marka

Howdy, 1/2" Radius ring is still showing as being backordered 10-15 days today... What's the scoop here? Everything all right in Sparx land? Mark

Howdy, When Bauer recently came out with their new Re-Akt 200 helmet, their claims of "next generation protection" and "enhanced impact management" caught my eye. Virginia Tech also rated it as their first 4 star helmet, leading me to think that there might be more behind that than the standard "bold new marketing". Couple that with me not being particularly happy with how my previous helmet (CCM Resistance 300) interacted with my cage (Bauer Re-Akt Titanium Face Mask)*, that helmet having been a used purchase, and me using it ~4 times a week for over a year. I was ready to explore getting a new helmet. I picked one up at SummerJam in Toronto and have been using it since. Coming up on 2 months now playing ~4 times a week and I figured I'd give folks my thoughts. Price paid: $349.99 CAD, without cage Purchased From: Pro Hockey Life - Vaughn Mills, Toronto, ON (note that the cage shown here is one I already owned, not the one that comes with the combo) Protection Let's start with a protection review, since this was certainly a major factor for my interest in this helmet. But this necessarily has to be anecdotal. I do not have a helmet impact testing lab, I don't have a degree in mechanical engineering, and I'm not a brain surgeon. I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn. I'm also not willing to go skate head first into the boards, even if I could somehow manage to do that consistently enough to have it be meaningful. Instead, like basically everyone else, I have to rely on information from others. Luckily, it seems like I've started playing hockey in a time when the protectiveness of helmets is receiving increasing attention. Bauer claims that this helmet is their most protective to date. They tout their VTX Technology, Suspend-Tech NG Liner system with XRD foam, FIT PLATE customizable occipital lock, etc. That all sounds good, but its not like any manufacturer is going to introduce a new helmet with a claim like "uses the same old tech we've always used, but we added a new decal!" Luckily these days, there's an independent testing lab attempting to quantify these types of claims. Virginia Tech's Hockey STAR rating system attempts to assign a value that "represents the theoretical incidence of concussion for one player season assuming that the player experienced the same range of head impact conditions and frequency as outlined in the Hockey STAR methodology." Ok, look... VT's ratings are hugely controversial. I've heard every possible detraction... "Its a football test", "no helmet can prevent a concussion", "helmet xyz didn't score as well as helmet abc even though its the same helmet except for some minor padding changes". "They only use one head form so the test is naturally biased to helmet that fit that head shape". Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. And it doesn't help that VT's system doesn't just report the average impact attenuation and instead attempts to assign a number that is supposed to be "how likely are you to get a concussion?". But even with all that, they're the only game in town who is publicly testing impact attenuation of hockey helmets. Do I think the Re-Akt 200's rating of .330 - 3.30 (the best they've ever tested) REALLY means that I'll get one third of a concussion next season? Not really. Do I think it means that this helmet attenuated impacts better than any other helmet they've tested? Yeah. I think that is pretty likely. As for my own personal anecdotal evidence (which, again, is just barely this side of meaningless since this is anything but scientific), I've had the occasional impact to pucks, sticks, people, ice, etc. This helmet seems to take more force to twist it out of position in those impacts. The worst impact I've had so far was running into another player hard enough that the helmet was twisted up on my head some, a contact popped out, and I was really wondering if I'd managed to injure myself. No headache or concussion symptoms resulted. Anyway, I've got to give this a rating so with both Bauer claiming this to be the most protective helmet they've ever sold and VT rating it the highest they ever have, I'm giving this one full marks. 10/10. Fit Ah, but what about fit? We all know that fit is the most important thing about helmets, right? "A helmet that doesn't fit well won't protect you!" "Ratings don't matter, the helmet that fits best protects best!" I don't have the background to validate those claims (and, frankly, I don't think 99.9% of the people making the claims do either). But that's beside the point. A helmet that doesn't fit well makes your head hurt, distracts you, shifts on your head screwing up your vision, etc. None of that is fun. Nobody wants to deal with any of that. But fit for a hockey helmet is a weird thing. First off, the damn things all adjust for size! As someone who comes from a motorsports background, that flat out just blew me away the first time I saw it. Second, everyone's head is different. Some are rounder, some are more oblong / egg shaped, some have weird bumps, some are pointy, etc. Making it worse, some people are more sensitive to pressure points on their head than others, some are less. The Re-Akt 200 adjusts two ways. The first (and primary) way is the standard sliding interaction between the front and back halves of the shell. Release the central (and tool free) locking clip and push/pull to slide the two halves such that the distance between the forehead and "backhead" are shorter/longer respectively. Note that this only adjusts the length... There is no width adjustment, unlike the Resistance 300 I used previously. The second mechanism is the Fit Plate at the back of the helmet. You bake this, after you take it out of the helmet, in your handy skate oven. Be sure to only use the Bauer branded skate oven attended by a trained(?) 