Below is my son's review on his Marsblade holder.
Player: soon-to-be 15 yo, 1st yr U16 Midget AA
Skates: CCM FT1 + stock Marsblade holder (sz 7, 263 MB Holder, Prosharp Quad 1 on 100/50 FBV)
Time spent on MB:
Sticktime/drills: 4 hrs
Pickup: 1 hr
5v5 scrimmage: 2 hrs
Spring League HS Varsity games: 3
According to him, the Marsblade Holder helps with tighter turns while maintaining speed, with more confidence in trusting edges than before especially in small area doing delays/gretzky turns. Exiting turns going into lateral crossovers feels easier and more powerful than before. A bit more top end speed and power when pushing off. No difference on stopping/stop and go vs previous holder.
Backward/pivots/mohawks/Crosby's/Tarasenko's are a breeze and effortless. The extra 100g on each skates are not noticable at all. The only con he mentioned was that it took him at least a few hrs to get used to them.
From a dad/drill sargent's view, since I skate with him at sticktime, the MB's do help him seem more sturdy/balanced and his turns look more powerful with smoother and quicker exits. He 'looks' faster during breakaways and backchecks. Just overall more stable and stronger on MB...
Could be that he's growing and getting stronger, but I firmly believe Marsblade has a good thing going on. I simply can't see how these holders won't help you fine-tune and enhance your skating, especially for higher end skaters, MB can really give you that extra edge.
Cosmetically, the holders are holding up decently. A few chips here and there, exposing the black core underneath some sort of thick white coating... Really hoping the MB will be durable and last at least a season. The Tydan blades are nice but I feel his previous Massive Blades held edges longer, while blade height appears to be same as Massive Blades.
My kid really does like the MB and if he feels they help his game and he feels good on the ice, then I must say it was money well spent.