The best HEMA equipment is the friends we made along the way.

In the US, baseball catcher's legs are popular. They cover the shins better than motocross or the Red Dragons you show. Most sports stores will carry them and they can be found in second hand sports stores.

I was a decidedly money-challenged student when I got into this sword thing, and if there are any among you like I once was, and are now spooked by the massive investment necessary, welcome to the comments section! Also, don't make any purchases before you talk to which ever club you want to join, because they can and often do lend some of the stuff you need. A lot of them may even not let you anywhere near sparring for a few weeks, and you can always make some sort of a deal - you can run a lot of drills with just a sword to see if this hobby is for you and something to invest into.

make sure to always check and patch any damage you see to on the soft parts of your gloves. some time ago my fedder went through my opponents glove during a thrust. i think he had a small hole or the material was too worn out, and the tip just punched through between the thumb and index and just above the hand. luckily nothing happened, he wasn't hurt, the sword went straight through and came out the other side. so patch and re-enforce where you notice the glove getting weaker. goes for other equipment as well, like jackets.

I've found it convenient to cruise through garage and clearance sales for old hockey/lacross gear for cheap. Go shin protectors and a nice set of elbow cups for less than 10e altogether.

FACT: I bought a “special” knee and shin protection for longsword sparring some years ago for a tournament. A couple of months later I went to my father’s farm and he was using exactly the same for working. They were simple lumberjack protections for the legs XD

Thank you for this amazing video

12:24 about gloves: The finger tips are much more covered inside the HF Armory Black Knight gloves compared to the Spes Lobsters or Kvetun Xiphosura and overall the HF offer a lot more protection than the SG gloves. Can really recommend the HF gloves for longsword, only problem is the thumb mobility which needs quite a bit of time for breaking in, especially for lateral movement.

I only ever use the spes lobster gloves. Im a piano teacher and I can trust them fully to protect my fingers even during extremely heavy sparring.

Very cool.

In terms of combined knee/shin protection I've been using Kvetuns for a while now and they are great. They fit perfectly because they are custom measurements and they also wrap around the leg and have a little bit of ankle protection.

I pretty much agree with your list. One caveat though : for gorgets, you had your mouse cursor over the Vytis gorget and you didn't mention it, it is criminal ! They are excellent in my opinion and much better than all the others I've tried (BA "Dmz", PBT, red dragon,...)

I can vouch for the SPES Vector vambraces under a tunic for early medieval re-enactment combat for those also considering them

made my own leg protection with 10-12 layer of linen and glue to start with，padded with some foam, more than capable of stopping a fede. Cost only time and well, glue and linen. The rest I dare not mess about.

for shell protections there are also the ones from MAC Armor which look quite nice with an medieval armor like design, and seem to get good reviews. Don't have any yet but plan on getting a couple just to check how they are. their site's prices are without taxes so keep in mind they will end up being more expensive than shown.

About the black fencer sword: at around 20 euro extra price they can make it customized length

Had a standard regenyei when I first got into HEMA, definitely too stiff but it was what was available in the US. switched to Sigi after hurting two of my club mates from the thrust.

Very helpful video, thanks! In the past you recommended syntethic swords to begin, blackfencer's in particular, but here you mention only steel models, have you changed your mind or do you still regard them as a good beginner's choice?

Question about gorgets: how is that mini gorget? between that one and the light gorget from black armory which one would you say is more flexible while providing good protection?

What do you think of superior fencing's protective gear?

I have a broken anvil gorget, its a southamerican brand, used to be based in Chile, now its in Argentina, incredibly good and very very comfy. I'm not in any wat payed to say this, just love the thing.

This is a great list. I live in South Africa, so any purchase needs to be essential and highly researched. I'm interested in your take: what would you recommend buying for starting a club or a training group? I'd enjoy seeing a video on that

In my opinion the pro set forearm protector from spes tends to not provide the appropriate protection for the radius bone in certain actions

I see you recommend the Spes standard jacket, but use the Spes light personally. Do you recommend the light for beginners if it’s within their budget ? If not - would you recommend it for intermediate fencers or only for experts ?

I’m confused why you didn’t compare the blackfencer steel feder to the other feders? Is there a particular reason?

If you didn't mind saying, what size LP mask did you use, and what size overlay did you get for it? Just ordered a replacement mask and decided to try that one out after your video. My last overlay didn't fit my mask the way the SPES site indicated it should though, and I had to cut it up a bunch to make it work. Would be great to know what had worked for you. Anyways, thanks for the videos/info. Good stuff.

Hello Federico! Current prices for SIGIs are 330 for the standard and 350 for the concept. Do you think it is worth it to spend the extra 20 for the concept? Does the different shape offer better handling or thumb protection?

So browsing through the available options, why would you prefer a 350N jacket over a 800N jacket?

I hate being hit by black fencer swords. It hurts for a week when other sword you don't feel it a minute after.

What would be the best shop to buy synthetic training swords ?

I have one question about mask and overlay. Can I use the allstar mask with UNITY MASK OVERLAY NG 800N?

Given that there are the HF armoury and Kvetun gloves it's har dot recommend the Spes heavies imo these days.

i dont have money :c

Get into hema for 2000 dollars kings

4:14 - the shipping costs are not higher "because of the war", but because of Russian aggression against Ukraine. That's what it is, according to the European Parliament (and reality). There are some Ukrainians who would love your channel and HEMA, but "unluckily" they can't buy a training sword, or anything else, because russians killed them.

I don't understand why HEMA longsword has geared people towards finding swords that flex. The sword flexes so you don't hurt your partner, you say? This is quite odd bc I feel like you should train to always keep out of reach of a thrust, and this equipment will develop terrible habits in people as it will give them false confidence. "I don't need to be careful if the weapon literally cannot hurt me". If there is no incentive to be cautious of the weapons you are training to use, then you might as well be using toy lightsabres and roleplaying star wars while training, as you will likely see the same results. I myself am not wealthy enough to afford most of this gear, so for years I have used wooden swords and little to no protection. I find my training to be far different and much more cautious then what I see people doing in their fully decked out padding. When I train, I realize that one false slip and I'm getting thwacked with hardwood or getting the breathe taken out of me from a well timed thrust. It really does show perspective the difference that your gear can make and how you train. Also, Love the videos, keep up the good work, I have nothing against modern HEMA as a sport I just feel like it lacks intensity and also fails to translate to any real life situations, due to the gear.

Any good HEMA pants with elastic band/draw string? I’ve had no luck with the Velcro the most pants seem to use.

HF armoury from Ukraine is top quality stuff. Look at their black Knight hema longsword gauntlets