16 year old professional or you will burn your house down. Then stick it back into the helmet, install the supplied foam wedge behind it to provide pressure to help form fit the Fit Plate to your head, and pop the helmet back on your noggin. After the Fit Plate cools, it'll have a new shape customized to your very own head. Primary Adjustment: Fit Plate: Fit Plate forming foam in place: One note on adjustments... It seems like the central locking mechanism releases catches higher up in the shell. For the sliding to happen though, the rear shell is slotted at the lower screw area (where a cage strap connect point will be), and it has to slide back and forth there. The locking mechanism doesn't affect this area, and my experience with a few of these helmets at the store showed that some of them slide easier than others here. Pay attention to this when you're adjusting them to ensure that the shells are sliding uniformly on each side, etc. I also had the helmet "self adjust" a bit in this area when it was in my bag. Now I glance at the slotted opening before I toss it on my head, to make sure its showing about the same amount of slot as it was before. Pay attention! I'm now going to tell you how the helmet fits on my head. I'm not sure this is particularly valuable to anyone, but I'm writing stuff down so I might as well keep going. My previous helmet was a CCM Resistance 300, size large, adjusted to around 1/3 from full closed. I thought that fit reasonably well. The one before that was a Bauer 2100, also size large. My recollection is that that one rocked around on my head a little bit more, but its been a while. I mentioned these helmets had caught my eye, and I'd tried a few on. The first Re-Akt 200 I tried on was a size Large, with the size closed down fairly tight. I did this while I was waiting for skates to be sharpened. It felt ok, nothing special one way or the other. When I actually bought this helmet (at Pro Hockey Life - Vaughn Mills location in Toronto... Simply awesome hockey store, with a HUGE selection), I got serious about it and brought along my then current helmet (the aforementioned Res300). This time when I put on a size Large and compared it directly, it came up wanting. The helmet was comfortable enough, but it rocked around on my head some, with the sides of the helmet seemingly a decent ways away from the sides of my head. I was ready to throw in the towel on the helmet at that point, but decided to see if a Medium helmet would work. Turns out a Medium adjusted out to near the max size seemed to fit great. I had even pressure all the way around my head, with no rocking at all. When putting on the helmet, it seemed like there was almost a 'suction fit' between the liner and my head. This of course makes some intuitive sense... With the standard "sliding shell halves" adjustment mechanism many helmets use, clearly whether a particular helmet fits a more round or oblong shape depends on where that helmet is adjusted in its range. This type of helmet at its minimum size is necessarily going to be more "round" than a helmet adjusted to its maximum size, so the Medium size was a little better for my more egg shaped head than the Large. Cool trick! Anyway, just to be sure, I put my cage on it (again, I re-used my Re-Akt Ti cage) and it still felt great in the store. The store clerk who was helping me said it looked like (and felt, we did the standard "hold the helmet, move your head" test) it fit great as well and recommended not even bothering heat forming the Fit Plate since it was comfortable and not moving. I still haven't heat formed it, and for now it remains "factory", though I eventually would like to, mostly "just because", vs. any real expectation that the fit will change. Initially on the ice at my first game, I had similar feeling all around as in the store. I never had sweat running into my eyes, the helmet never shifted, etc. The helmet felt more form fitted to my head than the Res300 I'd been using. That stayed consistent for 1.5 hours of continuous play. What did happen is that one of the pads dug in a bit just over my right ear. It was just that one side and I would say I first noticed it around 30 minutes into the game. It got slightly worse as the game went on and by the time I was done I was happy to take the helmet off. Looking at the area, it seems like there's space behind the pad, plus the helmet was new, so my plan was to live with it for the next ten games or so and see if it got better before I take any more invasive measures. Bad pressure