Disclaimer: I was provided with a complimentary pair of devices from Calibur Fencing in return for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for this review, nor am I endorsed by Calibur Fencing in any capacity. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by Calibur Fencing and/or its affiliates in any way.
When I was growing up in the Central Florida division, very few clubs in the Tampa area had electric scoring machines and we were forced to do mostly dry fencing. So when I’d go to a national event and be woefully unprepared for the feel of my tip and having the feedback loop of a “BEEEEEEP” classically conditioned into my brain, it was no surprise I often struggled at those events.
Dry fencing is a lot like preparing for the PGA Tour by only doing Putt Putt. Sure, you’re still playing golf, but you’re not sufficiently equipped for the rest of the game. And I guess, that’s where the Calibur Fencing machine is supposed to fill a niche.
The value proposition is this: to purchase a Favero FA01 Set (which includes a Favero scoring machine, two reels, and two floor cords), it’s going to run you $1,300. Multiply that by say, five, and you’re getting into capital required that a smaller, recreational club simply isn’t going to have.
Calibur ditches the reels and replaces a scoring display with your phone (it works on both iOS and Android). So for your rec center fencers without a permanent location, it’s an adequate solution, albeit one with a lot of work to do in order for the price to match the quality. It’s an innovative idea on the precipice of being ready for primetime. But it’s got a long way to go, and I suspect as the company iterates upon the device and the app, it will get to where it needs to be.
Build Quality – Concerningly Fragile
The Calibur Fencing devices scare me. At a mere 1.8 ounces of what feels like 3D printed plastic and just small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, there’s a certain flimsiness to the machine that I feel it could get significantly damaged with a strong enough prime parry to the back pocket of the Knickers it sits in. When you squeeze the sides of the device, it makes a disconcerting “squeak,” which makes the casing feel like it’s being barely held together.
In fact, one coach told me that on one drop, the machine broke and he had to keep it together with tape.
Then, there’s the on button, which is a separate piece of plastic that feels flimsily placed in the device with an awkward concavity to it that makes it feel like one hard button press away from giving the user problems. For the record, the device came in this state.
The plastic plate covering the battery compartment feels almost like it was cut with an exacto knife, and you can feel it shift around when you move your fingers over it. This was, oddly, only an issue with the “Cat” device (pictured on the right) whereas the owl device (pictured on the left) seemed to be made with a better-quality plastic and didn’t have the same shiftiness but was a completely different color from the device itself. Of all the design choices they could have made, that was certainly one of them.
For a premium priced device, the build quality falls significantly short of expectations. Future iterations of the device should consider a uniform metallic casing with a power switch instead of a concave plastic button.
Using the Device—Inconsistent Reliability and a Germaphobe’s Nightmare in Sabre
The Calibur Fencing machine is relatively easy to set up and use. You simply download the Calibur app on your phone, then connect the box via Bluetooth to the app. The FotL has a pixelated cat icon in both the app and scoring machine (and an Owl for FotR), making it easy to align the fencers to the proper side.
Relying on the device to register hits when it’s supposed to is obviously the most important quality in a fencing machine, and from my testing, it seemed to disconnect on occasion with just enough frequency that it started becoming aggravating to all parties involved. What’s strange, is that if I was fencing in the 2-meter zone far away from my phone, it seemed to register all those hits. Where I had the most issue was in the box, closer to where I placed my phone. One practice it was especially capricious, and three direct attacks (we’re not talking light hits, but absolute smashing ones) and no response. It also faces the occasional disconnect, but that was less of an issue than it simply not registering proper hits.
The good news, is that it seemed to register hits about 95% of the time. That being said, with that 5% that it didn’t work, there is pretty much zero scenario where I would use these devices if I was running a competition, and with the issues I encountered, Calibur is best suited for a low-stakes practice.
Testing the double touch lockout time, it did indeed lock out at 40ms, passing that test with flying colors (those colors being red and green), but occasionally the app would display off target lights, even in Epee. This bug was fixed simply by restarting the app.
It’s a minor inconvenience, but to switch between weapons, you must disconnect the devices, change the weapon in the app with a simple tap, and then reconnect the devices.
Then, there’s the Sabre experience, and by golly, this one needs some work. To fence Sabre, you must put on a conductive armband, and then plug in additional wire to the armband that runs to the device. The armbands are extremely tight and couldn’t really fit on my upper arm and are unlikely to fit people who have gotten sick gains in the gym.
We have to talk about the hygiene issue. Imagine you’re a small Sabre club and you’re taking turns using the Calibur machine. You’ve just fenced two 15-touch bouts in a row and you’ve broken a legitimate sweat. Well, those armbands sop up your sweat heavily, so guess what? You get to pass along your perspiration sponge bomb to the next Fencer and keep doing that until the band has more sweat than a jampacked sauna. The good news is, the bands run a reasonable $10 plus tax/shipping, so compared to the rest of the kit, the pricing is on point. The Sabre bands are hand washable and probably should be sanitized after every practice if you only have a few because….ew…
In terms of battery life, the devices do very well, touting 12-20 hours of usage which is typically enough for a week’s worth of practice. They charge via USB-C and take roughly 90 minutes to get to full battery. One device always charged to 100%, but the other inexplicably always topped off at 93% no matter how long I left it charging.
