RecoveringGoalie1

Biggest question I have, as I own a pair of Mach's, is whether the sliding/skin has improved in this generation? Still a tad disappointed on the Mach's vs HL's as they felt like a step back on that front. Otherwise don't see any real changes made to justify the upgrade unless I'm missing something.

Worn mine for around 20 skates - overall pretty happy with them, they've become my go-to base layer due to breathability and the comfort of the D3O pads. Only concern is that the stitching on the pants where you insert the pads is beginning to fray surprisingly quickly. I remove the pads for each wash and then insert them back in when the pants have dried fully, and I do wash after every skate / hang dry.

With an inner belt and how well designed modern C/A's are I really don't see the point of suspenders these days. Keeps the shoulders sitting nice and high naturally, and the tie down in front prevents the C/A from separating from the pants for torso protection in a scramble.

Same with my CCM pants with Mach C/A. Cinch the internal belt nice and tight, use the front lace to tie the C/A semi tight to the pants and that's about it. No suspenders or further straps.

Any particular reason you went for the Mach tune fit + and the stabilslide in the HL2's? I quite like the Mach strapping I currently have, though it seems most people are using the stock HL2 strapping.

Last season I ended up ordering a full custom Bauer Mach set with some minor modifications - Ultrasonic stiff thigh rise and I went with stabiliflex instead of slide. I was coming from Bauer 3X pads, prior to that 1S OD1N's which I was not a huge fan of, and it was a heck of an adjustment that took months to get used to the all round stiffer construction of the pads. I have a reasonably wide butterfly, though I do feel the Mach's put more strain on my hips compared to the 3X due to their overall stiffness. After a year in the Mach's I'm playing the best I ever have (moved from D div to C div), but I do feel I'm missing out on some of the mobility and smoothness that my 3X / Vapour line provided during scrambles and quick crease movements. With the rave reviews of the HL2's I'm debating picking up a new set, again with ultrasonic stiff thigh rise and stabiliflex, and am wondering if the community thinks that's worth it considering the current composition of my Mach's? I intend to borrow a demo HL2 set in general, but I find it hard to truly evaluate a pad without using it for weeks/months and that isn't possible as a demo. Any general thoughts?

Got a skate in the pants last night - fairly impressed by the knee padding as well as the breathability of the pants as a whole, I'll be switching to them as my main ones moving forward.

Got the pants today, will try them out in a game tomorrow night. For those wondering about the compression level, I'd rate the Aegis 1/10 as they fit fairly loose, my Bauer pants (https://www.thehockeyshop.com/products/bauer-elite-seamless-senior-baselayer-pants) are a 3/10 and my EC3D compression shorts are a 9/10. Tried on the pants with my EC3D's on underneath, plenty of room to fit them in. The foam inserts take a few moments to pull in and out, but I was impressed by how impact resistant they are - did a few standing butterfly's into the ground without my kneepads and they performed much better than I expected given how thin they are. With the kneepads on the cushioning was excellent, though I'll still have to tape them into place as I found they were sliding down even with the grippy bits on the pants. Sizing wise: I'm 5'11, 180lbs, wear 32 inch slim cut pants day to day, went for the medium and there's plenty of give if I was 15-20lbs heavier. Pants reach all the way down to the bottom of my ankles, these definitely run on the long side. Debating whether I'll wear my long compression socks over or under the pants, generally I've worn them under my Bauer pants if anyone has recommendations.

I do feel the heat, but my theory is it keeps the muscles in that area extra warm and further reduces the chance of injury as a trade off.

I'm planning on wearing my EC3D compression shorts underneath it as I've been doing that with my regular Bauer compression pants without issue.

Punched a hole as the others have and am very pleased with the results. The strap curls into the buckle as @jerd31 noted, but haven't had any issues with it causing the buckle to come undone. If anything the extra tension makes it harder to unlatch the buckle. As well I had another lower buckle fail as others have experienced, was a breeze to swap it in with a replacement piece. Shout out to the team at TheHockeyShop in Langley - they mailed it to me within 24 hours and I'm good to skate again this weekend. With how good the moulding process went for my feet I'd have felt comfortable skating without the buckle as I didn't realize it had popped until I was in the locker room after my skate.

Went with a similar approach as BadAngle41. Used some cut up 3/8th" thick Nash helmet foam replacement as a first pass before investing into a more permanent solution. Only a few skates in with it, but does appear to improve the loose ankle issues. Tempted to try out hole punching as @Hockey34 did, see how it compares next.

I'd be curious to hear how anyone compares the sliding on the Hyperlite 2 vs Mach. Still a tad disappointed with my Mach's even after the break in period.

Agreed, my custom Mach's are size small - I'm 5'11 and am very glad that I didn't go with the medium's as the way the tunefit strapping holds the pads higher on your legs would've resulted in a taller thighrise / reduced mobility. I technically could fit a medium based upon where I landed in the cradle, but with how stiff the mach line is you're better off being an inch 'short' than too long in my opinion.

Have any photos of the end result / tips on how you did it? Considering punching a hole as well to help with the skinny ankles.

