YesLanges

Why would the color of the cage make a difference? It might feel that way, but I think it's an inaccurate perception, because white bars block your vision just as much as black bars.

I think if I were going to try to figure it out, I'd just bring a compass to the rink to see if there's a strong magnetic field there somewhere. The weird thing is it only happens once in a while and to two different watches with similar movements (and I never forget to keep them wound). I always put the bag in roughly the same place and neither of those watches has ever done anything like that anywhere else in 10+ years...it's just at the rink and only once in a while, but when it's happened, they're like a half an hour or an hour slow after only about 90 minutes off my wrist, which would have to be a relatively strong magnetic field.

That would be impossible without being noticed and it's happened during stick time, too...my stuff is actually under the penalty box bench to keep it out of the way, especially when there are a bunch of those foam bumpers for kids and other training shit piled up right behind our benches. It's not just in one of those small valuables bags, either; it's a decent-size trainer's bag with a ton of other shit and the watch is in a zippered padded case inside a much smaller valuables bag under all that other shit in there.

Agreed, but IMO, anybody who takes an aggressive slash at someone a couple of shifts after having his stick held for a few seconds sort of playfully (especially, after having just done the exact same thing to that guy on the previous face-off) is exactly the type who just might carry it over. This guy can't claim the excuse of ignorance either, because he's a very experienced and good player who played Juniors in Massachusetts and beer league for at least 40 years. Also, to be entirely fair, when you play year after year with and against the same core group of about 100 guys, there are sometimes a few guys who do develop long-term dislikes for one another; in fact, a couple of them have always had to be placed on the same team for years, because the league considers that safer than having them play against one another. Nothing happened, but I figured if he wanted to go that route, might as well just get it over with and then move on afterwards.

If you just change the gender of the genitals in your question, the answer is yes.

I took a very hard clearing flip flush about 2 weeks ago that would have been at least a few teeth with my half shield. The last time I wore a visor in a game was about 2 years ago for one game. There was one guy who had a beef with me (for holding his stick when we both got to a puck, exactly the way he did to me about 20 seconds earlier after he lost a face-off) who I thought might want to carry that over to our next game from the way he slashed me a few shifts later; so I switched back to a visor to match his for the next game, just in case, so we could get it over with if he really wanted to.

Disregard. Figured it out.

JR, I sent a couple of messages to the PSP email but never got an answer to my 2 questions. I have two specific questions before sending them in: (1) What would you recommend to try for my Marsblades if 8'/13' w/aggressive fwd pitch still feels too flat for me? and (2) The PSP charts go by boot size, but my 288s are a little big for Size 10 skates; so would you suggest moving up to the next largest profile on the size chart or sticking with whatever corresponds to Size 10 boots. I'll send them in as soon as I know what to order. Thanks in advance for your help.

They definitely feel better with the fix installed, but still too flat...maybe a little worse than my regular blades used to feel before I started having them pitched forward...so the MB seem to just be undoing the forward pitch that I'm comfortable with...and it's reintroducing the same feel that led me to pitch my regular blades forward in the first place. I'm thinking the reason MB seem to promote my cross-under is simply that I'm more on the 13' part of my blade (8'/13') with them...I understand that extended cross-under is generally a good thing, but it's not worth the balance trade-off of also feeling too flat-footed at the same time even if they extend the length and time and distance of my cross-under...and because they extend the cross-under time, I can't move my feet quickly enough in sequence...I'm crossing under very deliberately like I'm always in a power-skating class and doing the drill where you're supposed to exaggerate the cross-under/cross-over without picking your skates up off the ice. I'm thinking that I might just need even more forward pitch on MB to duplicate the same body posture on steels that move. It may be related to my being one of those people who naturally always walk like we're facing into a headwind or walking uphill. (I'm only aware of this from what people have always told me and from seeing myself on film...to me, it feels like I'm walking normally and not leaning forward at all...and I know it's genetic from my dad's side because that's how his brother walked.) That might explain why regular neutral profiles (and MB) feel like I'm too far back on them. It's also possible that MB just won't work for me because the same pitch that I'd need anytime the blades move back would be ridiculous anytime they're not moving. I'm currently awaiting a suggestion from the PSP before deciding what to do to them to try them again, but they're not going to work for me on my regular profile.