point. Bad! Unfortunately with a couple months in, I can't report any significant improvement. It might take 45 minutes to an hour for that area to start being annoying, but it still happens. If I play back to back games, I'll yank the helmet during warm up for the 2nd game to give my head a rest. I have not attempted to address it in any fashion, mostly because I can't see what I can do to change it. I've confirmed that there is still a little space behind that pad when the helmet is on my head and because those pads are "floating", I don't see any way to convince that area to have a little less pressure except for perhaps cutting the pad, which I'm hesitant to do for fear of destroying it and/or making the pressure points worse. Anyway, all that said, I'm going to put fit at 8/10. I was really hoping break in would take the annoyance away, but at this point I'm not holding out too much hope. Still, the level of irritation is minor enough that I can ignore it. Weight On my completely uncertified postage scale that's been kicking around my house for 20 years or so, the helmet plus my Re-Akt Ti Cage is ~29oz. You, the dear reader, can go compare that to whatever you'd like, so I'm going to base my rating on "did I notice anything different about the weight while wearing it compared to any other helmet I've worn"... And the answer to that is no, I did not. So I'll go with 9/10 here, just because I didn't jump with joy about how light it was. Durability Well, it hasn't broken yet playing 4 or 5 times a week for a couple months. There's been no appreciable wear to anything either. Of course, I wouldn't expect there to be either of those things in 30 games or so, so I'll rate it as 8/10 because I think I scratched it with something in my bag and it didn't magically heal itself. Intangibles Let's throw "style / looks" into this one. It looks like "a normal black hockey helmet" to me. I'm pretty oblivious to style though, so maybe you might care about something more. Look at the pictures and make your own call. I'm also going to put in "mechanics and such" in here... A few things to note... The chin and cage strap points are easy enough to reach and feel and the cage straps seemed to solidly hold the cage closed. I never had sweat run into my eyes. I never felt like the helmet was appreciably hotter or cooler than my previous helmet. I'll lump all that into a 9/10 rating. I don't want to have its babies, but I'm not kicking it out of bed either. Cost I'm going to add cost as its own category because this is obviously a driving factor for everyone. About the only good thing I've come up with for starting hockey so much older than the average bear is that I'm fortunate enough to be fairly well established in life/career/etc. As such, I'm in a position where if I think a $300 (USD retail) helmet is something I want, I can afford to buy it. However, that 18 year old kid I was sitting next to on the bench a couple weeks ago who's just graduated high school and works at the local ice cream shop isn't in the same position. This helmet is the most expensive one currently at Hockey Monkey. I have to rate cost as 1/10 for that reason. I had to pause at the idea of replacing my helmet with it, even though I clearly wanted it. Conclusion This is a really expensive helmet. It is a helmet for people that believe that there are meaningful differences in the protection offered by helmets, even between helmets that "fit well". Its Bauer's current state of the art. Its Virginia Tech's highest rated helmet. It fits me quite well. I like it, I can afford it, and I'm happy I bought it. All those categories above will be weighted differently for different people. If you're the 18 year old ice cream shop kid, the cost category is probably going to matter a heck of a lot more than the intangibles category. And even though maybe it shouldn't, I bet it'll matter more than the protection category as well. But for me and my weighting of the categories, all that above comes out as a 9/10 combined rating for me right now. I wish it cost a little less. Warrior's top of the line Covert PX+ is less than 2/3 the cost. CCM's top of the line Tacks 710 is even less. I'm also not ecstatic about that pressure point above my right ear, and may eventually try and address it. Those are my two nits as compared to all the positives and at least at this early date, I'm quite happy with this lid. About me Height: 5'10" Weight: 175 lbs Head Circumference: 22 3/4" Location: Youngstown, OH (Pittsburgh, PA hockey area) I'm a 47 year old parent who got skates and a stick when his son got interested in hockey, then discovered I loved it. I've been playing for a little under 2 years now, typically on the ice four or five times a week. Nobody would mistake me for someone that is good at the game, but I'm slightly better than a true beginner at this point. * The Re-Akt cage "fits" on the Res300 helmet, but the helmet has adjustment sliders where cage strap snap points usually are. They (presumably) put the snap points lower on the helmet because of this and that, coupled with the fairly high attachment points for the straps on the Re-Akt cage, meant that the strap angle was such that it didn't do a great job of holding the cage closed. A nit, but one that annoyed me.

