Bauer Mach Set - Initial Impressions & Long Term Review

[ZeroGravitas]

Draft 0.7 - 05/23/2022 - Catcher and Blocker will be written up at a later date. Long term review to come further down the road.
Draft 0.82 - 05/26/2022 - Blocker will be written up at a later date. Added some more information on the Leg Pads and began the Catcher section.
Draft 0.99 - 6/4/2022 - Blocker information added.

Enhh.... What's up, Mach?

Some new gear came in and I imagine some people are curious about the new Bauer Machs. I think I have one of the first custom sets to roll out for retail. As a retail employee, I try to spec things close to retail in order to give the best possible feedback to customers - most of whom are looking to buy off the shelf instead of custom. I generally only deviate from stock specs for things I really want or need.

Full disclosure: I am employed at a hockey store and paid less than retail for this equipment. All thoughts are my own and not my employer’s. As far as I know, Bauer does not know or care who I am - though with my obnoxious colorways, I have no doubt they could find me and pee-pee whack me. I have no relationship with Bauer beyond working at a retail store and selling their (and other manufacturer's) equipment.

The reason for this post is two-fold:

1. Show off my sweet new toys.
2. Discuss the differences between custom and stock options to better inform my fellow goalies who are interested in going to Bauer or going custom.

This initial post will be about my initial impressions, discussion of custom options and comparisons to the Ultrasonics. A long-term review will follow eventually.

Brief Custom Spec Discussion

I order this custom set on 3/25 - the day that custom orders for the Mach opened. However, I was in possession of the custom order form before the customizer went live. The customizer form I had access to was essentially an Excel file with selectable options - no pictures, no discussion of custom options.

I went with the Stiff/Mach thigh flex to emulate the stock retail pad. I liked the Mid stiffness of the Ultrasonics very much and thought that going up in stiffness wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But the stiffness and change in pad profile turned out to be quite a big difference. More on that later.

I specced the Vapor soft boot flex as that is what I was used to. I was coming from an Ultrasonic with that same boot (and having used CCM EF-1/4/5 and Hyperlite with similar boots) and wanted to keep the same feel.

I stuck with the stock Supreme Stabilislide as that is what is present on my Ultrasonics and because I didn't care for the flex and feel of the Stabiliflex knee block of my Hyperlites. I didn't want the old, traditional style knee blocks. I was all in on Stabilislide after my time with the Ultrasonics.

Then comes the option for Calf Bracket. What the hell is this? One option said "Mach" and the other said "No Calf Bracket". I went for the Mach bracket as that was going to be stock retail option. The jury will be out on this until I get more skates in.

Lastly, I opted for a Tune-Fit Connect strap of the Supreme variety. Not know much about the Machs beyond the Bauer retail catalog, I had hoped that Bauer had listened to feedback and upgraded the Supreme version of the Tune-Fit Connect strap. They didn't. Does anyone want to buy some straps?

Mach Leg Pads

Category	Retail/Stock Option	My Specs	Notes
Construction (Core)	Mach	Mach	Changeable with Pro Custom only.
Skin Option	Mach	Mach	Changeable with Pro Custom only.
Knee Block	Stabilislide	Stabilislide	Stabiliflex available with Pro. Square and Angled two-piece construction available with Pro Custom only.
Knee Wing	Adjustable	Adjustable
Boot Flex	Supreme/Soft/120 Degree	Vapor/Soft/100 Degree	This option available with Pro Custom only.
Toe Attachment	Elastic Bungee	Elastic Bungee
Boot Strapping	None	None
Size	XS/S/M/L/XL	S
Thigh Flex	Stiff/Mach	Stiff/Mach	3 stiffness options at Pro. 5 stiffness options at Pro Custom
Toe Alignment	Offset	Offset	Able to center the toe attachment with Pro Custom.
Other Strapping	None	None	Pro custom option to add leather calf straps is available.
Tune Fit Connect	None	Assembled/Supreme	AKA Professor Strap. Pro custom option only.

A number of things have changed from Ultrasonic. We'll discuss them very briefly. There are additional, minor changes that we'll discuss too, but I won't list them below for brevity's sake.

