I have spent a fair amount of time looking around and finding no comments or reviews at all on any of the Get Dressed For Battle products that I am actually interested in. I do not have a lot of money, so this brand of armor is really all that is within my affordable range. I suppose my question is: Is the armor they sell "breastplate, cuirass, shoulders, greaves, point tied arms, chain maile, etc" functional enough to be 1: worth it's price (more, or less) 2: withstand hard contact fighting, and 3: Go together well enough to make a basic protective very low level suit of armor?
I'm sorry if this question bores or upsets you, I have very little knowledge on the topic I am asking about (which is why i'm asking)

I too was wondering the same of their loose flat ring maille and solid washers.

I have a few items from GDFB. I put in a lot of research before getting each piece, as a lot of GDFB's stuff is hit or miss...

I have handled a lot of their pieces, as several friends had purchased their stuff. I'll start with what I myself own, then describe my first impressions with the others that I've handled ;)

HELMS: Note not a lot of their helms have very good shaping to them, they are VERY off from the originals. Most I've found that look ok as far as shape goes is the sallet, All of their open faced helms, like the kettle helms, Spangenhelms, etc are ok ;) The liners arn't still great with a lot of these, but they are wearable out of the box. Depends if you want to really use these for reenactment or just for wearing them for show, but I'll mention what I have seen when handling these :)

I have this version of the Sallet Helm and I absolutely love it! It's got great lines and its not too far off from looking like the original :) My only complaint is the liner that was included. It was a thin leather suspension, but it didn't take me very long to create my own. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB27...let+Helmet

I would advise NOT getting the "jawbone" version, as the metal on the ocularia isn't pushed forward like the one I mentioned above...and the space for the ocularia is WAY too wide in my opinion for it to be safe. I have several friends In Europe that have had their eyes nearly poked out because of it. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB04...sor+Helmet

This one too is not that great. The bevor plate doesn't articulate and there isn't enough room to completely cover you're mouth :/ Also it's the same style as the "Jawbone" for the helm btw. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB04...+%26+Bevor

The bellow face sallet isn't bad for what it is. My only complaint is the bit with the floating liner, but also that the visor isn't fully shaped to fit with the helm. Not bad if you are good with a hammer. Should be an easy fix :) Overall not bad. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB03...ace+Sallet

I must mention the shape of bascinets I have listed are VERY off from the originals. Just know that with a majority of these pieces don't have very good lines as the originals, but you get what you pay for!

Avoid this helm completely. The eye slits are narrow, which is good, but since the slits arn't brought "forward" you have nothing to catch any potential threats, ie, swords, lances, etc. Also VERY poor fit, unless you have you're eyes at the top of where you're forehead starts, chances are you won't be able to see out of it very well out of the box. I know of a few people that have modified theirs, but since they removed the liner to allow their head to fit, they have NO room for any sort of padding...which of course makes it VERY uncomfortable and sucks when getting hit. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB14...ced+Helmet

Some of the same issues with this bascinet helm that I mentioned with the above one. This one isn't AS bad, but still not great. If you are going to get this one be sure to get the largest one they have, cuz they have hardly ANY room for a liner. Absolutely none. The ocularia is curved rather then straight forward, so it can be a bit difficult with you're peripheral vision. Also for some reason that added a pin to lock the visor to the helm, but it doesn't have a spring on it, so there is no real way to lift it up while wearing it. Complete fail on their design! We had to take the pins off from the visor in order for it to lift. Again, you can create you're own, but it'll be a bit of a project. We just ended up cutting it off... http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB04...net+Helmet

The Klappvisier isn't great, but not bad if you can tweak it. It has a poor poor hinge and becomes loose very easily. You'd be better off making a new hinge from scratch of buying one. I have seen several people try to fix this by adding a strap to the bottom of the visor, which does help, but I can't document them ever doing that. Also again, make sure you get the larger one, cuz there isn't a lot of room for a liner ;) http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB04...net+Helmet


This bascinet doesn't have a lot of space towards the bottom to full enclose to protect the bottom of the throat. We've tried adding a liner and aventail to it, but there was still space for something to slip in...http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB2971&name=Great+Fighting+Bascinet

The T Face Barbute helm isn't bad. The shaping is off, as the tail needs to come down lower and flair out, but you can't beat it for the price ;) http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB03...ute+Helmet

The Maximillian Helm is ok...but this helm is an armet style and needs to be shaped correctly to have not move around, but again, you get what you pay for. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB13...llian+Helm

Body armor----

The European Breastplate isn't bad for the price. There are several flat spots on the upper portion, but if are good with a hammer it shouldn't pose any problems. Overall not a bad buy :) http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...reastplate

Their mail armor isn't bad for the price. The problem with it though is that they are "tube" shaped, which the human body isn't :P Ideally you should pay someone to tailor it for you. It's drop a lot of the weight from digging on you're shoulders and you'll be able to move more freely ;) AVOID THE BUTTED MAIL. It'll fall apart on you! It's not that much more expensive to get rivited, so I would suggest that.

