Vaughn V9 Custom Option Questions

[Rfmusso]

Hi All,

I ordered my first set of custom pads recently and have had plenty of time to debate the selections I've made. I had questions for the group on what to expect for two parts of the leg pads. Wore Vaughn V3s before taking a long layoff, now in Warrior GTs and I am in not in love with how they feel on my legs so moving back to Vaughn.

The first is about boot stiffness - I went with a stiff boot (stock top). My main thought in getting the stiff boot was that the stiff core would help push rebounds out further if I get hit below the knee. Is this realistic or am I just adding weight with no appreciable benefit? I play a very reactive/hybrid style so I'm wondering how else the stiffer boot could affect me.

The second, and less consequential, is the toe ties. I went with the stock bungee toe straps but the feedback on goaliemonkey and puregoalie isn't great. does anyone have any feedback on these?

Thanks in advance!

[Chenner29]

21 minutes ago, Rfmusso said:

Hi All,

I ordered my first set of custom pads recently and have had plenty of time to debate the selections I've made. I had questions for the group on what to expect for two parts of the leg pads. Wore Vaughn V3s before taking a long layoff, now in Warrior GTs and I am in not in love with how they feel on my legs so moving back to Vaughn.

The first is about boot stiffness - I went with a stiff boot (stock top). My main thought in getting the stiff boot was that the stiff core would help push rebounds out further if I get hit below the knee. Is this realistic or am I just adding weight with no appreciable benefit? I play a very reactive/hybrid style so I'm wondering how else the stiffer boot could affect me.

The second, and less consequential, is the toe ties. I went with the stock bungee toe straps but the feedback on goaliemonkey and puregoalie isn't great. does anyone have any feedback on these?

Thanks in advance!

What is your goal here, is it to recreate a V3 feel or to get a hot rebound pad?  You can't have both. 

I believe @seagoal, @XCVII and @AdamL have all ordered Vaughn within the last year or so and can provide more insight on the Vaughn options

To achieve hot rebounds, you can spec either stiff core or a firm face (not sure if Vaughn offers the latter) - but note that either option will take away from that mushy V3 feel that you are used to.  You can get some of that feel back by speccing for a soft boot

[seagoal]

3 hours ago, Rfmusso said:

Hi All,

I ordered my first set of custom pads recently and have had plenty of time to debate the selections I've made. I had questions for the group on what to expect for two parts of the leg pads. Wore Vaughn V3s before taking a long layoff, now in Warrior GTs and I am in not in love with how they feel on my legs so moving back to Vaughn.

The first is about boot stiffness - I went with a stiff boot (stock top). My main thought in getting the stiff boot was that the stiff core would help push rebounds out further if I get hit below the knee. Is this realistic or am I just adding weight with no appreciable benefit? I play a very reactive/hybrid style so I'm wondering how else the stiffer boot could affect me.

The second, and less consequential, is the toe ties. I went with the stock bungee toe straps but the feedback on goaliemonkey and puregoalie isn't great. does anyone have any feedback on these?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the shout @Chenner29

@Rfmusso I am a lifelong Vaughn user and indeed I ordered my custom V9 set about 10 months ago.  I can help you out a bit here.

For sure, there is nothing similar about V9 with V3.  There are many generations of change, very dramatic changes, between those two pads and they are going to look and feel and play very, very different.  Even if you had a V9 built soft all around, it's still going to be substantially stiffer and firmer and more rigid than a V3.  Just saying this to prepare you for the odd feeling you get when you wear them for the first few times.  I went from a VE8 to V9 and even that one generation jump was significantly different.  I did order my V9 Extra Stiff in the thigh so that is one reason for this in my case.  My VE8 pads were quite squishy ( I have an entire thread on here about that transition). 

I can't say much about the boot stiffness.  Honestly, boot stiffness is something that sorta goes over my head and it's not something I personally can relate to anything in terms of feel or play. I ordered my V9 pads with the stock boot and I've only ever had stock settings for all my pads in the boot.  For me, I am used to Vaughn so I am used to a softer boot.  It's just what I know and feel comfortable in and I have yet to hear or see anything to convince me to change ( and I spend a LOT of time on this site, to be fair. There is a lot of peer pressure around here, haha). 