1. New SL1D3R skin.
2. Stock stiffness has changed.
3. Core profile has changed.
4. New strapping system with TuneFit+
5. The Mach calf bracket is introduced.
6. The calf landing.
7. Addition of HD foam to the toe bridge.

The SL1D3R skin is supposedly more durable, slides better and enhances rebound pop. Sounds like a miracle material! To the touch, it feels just like the CORTechST that was used on prior Bauer pads. A common complaint you hear around the internet is that Bauer durability is awful. Personally, I never had any issues with CORTech exhibiting early wear on my Ultrasonics. Actually, I don't think I have any wear on the CORTECH. The only places I saw wear were on the Jenpro. There are pics in my Ultrasonic review thread. We'll see how this skin performs when I get the pads on the ice.

Bauer has used a couple different stiffness measurement systems. In the past, they used numerals from 1 to 5 to dictate stiffness, with 1 being the softest and 5 being the stiffest. Nowadays, they just use adjectives. Even those adjectives have changed a little at the soft end - 1 has been called Extra Soft or Soft, while 2 has been called Semi-Soft or Soft. A little confusing, but below is the current stiffness options available at the Pro Custom level.

Stiffness Numeral	1	2	3	4	5
Bauer Adjective	Soft	Semi Soft	Mid	Stiff	Extra Stiff
Corresponding Pad	Hyperlite	2X Pro	Ultrasonic	2S Pro/Mach	N/A

Next up, the profile of the pad has changed substantially. The Mach (below, left) is a much straighter pad over the Ultrasonic (below, right). The Mach looks incredibly straight because I went with the flat 100-degree boot, but you can still see how much the Ultrasonic curves above the knee compared to the Mach. With this change, the thighrise seems to play a little taller. I've noticed more clunkiness in my stance. My first skate, I felt like an especially shitty Transformer with 2 points of articulation. Having skated twice in them now, I'm getting more comfortable. But be warned, these pads are noticeably stiffer than Ultrasonic and Hyperlite.

Bauer has changed the calf strapping with Mach. Called the Tune-Fit+ or Tune-Fit Plus, it is a Y-shaped strapping system that is velcroed in, eerily reminiscent of the True/Lefevre Fast Rotation System. The fuzzy velcro on the opposite side is laced in and cannot be removaed. You can remove the Tune-Fit+ strap if you wish simply via velcro. The Y-sharped Tune-Fit Plus straps are available aftermarket, but I do not believe they include the attachment side. They come pretty loose out of the box - I cinched the anchor portions as tight as they could go and they felt pretty comfortable after that.

The grey nylon looks pretty sweet against the red, right? But it looks a little cheap, too...

Note that Tune-Fit Connect (the Professor strap) and the Tune-Fit+ share the same attachment point! Using both will probably be an impedance, since the Tune-Fit+ will velcro across to just below the Professor strap. As soon as I saw this and the fact that no updates were made to the Tune-Fit Connect straps, I pulled them off.

Next big feature - the Mach calf bracket. What the hell is it? Lucky for you, I put together this special GIF that will explain it to you. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think there's about 121,000 words there for you.

Does this loop get you going? I should get paid for this.

If you opt to go without the Mach bracket on the customizer, the calf will be the same, just without the internal bracket in the pad. With the bracket in, the calf is fairly stiff. If you've had the opportunity to fiddle with a Stabilislide knee block, I would say it is slightly softer than that, but a little bit stiffer than Stabiliflex.

Let's talk about the calf landing itself. It's a very unique piece of the gear. Below is a stock picture of the off-the-shelf retail Mach.

Note the vertices in the calf landing. As @Chenner29calls it, the GMail wedge. It is not a flat piece like the Ultrasonic or Hyperlite. When it sits flat on the floor/table/ice/what have you, it has the ability to roll (ever so slightly) back and forth depending on how your weight is positioned inside the pad. Not sure why Bauer went with this shape. It's made of a hard, plastic-like material. When I saw this, I was intrigued, but a little bummed. I didn't want to give up the solid calf seal of my Ultrasonics.

Bauer has also tweaked the inner calf pillow with Mach. Ultrasonic had a relatively small pillow here, so this Calf Support System pillow is definitely a further development from the Hyperlite's Balance Plate, which was a large, flat pillow. Note too that the Mach pillow is contoured, instead of flat, so as to hold the inside of your leg. This CSS pillow is not removable. When I saw this, I was bummed even more. One thing I hated about the Hyperlite was the Balance Plate. I felt it removed/cushioned my leg too much from the surface of the ice. I lost the connected feeling of sealing the ice off that my Ultrasonics gave to me.

