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Post by jlwilliams on Feb 26, 2014 1:31:56 GMT
I saw this on a friend's FB page. It's a new armor that the article touts as changing MMA forever. I think that's a bit grandiose and unlikely, but I see this as being huge for stuff like Philippine stick fighting and any sort of wooden sword work. Neat stuff. www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/02/unifi ... armaments/ Comments? Opinions?
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 26, 2014 2:52:01 GMT
I think it looks pretty sweet and I could see it being a hit among the WMA crowd, particularly if you designed a pair of gloves to go with it... However, I foresee a potentially insurmountable issue with this gear: the cost. To me, "high tech" tends to equate itself with "high priced". If this stuff costs more than what most people are using now, or if it's the same without any added benefits, or even if it's cheaper but offers less protection, I could all too easily see it becoming just another novelty doomed to obscurity.
This's just my two cents, mind, and I tend to take a cynical view on things, but, if you could bring the retail price in at less than what people use now, while offering the same or better protective capabilities, and at a reasonable weight, with quality gauntlets, then I could see it being quite popular.
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Post by jlwilliams on Feb 26, 2014 12:44:43 GMT
Good point. On the other hand, technology has a tendency to drop in cost over time. I had a teacher in college tell me that the first scientific calculator he bought in the mid 1960s cost (IIRC) about $350 (big bucks in the day) and it did less than my $9.99 pocket calculator (early '90s).
I'm hoping that after this stuff has it's moment on the cover of the Rollin' Stone the price will inch down and we can start having more gladiator time.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 28, 2014 2:46:45 GMT
Well, if you want a more dramatic example, look at one of the first production Apple II computer, first released in 1977: it cost 2,638$ for the 48kb RAM model (which is roughly 10,000$ in 2014); today, you can buy something several hundreds of times more powerful for about 600$.
Anyways, I'm also hoping that the price drops fairly significantly, or that it has at least a reasonable starting price, because quality gear isn't cheap: for the absolute bare bones (gloves, mask, sword), you're looking at about 200$, give or take.
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Post by Anders on Mar 14, 2014 21:27:10 GMT
The added benefits, if I understand this correctly, is that the armor relays wireless impact data to a computer so that you can always keep track of when, where and how hard the fighters get hit. Sport fencing already does something like that, except with a lot less precision. So it's not really about protection, but rather making it easier to determine who the winner is. (Obviously, just making a hard plastic armor isn't that big a deal these days.)
If it catches on, it might result in new, more sport-like interpretations of weapon-based martial arts with full-contact sparring. This can be both a good and a bad thing. On one hand it might give martial artists a valuable tool to evaluate and compare their fighting styles, On the other, some might argue that it will shift to focus from proper techniques towards simply scoring points. (After all, look at how fencing and kendo ended up.)
As for the price, lots of sports equipment is expensive. (Which is why a lot of sports rely on sponsors.) Hopefully this won't be unreasonably pricy.
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