Maltese in glove palm?

[sescaro]

Looking to beef up protection in a Vaughn VE8 Pro (their senior level) glove.  A few too many stingers when i get hit in the fingers....

Anyway, the company that is going to do the beef-up offers low density foam or Maltese gel foam.  I’ve seen plenty about the material being used in masks and neck guards, but not so much about it in the palm of a glove.  Anyone have any thoughts or experience with it there?

[dualshowman]

I had a Charlotte Checkers pro-return, intermediate-sized 7700 (V1 w/5500 cuff and I can't remember who's glove it was originally) that had thicker finger tip plastic and a slice of neon green gel foam in the finger area. It did the job. I can't say that it is any better than typical, non-gel foam used to beef-up a palm. For a slightly peripheral perspective: I've had a number of pro-return Vaughn gloves, and not a single one of them offered the level of protection that an off-the-shelf Brian's glove has had.

[TheGoalNet]

Vaughn actually tested Maltese. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but it’s probably been long enough that we could share that nugget... 

[dualshowman]

10 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Vaughn actually tested Maltese. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but it’s probably been long enough that we could share that nugget... 

I can tell you from experience that the thin piece of gel foam in that glove I mentioned tore much easier than any other foam of the same thickness used in the same position. Now, I know that there have been multiple revisions of Maltese, but perhaps the earliest stuff was not mechanically up to par.

Not casting aspersions, just voicing an observation. 

[Big2]

I believe Passau offered this option - if im not mistaken my son had a glove with this padding and he never complained about stingers.

[coopaloop1234]

11 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Vaughn actually tested Maltese. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but it’s probably been long enough that we could share that nugget... 

Possibly due to supply issues? 

[jfu91]

Back when I used a reebok 18k catch glove, I took apart the glove and laced in maltese gel for the fingers, break, and thumb in 3 separate sections. It made the glove a bit harder to close but massively improved the protection. If you don't have strength issues to close the glove, and you get a lot of stingers, consider getting it added.

[sescaro]

Thanks so much for the input everyone!  I am a little concerned about my ability to close the glove as the pics the shop show the Maltese is pretty significant from a thickness standpoint (and my hands are not the biggest or strongest around).  I think I may go with the low density foam option, I don’t face a ton of shooters who can regularly rip it.  The really good shooters usually blow it by me, anyways!

[Chenner29]

16 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Vaughn actually tested Maltese. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but it’s probably been long enough that we could share that nugget... 

4 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Possibly due to supply issues? 

Phil never told me gel was tested with Vaughn.  He did say that Mike wanted to license his composite sticks for $5 per unit sold.

[TheGoalNet]

On 4/2/2020 at 2:29 PM, Chenner29 said:

Phil never told me gel was tested with Vaughn. 

This was somewhere near the end. I know of a now EU pro that had it his glove.