One of the most interesting things to me is how all of this changes with a custom order.

When you order custom, Bauer will build it with the NHL/IIHF plate instead of the retail plate! Per discussion with Bauer, there is no option to spec for a retail calf! So instead of the above, you get the below, regardless of whether you spec the Mach calf bracket or not.

Note that this calf landing plate is flat with the slight bevel - that's basically the Ultrasonic calf. The calf pillow with a custom order is also different: it is not contoured and is not nearly as tall as the Mach CSS or Hyperlite Balance Plate.

Bauer also made an update to the toe bridge. Previous Bauer pads had only two slots for the bungee to go through and did not have HD foam in the bridge itself (ala CCM/Lefevre). Now, they've made some changes and it is now fairly similar to the CCM/Lefevre toe bridges. There are a couple differences though - Bauer now has four holes in the bridge, allowing you to tweak your setup. If you go with the stock spec of the offset bridge, you can adjust the lacing to go through the other holes. While the bridge itself would remain off center, you can have the laces centered with the pad. You can do the opposite of that - speccing the centered toe bridge and adjusting the lacing to become offset. In this situation the bridge would be centered, but the laces would be offset. The other difference is that CCM/Lefevre have a bit thicker piece of foam in the bridge. The Bauer one feels plenty stiff and is a good upgrade over prior versions, which, becuase they were simply jenpro with no foam stiffener, would often twist and not remain a solid anchor point for your toe.

Minor gripe is the new nylon in the leg channel. It looks and feels kind of cheap. The Ultrasonic had a nice, sexy nash material in the leg channel and knee block. I think it really gave the pad a deluxe feel, just like a car with leather seats versus basic fabric seats. Performance effect? Zero. But we're goalies. We notice the nice touches.

Mach Catcher

Category	Retail/Stock Option	My Specs	Notes
Construction	Mach	Mach	Pro custom can select Hyperlite construction for 590-style break. Pro custom can also select Ultrasonic.
Palm Stiffness	Game Ready	Pro Palm	Practice palm available at Pro Custom.
Tee Pocket	Double Tee	Double Tee – Reinforced	Pro Custom only
Palm Material	Mach Grip Print	Mach Grip Print	Two other options available at Pro Custom. None at Pro.
Pocket Lacing	Skate Lace	Waxed Skate Lace
Tee Lacing	Skate Lace	Waxed Skate Lace
Size	Senior	Senior
Poron Padding	Palm only	Add 3mm Poron to Thumb Base	Pro custom only
Hand	Regular/Full Right	Regular

Bauer has made a number of changes to the glove.

Changes on the glove and under the hood are:

1. Range of motion (ROM) strap.
2. Tweaked the closure.
3. Changed the backhand & no more metal eyelets.
4. Rebound control foams to the palm.

The first thing you'll notice when you put it on is the new range of motion that the ROM strap allows you.

Below is a rudimentary picture showing the changes from Ultrasonic. The metal eyelets on the top of the backhand are gone. Everything is laced in directly now. The wrist strap has been deleted and the backhand strap has been shrunk and moved slightly downwards.

There's an additional spot that you can move the ROM strap down towards if you want it to be locked lower to your wrist. Personally, I'm not sure if I quite like the ROM strap yet. I will try strapping it lower and see if that results in a more traditional fee. There is a Pro Custom option to spec the wrist strap back onto the backhand.

It seems that Bauer has tweaked the closure. The US glove was almost a perfect glove for me and, on the surface, it is very similarly specced to this Mach: pro palm, Poron reinforcement in the thumb, reinforced double tee. But the Mach feels much more beefy in the palm. Closure has been a little difficult for me. Out of the box, I put it in a baseball mitt oven, steamed it for 90 seconds, worked on it for 5 minutes, and steamed it again before working on it. Immediately post-steam, closure seemed good. But in-game, I've been a little clumsy with it. The internal hand position seems slightly different - my pinky and ring finger feel cramped when they were not in the Ultrasonic. I'll have to experiment some more to figure it out.