As I explained on p.5 of this thread, I was going to try your fix before messing with my regular profile. What would you suggest for someone who is very comfortable on 8'/13' and an (already) aggressive forward pitch? Some specific recommendation would be greatly appreciated so that I don't have to pick a new profile through guesswork, because I have no other reason to consider changing the profile that works great for me until I put them on MB. Negative on the likelihood that it's a transition-time issue that will resolve without a different profile. The first hour on un-adjusted MB didn't change at all after the first few minutes and it was the exact same experience for me after more than a full hour on them after installing the adjustment piece that you provided. It was definitely an improvement over the un-adjusted MB, but nothing changed for me during that session, either. So far, I'm noticing zero benefit and it feels like I have too much blade on the ice (and/or my weight is too far back) during crossovers and transitions. If MB are going to work for me, it's definitely going to be on a different profile. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Nicholas...appreciate any suggestions.

I installed the modifiers that I received from Per (thank you). He supplied two sets, one of which restricts the steel's movement more than the other, so I started off with the one that restricts it more, figuring that if that eliminated the issue, I could then experiment with the smaller restriction afterwards. It made enough of a difference that I was able to just do drills and shoot around this time without concentrating on my skating the entire time I was on them. While a big improvement over the unrestricted motion, I'm still too flat-footed for comfort on crossovers and transitions and it just feels like I'm at 75% of my normal skating capacity without any noticeable benefit of the technology at all. No improvement after an hour of skating. If the motion were to be limited any further, I think they would just feel exactly like my regular steels but with the unnecessary added weight of the MB holders. I guess the next step for me before concluding that it's a bust would be changing my profile from 8'/13' to 8'/11' or something like that. JR, do you have a recommendation for what profile I should try through the PS Project and/or do you agree that if MBs are going to work for me, it will only be by finding a different profile than what I'm used to on my regular steels?

Thanks, Deke. I'm not using the original Lange holders...using semi-modern Icetek holders and removable steels (2 screws). I responded to JR via email.

Thanks, Per. I hope you're right and I'll try your fix before I start messing with my profile. Not looking forward to that at all. II'll be on my regular blades in a few hours and I'm going to try to be more aware of where it feels like my weight is distributed for comparison to help me understand what might be accounting for the difference the next time I'm back on MB.

Thanks, Man. I'm thinking that my aggressive forward pitch might actually be the main reason that I'm not feeling too far back on my heels, which seems to be the most common negative comment from others. Agree regarding stability. I'll try the fix that Per sends, but I'm thinking that as between reducing the amount of pivot (which undermines the main purpose of the whole design concept) and keeping that same pivot but adjusting the profile, the latter would be preferable. If the fix doesn't work (and maybe even if it does), I think I might try reducing the 13' in case the pivoting is just putting me more onto the 13' part of my blade than I need to be to keep my mobility. Ideally, if these things are going to work for me, I'd rather maximize that pivot and take full advantage of the design concept but just find the right profile for them if it turns out that the right profile on conventional steels just aren't the right profile for me on a pivoting blade. Re. the Lange boot, I really don't think that's a variable in this equation. For one thing, it's the same boot I'm already using and it's the same profile that already works for me with conventional steels. (The boots would be more likely to be a variable if I didn't already have a profile that works for me with regular steels on the same boots.) For another (and probably, more importantly), the bottoms where the holders actually attach is no more or rigid than the bottoms of any other skate boots. So, I think I'm no different from any other user in that I'm just comparing the MB to what already works for me with regular steels on the same exact boot.

Thank you. The reason I asked is that I already reviewed that chart and it goes by skate size. My skates are size 10, which is right on the line at the high end of one profile, but (I believe) 288 mm steels could also go with a larger skate. So, I'm asking which profile corresponds to 288 steels, because I can't imagine that boot size is a more reliable determinant than steel length. Likewise, I'm asking those with more experience, such as yourself, which first option they might go with based on my interest in increasing speed if I'm very comfortable on my current 8'/13' with fwd pitch, because your experience trumps my flipping a coin to decide between a triple and quad radius. Thanks in advance for any input.

I never knew anything about it. In the meantime while I see about working things out with Marsblades, I have a set of steels about ready for sharpening. What would you recommend for 288 mm steels to try to improve my straightaway speed if I'm currently very comfortable on 8'/13' with aggressive forward pitch (FBV 95/1)? (Curious why the chart goes by skate size and not steel length.)

Thanks, Per. I'm Backer # 497.