Leg armor----

Churburg Upper Legs .These are ok, the lames don't have the best articulation with them though. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...Upper+Legs

Milanese Upper Legs. I have a pair of these and they rock! They fitted me very well, but the only complaint I have with them is that the side articulated plates jab into you're leg when sitting down. I modified mine so they didn't do that, but I thought they were a great buy! Recommend them for sure :) http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...Upper+Legs

The Milanese Greaves are ok for what they are. With greaves, they are best when they are made to fit you (like all armor) but especially greaves. You can make a strap to go around you're calf to prevent it from "drooping" down, but there not bad for $120 for the pair, seeing how most custom greaves will run you $400-$900 for each one made by an armourer ;) http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...se+Greaves

Their Sabatons are TERRIBLE. Avoid them all together! https://www.google.com/search?q=GDFB+sabaton&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=oNinUYObHOOGyQHA6YDoBA&biw=1920&bih=888&sei=otinUd-aIMqT0QG6loFI#facrc=_&imgrc=BaP8OnePWBLXBM%3A%3BVqp3gLZIDpmY-M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F83.223.104.6%252F~ravencre%252Fimages%252FSabaton%2525203.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F83.223.104.6%252F~ravencre%252Fproduct_info.php%253Fproducts_id%253D671%3B602%3B601

Arms and hand armor--

The Churburg Gauntlets are BAAAAD....real bad. Avoid them if you can...I know of several people that have tried to tweak them and couldn't! The gloves were terrible, the finger plates not made very well, stitching was bad, etc. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...+Gauntlets

The Churburg Arms were "meh" the couters (elbows) were pretty wide, which don't allow for the best fit. http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB00...rburg+Arms


Hope this helps!!
-Reece

Thanks so much for the information, it's seemingly impossible to find any good customer reviews anywhere else!

I would advise avoiding the helms like the plaque. Two members of our group bought different style and they were awful One was so bad there was no fixing it and he ending up tossing it in the back of his shed to be forgotten. The other one looked like it could be hammered and fixed but as soon as the piece was heated and whacked the weld shattered (and the weld was also right in the middle of the face plate, not strong at all).

I've purchased only one of their products a few years ago and I'm still satisfied with it. I actively fight rattan combat in my (heavily modified) GDFB bascinet with houndskull visor. You can find it on page 1 of the "Show us your helms" thread.

You have to like tinkering with things to get a GDFB helm ready for anything but the bookcase. In my case I had to reshape the face opening, modify the visor, make new hinge pins, rip out the liner and insert a custom hand-made one, add an aventail, add more breaths and add a little bling among other things.

That being said, I still like it and I feel safe fighting in it. You just have to be a little handy and not be afraid to tear it down a bit.

I checked out what you did with your helmet, I was impressed! Thank you both for helping me out :)

Pretty much what Scott, Reece and Michael say. GDFB seem to mass produce and have a wide range of quality within individual lines. i have seen some ok items, but some really bad ones and with postage costs you don't want to have to keep sending stuff back. Hate to use the phrase (especially coming just after Harry's post about SoM) but you get what you pay for and most of GDFB's stuff is pretty cheap.

But as Reece points out, they do the occasional item that's ok. In fact one of their flat topped crusade helmets pretty well saved my life when i took a tumble off a horse filming a tv thing. The crappy leather liner and strap went but it may well have been its energy absorption as it tore away from the rivets that means I'm still walking and talking. Thing weighs a ton though...

They all weight a ton :p I've had great success with this sallet helm http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB27...let+Helmet

It does feel heavy, but once I tweaked the liner with it, the weight didn't feel as bad, since all the weight was now evenly distributed around my head, rather then my forehead :eek:

What I liked most about this helm was that the eye slits were brought forward, which was accurate AND most importantly saved my eyes from getting struck with a spear during one of my demos!

Sean Flynt has done some modifications to his sallet helm. If I recall its still on sale for a very good price ;) He re did the liner completely and made it historically accurate, ground down the visor to 16guage and made the visor pin. Lots of work went into it and it looks like something a master armourer would have done :)

So with some love you can make this helmet look great!

-Reece

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