Note that if you zoom in on the first pic of the catcher, you can see bits of yellow foam through the lace holes on the thumb. That is the Poron reinforcement that is a Pro Custom option. I always spec this option as this is the only way to reinforce that section of the glove - Pro or Practice palms only reinforce the palm. The other Poron addition - adding it to the palm base, can interfere with your selection of palm protection. From some discussion with Bauer, I learned that going with a pro palm will add Poron to the palm to the base materials of the game ready palm, while a practice palm will add Curv and Poron to the base materials of the game ready.

Below is a picture of the reinforced tee. The white Mach on the bottom is a standard, off the shelf Mach. Note that the top Mach is noticeably thicker on both sides of the tee. The retail Mach is missing these thin pieces of plastic(?) reinforcement. You can even see in the green circles how it tweaks the shape of the catcher. The retail Mach looks a little mushy while the reinforced Mach has more of a point to it. This will affect your closure but it may keep you from getting Jack Campbell'd.

Mach Blocker

Category	Retail/Stock Option	My Specs	Notes
Construction	Mach	Mach	Pro custom can select Vapor 2-PC or Hyperlite construction.
Palm Size	SR	SR
Thumb Pillow	None	Thumb Pillow	Pro Custom only

Last but not least, the blocker. Not too many big changes from Ultrasonic to Mach. Bauer has tweaked the shape of the sidewall and also the velcro attachment for the finger protection. 

The big change this year is the wrist. Similar to how they took away material in the catcher to allow more range of motion, Bauer has done a similar change with the Mach. You can see the difference below (Ultrasonic left, Mach right).

Gone is most of the cuff and the nice, gray nash-like material. In it's place is a molded foam wrist-bridge-cuff (for lack of better words) with a simple nylon backing. Again, like with the leg pads, this seems a little bit like a cost saving maneuver.

Now, this new wrist cuff is the only thing restricting your mobility when you are really cocking that wrist. Honestly, it just seems like the cuff is vestigial at this point. It seems to provide only a modicum of support for the thumb protection piece. Bauer could eliminate it entirely if they wanted to double down on wrist mobility with some tweaks to how the thumb protector is attached to the blocker. Maybe they're keeping that in their back pocket for future years. Too much change too quickly might turn some goalies off.

The blocker face and sidewall are both very stiff, just like any Bauer blocker from prior years.

The palm feels similar to the Ultrasonic in terms of fit. It has been a while since I used my Hyperlite, but I recall that the Hyperlite palm didn't fit as nice and snug as the Ultrasonics (and Machs) feel.

I'm not 100% sure, but my hand does feel like it is in a slightly lower position than my Ultrasonics. I'll have to review this point when I get my Ultrasonics back.

Edited June 5, 2022 by ZeroGravitas

[ZeroGravitas]

Reserved for long term review.

[Puckstopper]

Great looking setup!   Is the glove noticeably stiffer than retail with the addition of Poron?  My US glove was and it's still not fully broken in. 

[goalieThreeOne]

Thank you for putting this together. And the set looks great.

 

One thing we were discussing in the other thread was the toe bridge. Your table seems to indicate the you need to go Pro Custom to center the toe attachment, but the other thread seems have evidence that the stock and retail options for the toe bridge are a 4-hole HD foam toe bridge. If that's the case, and based on pictures, wouldn't you be able to center the toe attachment by using the center two hole, and lace it offset by using two of the other three holes?

[ZeroGravitas]

1 hour ago, Puckstopper said:

Great looking setup!   Is the glove noticeably stiffer than retail with the addition of Poron?  My US glove was and it's still not fully broken in. 

I screwed up with the spec table in the first post and wrote Poron in the Palm, when I had actually specced (and received) Poron in the Thumb. I always go with this spec because that is the only way to reinforce the thumb. When you step up to a pro palm, you are now speccing Poron in the palm (though I do not know if it is 3mm worth of Poron). Practice palms will get you some Curv, which is otherwise not present in the palm in Game Ready or Pro.

I did the same spec for US (+ reinforcing the tee perimeter, which I've also done for Mach) and I thought it closed fairly easily. I think @wvuviv30 and @BadAngle41 might be able to attest to the closure.