Howdy, You mean the cars? The '95 Neon on the right is an SCCA ITA car for roadracing. Haven't run it in quite a while, its now mostly a rolling shelf. On the left is an '89 Civic Si that's prepped for STS class autocross. Mark

Howdy, I may have gone a little overboard with this dryland practice setup... Mark

Howdy, That's actually a good question... How many pairs have you sharpened? Of machines "in the wild", what are some of the higher sharpening counts out there? Mark

Howdy, I probably missed it in the thread but... If you want to have Tuuk holders mounted, it sounds like you can still ship them to True/VH and have them mounted. Does the boot get discounted since you're not using the True/Step holder? Is there any extra charge to mount the Tuuk holder instead? Mark

Howdy, That sucks man. I really hope it works! We also had some issues in that regard, but the turkey baster thing worked so we didn't get that far. Mark

Howdy, Maybe call these guys? http://www.torontohockeyrepair.com/ I know nothing about them, but the website seems to say the right kinda things and they came up as a recommended shop when I was asking about toronto shops here prior to Summer Jam... Apologize if you already know about them! Mark

Howdy, Look, I'm a pretty new hockey player. When I show up to the rink, folks there in some seriously crusty old equipment make it really, REALLY clear that I have a lot to learn and that the best hockey equipment in the world isn't going to bridge that gap for me. So why in the world did I buy a set of $150 Warrior QRL Pro gloves back in March, shortly after they were introduced? I'll get to that. I promise. What: Warrior Covert QRL Pro 14” gloves Purchased Date: 3/2/17 Price paid: $149.99 Purchased From: Total Hockey (Now Pure Hockey) Usage: Averaging 4 games a week, since purchase. ~100 games at this point. Previous gloves used: Bauer Supreme One.8 14” (two pair), Winwell Anatomic Air Ported Fit I'm going to start off with fit because this is why I bought new high end gloves rather than older high end stuff on clearance (my preference) or even used equipment. I like tight fitting gloves. I started my brief-to-this point hockey career with some used Winwell Anatomic Air Ported 14” (I think? Might have been 15”) gloves. I never liked them. They always felt like they were falling off my hands and that got worse as I played in them more. Next up was some clearance Bauer Supreme One.8 14” gloves. These were MUCH better. I liked them so much, I bought another pair when I found a deal on some clearance ones. As you probably know, the Supreme is Bauer's 'anatomical' or 'contoured' fit line, with the Vapor the 'tapered' fit and the Nexus the 'traditional' fit. The anatomical gloves are supposed to fit fairly tight everywhere, the tapered are supposed to be tight in the fingers/backhand with a relaxed fit in the cuff, and the traditional fit is supposed to be looser everywhere. Different folks like different things, seemingly with the majority liking either traditional fits or maybe a tapered fit. I like tighter fits. Here's the thing with the One.8's. I loved them when they were new, but the first pair wore a hole through my right palm in fairly short order (around 50 to 75 games or so). When I put the second pair into action they were great at first but when they broke in they were loose enough that I caught myself thinking about adjusting my gloves out on the ice rather than playing hockey. That was not good. I'm an awful hockey player. The last thing I need is to be distracted too. So I went looking for a tight fitting glove. What I wanted to find was a glove with a velcro strap across the back of the wrist so that it just could not ever come loose. I used to race motorcycles and that was how you made gloves stay in place. Everyone I talked to about that thought I was a complete nutter. So I kept looking and then noticed Warrior was coming out with an AnyFlex cuff. It was designed to stay tight and close to the wrist, attached to the rest of the glove with some mesh to provide some mobility. It seemed like the driving force with this design was increased protection from slashes & such, but I was interested entirely because it seemed like they might stay on my hands better. Of course, this was a new design for Warrior and it was only on their high end gloves, the Covert QRL Pro ($150 retail) and Covert QRL ($200 retail). The cheaper gloves in the line (QRL3, QRL4, and QRL5) had a different (more traditional) style wrist/cuff. That wasn't awesome, but I put a pair of them on at my local Total Hockey and loved them. Compared to every other glove I tried as well as my Supreme One.8's, there just wasn't a comparison. They just felt super. So