https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAhdnCN68Ms
I had seen this on Blitz's web page a few years ago. It cost about £200 then and I wondered about this for months. I thought mmm ... that is cheap but what is it like?
Then on ebay I saw it and bid for it not expecting to win it. I knew it costs £300+ these days and I got a very good price for it. (In fact the seller said people contacted him after the bid, offering him more money that me! Pah - I thought martial artists had honour and ethics ..... The seller definitely had ethics and honour and I picked it up from his house).
When I first touched the dummy, at first my heart sank. I half hoped the body was solid, even though I could see that the base was water filled. Nope. It felt like a water-butt you get in the garden. It is hollow. Next I was thinking can this thing take hits ? I drove home and then next day assembled it.
I played with it 'empty' and had a reflection on it and how it differs from my Immortal Dummy. Mmm. This is this. It is different. I could tell it can be used differently as you can walk all around it easily, and it has the very novel 2 sided porcupine arms, which give it extra options.
One move I did was to spin the arm, as if clearing it to my hip. This allowed me to spin the whole dummy, which was interesting. You could not do that on the Immortal Dummy really, as that is 85 KG net (13 stone) . This is like 2 stone net. I added some water to the base and tried it ... then added some more. It now weighs about 6 stone. This trades off weight to give some stability and mobility. If I wanted it to be maximum weight it would be around 72 KG or 12 stone. I wont do that, as I want a different feel from the other dummy.
These pictures show you some set up and use options:
The third picture shows how the leg can stabilise the dummy if pushed a certain way, which is good. That means you can do some moves along that angle without fear of it falling once it topples.
The dummy is hollow and sounds like a plastic drum when you hit it on the body. I do not see you getting recoil issues into your wrist however. The Immortal Dummy is solid and you know about it if you elbow that. Here if you elbow this dummy with long sleeves on you can take it, and with the weighting I have the dummy will accommodate the force. Good - as I gave it a lateral kick on the leg and that was quite hard, and the dummy moved. (Phew - I was not thinking. If that had a full water base then a lateral kick would not be a good idea, possibly, but I think it would 'fold' a bit vs a direct crack. It could crack if you continually kicked that leg as hard as you can for ages and the plastic aged).
Conclusion after a few weeks use.
Yes I am glad I got this. The more I use it I can see its possibilities. The 2 sided idea is good, and gives you options that other dummies won't. I would not pay £300 for this. Maybe £200 I would pay. If you have paid £300+ for this, then providing you use it continually for 6 years, say two times a week for about 6 years then you will get your money back. (That is how I priced out the cost of my Immortal Dummy and I have got value out of it).
I managed to email the Taiwanese manufacturer and ask them if the plastic has been treated for Ultra Violet light and they said yes, it will withstand 5+ years outdoors. (This uses HDPE plastic - google it). I still put a cover on it - a long garden / rubble sack but I may not bother. I have this at the back of the garden. I could hang washing on it even!
The arms screw in. They are not really designed to be pulled to give that 'clack' sound. Same with the arms sat in the dummy. There is no 'gap' there so when you give it some fa ging energy you wont get that clack, if you want that sound. You maybe able to unscrew the arms a bit to get a gap but I think eventually the caps will fly off if not secured. You could try adding in your own arms but that would be involved as the gap is narrow for the arms like a broom-handle pole.
Conclusion II All Dummies are expensive. They become value for money if you use them. This one is worth having but has unique properties due to its hollow design. You could put pads on this and punch it very hard I think. You could have gloves on and give reasonably weighted strikes to the body. The arms will take hits and the legs seem to allow a sliding-off feeling to dissipate forces.
Conclusion III: if you want to learn forms on this, then it needs to be made as stable as possible. That means full water in the base. If that still is not good enough then put sand in rather that has more density. Or put sandbags on top of the base.
When the dummy moves however, I like the idea of chasing it, so this is not an issue for me.
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