Basically the jacket performed really well in the sun, but not my favourite place to train, heat retention dropped from an easy third to a possible half the usual retention, I was not surprised as we are using less pudgy cotton filing but replaced it with extremely tough materials, so tough you can use the jacket in a real life situation, mobility was A1 , much less restrictive and heavy in compar
ison with my usual sparring jacket and kit, the all in one protector jacket really did come up trumps for me, weighing in at 3 kilo it was lighter than the current standards set by the world of fencing, less heat, and fully loaded on armour front back and sides, the jacket is geared for blunt steel weapon training , but can handle the rigours of real life hostility, the several layers of ballistic nylon and kevlar may make the jacket resistant to small caliber bullets but not the impact, i would NOT test this or advise anyone to buy this and test if it is bullet proof, we strongly advise that this is an accessory to a bullet proof vest or stab proof vest, unless ballistic pocket sleeves are made for such contingency to turn the jacket into a primary armour which we would do on request for military , police, security firms and such, so do not buy this and think your bullet proof , if panels are made then yes your bullet proof on those plates, any more protection than as we have stated is not endorsed by us and would be a bonus, we have to be reasonable in our assessment , and although the jacket may exceed our expectations of protection we have a duty of care to keep the spec within reason as a duty of care and responsibility, in the world of fencing the jacket would be a high end tournament jacket with added extras for reality and opens up 3 new dimensions of exploration of steel play that was not eccessible to the steel arena with much endeavour pre Valhalla armour which is Team tournaments , battle field scenarios , and last man standing tournaments and offers as near as dammit full body protection unlike current fencing jackets, with prospects of new improved and more refined models ever evolving, as research and more advanced technological materials become available, the pursuit of truth in movement never ends, development can only encourage the ultimate in freedom and expression of martial weapon application, although im sure our gift from heaven may inspire designers from the west at this juncture, the jacket can work very well for security firms and special forces as primary standard level of protection and can be customised for primary level protection as not only are you bullet proof the rest of you would be guarded for slash and stab attacks , I could rattle on and on and on , but we just make the stuff and im flaked , it is perhaps the strongest garment on the market for steel weapon training , this is a fencing jacket on steroids and ready to rumble, if your serious about combative steel training or even personal defence this is a must have piece of kit without a shred of doubt.were about 2 months from finish on the Valhalla steel sparring gloves,, when it comes to gloves and armour, Valhalla wish to eventually steer clean away from material type protection, to slowly reduce fabrics but pump up hard plate composites for body hand leg armours etc, increasing strength and outer exo skeleton protection and always striving to reduce the weight of armour to allow for the best mobility and truth of practice for the sword technician, ultimately light high end composites with design that offers absolute minimal gaps ridges anything a blade can catch on, totally streamlined and linear, were talking Ultimate Iron Man edition , were progressing in thought and design in the steel genre, we love the play sourced from tradition, but our armour ideas are moving away from historical examples and heading toward the future in design for a global market.
