2018 Brian's Optik

[SaveByRichter35]

I like it. 

[DALV1]

@TheGoalNetcurious,what size is the one you are wearing? And were the arms adjustable ?

The compactness looks great,back to mobility over blocking it seems.

[Punisher Goalie]

@TheGoalNet what is the new NHL spec? Shoulder floaters have the be pushed down?

[TheGoalNet]

@DALV1 - Not me. Pick from Behind The Mask 

@Punisher Goalie - more streamlined and smaller gear. 

I tried a non Brian’s NHL Re Spec. The floaters are tiny and he arms are very near net shape 

[TheGoalNet]

Here’s Spark’s new glove. Adding a Primo Outer Roll for more texture in his graphic. I believe this texture trend will continue on if printing continues to gain hype. Texture is a cool aesthetic medium that printing cannot do. 

[Cruskater]

14 hours ago, ULTIMA said:

Even though I'm injured, I'm well enough to have recently gone to try on the Optik line.  Glove felt pretty good although I felt an inconsistency in the feel between different pro gloves on the shelf. Whatever that was about. Not sure how I feel about that dial tightening mechanism on the wrist, I can see that thing malfunctioning and causing an issue. Otherwise I liked it. Blocker's good I suppose, not much to say. Pads were okay, there seems to be a big hype going around about them, they didn't impress me. I didn't think they were bad, just not all they're cracked up to be. They only had the FLY in my size, it was solid like a Premier or Ritual G3. Not a fan of the toe strapping system, I see what they're trying to do there but I didn't like it. Even their sales associate recommended I buy HAL cords and switch them out. And their heel strap I found was about as useful as breasts on a nun.

I'll be getting new gear around April-ish, I was hoping I'd be more excited for that line of gear and to begin designing a custom graphic but I left the store feeling underwhelmed.

@ULTIMA if you are concerned about the smart toes, try a Passau that features a bit of a longer connection to the toe bridge to imitate some slack. I just ordered a set for my SZ 2's while I wait for my custom Optiks 

[ULTIMA]

On 2/4/2018 at 6:50 AM, Punisher Goalie said:

@ULTIMA I certainly won’t try to push Optik on you, but having had a few weeks in my set, just wanted to give you some feedback on the above. 

Glove - it is pretty clear there is a big difference between the “game readiness” of retail gloves vs. custom gloves, with customs arriving super-game ready out of the box. There is even an option to have Brians “extra” break in the glove when ordering custom. Even though my set of a custom SMU (all Bucky) for @TGC-Rance, it wasn’t extra-broken in. I would still say it was on par with some of the most game ready retail gloves, closest in my experience to my Ritual G3 Pro.

BOA - So far, the BOA system on the trapper has been OUTSTANDING. You just take a few seconds when first putting the glove on to dial it all in (get it?) and then leave it. Great for someone like me with smaller hands, the middle BOA section brings your hand down into the break more. They even clearly designed the backhand padding to be really easy to close up with your blocker hand. Now, I can see this wouldn’t be great for someone who doesn’t want to be locked in to the glove all game, but you can always keep the strapping looser (or, heck, its Brians, if you’re going custom just don’t get BOA). In terms of the durability of the system, in my other life I’m a golf nut and I’ve had many pairs of BOA shoes and I have NEVER had any problems whatsoever with the system. I do wonder what if any extended warranty Brian’s will offer if you ever have a problem but I really do think you can trust the BOA, barring some freak accident.

Blocker: I personally like the blocker, but will probably never touch the BOA system. I wear my blocker loose. If I had built a fully-custom set I guess I would have left that off. I did remove the thumb-side “pillow” thing, but haven’t really given the blocker a second thought.

Leg pads: lots of personal preference goes into this, but I’ve been very happy with my specs (33+1.5, FLX with 90 degree toe). This is exactly what I would have ordered custom, so that’s why I decided to go with the set at TGC and get em quick! I have never had the FLY, but I did have a set of SZ3s in the same size with the 90 deg toe and I can definitely tell you the FLX has a significantly different feel. I like to strap somewhat snug below the knee and in the leg channel, go loose/elastic for toe ties and no bootstrap. I’m getting the exact “connected to the leg” feeling I’ve been looking for without sacrifing leg rotation. Also, despite being the FLX, rebounds boom off these pads, IMO on par with 1S. 

