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No, I just think we have different views on it. I have zero attachment to my skills or experience, if a better mousetrap comes along, I'm going to be skeptical, but go with it if I think it's the future. We're also in different positions. I've been here for over two years now, drilled our engineers on everything possible, sharpened thousands of skates on the Sparx... All the questions and doubts you have (and everyone else has when first seeing it), I had. It's quite possible that once you got your hands on it, we might have a similar views on it. My biggest issue with Sparx has been the height restrictions. Simply put, if you have banana blades and your steel is worn down to the plastic holder, you're not going to be able to get the whole blade. As a retailer, I'd want to be able to hit those spots to make my customers happy, since a lot of them don't care to get new steel and are happy with what they have. Nowadays, I'm pretty comfortable with it. I think, if someone buys a Sparx, they're obviously concerned with their blades and buying new steel is a pretty easy conversation to have. If you have worn down steel and you don't care about it, then there's a good chance you're not in the market to buy an in-home sharpener anyways. That's how I've rationalized it in my mind. And another point on this too, if we allowed the average consumer to be able to sharpen that high, inevitably we'd have a ton of users setting their height too high and pushing the limits on how little steel they can skate with (better instructions would only help those who read them :)). As of right now, I'm really comfortable with where we are with the product and wouldn't change much (maybe make that Grinding Ring returning home part a little faster as someone already pointed out). Shoot me a message with your address and I'll send you a demo unit with a couple Grinding Rings for you to mess around with. You keep mentioning you haven't seen one yet, we should fix that.

Our game was cancelled :( They finally re-did the ice because it was getting dangerous, but I guess they decided it was still too soft. I have to question how bad it’s going to stay since they can’t seem to keep the building cold, despite how small it is. Sure looks nice though:

There IS a professional "Pro" version coming out in August (it's called the PS100). The short story is we never intended for our home sharpener to be used in a commercial setting. But, we've had close to 100 retailers buy them and try to use them this way, so we've got a new sharpener coming out with external filtration and a souped up motor that can handle all of the extra use. We're launching a new site on it soon that will have all the details. If you're a retailer, there's a chance you got our White Paper in the mail already and will be hearing from us again soon. If you don't want to read that paper , we talk about the benefits three different types of shops see when using Sparx. Low, medium, and high volume. Low Volume: Don't offer skate sharpening? Need an option that's not 30K and won't require months/years of training? Sparx is an excellent way to break into the market and get up and running quickly for a low cost. Medium Volume: Maybe you already own a Blademaster/Blackstone but only have one or two employees who know how to operate it well (they also tend to be your most valuable/knowledgeable/highest paid employees who would benefit your business more on the sales floor). Use the Sparx to supplement your existing machines and give every employee the ability to sharpen skates at an NHL level with minimal training. High Volume: Control your wait times by adding Sparx to your current solution. Have 30+ minute wait times on the weekends? Most folks who have to wait over 30 minutes drop skates off and come back. Now you can calculate the volume of skates, determine your ideal wait time (we've found that 15-20 minutes will usually keep those customers walking around in the store) and buy 2, 4, 6 Sparx Sharpeners to keep those wait times down AND increase throughput. Seriously, it's pretty amazing when you see one person manning 4-6 Sparx at a time... that's 2-3 pairs of skates every ~3 minutes--by one employee. So, that's my cliff notes version of the White Paper. In all of these cases, consistency and quality are huge benefits in our eyes as well. A 1/2" in California by a 17-year old will be the same as a 45-year old in New England. When we talk to consumers, almost all mention consistency and convenience as being the most important factors to them. Sparx can help retailers give them that.

Foxings are usually decorative and accomplishes two things - protect the edge of the boot and also clean up the look.

I'll chime in as another fan of the 710. I've had about 7 games with it now, and I have to say that it's personally the most comfortable helmet I've ever worn.

It has been a long time since I've posted on MSH. But, have had a fair amount of change over the last year. I work in Sales and was traveling pretty heavily which was taking it's toll on the family (Wife & 3 kiddos). We weren't in the worst financial situation but it was apparent some change needed to happen. Luckily, an opportunity came up about June/July last year that turned into reality. Started a new job (same profession & industry....just diff. company) in Nov. last year and moved the family in March. It allowed us to clean up debt, purchase a much more appropriate sized home, and start getting in front of our finances properly. It has been a very exciting, fun, stressful, frustrating, and ultimately great experience. Kudos to my wife and kids who helped make everything 100x easier by being the awesome people they are. And I found a rink nearby so I've been able to start playing again after about a 12mo hiatus. So that's nice too!

With our custom program we can alter the lie of your pattern if that is what you want, just need to specify that when you place the custom order through a dealer.