Thanks for your reply, Per. I'm open to suggestion if those details give you any ideas about how to make them work for me. If it's cool with you, I'd rather just continue the conversation here, where it benefits everyone and where I first learned about your product campaign. I don't have Facebook or Instacrack or Twitter or any social media presence, so a forum is my most comfortable medium for a serious conversation that might be of equal interest and benefit to others. Thank you for being willing to discuss this without taking offense at a substantially negative review. I tend to be a little wordy, but most of them have meaning and what I mean to provide is one customer's genuine, objective, and totally unfiltered honest thoughts about your product without editing anything that's an honest impression or factual so as not to offend an overly sensitive or defensive product designer...and you don't seem to pose that concern. So I'm looking forward to learning from your experience. The only thing I can think of might be to change from my 8'/13' radius to something different, but I don't really know what adjustment to try first or whether I should change other variables first. Not crazy about spending $60-70+ every time I have to ship them back and forth to No-Icing and pay for a whole new combo profile and FBV sharpening again each time they need a tweak. Probably less enthused about spending my practice time on this instead of doing drills and working on my skills just as I'm feeling close to 100% again since coming back from a herniated disk in June and getting ready to play again next month. But if there's a good chance of a potential payoff, I'm probably invested too much already to pull the plug after 1 skate. I'm just disappointed that I didn't take to them after 10 or 15 minutes the way I did when switching over to a combo radius and FBV. I'll be more than happy to add to this description to include the ongoing efforts and any successes figuring out how to make these right for me. On my current MB configuration, my 8'/13' radius doesn't provide additional stability, except in a bad way: my edges are controlling me, or at least, I always have to keep that from happening. Lifting my skates off the ice feels like they're stuck a bit. Forward stride feels largely the same as usual, but doesn't generate as much speed. I notice some extra stability backwards. I cannot un-weight my outside skate in sync with shooting normally off my inside leg. My crossovers are being pulled into exaggerated power-skating-class style of slow and deliberate and longer range, but without input from me on that...pretty much going for a ride on them. Trying to generate speed around a circle, it looks like I'm demonstrating exaggerated good form and full extension at half speed...but I can't do it at regular speed to get moving. There's a balance issue somewhere because i can't get into crossing over at a good clip at all..only one or two longer-than-usual-range crossover strides in either direction. No issues stopping or cutting as sharply as I want to. Is there anything so far that you think I might want to try before re-profiling my steels? -Charles

After waiting almost 2 years, I finally got the chance to try them out. They're on a pair of Langes, but those are the only skates I wear, so that shouldn't be a factor since I'm comparing apples to apples. I also had them radiused and profiled by the same shop (No-Icing Sports in New Hampshire) to the exact same specs as all of my other steels: combo 8'/13' radius, aggressive forward pitch, shaved heels and toes, and FBV 95/1. The installation was perfectly centered and the one thing about Langes is that there's no issue of getting used to another pair, because they don't have to be broken in at all and I purposely used my favorite liners from my current skates instead of different liners to eliminate any other variables. So, I'm confident that the only variable being tested was the new blades. I didn't feel too far back on my heels, but it wasn't a positive experience at all. They felt like they had way too much blade on the ice and they definitely slowed me down instead of improving my straightaway speed. I did concentrate on my stride and tried to find a way to get them to work with me instead of against me, with little success. The only potential positives were: (1) they seemed to promote a noticeably-lengthened cross-under; (2) I was surprised that they felt a little more stable skating backwards than my usual skates. (3) It's possible that they facilitated a slightly sharper turn, but that could also be that they were freshly sharpened. I'm going to see whether I can cut as sharply on my regular steels on Friday after a few passes with a my edger, just for comparison, because I was consciously testing how sharply I could cut yesterday, which isn't something I normally do. (4) A few times, my lead outside edge caught the ice in a way that felt like I might be able to work on a cut-stop or front-foot brake-turn, which isn't something I can normally do; so I'm also going to test that on my regular skates for comparison. That's it for the positives, and I'm being as generous as possible. Now, for the negatives: (1) Slower straightaway speed, as mentioned above. (2) Too much blade on the ice, as mentioned above. (3) My forward crossovers required deliberate concentration and I couldn't get any hop into them at all. (4) Shooting off my inside leg required me to first transfer all of my weight onto that leg very early and shoot from a flamingo stance. This wasn't something I did consciously at all; it just happened naturally. After an hour on them, they felt no better (in any respect) than they did after the first 10 minutes. It's possible that reducing my radius would counteract the sensation of too much blade on the ice, but I'm thinking if that's the case, what's the point of the technology if I have to do that just to get back to a normal feel? I'll be skating on my regular blades on Friday and don't even know that I'll be skating on these again if a full hour on them provided none of the advantage they're supposed to offer. I take full responsibility for taking the gamble (roughly $400 when you factor in their cost and the cost of mounting and profiling them); but to be perfectly honest, I'd have to say that the promotional videos (now) seem deceptive to me and I'm just being 100% honest based on my hour on them. I just don't see how it's possible for anybody to slip these on for the first time and instantly recognize an immediate and obvious benefit after 3 or 4 strides the way all the pros featured in them describe. The most benign and innocent explanation would be the placebo effect based on their expectations and what they were told they'd experience. Frankly, I don't know that I really believe the most benign and innocent explanation is more likely than the less benign and less honest explanation that they simply said exactly what they were being paid to say to promote a product. Of course, this is perfectly legal as "puffery" and no different from testimonials for myriad other consumer products featuring celebrity spokespeople, but it would be much more believable to me if those pros described a benefit only after some time on them and after some time dialing in their blade specs. Based on my experience, I just can't believe that anybody laced them up for the first time and noticed the tremendous benefit that all of them describe in those videos. I may try them again, but I only get to practice once or twice a week and I hate wasting an hour of practice the way I felt like I did yesterday; and no way I'm playing in these the way I skated in them. I'm sorry, Per; but this was my experience and these are my genuine thoughts after an hour on them. I wouldn't have made the investment in them if I hadn't been hoping to be able to share a much more positive experience, obviously. I even rushed to get them installed so that I'd be able to try them out in time to order a second set of steels for them before the backers-only sale ends this Friday if they worked for me. I do appreciate the effort that went into the technology, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel somewhat mislead by the promotional videos for the reason explained above. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to them. Thank you. Respectfully, -Charles

