sescaro

For the first time in decades, I’ve decided to go mismatch on my equipment and just ordered a R/G7 trapper to wear with Bauer pads and blocker. Love the pads, love the blocker…kinda like the glove. I have very fond memories of my G3 trapper with the 75 degree break. I don’t know why I was so insistent on having brand matching stuff. I did custom order, though and it should mesh pretty nicely with the current set!

Sorry if I missed another thread - the one “under” glove topic seemed to be more about grip and sweat management - but does anyone who wears a batting glove or similar under in their catcher feel like it helps with stingers? I’m in a Bauer 3X, and it’s decent from a protection standpoint from the break up to the thumb, but not so great below the break on the fingers. In addition to a batting glove, I know there are some gloves at Goalie Monkey and THS that have some additional padding and am wondering if anything helps. I am contemplating picking up a Pro level glove, but would love to save the $.

I second the Warrior mask. I have a F1 Sr+ and it has been a great mask. Two years of use and it’s taken several decent shots with no issue. A little of the immediate ring in the ear on some of the harder ones, but nothing that lasted more than a couple seconds. Took an absolute bomb right to the forehead a few weeks back and was totally fine and mask was, too. The 940/950/960 Bauer’s aren’t quite a perfect fit for my round face, but the Warrior fits me to a T.

They only had a medium, and I definitely need a large, so it’s hard to opine on the fit. They did have a large in the 2nd price point Axis mask, and that fits great - felt similar to my Warrior. While I could probably get away with the 2nd price point from a protection standpoint, the Nest Tech liner is not in it, and it makes a massive difference from an airflow perspective. The large Bauer was noticeably tighter on my cheeks and jaw, so it sounds like we have similar head shapes.

Tried it on at my LHS today. It feels amazing - had a Bauer 960 on right before it and while that felt good too, the Nest-Tech was immediately noticeable. Mask felt downright airy. As a goalie who gets super hot every skate, it’s intriguing. Too bad I don’t need a new mask. Took a blast from the heaviest shot in our league last week right to the forehead, but my RF1 took it with little issue. Can’t say there wasn’t a little part of me that was hoping for a crack.

Brand new Bauer Hyperlite chest protector with tags still attached. Has not seen any use aside from trying it on a few times. Bought it a few months ago thinking it would eventually replace my current chestie, but my wife is catching on to my clandestine purchases and I really don’t need a new one! I’m outside the return window, unfortunately. $400 USD plus 1/2 of shipping cost (I will cover the other half). Will do whatever necessary to make you feel comfortable about purchase…within reason, of course!

I’ve had the HF2s on the ice for three skates since I got them baked a second time. Love them! The last skate was a double header and there was a little extra pressure on the inside of my left foot that I hadn’t experienced before, but it was totally tolerable across the two plus hours I had them on. My feet are kind of funky with extra bones in each and I’ve always dealt with the occasional bit of discomfort that comes and goes depending on the day. I can’t heap enough praise on the performance of the skate, though! Now, I also went from Goalie Win to Goalie Sam with my blade profile, which took me a few skates to get used to, but my ability to get an edge when doing movements in the butterfly has noticeably improved. My hips and knees also felt so much better after the back-to-back. I’m 46 and about 15 pounds above my ideal weight, and I always chalked the post game stiffness up to that, but now I’m thinking it was my skates! Coming from a set of the top line FT2s, which I thought highly of. The ability to throw them on and off in seconds is so nice. I also took my first direct shot to the toe yesterday from a guy with a pretty heavy shot and there was no pain or much sensation at all. They don’t breathe quite as well as other skates - your foot is snug in those booties and they don’t offer any venting. I do need to try out some of the mods to help hold my Pro Laces in place on the top of the skate, but even when it slips, I haven’t had any issues with stepping on it. I also noticed that the buckle (or something) rubs a bit on the calf wrap of my 3X pads. Just going to sew in a bit of jenpro along the bottom edge to prevent any wear. As for the blade profile, the initial skate or two was a rough transition - that flat 50mm middle was an adjustment, but once I got used to that, I can’t recommend it enough. Between the skates and the profile, my agility as been taken up a notch!

They felt good, but not great. Got them baked again, with a few tweaks to the process. Felt better than after the initial bake, but we’ll see how they feel on the ice! Good luck with yours!

Not yet. Going to try and get back there this weekend and intend to use the toe sleeves and put a little more weight on them for the first few minutes.

I just bought the new HF2 (lower price point). My initial skate in them started off terrible - my feet ached before I even hit the ice. It did get much better as I played through the hour in them. I know the fitting process is the same between the top line and the 2nd line. Aside from the toe sleeve, any other suggestions? I had read in InGoal’s article on the initial offering that standing up for a bit at the beginning can be helpful in getting a good fit. Also, do you use any sort of insert? I do use Superfeet, but my shop said not to put them in for the initial bake. They also didn’t have the ice packs cold, so I’m thinking I’m going to go back and do another bake and add in a few of the above to see if it helps dial in the fit.