Sounds like you had a different experience and everyone is going to have their varying preferences, but just wanted to give you some thoughts to consider. Especially if you’re thinking of a custom set - Brian’s will make you just about anything!

You sound like a salesman haha.

If you found love in that gear then that's good. I'v been guilty (but not self aware) of buying gear on the past based on other people's positive experiences. Guys who wear BStar I find promote that brand more than goalies wearing other brands. You see it on Instagram and other places that are home to Warrior or Bauer or whoever and they decide to chime in on gear unrelated to BStar and use that silly hashtag world dominance or whatever that nonsense is. Personally I hate that. I'v spent way too much money over they years letting other people influence my gear purchasing decisions. I don't wana have to modify gear especially if I don't know what the modifications will feel like until the gear is complete and money is paid. For me, that's a huge gamble. I'm gonna have to go back and play around with it some more and wrestle with the idea in my head. It really comes down to if the Premier 2 "wows" me more than the Optik because those are my choices.

On somewhat of a side note, I never did truly realize how much an impact a sales associate could have on my decision to wana buy/not buy gear. Went to one place in Toronto to try the Optik and even though it was too big, I was really intrigued and it left me wanting to try a size smaller that they didn't have. So I went to another place and the associate's approach was different and when I addressed my concerns, I felt he was fighting me and I ended up wanting to just get the gear off and get out of the store.

[Punisher Goalie]

On 2/5/2018 at 10:16 AM, ULTIMA said:

You sound like a salesman haha.

If you found love in that gear then that's good. I'v been guilty (but not self aware) of buying gear on the past based on other people's positive experiences. Guys who wear BStar I find promote that brand more than goalies wearing other brands. You see it on Instagram and other places that are home to Warrior or Bauer or whoever and they decide to chime in on gear unrelated to BStar and use that silly hashtag world dominance or whatever that nonsense is. Personally I hate that. I'v spent way too much money over they years letting other people influence my gear purchasing decisions. I don't wana have to modify gear especially if I don't know what the modifications will feel like until the gear is complete and money is paid. For me, that's a huge gamble. I'm gonna have to go back and play around with it some more and wrestle with the idea in my head. It really comes down to if the Premier 2 "wows" me more than the Optik because those are my choices.

On somewhat of a side note, I never did truly realize how much an impact a sales associate could have on my decision to wana buy/not buy gear. Went to one place in Toronto to try the Optik and even though it was too big, I was really intrigued and it left me wanting to try a size smaller that they didn't have. So I went to another place and the associate's approach was different and when I addressed my concerns, I felt he was fighting me and I ended up wanting to just get the gear off and get out of the store.

Yeah man, I hear what you're saying. Personally, I try to soak up all the information I can find, but take everything with a grain of salt. Goalie gear is tough because unless you're very lucky, its almost impossible to meaningfully trying out gear in your correct size and specs. 

Re: sales people. Yeah, frankly 99% of the time I'm shopping for gear I instantly realize I know way more about the product than the sales person, just because of all the reading I do online, etc. When you find someone, @TGC-Rance for example, who is super-knowledgeable and willing to discuss your gear purchase, as opposed to push one on you, it makes the experience so much more positive. And as a result, in my case, I'm going to make every future major purchase from them if I can so its just good business.  

[cwarnar]

18 minutes ago, Punisher Goalie said:

Re: sales people. Yeah, frankly 99% of the time I'm shopping for gear I instantly realize I know way more about the product than the sales person, just because of all the reading I do online, etc. When you find someone, @TGC-Rance for example, who is super-knowledgeable and willing to discuss your gear purchase, as opposed to push one on you, it makes the experience some much more positive. And as a result, in my case, I'm going to make every future major purchase from them if I can so its just good business.  

I'm in the exact same boat... guys like @TGC-Rance and @GoalieTimmy33 are some of the best in the business.  Their knowledge is vast and they absolutely refuse to push anything on you.

[raucebyalien]

On 1/31/2018 at 4:49 PM, Punisher Goalie said:

Thanks! Here’s the photo:

Good news is that if you have the Smart Toes (or ProLaces) it’s a cheap experiment!

