SSF Lightweight Gi review (originally written for
www.CombatBaseNE.co.uk)
So after finally killing off one of my older gis I decided to invest in the new SSF lightweight gi, at $75 it’s one of the cheapest gold weaves on the market, made an even better deal by a free white, blue or purple belt thrown in with the package which you would usually have to drop an extra £10-20 for.
The gi arrived in good time and was just in time for the latest heat wave here in the UK, if there was ever a time to test how light a gi is this was it. The first thing I noticed when I took the top out of its packaging was just how light the gi really is. It’s a gold weave but woven much looser, to use less material and create a lighter gi, it felt lighter than both my Krugans and Koral single weaves.
There are no badges on the top other than two small SSF logos on either sleeve which look very smart, however if you like patches on your gi you’ll have to add them yourself for this one. The sleeves of the top are fairly short and wide (similar to a Judo Gi), this is sometimes a problem when rolling because people are able to control my arms easier and because of the extra material they have to grab onto it can be quite difficult to get an opponent off you.
The other problem with the top is the lapels are very soft (much softer than any other BJJ gi I’ve used) which leaves you more vulnerable to gi chokes when wearing it. Depending on how you train there are two ways of looking at those things, firstly you might hate the idea of giving your training partners any extra advantage over you and prefer to stay away from this gi, or secondly you could look at it as a way of improving your defence during training. That’s not to say when wearing this gi you can expect to be on the loosing end of every roll, just that your partners will have a couple of small advantages they may not have had with some of the other gis out there. On the other hand the gi really is super light while being very strong and I personally have been glad to have it through the hot summer.
The pants again are very plain other than a small SSF logo on one of the legs, they are fairly robust though and are perfectly good pants (pretty much the standard you’d expect with any gi from a good make these days), SSF do sell them separately I believe so if you’re ever in the market for a pair of gi pants these ones should do you fine.
The Gi is pre shrunk twice before it gets to you which I think is very good – I like a gi to stay the same size it was when I bought it rather than buying a larger one with the intention of shrinking it down to my size.
In summery I think this is a fantastic gi for more experienced grapplers who want another gi to train in (especially when it’s hot) and also a great choice for new guys looking to buy their first gi without investing too much. I would not recommend it to anyone wanting something they can wear in competitions, but that’s really not what it was made for anyway.
To see this review with pictures please go to
http://www.combatbasene.co.uk/html/ssf_lw_gi.html