I’m a “hand it to the ref after every stoppage” goalie. Through several skates with the 3X, I had no issue picking up the puck and then, after one whistle a couple games back, I went 0/4 and was thoroughly embarrassed. After that it’s been fine. For something so simple, I don’t know what went wrong. I know that does nothing to help anyone, but just wanted to share. I had heard great things about Bauer gloves and was very excited to get one. Granted, I’m in the 2nd price point… I don’t hate the 3X, by any means, but I definitely don’t love it, either. Blocker and pads are great, tho. I was talking with someone in the goalie retail biz a few weeks back and he felt that Bauer’s gloves have been inconsistent as far as quality the past year or so.

So, I don’t have the Vapor 90, but had the same initial problem with the 3X glove and after a few skates and a few hours opening and closing the glove over and over as I watched TV or whatever, that problem went away.

As much as I would love Quebec City, seems like Houston would be hard to say no to. Massive market, and you can keep the conference alignment in place.

So, I saw Seagoal’s post used the word “squishy” and that’s a great descriptor. The pads just kind of do whatever your leg does. The boot not only flexes up and down, but it also twists with your ankle and leg as you drop. The 3X feel a little more plank-like. The boot flexes plenty to give you the ability to get low in your stance and let you load up for pushes, but it feels more like the pad drops and recovers in one solid piece. Now, my pads are still basically new, but the Vaughns never felt like that. I feel like my drops and the seal are better with the 3X (and the rebounds are night and day different, which I like), but I can’t quite contort the pad any which way I want like I felt I could in the Vaughns.

Pads like Vaughn Velocity have more torsional flexibility so they twist more laterally. Coming from V8s to the 3X I definitely noticed the difference there.

I did. I went from a 32+2” Vaughn V8 to the S (33+1”) in the 3X. The pads are almost identical as far as knee block positioning when matched up to each other.

I just got my set of custom 3X about two months ago. I don’t regret it - love the pads and blocker and am close to telling the glove “I love you, too”. I am a little jealous of the fact you can put silver in any of the zones on the X5, though! I loved Logan Thompson’s all silver set up from last(?) year. On a separate note - has anyone heard price point rumors on the performance line Konekt?

Not buying PAW knee pads sooner. After years of thinking about it, but instead going with off the shelf solutions, I finally ordered a pair a few months back. Not that my other knee pads were terrible, but I’m absolutely in love with the PAWs. Even over a pair of compression pants - with no garter (I did get the garter JIC), no socks, no tape - they don’t budge. While I haven’t taken a shot directly off them yet, the protection seems bulletproof - at least as good, and likely better than what I have used previously. They obviously fit like a glove, move like an extension of my leg, and look great in Kelly green!

One more question for the group: Is there any sort of extension option for the TuneFit 2.0 calf strap? I see there are two different Velcro pads on each part of the ‘V’ to which you can adjust to, but even on the longer option and pulling the tab to only the start of the Velcro on the calf wrap, I find the fit a bit more snug than I prefer. My calves aren’t even all that big! I tried to search the web to see if Bauer offered anything off the shelf, but didn’t come across it. I’m assuming I could add some more elastic with Velcro to the end of each part of the ‘V’ and all would be good. Thanks!

Thanks for the input and pics everyone! I’ll be patient and let time and use do it’s thing! It’s not horrible, as is…

The piece attached to the glove (see pic)

Question for 3X users: Does the index finger protection on the blocker cause get caught up on the paddle of your stick? It’s only really a nuisance when I choke back down after playing the puck or poke checking as it interferes a bit with getting all the way back down to where the paddle starts. Not sure if it will get better with time (I’ve only used the blocker a few times) or if it’s something I might want to modify at some point.

I received my set a few weeks back. Haven’t been able to get them on the ice yet due to a lack of open skates I could make. Coming from a set of V8 (non-carbon) - seems like it’s going to be a pretty big difference. The stability of the pad in the butterfly seems leaps and bounds better, but I did think the 3X will take a little time to get used to as it does seem like they’re going to move to and from the butterfly in one solid piece. Can’t wait to see how they slide - the surface just seems much harder and also doesn’t have the weird mismatch where the knee stack meets the inner gusset. Very pleased by the initial quality of the pads and the gloves.

I had just placed an order for a set of 3X pads and gloves with custom colors a few weeks before this topic hit. I knew the new stuff was coming, but really love the feature set (and even the graphic) on the 3X. While I’m sure the new stuff will have its fair share of improvements, it doesn’t seem like the magnitude of evolution from 3X to the new stuff is quite as significant as it was from 2X to 3X, so I’m not feeling too much buyer’s remorse. This gear is going to be a major jump in performance over my current stuff and it’s very cool to be able to get custom colors at the 2nd price point.

Trojan - I have a feeling the removable arms are like the Vaughn V9 where the arm Velcros into the body and you are able to play around with the attachment point to shorten/lengthen the arm. It would be cool if you could swap out arms on the stock unit, but, like you said, that would either be a headache for the retailer, or costly for the consumer!