Gave this a try on sunday and it worked pretty well! Oddly enough, I'd given thought to doing something like this with bungee cord in September when i went back to the Brians smart toe from my homemade HAL-esque setup. (ultimately I ended up just attaching the smart toe to the bridge a bit looser with the original cord)

Had less issues than normal with the pads snapping back, which I think is because the extra slack makes the pad feel looser overall so there's less resistance on rotation. Although, the downside is that I could feel the pads 'drag' a bit underfoot as boot slack lets them slide down your foot, so I'll more than likely halve the slack next time out to get a happy medium.

[Punisher Goalie]

On 2/6/2018 at 8:48 PM, raucebyalien said:

Gave this a try on sunday and it worked pretty well! Oddly enough, I'd given thought to doing something like this with bungee cord in September when i went back to the Brians smart toe from my homemade HAL-esque setup. (ultimately I ended up just attaching the smart toe to the bridge a bit looser with the original cord)

Had less issues than normal with the pads snapping back, which I think is because the extra slack makes the pad feel looser overall so there's less resistance on rotation. Although, the downside is that I could feel the pads 'drag' a bit underfoot as boot slack lets them slide down your foot, so I'll more than likely halve the slack next time out to get a happy medium.

Awesome! Looking forward to hearing how it goes once you experiment with a bit less slack. I just switched from VH holders to Vertexx cowling, so I'm about 1/2" lower to the ice - I'll probably take out two knots too. 

[TheGoalNet]

Here’s another look at knee rolls on Optik

[TheGoalNet]

[coopaloop1234]

@TheGoalNet So are you hooped for the provided neck protection if you remove the additional belly padding then? 

[TheGoalNet]

5 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@TheGoalNet So are you hooped for the provided neck protection if you remove the additional belly padding then? 

Would you remove that?

It’s a brilliant design. Your sweat will be soaked into that smaller price and not the main belly pad. This ensure maximum life of the stomach foams 

[coopaloop1234]

11 minutes ago, TheGoalNet said:

Would you remove that?

It’s a brilliant design. Your sweat will be soaked into that smaller price and not the main belly pad. This ensure maximum life of the stomach foams 

Of course I wouldn't. I like the idea of it. I'm just being nit picky.

Looks like a solid unit, I'd consider it as an upgrade once I see it in person. I know it's been steamlined a bit, but Brian's C/A's have always been too bulky for my liking.

It may be another case of me being super interested in the Optik line, then losing interest once I get my hands on it. I see the appeal of their gear, and they make some excellent stuff, it's just not for me in most cases.

[TheGoalNet]

@coopaloop1234 that’s why I switched from Brian’s to Vaughn. The protection is second to none, but they are bulky. Based on the photo of the guy from BTM hockey, it shouldn’t be too bad 

[coopaloop1234]

4 minutes ago, TheGoalNet said:

@coopaloop1234 that’s why I switched from Brian’s to Vaughn. The protection is second to none, but they are bulky. Based on the photo of the guy from BTM hockey, it shouldn’t be too bad 

For sure, it looks a lot smaller, which is a good thing. When is this expected to hit shelves?

[Whitbyguy35]

Just picked up my brians optik full set, will post pics when im home.  

[Whitbyguy35]

Well they look amazing 

[TheGoalNet]

Holy wild! 

[gsmith0062]

Looking for some opinions before i order my set. Which would you go with for the stock graphics? And what would you think of the Demkos, if the main part of the lightning graphic were black weave, and shadows were orange weave? (all versions are matte black base, with weave accents)

[coopaloop1234]

 @gsmith0062 I think that would be one sick looking set.

[Punisher Goalie]

@gsmith0062 Of the customizer choices, I’d vote for either the all-blackout or the top right (suggest filling in the black “vents” so they are solid orange block areas, just my personal preference). 

I’m not sure I understand what your mod of the Demkos would look like, have you mocked it up?

[coopaloop1234]

13 minutes ago, Punisher Goalie said:

I’m not sure I understand what your mod of the Demkos would look like, have you mocked it up?

Change the outer lightning bolts that are black black weave (for texture) and the green to orange weave.

So just change green to orange for easy visual purposes.