Company: Panther Productions
Name: Combat Sambo/Volume 7/Street Self-Defense
Tape Cost: listed at $39.95 in catalog
Length of Tape/Time: 48 minutes
Number
of Moves/Techniques: 20 listed (counting all components of each, you could say 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
Primary 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:
9
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 9
6. Degree to which we'd recommend this
product: 9
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number, the less "fluff"
and repetition): 9
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 9
9.
Would I purchase more of this company's or instructor's products: 9
10. Overall
grade based on cost vs. value: 9
Total: 90% (Fair = 2.5 stars)
Editors
note: This tape almost made the GOOD scale. It however lacked a little in it's production
and instruction, to help make the techniques more understandable. Therefore it might
be somewhat difficult to duplicate/repeat accurately, the techniques shown.
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners:
Excellent
2. Intermediate: Excellent
3. Advanced: Excellent
4. Time to
benefit: probably a month or two, some techniques seemed to require more practice
and coordination than Volume 8 did.
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand
this one: more of a concern than the previous tape, some things were mentioned that
might've required previous tapes to fully understand.
Written Summary:
This tape was really
good, and showed some great techniques, but in our opinion, wasn't as close too PERFECTION
as Mr. Lopez' previous tape, Street Self Defense Volume 8.
Here's what we
saw. First, this tape had a lot more excessive repetition. Some techniques were shown
4-6 times or more.
There's one thing I just don't understand. Don't most
of the companies that produce these tapes know we all have rewind buttons? Why have
excessive repetition eat up valuable tape space? I think that we'd all rather see
more techniques instead. And if you are going to show a lot of repetition, at least
do it from different angles.
Also this tape seemed a little more difficult
to understand. Some techniques required a wrestling dummy for safety, which I don't
understand why it wasn't made available for the production of this tape.
And
some techniques were a little difficult to understand due to the fact that you couldn't
see them fully performed. Doing so on a human would cause severe injury. Therefore
it scored a litttle lower on the comprehension scale.
Also the "time
to benefit" seemed to be much longer than the previous tape. Although this isn't
really a main grading criteria, it should be pointed out. It appeared that some of
the techniques shown on this tape would require quite a bit more practice, in order
to acquire the necessary coordination to make the techniques effective.
Don't
get me wrong, this tape was good, and had good techniques. However it wasn't as close
to PERFECTION as Mr. Lopez' previous tape. If you're looking to build a collection
of good self defense tapes, it might be a good addition.
