Company: Panther Productions
Name: Combat Sambo/Volume 8/Street Self-Defense
Tape Cost: listed at $39.95 in catalog
Length of Tape/Time: 60 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: 60
Return Policy: defective merchandise only
Experiences in dealing with this company: very polite and friendly
Instructor: Tony Lopez
Company's Address: Panther Productions, 1010 Calle Negocio, San Clemente, CA. 92673
Company's Phone Number: 800-332-4442
Web Page: Century purchased Panther's entire library http://www.centurymartialarts.com/accessories/media
E-Mail: panther@speed.net


Main Grading Criteria:
1. Production/Tape Quality: 9
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 9
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 9
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 8
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 10
6. Degree to which we'd recommend this product: 10
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff" and repetition): 10
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 10
9. Would I purchase more of this company's or instructor's products: 10
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 10 (at $39.95 it comes to less than $1.00/technique)

Total: Revised to 95%, Good = 3.75 stars. Original score was 98%.


Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners: Excellent
2. Intermediate: Excellent
3. Advanced: Excellent
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: a very minor concern, however some things were mentioned that might've required previous tapes to fully understand.


Written Summary:

If you've been looking for a great tape on self-defense, this one definitely delivers. I saw some great, and incredibly easy to use techniques on this tape, that in 17 years of martial arts, I'd never seen before! And the best part was that the techniques shown don't require years of practice to be effective. This video was truly an eye opener. It was so well done, that by combining several ideas and concepts from it, you could easily come up with more techniques than what the tape showed. SHOWING PEOPLE GOOD TECHNIQUE IS ONE THING, BUT DOING SO IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOU OPEN THEIR EYES TO INFINITE POSSIBILITIES, IS ENTIRELY ANOTHER. This is another reason why I really liked this tape. As you can guess, I just can't say enough good things about this tape. I think a lot of martial arts video companies should check this tape out, and think about using it as a guideline for the way ALL TAPES SHOULD BE DONE.

Let's look at the scoring.

As far as wasted time on the tape, or excessive repetition, in our opinion there wasn't any. Each technique was shown just 1-3 times. Thereby allowing there to be MORE TECHNIQUES SHOWN. So on #7, we gave them a 10.

The playback score was high too, with so many techniques never seen before, and the total number being 60, we gave them a 10 on #8.

Overall the tape was everything they said it was, and then some, so on #5 they get a 10.

And if you think you know self defense, this video might just show you some things you've never seen before. As far as recommending the product, we gave it a 10 on #6.

As far as purchasing more of this company's products, especially Mr. Lopez', where's my credit card? They earned a solid 10 on #9.

So if you've been thinking about purchasing a tape on self defense, this one comes with a pretty high recommendation ! And if you've been thinking of taking advantage of Panther's 5/$100 program, and can't decide on that 5th tape, this would be a great choice!


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