The reviews you read are accurate: the stock bungee toe ties on Vaughn pads is terrible.  The housing is weird and incompatible with any other choices, the bungee itself is loose and not very responsive, and the plastic clips they come with are terrible.  If you for sure you want a bungee toe tie, I would personally recommend you call Vaughn and talk the custom rep there and have your order changed so that you get a traditional toe bar with a skate lace on the toe of your pads so that when you get them you can upgrade to a higher quality toe tie.  The most popular ones on this site are Pro Laces and specifically the TGN spec armor ones.  These can be attached to a traditional toe bar very easily and they work great. I had this set up on both my VE8 and V9 pads and I have been quite pleased.  Side note: a good friend of mine that I play hockey with recently received his custom V9 pads with the stock bungee toe tie and he was not happy with them, so I ordered him a traditional toe bar from Pure Goalie and a set of Pro Laces.  He has been quite happy with the upgrade. 

Edited March 4, 2022 by seagoal

[AdamL]

Thanks @Chenner29 for the shoutout.  

With regard to hotter rebounds, @thebigm made a thread quite awhile ago about his custom order VE8 set.  In that thread he mentioned he had the pad layered like the SLR pads with the carbon on the face of the pad rather than presumably behind a layer of foam.  I don't know the specifics of what that involves or if Vaughn still does the SLR3 that way, but I asked for that option, and let's just say the rebounds are still meh.  If you're after really hot rebounds, just ignore the Velocity line. 

If I was trying to replicate a V3 pad, I would FOR SURE spec the soft scoop/boot.  I went with the stiff thigh rise and stock boot, and the boot isn't anywhere near as soft as what was used for the VE8s.  If you look at photos of the VE8 in use, the boot looks like it might as well be off of a V3 pad they way it bends over the skate when it's loaded up.  The stock boot on the V9 is nowhere near that soft, or as soft as something like the EF4.  It doesn't twist really at all, but vertically it does have some compliance.  If I was ordering these over again I would have gone with the soft boot and asked to see if they could do a flatter boot channel.  

This dude's V9 set is probably as close as you could get to the feel and playability of a V3.

 

[seagoal]

nice post @AdamL and good call linking that video.  Definitely some squishy pads there.  I like that guy's content.

@Rfmusso here's my thread about my experience moving from VE8 to V9 and it has a lot of comparative pics for you to see some differences between a soft and stiff pad, both being Vaughn .

 

[Rfmusso]

Thanks all for taking the time to respond!

@Chenner29 I last wore the V3s regularly in the early 2010s after a 8 year gap of playing I switched to the GTs pretty soon after I started playing again in 2019 so they are just the last set that I remember fitting well but I don't remember . In the GTs, I felt like I was swimming in the leg channel and never felt fully comfortable in them.

The feel and connection is what I want most with the pads and that is what I got with the V9s. My goal of hot rebounds was nothing more than trying to buy myself some time to reset for a second (and third) shot when the puck doesn't get cleared out after the first shot.

@AdamL and @seagoal I actually read both of your threads and watched Louis' video while doing my research so thank you both for the super helpful threads. I'm definitely going to switch to the tie-on toe bar. I'm currently using Halo Hockey toe ties and have used Kenesky before. I've also heard great things about the Pro Laces so I'll have to check those out.

I pulled this graphic off of GoaliesPlus.com. Most of my leg pad saves are in the area i circled in blue so I figured adding stiffness there would help me with rebounds. Is the boot stiffness all the section circled in blue or is it just the part I circled in red?  If it is just the part in red then I think I will definitely go back to the stock stiffness.

[Chenner29]

54 minutes ago, Rfmusso said:

I pulled this graphic off of GoaliesPlus.com. Most of my leg pad saves are in the area i circled in blue so I figured adding stiffness there would help me with rebounds. Is the boot stiffness all the section circled in blue or is it just the part I circled in red?  If it is just the part in red then I think I will definitely go back to the stock stiffness.

Neither, unless Vaughn is confusing their terminology. 

There are 3-4 zones on the face of a goal pad

Thigh rise - knee rolls - shin - boot

"Boot stiffness" typically refers to the flexibility at the break point between shin and boot

If you're looking for hot rebounds, talk to your retailer so they can notate it on your order

[AdamL]

11 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Neither, unless Vaughn is confusing their terminology. 

