Multiple Tokon Gi review

[qbushido]

Let me start by saying two things.

1. I am in no way, shape or form employed by Tokon or by Kamikaze USA.

2. I am writing this because I used this site to try and find info on Gis before I bought the ones I did.

With that said, I wanted to post a quick write up on the 3 Tokon Gis that I have purchased from kamikazeusa.com over the past 5 months.

Ranked in order of awesomeness.

1. Sovereign - it kind of burns to write this as I really wanted to dislike this gi due to its price. I bought it with the full expcetation of trying it on and sending it back. I was pleasantly surprised. first of all I was able to order in a half size which is great for me as I always have a hard time fitting into a 7 and a 6 aint working. The uniform feels like what I would call Middle Weight + but once you have it on feels lighter though has a good quality snap to it and looks so good that I got a random compliment from one of my instructors. Drawstring pants, serious stiching on the jacket. it became my favorite gi of all time in about 3 wearings.

2. Europa- great heavyweight Gi, not much more I can say. great, not good. drawstring pants and the type of heavy stiching you would expect from a uniform of this weight. it looks very formal and has held up well to standard training as well as rolling/falling.

3. Dynamic- very good lightweight Gi, its what I wear when we will be sparring, the best way I can describe it is to say its closer to a high quality taekwondo uniform in weight and construction. As someone who trained and competed in olympic style taekwondo for many years please understand thats a compliment. The better TKD doboks felt like you were wearing nothing and all and dried in a heartbeat.

thats all folks, feel free to reply to me directly or post if you have any questions.

[JohnASE]

Thanks for the great review! Nice detail and consistent with what I've heard.

I'm not that familiar with the Sovereign. I should be, since we distribute Tokon gis, but we don't stock that one. Maybe I should give it a closer look.

You didn't mention that the Europa is also available in half sizes. Dynamic is full sizes only.

Just curious, did you find the fit of the Europa to be similar to the fit of the Sovereign and did you get size 6.5 in both? As a sparring gi, I assume the Dynamic would fit more loosely. Did you go with a size 6 or 7, and how did it fit? Did you alter (hem) any of the gis? Finally, please don't take offense and feel free to ignore this, but what is your height and weight?

Thanks again!

[qbushido]

Id give the soverign a look, im really happy with it, great balance of midweight and heavy and dries fast took. The fits on the two was similar but hard to make apples to apples as one is a 6.5 and one is a 7. I went with a 7 on the dynamic, it fits well, pants are better that most size 7 and are a elastic waist which I prefer.

Im 6'3 and 275lbs.

[JohnASE]

Thanks!

[senseikellam]

I have a Sovereign and it is very nice. Great for the warm Alabama climate. The only thing I don't like is that the pants do tend to shrink a little more than I care for during the first few washes. Still a great gi. I have sold many of them in the past and will continue to offer it in my store, but, it is not my favorite.

With that said, my favorite gi is the Meijin TROPICAL. It is about the same weight as the Sovereign, fits better, comes in half sizes and can even be purchased in split sizes if needed, offers free embroidery and is much, much, less expensive. Sizes 3-7 (which most of us on the forum probably are in this range cost just $69.00.) Just in case you are wondering, I am not affiliated with the folks that make Meijin in any way other than a fan of their products. I just really LOVE everything the company offers.

Check it out at:

http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Products/Pages/Meijin_tropical.htm