[ZeroGravitas]

28 minutes ago, goalieThreeOne said:

Thank you for putting this together. And the set looks great.

 

One thing we were discussing in the other thread was the toe bridge. Your table seems to indicate the you need to go Pro Custom to center the toe attachment, but the other thread seems have evidence that the stock and retail options for the toe bridge are a 4-hole HD foam toe bridge. If that's the case, and based on pictures, wouldn't you be able to center the toe attachment by using the center two hole, and lace it offset by using two of the other three holes?

That's a great point.

Yes, you do need to go Pro Custom in order to get the toe bridge centered on the pad. See the pic below. This is the left leg pad. You can see the the toe bridge is shifted slightly closer to the left side of the picture, which is going to put it closer to the ice.

If you click the pic and zoom in really closely, you can see the other two holes are right in the center of the pad. So yes, if you wanted to, you could stick with the stock offset toe bridge (if going retail or custom Pro), but change the position of the bungees to be aligned with the center of the pad. With the addition of foam into the toe bridge, this should hold up over the course of time. The older toe bridges were just leather and could twist around.

Conversely, you could, presumably, if you're going Pro Custom, spec the centered toe bridge and shift the bungees over to the inside to get that offset feel.

EDIT: Additional clarification.

Edited May 24, 2022 by ZeroGravitas

[jerd31]

Definitely keeping my eye on this as the Mach's are on my short list.  What's your reasoning behind going with the 100* soft boot vs. 120* soft?

[ZeroGravitas]

20 minutes ago, jerd31 said:

Definitely keeping my eye on this as the Mach's are on my short list.  What's your reasoning behind going with the 100* soft boot vs. 120* soft?

Beyond the fact that I've been using the softer, flatter boot forever - I had it on the EF4/5, Ultrasonic, Hyperlite and almost every pad before that...I feel that the pad is a bit more responsive with the flatter and softer boot. Also, I don't have to worry about any potential sizing differences if I stick with the flatter 100 degree boot.

[TheGoalNet]

great work on the spec breakdown and pics

[heyclaytay]

@ZeroGravitas what would you recommend for a looser fit? I saw a review of these that the tunefit plus makes the pad sit higher and feel tigher, additionally it's only attachment point is up just below the knee. I currently strap my tune fit 2.0 as loose as possible and as low as possible, also I prefer my pad to sit as low as possible as well. I appreciate any info you may have on this.

[Charlie T]

Is there a noticeable difference between the stock and reinforced tee?

[ZeroGravitas]

15 hours ago, heyclaytay said:

@ZeroGravitas what would you recommend for a looser fit? I saw a review of these that the tunefit plus makes the pad sit higher and feel tigher, additionally it's only attachment point is up just below the knee. I currently strap my tune fit 2.0 as loose as possible and as low as possible, also I prefer my pad to sit as low as possible as well. I appreciate any info you may have on this.

My first skate with these was last night. Drove to the wrong rink so I had to fly to the other one. Got dressed just in time for puck drop, but that meant I missed warmups. They felt looser to me than Ultrasonic, but I didn't get the opportunity to adjust the fit. You're right the the only real attachment point is just below the knee, I felt like I was missing something for the calf/lower calf area. I have another skate tonight to dial in the fit. The pads do seem to sit tighter higher, but I'm wondering if that is because the profile is so straight on these, rather than

15 hours ago, Charlie T said:

Is there a noticeable difference between the stock and reinforced tee?

Yes. It is visually thicker in that area and you can physically feel the additional reinforcement in the tee. When I get to writing about the catch/blocker - hopefully tonight, I will have some pictures to show the difference.

EDIT: Typo. I said the pads seem to sit tighter, but I meant higher.

Edited May 26, 2022 by ZeroGravitas

[Charlie T]

4 minutes ago, ZeroGravitas said:

Yes. It is visually thicker in that area and you can physically feel the additional reinforcement in the tee. When I get to writing about the catch/blocker - hopefully tonight, I will have some pictures to show the difference.

Thank you! Would you recommend this spec? and does the reinforcement apply only to the top of the T not the actual pocket trap?

[ZeroGravitas]

3 minutes ago, Charlie T said:

Thank you! Would you recommend this spec? and does the reinforcement apply only to the top of the T not the actual pocket trap?