I violated my own rules and bought them. The first game, I wondered if I'd gone too tight. I needed to use two hands to put the gloves on, with the 'other' hand pulling up on the Axy Flex cuff to get the glove fully on my hand. However, that was a tradeoff I was more than willing to make (remember, I'd have been ok with a velcro strap!) I mentioned needing to do this and all the experienced people again thought I was insane. But when they were on my hands, I loved them. No hint of falling off. I never thought about them at all. And that was perfect. As they broke in over the next 10 or so games, that gradually changed a bit with the cuff getting a little looser. Today, around 100 games in, I can easily put them on 'one handed” and my hand slides right in past the cuff without needing to hold it in position with my other hand. The fit is correspondingly a little bit looser all around. It feels like I have a little more room in my palm/backhand area with the glove on and if I shake my hand moderately / try to the gloves come off. They are still tighter than the Supreme One.8's they replaced however and I haven't yet tried on another pair of gloves while standing around getting skates sharpened that I like the feel of better. Most important, they still don't ever feel like they're sliding off during a game. I don't notice much difference in flexibility / palm feel / whatever in most gloves I try on and these seem to fall in the “average” category there. I did recently put on a pair of Warrior's new Alpha QX glove with the “butter soft palm” and can confirm that that indeed is a more flexible / compliant palm than the Covert QRL Pro palm, but its more flexible / compliant than any other glove I've tried on too. I'll rate fit as 11 out of 10. They really are exactly what I wanted. Note btw that Ice Warehouse calls these a “Tapered Fit”. I don't agree. Certainly they have plenty of wrist mobility for me (and in that respect may compare directly to other “tapered” gloves), but every part of these gloves is close to my hand/wrist. It seems to me that there's a lot of blurring of the lines between “Tapered” and “Anatomical”/”Contoured” Speaking of fit, here's a super cool tracing of my left hand, so that you can compare it to your own: Protection Let's move onto protection. Here's the thing... I don't regularly slash my hands with sticks. While it happens in games occasionally, I fully expect that “how I get slashed” is WAY more important than “what gloves am I wearing” in terms of how likely I am to experience pain. I can confirm that catching a puck on the end of your unpadded finger still really hurts, as does blocking a shot with your unpadded palm. I've tried both and wouldn't recommend it regardless of what gloves you're wearing. That said, the glove seems pretty protective to me. There's certainly less of your wrist exposed with the Axy Flex cuff vs. the other gloves I've used / tried on. That has to be a good thing, protection-wise. The outside padding seems fine and comparable with other gloves and I've blocked a few shots / slashes with the outside of the gloves with no pain at all. Keep in mind that I'm a low level beer league guy, so YMMV. I imagine Marc Methot has better people advising him than me though. Given all that, I'll rate the protection as 10/10, mostly because the Axy Flex cuff seems like it should do a better job than most any other glove I've seen. The only times I've felt something are situations where any other glove would have resulted in the same type of pain / bruising or worse. Weight One of the gloves tips the scales on my trusty, completely uncertified, postage scale at between 10 and 11 ounces. You can compare that as you see fit, but on my scale of “how much do they seem to weigh in comparison to other gloves / do I notice the weight”, I'm going to rate them as a 9/10. They don't seem at all heavy, but they don't seem crazy light either. Durability Here's another place where I'm blown away by these things. As I mentioned, I wore through the right palm (I'm a left handed stick user) of a set of Supreme One.8 gloves in maybe 50 to 75 games. I also wore through the end of the outside canvas / material on a finger padding, which exposed the internal plastic covering and foam underneath. My next set of Supreme One.8's wore a little better (I switched to Tacki-mac grips during that period), but still showed a decent bit of wear on my right palm and loosened up quite a lot. Internal foam on both gloves in the fingers also loosened up and would bunch up / slide around / whatever. With these gloves, I've used Tacki-mac grips exclusively and spray the inside with a 50/50 alcohol / water mix after every game. This makes it not