Best c/a

[moejoe3117 1]

What's the best chest protector for protection and mobility? Play mostly roller hockey. I'm using an old brown c/a right now.

[bunnyman666 445]

I don't think you will get better than a Brown. Me never having used one, I can't say for myself; but I haven't known ONE goalie who went from a Brown to anything else.

[minnsy 15]

Whichever fits you the best, and you're the most comfortable.

Head over to a local shop and try a bunch on. You'd be surprised which units other people said are bulky feel right to you, and ones which people said are great just don't mesh with you.

(As far as companies that you won't find in your LHS, if you got the $$$, I haven't met a single person who's said something bad about Brown. Same goes for Passau).

[walkerdb7 18]

If you read my recent post about Brian's, you'll see some thoughts

Basically, there's some better and worse units in my opinion... But you have to try them on. Some units hug and some units are meant to fit loose... I'd start there

[IPv6Freely 2083]

Brown and Passau are generally regarded to be the best for protection. As for mobility, you pretty much have to try them on to really be able to tell what works for you.

[walkerdb7 18]

I would put the GNetik up against any of them. . . It hugs the body and comes up nice and high on the ribs, the weight feels great, the arms are very flexible, the padding feels solid, and it has modern material on the inside where you sweat. I was shocked more C/A's didn't have a better material for moisture wicking on the inside. I'm a big sweater, so I appreciate the use of good materials.

[psulion22 402]

Brown is obviously the gold standard in protection. But they aren't very mobile.

I've seen a Passau and wasn't impressed. Yes, yes I know everyone loves them, blah blah blah. I don't need a marketing explanation of how awesome they are. I've felt it, i've worn it. i didn't see what all the hype was about. Just my opinion, and I'm just giving it in the interest of full disclosure.

I tried on a Gnetik at GM when they first came out. Light, solid, good mobility. I was pretty impressed. No use in it, so I don't have any imput on stingers, durability, and such.

I have a Ritual G1 Pro. I love the thing. Really protective, I've never had a stinger, even to the ribs. The plastic plates are pretty cool. It's superiorly adjustable and fits me really, really well because of it. I didn't have the problems with breakage in the arm hinge that others have had, but it was a known issue. The plastic arms do make it a little heavier, I think. But, it isn't noticable on, and it's very mobile and breathable. I wouldn't hesitate to get a G2 Pro with the improved plastic arms.

i've heard good things about the new Premier, particularly when compared to past versions of it. It looks pretty solid, but I haven't actually seen one in person.

If I were to buy a new unit, it would likely be one of the 3 above. Just my .02

[IPv6Freely 2083]

I tried on one of the non-Pro Premiers. Awesome C/A, you could tell it was going to be solid. It just REALLY didn't fit me. The arms were way too long unfortunately. That's the issue I have with retail C/A... even the ones with "adjustable" arms are only ever adjustable to go LONGER, never shorter. That pretty much left me with either a pro stock Warrior, a custom Brown, or a custom Passau.

The other option I guess would have been to buy a smaller unit and have another row of belly protection added. I'm sure Sara @ PAW would be able to whip something up like that easily.

In the end I ended up going Passau because of the reputation for being so mobile and protective, plus the customer service I got when customizing it. It's a bit of a wait for a custom C/A of course, but it should be arriving just after the start of my next season.

[Thinkingjack 51]

I've tried, TPS, Brians M series, Brians Sub Zero, Gnetik, a P4, and some dudes Brown before settling on my Bauer Reactor 6000

Honestly out of all of them the Reactor 6000 is the best one ive received, it was used for like 2 games before the season ended for some college goalie and oooooh man, just love it

my only grip are the arm blocks, i keep getting stingers on my left arm off that but i have found out they werent on the elastic bands enough so they were taking full shots, now its fine.

[IPv6Freely 2083]

I'm currently in a Reactor as well, and really do like it. But that's after stitching up the arms a couple inches to shorten them. Still doesn't quite fit right. It's also the lowest Reactor model so it was time for an upgrade. I'd have just gone to a beefier Reactor if they had separately sized body and arms.

[Thinkingjack 51]

Funny you say that, i went with this reactor because a local woman brought me hers to cut the arms and shorten them. Because they're pieced in instead of tied in, it got interesting but i managed to shorten them by 2 inches each without having to cut at the wrist area of the arm pieces.

[IPv6Freely 2083]

Funny you say that, i went with this reactor because a local woman brought me hers to cut the arms and shorten them. Because they're pieced in instead of tied in, it got interesting but i managed to shorten them by 2 inches each without having to cut at the wrist area of the arm pieces.

Mine is speedy-stitched. (Ignore the staples, they were removed after I finished the stitching) It's done the job, but it's not perfect (and still longer than I'd like)

[jwoods_24 1]

Reebok P1 gets my nod.

[walkerdb7 18]

Estatic with my GNetik

[stitchy 1]

I was kind of wondering the same. My Itech Prodigy is pretty overkill for the mid-low level roller I play nowadays. I was thinking of the Bauer One.7 to use for roller only for a little less heat and weight, and more mobility. Thoughts?