It’s also important to note that I’ve heard consistently positive things regarding Calibur’s customer service and their eagerness to help their customers. Two people I spoke with said that after reporting a damaged device, they shipped new ones immediately with no questions asked. Calibur also offers a money back guarantee for unsatisfied customers.
At the end of the day, if I’m deciding to fence with a traditional wired machine or a Calibur device, I’m going to pick the former every time unless every piste is occupied. The Calibur Fencing has a very niche (but important) use case, and that is for the clubs out there without a permanent space, but probably not for clubs with the capital for wired scoring machines and real pistes.
The App
I once heard a quote that said: “a user experience is like a joke. If you have to explain it to someone, it’s not a good one.” The app features some built-in tutorials, but in order for me to figure it all out, I had to go to Calibur’s YouTube channel to make sure I had it right.
The app itself has a very barebones feel to it, and if you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing user experience, you might come away disappointed.
The main layout takes some getting used to, and so to give you an idea of what we’re looking at, I’ve put together a visual showing what each button does:
One of the better aspects of the app is its customization options. For example, by default, the score up/score down buttons are invisible, but I can turn on + and – icons if I so choose. I have the option to go the menu setting and tweak what I want to see in my app layout if there are features I won’t use (e.g. the upload score to the cloud function).
A thoughtful addition from the Calibur team that I didn’t know I needed until it’s there was the “Indication Length” customization option. By default, the app will beep for two seconds when it registers a hit. But, suppose I’m fencing my opponent at the end of the strip in their 2-meter zone and I’m using my tiny iPhone screen with Calibur. I hit my opponent and the machine is all the way back in the middle of the piste. Was it a double? Was it mine? My opponent’s? Well, I can increase the “BEEEPPPP” length to up to 5 seconds to give us time to scramble back to the phone and check who hit who. I also like the fact that the beep sound is different for FotR vs. FotL, which gives an audio cue for the touch in addition to the visual one.
I like that the Calibur team is playing around with some innovative ideas. For example, you can use target practice mode to connect the device to a piece of metallic tape (via alligator clip) and challenge yourself to hit tiny targets if you so choose. There’s a reaction time mode to measure how quickly you can hit a target when cued to do so.
And if you want to save scores and how well you’ve done against particular opponents, you can keep track of those and upload to the cloud.
In the future, I think the app would benefit from the following features:
- Ability to run pools directly from the app
- Addition of some more advanced analytics, such as average time per touch tracked.
- The app beeps only when the app is open/your phone is unlocked. If I’m doing target practice, would be great to be able to register hits and make a beep when my phone is locked
- User Interface Overhaul: it’s still in very nascent phases, and the dull color pallet, flat design, and lack of modern app aesthetics leave a lot to be desired here
The app does its job and meets expectations, but doesn’t do much more than that.
Pricing
After fencing with clubmates using the Calibur devices, I asked each person: “How much would you pay for this device?” The answer was usually in the $250 – $300 range for a set of two. So when I told them that the price was $550, there was a uniformly incredulous reaction to the sticker shock, followed by the reaction of “That’s way too much.” I’m inclined to agree. While you’re avoiding the cost of reels and an actual scoring display, the build issues, barebones app, and unpredictable nature of the devices itself would make me think twice before investing in a set unless I was a smaller club and that was my best option.
| Scoring Machine | Price |
| Calibur Fencing (Set of Two Devices) | $550 (or $1,050 for a set of four, $1,500 for a set of six) |
| En Pointe Wireless System (relay box, 2x pocket boxes) | $850 |
| Favero FA01 Set (Machine, two reels, two floor cords) | $1,277 |
| SG11 Set (Machine, two reels, two floor cords) | $995 |
In terms of availability, the Calibur Fencing system is available to purchase directly from their website but is not yet sold at any major vendors as of review publication (though they’ve reached out to Absolute and Prieur and are looking to make a deal with them). Shipping is included in the price.
Verdict:
While my remarks on the Calibur machines may seem harsh, I actually think this device is almost there. The developers have the magic formula that make me hopeful for the future of Calibur: they’re extremely proud of their work, they’re receptive to customer feedback (and have a customer-centric focus with their service), and the device has improved with every iteration. Focusing on improving durability and build quality and making improvements to manufacturing/supply chain to drive down costs will make this device a game-changer for the clubs that don’t have the capital to invest in a piste, machine, and reels.
It may not be the scoring machine replacement it seeks to be in the present, but as Calibur continues to innovate and build, it’s not unreasonable to think they’ll get there in the near future.
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