a direct comparison to that first pair of Supreme One.8's above, but the QRL Pros still look and feel almost new. No loose threads. The right palm has a couple letters of the screen printed “SMART PALM” text worn off. The outside of my right index finger where I grip the stick is maybe showing a bit of wear. But in general I'm 100 games in and these things are still pretty much brand new in look/feel/function. VERY impressed. The only thing I've noticed is that my right palm seems like it might have gotten a bit more stiff when I first put the glove on, but that's it and I'm not entirely sure I'm not making that up. My rating here is 10/10. Probably it should be an 11 like the fit rating, but I've already done that once. This top hand palm is holding up well: As is the outside of my index finger area: Intangibles Style/Looks aren't my most important criteria with most any hockey gear and certainly not functional protective gear. I think the gloves look fine, but so do lots of other gloves. Only you can make that call for yourself anyway. One intangible style thing that does matter to me is “how much does my wife hate my hockey gear?” The other gloves I've used have reeked. They were bad enough that if I wore them for any amount of time, even just putting them on for 10 seconds and then taking them back off, my hands would smell horrible. And lord help you if you sniffed the inside of the first pair of the Supreme One.8 gloves I used. I still remember the expression on my son's face when I tricked him into doing that. That's going to be responsible for some therapy dollars later. The QRL Pros attempt to address that with their Polygiene / WarTech FnC (Fresh and Clean) liner system. It seems to work. My 100 game gloves won't knock you over when you hold them up and breathe deeply and I've never washed them. I'll lump 'dexterity' in here too. When I was asking for recommendations for tight fitting gloves I heard lots of comments from folks about how they need a ton of wrist mobility, etc. I seem to be able to move my hands/wrist in any direction / orientation I want to with these gloves on. The thumb is flexible (I have not cut the loops) and its easy for me to pickup a stick or puck off the ice, etc. The index finger has three foam segments and I can curl my finger with the glove on just as tight as I can curl it with it off. Keep in mind that I'm an old guy that just started playing though. I have crap hands in terms of stick handling, so maybe you younger, more flexible, and/or better skilled folks will have a problem I don't have. But this is my review, so do your own. Axy Flex cuff: All together, I'll give the intangible rating a 10/10 as well, with the primary reason being the lack of stink. Cost I like to put cost as its own category in my reviews (this is my 2nd one, now I'm an expert!) because its a factor for everyone. If there's a single good thing about starting hockey later in life, its that in terms of life/career/etc I'm reasonably established and can afford basically any hockey gear I want to buy without needing to eat ramen noodles. That doesn't mean I WANT to spend money I don't have to though, and these gloves were no exception. As a top level glove, they're on the expensive end like all the rest. However they are only 75% of the cost of the regular Covert QRL gloves, and outside of some seemingly minor palm differences I couldn't really tell any difference between the two. They do cost more than previous high end clearance gear or used gear, but that's not even close to a fair comparison. As such, I'm going to rate the cost as 9/10. They're a decent chunk of coin, but they're a great buy in comparison to the only other glove I like as much, the Covert QRL. Conclusion This was a hard purchase for me to make, or for me to justify to myself. Compared to those guys I sit next to on the bench that have been playing for a while I looked horrible before and still do today. These gloves didn't change any of that. But I don't care. They don't fall off my hands, they're comfortable to wear, they don't stink, and they've been really durable. If I lost these in a horrible boating accident, I'd order another pair immediately. They earn an overall 10/10 rating from me. I can't imagine how they could be better. About me Height: 5'10" Weight: 175 lbs Location: Youngstown, OH (Pittsburgh, PA hockey area) I'm a 47 year old parent who got skates and a stick when his son got interested in hockey, then discovered I loved it. I've been playing for a little under 2 years now, typically on the ice four or five times a week. Nobody would mistake me for someone that is good at the game, but I'm slightly better than a true beginner at this point. Mark

