The 2008 adiStar is one of the new shoes that Adidas has created for the 2008 Olympic Games. This shoe is priced at $200, so the Nike will most likely come in under the price.

We'll have to wait and get some reviews from the hard core Adidas fans. Those will be posted at our Adidas Fencing Shoe lens.

There seems to be a push to sell the Asics "Tiger" into the fencing market as an acceptable entry-level shoe. This is a shoe that is designed more for fashion than for performance.

Shoes.com markets this as:
"designed for the Japanese Fencing Team at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Smooth leather with suede overlays in a streamlined fencing style"

but, as fencing.net forum member academe pointed out:
"Please. These are just fashion shoes. Stick a fork in this topic, I'm tired of seeing people bring them up...these shoes are not for serious fencers...nor should they be for recreational fencers. They are the equivalent of playing basketball in Chuck Taylor All Stars. Can you use them? Yes. Are you risking injury if you use them for any kind of semi-serious effort? Yes."

I love my Chuck's - still have a pair of red ones. Will I ever play basketball in them? Not a chance.

Just look at it this way - if you walked into a store for any other product and the main pitch was "this was designed in 1984", would you be clamoring to buy it?

The Blades came to market as an extremely durable, though clunky, fencing shoe. The primary driver for this shoe was durability and the Blades and the next model (Scimitar) certainly delivered.

At the Fencing Equipment Reviews site, one reviewer states:

As kshan5 mentioned, the cheese grater strips are hell on the soles, but the wear pattern that develops will show you where you're landing wrong or dragging (so... you can work on it). I occasionally fence on wood or linoleum tile floors, and they are gummy enough to grip well. They do run wide, which is good for those of us who never *quite* recovered from pregnancy feet. They have support in all the right places, though I use orthotics in both shoes to deal with some lingering soft tissue damage (caused by the cross-trainers, not the Blades). The orthotics fit fine in there, unlike in other shoes I have.

The Blades are about $110 and run a little wide, so if you are used to narrow shoes then you may want to get them a half size smaller.

Adidas's economy model fencing shoe, this shoe has a soft sole and combo leather/mesh upper. Normally priced at $75 - $90, it's a budget shoe with limited lifespan on metal fencing strips.

On sale at Absolute Fencing Gear and other suppliers.

The Nike Ballestra is one of over 20 new Olympic shoes being created as part of their shoe contract with the Chinese Olympic team. Part of their contract required Nike to create shoes for a number of "new" sports - fencing included.

The Nike shoe is named the "Ballestra" and has undergone 18 months of development.

More detailed reviews of the Ballestra are over at our Nike Fencing Shoe lens.