I believe it includes the pocket trap as well. Since I have a double tee, it's not as readily visually/physical apparent because the pocket portions are skinny. I'd recommend it if you're planning on keeping the catcher for a while and/or play a lot. It will make the glove a bit more difficult to close out of the box. Note that you'd have to go Pro Custom to get this spec.

[keeperton]

That gif is genuinely incredibly made.

[Charlie T]

12 hours ago, ZeroGravitas said:

I believe it includes the pocket trap as well. Since I have a double tee, it's not as readily visually/physical apparent because the pocket portions are skinny. I'd recommend it if you're planning on keeping the catcher for a while and/or play a lot. It will make the glove a bit more difficult to close out of the box. Note that you'd have to go Pro Custom to get this spec.

Thank you for the advice!

[ZeroGravitas]

5 hours ago, keeperton said:

That gif is genuinely incredibly made.

Wish I could take all the credit. I stole the original video from Bauer, trimmed the video, cropped the frames and converted it to GIF.

[ZeroGravitas]

2 hours ago, Charlie T said:

Thank you for the advice!

I've updated the first post with some information about the catcher and pictures of the reinforced tee vs unreinforced.

[ArdeFIN]

17 hours ago, ZeroGravitas said:

I believe it includes the pocket trap as well. Since I have a double tee, it's not as readily visually/physical apparent because the pocket portions are skinny. I'd recommend it if you're planning on keeping the catcher for a while and/or play a lot. It will make the glove a bit more difficult to close out of the box. Note that you'd have to go Pro Custom to get this spec.

I have no actual experience on Mach at all or US having reinforced T but have seen a Total One with reinforced T and that is an option I would never choose being non Pro.

It's basically doubled plastic on the T and will stiffen it that much as both plastic sheets go through the hinge points at both end of the T (thumb and finger side).

In the Total One the plastics were already cut from use and gave very little extra for the reinforcing.

For the closure stiffness all I can add is that my US is super soft. It almost closes by it's own weight and I've added a 4mm layer of padding in there. It is propably a off the shelf US with Pro palm as there are Poron covering the palm and thumb.

For more info on the gloves I mentiones here you can look into the Mods -section.

But for this topic I have to comment so much that this is awesome! Just plain awesome. All the pictures, animation(!), information and analyze of things and comparisons. Thank you @ZeroGravitas

[Teezle]

My Mach set also came in this weekend. I was hoping they'd have come in a few days earlier, but I still used them for the a couple games in the Memorial Day hockey tournament and in my game last night. Here are some first impressions and comparisons between the Mach and the Hyperlite.

Pads: The stock stiffness is considerably stiffer than the Hyperlite. This makes sense, as it is about a 4/5 stiffness on Bauer's scale compared to the 1/5 that is the stock Hyperlite flex. The profile of the pad makes it look taller than the Hyperlite, despite being the same size and both having the 100 degree boot angle.  

The less curved profile did save a goal in my game last night, when the puck was whacked towards me during a scramble in front of the net and just clipped the top of the pad to keep it out. It probably would have gone through with the Hyperlite profile. That said, it will take a bit of adjustment to the extra stiffness before I am completely comfortable in it.

Like @ZeroGravitas, mine were built with the single bevel on the calf plate and the smaller calf pillow. This is definitely a positive; they are incredibly stable when in the butterfly, and I agree that the larger pillow on the Hyperlite was a little too much. It also means that your leg is already positioned a little closer to the spot for getting an edge to engage and push when down, instead of having your leg essentially lie flat across the pad. I.e. knee and lower leg are at approximately the same height on the Hyperlite; on the Mach your lower leg is a little closer to the ice.

A couple other distinct differences from the Hyperlite: the boot channel and the knee strapping. The boot on the Hyperlite was basically a flat boot, whereas the Mach has a more defined boot channel. This helps them sit in the same place despite the overall straighter profile on the Mach. For the knee strapping, the Mach really encourages you to strap down to the calf (as I have done on the Hyperlite as well) by sewing the knee strap at an angle already. The Hyperlite knee strap is sewn straight across the knee.

  

I'll get pictures of the glove and blocker for the next post.

