I recently had the opportunity to try out these new reeds, and decided I should devote a page to them. I used cane reeds through school and into my adult life until recently when I tried Legere reeds. I found them to be quite good, and really liked not having to worry about the effects of weather on my reeds. Once outdoor concert season was over, I went back to cane reeds.
Until, that is, I read about Forestonereeds on the Clarinet Bboard. I contacted Forestone and purchased 7 reeds of sizes roughly comparable to my Vandoren Rue Lepic 4's. I selected 2-4's, 3-4.5's, and 2-5's.
A word about the reed sizes - Forestone size categories run 1 to 1.5 sizes up from Vandorens: a Forestone size 4 is equal to a Vandoren 2.5 or 3, and the Forestone 5 equals a Vandoren 3.5 or 4.
I found the 4's and 4.5's way too soft and gave them to students and colleagues. I liked the 5's however, and they are getting better over time.
Early on in my testing, I struggled with the reed tip's flexibility which I felt made my higher range sound a bit thin and shrill. Moving the reed up and using more air support with a relaxed embouchure (as opposed to "pinching") has helped.
I like its consistency in any environment, and also like the sound better than Legere. I used Forestones exclusively all summer during outdoor concert season. I still hesitate to abandon cane reeds altogether, and feel a GOOD cane reed on a good day can probably beat it out tone quality wise.
The final word - I'll continue to use both the Forestones and traditional cane reeds during practice and indoor situations, but for outdoors or pit orchestra settings Forestone reeds can't be beat. I'll be purchasing more.
Speaking of purchasing - I heard Amazon is offering Forestone reeds for only $15.95 each, which is considerably better than their list price of $21.95. Go to the Amazonweb site, search for 'Forestone reeds', add the ones you want to your shopping cart, and use deal code: NEWERAFS at checkout. I have no idea how long this deal is on, but as of today's date it worked.