There are 3-4 zones on the face of a goal pad

Thigh rise - knee rolls - shin - boot

"Boot stiffness" typically refers to the flexibility at the break point between shin and boot

If you're looking for hot rebounds, talk to your retailer so they can notate it on your order

What he said.  Boot stiffness has nothing to do with what's on the face of the pad, it relates to the core.  That graphic as I see it indicates there is material through the scoop without a break in it, making it stiffer.  

Just my personal opinion, but I don't know why anyone would ever want a stiff boot.  We all have ankles that bend, and if we want to be able to get into dorsiflexion, the boot of the pad needs to flex with us.  The exception to that I suppose is if you wear the pad really loose.  Then, when you flex at the ankle, the pad simply comes up your leg, out away from it, or some combination of those two.  But there's a reason even the "butterfly" style pads these days are offering a soft boot option.  

Thigh rise is the opposite, I don't see much benefit from a soft thigh rise.  We don't have joints above our knees, why do our pads need to flex there?  If you need a shorter thigh rise because you feel less mobile with a taller one I totally get that.  I'm feeling that way with my V9s at times, especially trying to get behind the net to play the puck.  But I also very much appreciate the additional coverage over my old pads.  To close my 5 hole in the butterfly with my last pads I had to keep my knees closer together, which also limited how much I could internally rotate at the hips, and narrowed my butterfly even further.  With the taller, pretty stiff thigh rise on my personal V9s, I can land with my knees wider apart and still close the five hole, creating more space in my hips and allowing me to flare my feet out wider.  I haven't measured but it might be 6" wider as a result.  

____________

Side note - does anyone know what the "webbing" option would be under the shin strap options in the customizer?  Is that something similar to what Lefevre uses as the outer strap on their gear?  I don't like the feeling of having elastic as the last thing keeping the pad secured to my leg and would prefer something without any give.  That strap is also easy to change out.  I should probably just give Vaughn a call. 

https://vaughnhockey.com/customizer/?modelId=vpg-v9-pro-carbon

Nylon outer strap on the 12.2:

[ilyazhito]

So V9 is Vaughn's hybrid/soft pad, and OP wants to customize it to play more like a butterfly pad? That's an interesting idea, and hopefully he can make it work. 

[Puckstopper]

No reason it can't be done.    If CCM can do it with the EF5 you'd think Vaughn could blend the best of both worlds. 

[AdamL]

5 minutes ago, Puckstopper said:

No reason it can't be done.    If CCM can do it with the EF5 you'd think Vaughn could blend the best of both worlds. 

That's basically what I wanted with mine.  I wanted a pad with a tighter fit that would move with me, but not give up anything to a "stiff" pad in terms of seal or 5 hole coverage, and I think I/Vaughn accomplished that.  

Big picture, though, they really need to get the weight down.  Mine are over 5 pounds, and no 33+2 pad should be over 5 pounds these days.

[seagoal]

51 minutes ago, AdamL said:

That's basically what I wanted with mine.  I wanted a pad with a tighter fit that would move with me, but not give up anything to a "stiff" pad in terms of seal or 5 hole coverage, and I think I/Vaughn accomplished that.  

Big picture, though, they really need to get the weight down.  Mine are over 5 pounds, and no 33+2 pad should be over 5 pounds these days.

+1 .  V9s are heavy, significantly heavier than the squishier VE8s.

[Chenner29]

6 hours ago, AdamL said:

What he said.  Boot stiffness has nothing to do with what's on the face of the pad, it relates to the core.  That graphic as I see it indicates there is material through the scoop without a break in it, making it stiffer.  

Just my personal opinion, but I don't know why anyone would ever want a stiff boot.  We all have ankles that bend, and if we want to be able to get into dorsiflexion, the boot of the pad needs to flex with us.  The exception to that I suppose is if you wear the pad really loose.  Then, when you flex at the ankle, the pad simply comes up your leg, out away from it, or some combination of those two.  But there's a reason even the "butterfly" style pads these days are offering a soft boot option.  