[wvuviv30]

On 5/24/2022 at 12:31 PM, ZeroGravitas said:

I screwed up with the spec table in the first post and wrote Poron in the Palm, when I had actually specced (and received) Poron in the Thumb. I always go with this spec because that is the only way to reinforce the thumb. When you step up to a pro palm, you are now speccing Poron in the palm (though I do not know if it is 3mm worth of Poron). Practice palms will get you some Curv, which is otherwise not present in the palm in Game Ready or Pro.

I did the same spec for US (+ reinforcing the tee perimeter, which I've also done for Mach) and I thought it closed fairly easily. I think @wvuviv30 and @BadAngle41 might be able to attest to the closure.

 

I've only gotten one skate/game on the glove and I like it and it does closes smooth/easy.  I've also been guy who orders their catcher with a Pro-Palm and have been doing it since Early 2000s; I feel that Pro-Palms hold their shape/break much better.

[Teezle]

For the glove, I went with the Game Ready palm + 3mm Poron on the palm. I find that when I don't catch cleanly, it is mainly on the palm/finger area and wanted to beef that up. I had a Pro Palm on the Hyperlite glove and did not like the way you could feel the reinforcement running through the break of the glove, but still wanted some extra protection. Pucks hitting the thumb side of the break usually deflect into the pocket, so I didn't feel it necessary to beef up that side. The red line circled in green in this photo is what I am referring to for the Pro Palm - whatever material they used for this part was not comfortable to close your hand around, in my opinion.

So far it seems to be exactly what I wanted. The glove is very easy to close right out of the box, the pocket presents super wide, and the extra protection in the palm is noticeable when you take a hard shot there.

The lack of a traditional wrist strap gives you great mobility to present the best angle for the glove, and it also eliminates the possibility of your chest protector and the wrist strap rubbing against each other (infrequent, but annoying). There is an attachment point to have the new strap go closer to your wrist on the outside, but I found it more comfortable, and easier to close the glove, leaving it how it came.

Another really nice feature of this glove is the grippy lines for your fingers. They really help you get a solid grasp of the glove to close it, and prevent the glove from feeling like it is sliding off no matter how much I sweat in it.

Lastly is a difference from the stock Mach glove when ordering custom: the T is attached traditionally, instead of the flexy tie down shown in the HockeyReviews video. The closure is still great.

 

[Teezle]

For the blocker, I went with the 2-Piece Vapor blocker. This is the old 1X spec, but with updated materials and the Mach palm/finger protection. Many years ago I tried on a 1X blocker and loved it immediately, but was dissuaded from buying it because I was told it had durability issues. Now that it is available to order again (as a Pro Custom spec), I jumped on the chance to finally use one. It does not disappoint - the blocker is light, well-balanced, and extremely comfortable. I am very happy with this one.

[BadAngle41]

On 5/24/2022 at 12:31 PM, ZeroGravitas said:

I screwed up with the spec table in the first post and wrote Poron in the Palm, when I had actually specced (and received) Poron in the Thumb. I always go with this spec because that is the only way to reinforce the thumb. When you step up to a pro palm, you are now speccing Poron in the palm (though I do not know if it is 3mm worth of Poron). Practice palms will get you some Curv, which is otherwise not present in the palm in Game Ready or Pro.

I did the same spec for US (+ reinforcing the tee perimeter, which I've also done for Mach) and I thought it closed fairly easily. I think @wvuviv30 and @BadAngle41 might be able to attest to the closure.

@Puckstopper for comparison my CCM Axis had the added D3O in the palm and the US closed much better than my Axis. To that point... I don't know if either will ever truly feel broken in the same was gloves that omit that option would though. The top of the UltraSonic T has an actual split in the plastics at the break which I think helps tremendously. 

[RedX]

20 hours ago, Teezle said:

For the blocker, I went with the 2-Piece Vapor blocker. This is the old 1X spec, but with updated materials and the Mach palm/finger protection. Many years ago I tried on a 1X blocker and loved it immediately, but was dissuaded from buying it because I was told it had durability issues. Now that it is available to order again (as a Pro Custom spec), I jumped on the chance to finally use one. It does not disappoint - the blocker is light, well-balanced, and extremely comfortable. I am very happy with this one.

Did you opt for the traditional palm? The Hyperlite version I have has the updated Bauer palm.