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It doesn’t really matter, but no, they are not. i pointed out that their warranty covers only a certain amount of passes in that first year, so not sure why you keep pointing out that people are going to abuse the system. If they were smart enough to program the wheels to know how many passes they have done, you can be pretty sure the unit has a way of knowing the total. you don’t have to “look out” for Sparx. I’ve met Russ, he’s an intelligent guy.

Hi ryanmonty, Thanks for your notes/questions on our Warranty Policy. We just had a team meeting here at Sparx Hockey to review your concerns. Our policy had stated "Warranty is only valid in the country to which the Product was shipped at time of purchase." We have revised the policy to state "Warranty is only valid in the United States and Canada". We now honor our Warranty for Canadian customers regardless of the original shipping address of the sharpener purchase. You may have been living in the USA at the time of purchase and decided to move to Canada... the way things are going these days we need all the friends we can get in Canada ;) https://www.sparxhockey.com/pages/warranties Background - The limitation in the previous Warranty policy was a protection for us in cases where customers were located in regions where we currently don't have a service bureau (we will be expanding internationally very soon). Despite our current North American shipping restriction, Sparx sharpeners have already made their way to many countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia/NZ. For these locations it would be impractical to cover return shipping, which is included in our policy, on a warranty claim. I hope this clears things up and helps you with your decision. As always, thanks for your interest in Sparx Hockey products. Happy Holidays! Cheers, Russ CEO, Sparx Hockey

Hey guys, a friend on the hockey reddit told me about this forum. I'm an independent iOS developer (and a hockey player) and was frustrated with the limitations of the Apple Watch Workout App for tracking my hockey. So I decided to write my own app. It's in beta right now and I have about 70 testers so far but could use a few more, not only to test out the current version for bugs and crashes but I've also started a Slack Channel so that you can leave your feedback but also guide the development as we go forward as far as new features etc. I want this to be THE hockey tracking app BY hockey players. If you're interested in signing up for the beta (or if you just want to get on the mailing list to be notified when it's available) sign up here: http://hockeytrackerapp.com/ Join our Slack here: https://join.slack.com/t/hockeytracker/shared_invite/enQtMjc2ODA3NTY3MzkyLTQ2NjdhYmQwMDk2NzQzMzgxOWY0M2U5OTEzNjFhNTVlZjQwNTUzODc4MzkzODA2MzMwOGZiNmRkNDU0MTBlNDI Thanks! Gary

I’m in the Apple developer program and would love to give it a whirl. I’ll go ahead and sign up.

Is there an actual point you’re trying to make? It just seems like we’re beating a dead horse here.

seems like the wrong topic for that discussion

I’m not giving somebody business who messes up my skates. The Sparx does a great job so I’ll stick to that.

Definitely nothing to do with dialect.

You may have a point with dialect.

You are welcome, see the wheels on the automatic machines are metal with abrasive on it . When these wheels need to be replaced it is because the abrasive is all gone. So this is indicative that each time that wheel is used it is losing the abrasive material. So after it does 30 sharpenings it has less abrasive material. The manual wheel is replaced when the diameter is at the discard size. The abrasive surface is still as affective as it was when it was installed. I am hearing alot of people wanting the automatic home machines because they can't get a good job done or travel to get a good job done or convenience. This thought is not for everyone: if there is a need in the area maybe someone should fill it . The mess ,it's not with a vacuum cleaner connected. Also the small pro machines are portable; do the skates at the rink , maybe make a couple bucks. Or a team or an organization can buy a machine . No I have never used or handled the fire machine. I did look it over ,and can see how it's done and see the potential points of having issues. This coming from an engineering, technical sort of mind. I made my first sharpener after bringing home a free skate holder from the rink and scavenging things from neighborhood trash as a kid . Also the automatic machine for home hasn't been in service long enough to prove standing up to time . Another question: if your skates are starting to get dull but useable and your team has a game two towns over and you see a lhs on the way to the rink so you think I should get them sharpened. You walk in and you see one of the commercial auto sharpeners on the counter ; would you hand your skates over or skate on what you have ? The cagone, dupliskate, etc . I think most would use the skates as they are (?)

thanks for your help Russ. Order placed.

Sure : when you manually sharpen a skate ,the operator can feel the blade on the wheel. The sensation of what you are going over, like the difference between running your hand over skin that's perfect or skin that has been weathered . This gives you the message to the brain how to react to that . You can feel a blad that has a slight valley in one section. You can feel how different areas of the blade are cutting. That metal looks the same ,but there are slight variants in the make up you can compensate for; and it' just intuitive to do. Then there the hollow with a manual machine you can put any hollow from 5/16 to 13/16" . Then there are the wheels, you have an abundance of grit,hardness, the make up of the wheel meaning ceramic % . The speed going over the wheel you have complet control over. With experience then you can modify a blade as you would like .The other is the surface of the wheel .You can have the same wheel surface until the wheel is to small in diameter. The auto sharpener essentially looses abrasiveness as it does multiple sharpening ,the 20th skate is being done with a different wheel surface then the 1st pair . The manual machine you redress the wheel and as far as it' compound it's fresh . These things make a huge difference. And most of the mechanics of doing the job are going to be intuitive from feeling the skate go over the wheel.

Well I imagine that they aren't taking cash out of pocket to demonstrate these products.. And they may even be getting paid to show the product. The guy that did this video all the video I see he does is about product reviews or pitching. The hockey movement person or people. Jeremy brings alot of teaching along with the product introduction. And he gives a true opinion of the products .And the guy has skills ,has wheels and hands . He can actually test the performance of a premium skate . I. Like how he goes to camps and clinics and shows power skating. The power skating people inviting him are a bit circus like with the hydra blading, jumping over the stick as skating, demontrating movement at speed. To teach it ,the best way is to do it slow break it down into steps. And it can't be taught in groups more then three ,because corrections need to be made as the movement is being done . Jeremy puts out a vibe of cincerity. As far as automatic sharpening machines, I don't get the appeal . You can do a better job with a manual machine, lower operation costs. And if you are mechanically inclined enough to change a toilet seat you have the capacity to learn how to do a decent job playing around with a pair of cheapo skates a few evenings.

Two months later, we got 'er done! http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/12/04/community-hub-ice/

My guess would be to try a longer profile, as the rotation in the holder seems to simulate a shorter rocker for those "smoother" / "easier" turns.

The Marsblade inline chassis is for 'training' not in game use. But speaking of inline, despite this new holder sounding intriguing I am always skeptical of moving parts being associated with a chassis or holder. I've been around long enough to see the quikchange or whatever it was called where you could swap holders from ice to inline, the rocker chassis, mission vibe chassis, & sprung chassis. All sounded good in theory but with the moving pieces it was only a time before something went wrong or broke.