actual longsword, minus being too flexible and lighter then an actual sword but for $60 - $70 it's not bad. The plastic it's made out of is tough as nails so it wont break. Bending can be an issue but it's an easy fix. I haven't begun sparing yet, i'm just using it for practicing the basics by myself. I would feel confident to use for sparring however, I would just keep in mind that the blades on contact wont bite and will be a little slippery. Though for the price this is well worth it. Would be good for larping or just messing around with friends to.

This here is the new Sparing Hand and a Half sword from Hanwei, it's like a real, complete, full Longsword, made of Plastic. And I do mean it, it comes out of the package in four pieces, the blade, the crossguard, handle, and Pommel, and like a real sword they all fit togeather quite nice. Due to how it works, unlike other training swords, it's as sturdy as it feels, you'll never break it at the handle, but the top might worry you. It's made to flex from the top 3rd of the blade, giving you something flexible and more sword like than a wodden stick with a hilt. THis makes is great for sparing as you can stab your friend and not so much stab him like a real weapon, and the whole rubber/plastic make of it might feel kinda pathetic, it's made to go agianst itself, not wood. If you're going to spar with this, get two of them, you'll be having a blast with two balanced plastic versions of a real longsword. Durabillity wise, smacking my tree outside with it over and over left it scratched, but sturdy enough for abuse, it should last me quite a while. My Cold Steel training swords, which are more durabillity than usabillity, will last far longer, but those things are bats compared to this. It's got a decent look to it, and it's obviously not metal, but you have to feel it in your hands to get what I'm taking about here, it's like a sword made out of plastic, but it's still a sword damn it, you swing it just the same, it feels just the same, and it's made to do just the same. Problems time. The handle is rubber, the squishy shifts when you move it kind, so it may be annoying to some, but it doesn't shift near enough to effect handling, yet noticable. The rubber also feels just like that, rubber, not real fun to hold for long periods of time. The blade is also easily warped, the blade itself tells you it might be warped during packaging! But this isn't no display sword, this is for use, and a little warp is nothing substantial, and since it's not wood, it'll bend where ya want it if you try. Overall, it's sturdy, handles great, safe for use as a sparing tool, training, or a durned toy for children, this thing won't be doing any more harm than a toy lightsaber would, altho it's a heck of a lot more expensive as well sa usefull. Oh, and the Pommel, it's just nice, really nice. IT's still a new item, the crossguard, Handle, and Crossguard can be bought seperatly to replace missing or broken parts, or perhaps mix and match different color blades and pieces., this one is a simple grey, but black is also avalible. And if you look they got red Crossguards and such too. Steel Hilts are also there, to provide more weight and a better real sword feel. I think it's good, so try it out!

Excellent value! I have been doing HEMA for about a year now, prior to that, I dabbled in kenjitsu, and I must say that this is probably the best synthetic practice/sparring longsword available for under $100. Unlike the cheaper cold steel practice swords, which handle more like bats, this sword is actually well balanced and has a noticeable distal taper. The point of balance on this sword is at the 15.1 cm (~6 in) from the guard with all components attached. If one wishes to decrease the point of balance to around 8-10 cm, thus making it more in line with a traditional longsword of the 14th or 15th century, one can order a stainless steel guard and pommel from purple heart armoury and use them to replace the plastic guard and pommel. Doing so will not only decrease the point of balance to around 8.5 cm, but will also make the sword weigh about the same as a typical longsword from the time period. I did this to mine, and the final weight of the sword with the steel pommel and guard came out to be ~1.3 kg which is well within range of a typical longsword from the 14th or 15th century. I must also note that adding the steel guard and pommel makes this sword handle very similarly to an actual steel longsword, but for a beginner such as myself, sparring and doing cutting drills is far safer with a synthetic sword than an actual steel sword even if blunt. Overall, excellent buy!

The plastic is very flexible and you can lunge at your opponent without worrying about the sword breaking. The weight is distributed the way a real sword is meant to and the sword can be disassembled. Needless, this product is not a toy.

There's better swords out there for same price

Excellent sparing swords. Very sturdy

Good quality and hand feel, however; the grip wiggles a bit and the blade quickly became slightly bent. That said, it's good for the price point and honestly there isn't much else in the way of HEMA weaponry on here, so it does the job!

The sword in itself is great, feels like a sword in the hand. Although it is slightly unbalanced and the rubber handle is hard to insert on the blade. The rubber handle tends to rub on your hand and if youre not used to it, it might scrape a bit of your skins, i wrapped mine with leather and now its just perfect! Otherwise Great Sword!