Thigh rise is the opposite, I don't see much benefit from a soft thigh rise.  We don't have joints above our knees, why do our pads need to flex there?  If you need a shorter thigh rise because you feel less mobile with a taller one I totally get that.  I'm feeling that way with my V9s at times, especially trying to get behind the net to play the puck.  But I also very much appreciate the additional coverage over my old pads.  To close my 5 hole in the butterfly with my last pads I had to keep my knees closer together, which also limited how much I could internally rotate at the hips, and narrowed my butterfly even further.  With the taller, pretty stiff thigh rise on my personal V9s, I can land with my knees wider apart and still close the five hole, creating more space in my hips and allowing me to flare my feet out wider.  I haven't measured but it might be 6" wider as a result. 

This stuff was discussed in another thread, too - we seem to share a lot of the same philosophies with gear

 

[seagoal]

29 minutes ago, Chenner29 said:

This stuff was discussed in another thread, too - we seem to share a lot of the same philosophies with gear

 

 

7 hours ago, AdamL said:

What he said.  Boot stiffness has nothing to do with what's on the face of the pad, it relates to the core.  That graphic as I see it indicates there is material through the scoop without a break in it, making it stiffer.  

Just my personal opinion, but I don't know why anyone would ever want a stiff boot.  We all have ankles that bend, and if we want to be able to get into dorsiflexion, the boot of the pad needs to flex with us.  The exception to that I suppose is if you wear the pad really loose.  Then, when you flex at the ankle, the pad simply comes up your leg, out away from it, or some combination of those two.  But there's a reason even the "butterfly" style pads these days are offering a soft boot option.  

Thigh rise is the opposite, I don't see much benefit from a soft thigh rise.  We don't have joints above our knees, why do our pads need to flex there?  If you need a shorter thigh rise because you feel less mobile with a taller one I totally get that.  I'm feeling that way with my V9s at times, especially trying to get behind the net to play the puck.  But I also very much appreciate the additional coverage over my old pads.  To close my 5 hole in the butterfly with my last pads I had to keep my knees closer together, which also limited how much I could internally rotate at the hips, and narrowed my butterfly even further.  With the taller, pretty stiff thigh rise on my personal V9s, I can land with my knees wider apart and still close the five hole, creating more space in my hips and allowing me to flare my feet out wider.  I haven't measured but it might be 6" wider as a result.  

____________

Side note - does anyone know what the "webbing" option would be under the shin strap options in the customizer?  Is that something similar to what Lefevre uses as the outer strap on their gear?  I don't like the feeling of having elastic as the last thing keeping the pad secured to my leg and would prefer something without any give.  That strap is also easy to change out.  I should probably just give Vaughn a call. 

https://vaughnhockey.com/customizer/?modelId=vpg-v9-pro-carbon

Nylon outer strap on the 12.2:

Keep in mind the historical idea behind a flexible thigh rise with a lot of bend: remember in the good ole days when there was a thigh strap connected to the thigh rise? Why was that there?  To bring the tops of the thigh rises together when in the butterfly so that the pads are forced into an S shape regardless of the goalie's ability to make that happen with technique/physiology.

So there is a reason for it, it's just that nowadays, with thigh straps gone extinct, that reason has become nullified. 

You guys know this, just adding it as relevant point in the discussion.

[Rfmusso]

6 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

So V9 is Vaughn's hybrid/soft pad, and OP wants to customize it to play more like a butterfly pad? That's an interesting idea, and hopefully he can make it work. 

I got inspired by reading about the Max Rebound option that CCM is offering for the Eflex 5s. I goofed up and selected stiff boot thinking I would get that effect but I need to call Vaughn and try and fix it before it is too late. 

[XCVII]

So.....there's a bit to unpack here.

My name was tagged so I'll give my two cents. First of all, it was mentioned above that if you want to do the accordion and have the marshmallow feel in your pads, then yes you will be happier in the Velocity family. I too had the Velocity 3  pads but disliked them. While they were comfy, they only had slingshot rebounds in the first 6 months and that is what I was after.

 

I recall when I was working in hockey at time that the Vaughn pro representative was sending Ward, Price etc like 6-8 sets a year because they got so soft. Anyway I don't think Vaughn builds the Velocity family pads like that anymore but I personally wouldn't take a chance. Tis why I am happily in the Ventus and the rebounds come off just the way I like it.

[ilyazhito]

It's curious then why Price and Ward would have that pad, if it only has long rebounds for a short time. But then, Bauer Vapors hadn't been invented yet.

[Ace1]

Hi, im looking in to the V9. They are a bit to soft but has a great feel. I think this would be the right post as we have some experts here. 