I'm sorry, but those who bought years ago cannot pretend we're currently living in the same financial circumstances. You cannot find a 200K anything anymore, let alone a House for that in any modern western city. It is impossible for a person making an average wage in the modern era to save up enough for a down payment to then buy a home. The "woe is me" is because we're currently living through extreme wealth inequality and our politicians are too feckless to do anything about it. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/this-is-how-long-you-ll-have-to-save-to-afford-a-down-payment-on-a-toronto-house-1.5535524 "Currently, to save up for a down payment for an average Canadian home, buyers would have to save at a rate of 10 per cent for six years — or 69 months. But in Toronto, where the average home costs approximately $1.2M, the time period required to save for a down payment is much longer. In order to save enough money for a down payment for a home in Toronto, a resident making a yearly salary of $196,913, saving at a rate of 10 per cent, would have to do so for 26.5 years — or 318 months. To afford a condo in the city under these circumstances, it would take just under five years, or 56 months."

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Haha I'm honestly not the biggest fan of him. I think in his early days he hit the mark more often than not, but these days its more cult of personality and that oh so American grinding mentality that is borderline masochistic. Not everyone can be wildly successful, no matter how hard they try. It's a mixture of luck, timing, skill, and your current socioeconomic status more than effort in my opinion. I know plenty of brilliant, hard working people who have failed many times due to circumstances outside of their control. I've worked in tech for a decade now so it's more about pulling from personal experience and from those around me in this case.

Anything that appears too good to be true, likely is. Crypto is a classic example of this - grandiose promises of unheard of returns with no actual utility to the underlying coins that are being hawked by grifters. It's a zero sum game that is a form of gambling at its heart. For every dollar someone makes out of crypto, someone had to lose that dollar in the first place. You'll see the stories of people who made millions, but they don't mention those millions came from thousands of individuals who bought high and sold low to enable that person to make their millions. Nothing is 'created' by crypto in terms of new money, it's existing money chasing impossible returns and there will be winners and losers. Odds are you will end up on the losing side, statistically speaking. If you're not incredibly financially literate, using debt in an attempt to become wealthy is highly inadvisable and is a great path towards ending up bankrupt and in debt for the rest of your life. Unfortunately the days of a single income person working an average job and being able to comfortably buy a home, cars, have kids, and so on are well behind us. The best way to get ahead is to invest into yourself. Whether that's education to stand out as a candidate or to fill a niche, starting a small business, working towards a promotion at work, or going to do jobs that pay well but aren't popular such as Oil and Gas, or mining camps that you need to fly in and fly out of and work 3 weeks straight. If you can get a government/city job with a pension, you're ahead of most people and are more or less set for life. In terms of growing wealth the two primary ways to do it that are low risk but require significant investments of capital are investing into broad index funds (I'm a big fan of VEQT from Vanguard, but any S&P 500 index tracker will do), and investing into real estate. The caveat being that either path requires capital in the first place for it to grow. 5% a year on $500 won't get you far, but 5% a year on 100K+ over many years will make a significant difference down the line.

Anyone find that they need sharper blades on the Konekts? Typically get mine done at 1/2 inch and felt like I'd gone up a hollow to a 5/8 or 7/16th instead. Read somewhere that because the blade makes more contact with the ice you may want to go to a sharper hollow than usual for a similar feel - any feedback on that front? Debating moving up to 3/8th on my next sharpen. For sole pain - have you tried superfeet insoles? They made a significant difference for me as the stock insoles have awful arch support.

Worn them a dozen times and will never go back to regular skates again. I've noticed a significant reduction in hip strain while playing with them, and that doesn't take into account the performance improvements of being able to T push faster and get deeper into a stance to challenge a shooter in tight without going down too early. Of all the new gear I've picked up since I've returned to the net, these are the first that have really blown my mind in terms of raw performance over a prior generation of equipment.

That's exactly what my shop did. Baked the skates, and then replaced the stock ones with the super feet prior to putting them on and letting them sit for 20 minutes. Worked like a charm and would highly recommend that if you have any foot pain.

It's supposed to tuck inside.

I spoke to someone at Bauer over social media when I had my issue and they said, "we have identified a problem with a batch of lower cables on the skates where we have seen this issue." At least they're admitting to it - my shop let me do a full swap as I'd not worn them, otherwise Bauer will ship replacement parts to you if you ask them.

Used mine last night and this is a great description of how the skates feel - it's as though the blades are attached directly to your feet as opposed to standing on them. You can generate more power, you have more stability as the blades are more planted, and you feel more 'connected' to the ice. Happy to report no foot pain either, though I got my liner baked twice as I reused it with my second pair after returning the defective one. Honestly the feel of the skate is more of a game changer than the hinge range of motion from my initial impressions. That being said, the hinge allows you to hold a more aggressive stance. I did notice I was overly driving my knees forward and 'crouching' more than I should with the hinge which lowered my hips and arms - something that will take some time to adjust, but the stability alone makes it worth the learning curve. Coming from Bauer 2S Pro skates for context.