The A Vision Ahead Elite bubble does not fog at all, at least not on the ice. It may fog a bit on the bench depending on conditions. It's literally like having nothing in front of you. I checked the website to post a link for you here before responding and was shocked to see that they don't seem to offer the full bubble anymore, only cage/visor combos. You might find one on eBay. Anybody know why they stopped producing these? I've only used it after (unrelated) dental surgery or when I had games the night before an international flight and couldn't afford taking any risk of a stick through my Pro-Tec cage. I don't have a good excuse for why I don't wear that bubble all the time. I no longer wear just shields for sticks & pucks, only because I don't want to get used to not having the cage in front of me and then play with the cage.

I wore a half-shield in my first 3 or 4 seasons and got chirped for NOT wearing a cage because there was only one other half-shield and 2 no-shields out of about 70 guys. One of the no-shield guys (Boston Jr. hockey in the 70s) took 7 stitches to his eyebrow and switched to a half-shield afterwards. Then, he got cut again from a face-to-face collision with a cage. Now, there are about 100 guys and about half a dozen shields and about that many with nothing but a helmet. I'm no longer one of them. I'm a very aggressive F1 forechecker so a lot of pucks get flipped just over my head and I had some very close calls from that. I also typically take away the board-rimming option on the right side as F2. One time, I turned to get off the ice instead of jamming the boards at their blue line because my shift was over. Elevated clearing attempt caught me flush behind the ear on the lowest part of my helmet...mouth level if I'd have been facing the play. I also camp out right in the slot facing the point for deflections and took one off the lowest part of the three-quarter Oakley shield I'd recently switched to from the smaller shields. With my smaller visor, that one would have been multiple chiclets. So I switched to old Pro-Tec cages after that, and now I get chirped because I wear them in contact with my big schnoz because that minimizes the reduced visibility of a modern cage. It's still vulnerable to stick blades, but guys in my league are responsible with their sticks and my main concern is getting blasted in the face by pucks. In my first season with the cage, a very good player missed my stick trying to lift it as I was beating him to the outside and his stick blade caught me flush on the cage so hard that it snapped my head back and drew a penalty. A few games later, one of my D-men (also, a very good player) whipped the puck into the offensive zone and his stick just flew out of his bottom hand as I was chasing it into the zone from behind him. That one caught me right across the cage like the follow-through of a baseball bat. This is what happened to my cage from the missed stick-lift and now I get chirped for still wearing it that way. https://s5.photobucket.com/user/ProWriter/media/Cage.jpg.html

Go into any gym and pick up a pair of these plain hand grips for about $5. Cut it to the right size with a pair of scissors and just insert it in between your foot and the skate. They're thinner and a lot cheaper than those gel pads. Everybody I know who has ever tried them said they solved the problem instantly. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Big-Back-Lifting-Grips-Straps-Weightlifting-Gloves-Cross-Training-Workout-Glove/110943375940

Mine are currently being mounted. Any idea what profile to go with compared to current profile on standard steels? I normally shave heels and toes and have a dual 8'/13' radius with an aggressive forward pitch and 95/1 FBV.

Any update on this, Santos?