Mrazeks V9 (leafs should keep him as style advisor only) looks a bit stiffer. What kind of stiff spec would that be? (I know GGBS omg what spec Carey Price question)

[AdamL]

1 hour ago, Ace1 said:

Hi, im looking in to the V9. They are a bit to soft but has a great feel. I think this would be the right post as we have some experts here. 

Mrazeks V9 (leafs should keep him as style advisor only) looks a bit stiffer. What kind of stiff spec would that be? (I know GGBS omg what spec Carey Price question)

Vaughn offers options of Stiff and Extra Stiff in the thigh rise, as well as a Stiff option in the scoop if that's your bag.  In talking to Dennis back when I ordered my set, he said not a single one of their pros in the Velocity line uses the Extra Stiff option.  He could probably look up Mrazek's build for you if you really want to know the specifics, though.

What I want to know if how Mrazek gets his pads to sit so high on his skate.  Mine will only do that if I run the professor strap as tight as it'll go, which creates other problems, most notably with rotation but also just in comfort.  

Edited March 21, 2022 by AdamL

[bunnyman666]

I just wonder if anyone offers an “extra flumpy” option…

[bunnyman666]

42 minutes ago, AdamL said:

Vaughn offers options of Stiff and Extra Stiff in the thigh rise, as well as a Stiff option in the scoop if that's your bag.  In talking to Dennis back when I ordered my set, he said not a single one of their pros in the Velocity line uses the Extra Stiff option.  He could probably look up Mrazek's build for you if you really want to know the specifics, though.

What I want to know if how Mrazek gets his pads to sit so high on his skate.  Mine will only do that if I run the professor strap as tight as it'll go, which creates other problems, most notably with rotation but also just in comfort.  

Running the boot strap through the Lundy loop on the skate would raise the boot.

[Ace1]

@AdamL don’t know how to Send PM on this board.

I would really appreciate if you could help me with finding that out. 
 

To get the pad to sit that high, I would recommend Vaughns Professor strap from the SLR/Ventus. Is way better than the velocity strap.

For me the Lundy Loop doesn’t do that much an adds some extra strain on the ankle and hips. ( Not the best hip genetics)

[ZeroGravitas]

4 minutes ago, Ace1 said:

@AdamL don’t know how to Send PM on this board.

I would really appreciate if you could help me with finding that out.

To PM, you can click on a user name. That'll take you to their profile. From there, you can just hit MESSAGE.

See screenshots below.

[AdamL]

11 minutes ago, Ace1 said:

@AdamL don’t know how to Send PM on this board.

I would really appreciate if you could help me with finding that out. 
 

To get the pad to sit that high, I would recommend Vaughns Professor strap from the SLR/Ventus. Is way better than the velocity strap.

For me the Lundy Loop doesn’t do that much an adds some extra strain on the ankle and hips. ( Not the best hip genetics)

 

 

I actually optioned the SLR professor strap for my set.  

 

[thebigm]

On 3/4/2022 at 9:24 AM, AdamL said:

Thanks @Chenner29 for the shoutout.  

With regard to hotter rebounds, @thebigm made a thread quite awhile ago about his custom order VE8 set.  In that thread he mentioned he had the pad layered like the SLR pads with the carbon on the face of the pad rather than presumably behind a layer of foam.  I don't know the specifics of what that involves or if Vaughn still does the SLR3 that way, but I asked for that option, and let's just say the rebounds are still meh.  If you're after really hot rebounds, just ignore the Velocity line. 

If I was trying to replicate a V3 pad, I would FOR SURE spec the soft scoop/boot.  I went with the stiff thigh rise and stock boot, and the boot isn't anywhere near as soft as what was used for the VE8s.  If you look at photos of the VE8 in use, the boot looks like it might as well be off of a V3 pad they way it bends over the skate when it's loaded up.  The stock boot on the V9 is nowhere near that soft, or as soft as something like the EF4.  It doesn't twist really at all, but vertically it does have some compliance.  If I was ordering these over again I would have gone with the soft boot and asked to see if they could do a flatter boot channel.  

This dude's V9 set is probably as close as you could get to the feel and playability of a V3.

What I found out the V9 pad  is what I did with my V8s according to my rep.  The rebounds aren't as hot as some pads, also only wore them for about 6 month before they were sold lol.