Howdy, Had a nice assist to my wife tonight for her first goal ever. :-) Mark

Howdy, Really appreciate you coming Steve! Super nice to get to meet you and talk a lot about sharpening in general and the Sparx in particular. I'm quite impressed with various features of the machine... You can tell a clever engineer or two were involved in it as there are a few "oh, that's a solution that's obviously awesome" (once its pointed out) design details. Very impressive toaster! :-) I've been skating on a 95/75 FBV for a maybe 6 months or so now. I went to it from a 7/16" ROH, hoping to keep the same turning grip and pick up a little more glide. I originally wanted to run 1/2" Fire, but that ring wasn't working when we tried it so I went with the 7/16" ROH. The Sparx seemed to cut it just fine. And I was impressed that it seemed to do the radius change with just a few passes (I think two out and back cycles on each skate? Something like that). On the ice I was pleasantly surprised to find that my turning and stopping grip was similar to before, not a huge change either way. I suppose that makes some sense, given the chart I used to pick the 95/75 FBV profile in the first place, which put the 'grip' as being similar to 7/16". :-) It did seem like my skate was 'stuck' a tiny bit more to the ice going straight, but it was subtle enough that I'm not sure if that was a "I know its different, so I'm going to feel a difference" kinda thing or real. Anyway, super impressed. I'm a pretty mechanical person by nature (a good bit more so than the average bear I would say) and have plenty of room for a "real" sharpening machine. But the "put skate in machine and tell it to go" stuff with the expectation of no learning time to get a great sharpening is a powerful draw. It would not surprise me if one of these was in our family's future. And if something happens to my current skate sharpening arrangement (basically, there's a Total Hockey that has yet to fuck up my skates 45 minutes away and I'm over there every couple weeks currently), it'll happen sooner. Thanks again for all your time! I wish you guys luck with the commercial machine and look forward to the details when they become available. Mark

Howdy, Super cool. I'd like to try out a Fire setup similar to the 95/75 FBV I use. Probably 1/2" Fire? Mark

Howdy, Been playing with this D league team for almost a year now. It was a big stretch for me when I started with them, and still remains a league where I'm over my head a bit, though I've for sure improved and gelled in better. We finally make it to the championship game. Which is scheduled for July 28th. When I'm in Toronto for Summer Fest. Fuck. Mark

Howdy, Snake oil in a can is not the way to go. Even if it "works" for a while, you're just fucking the next guy. Don't do that. My guess is that it won't work for a while anyway. The only way you can know if that's a reasonable # is to call around and get quotes. While I'm not familiar with this car, that's a job where a large component is going to be labor. You may well be able to find a non-dealer mechanic to do it for less, on the side, etc. Ask around your hockey team buddies for a local reference. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a lot of labor as the head needs to come off the motor and there's more and more shit in the way of that with modern cars. :-) Depending on why its leaking, there may be other things that need to happen... if the head is warped, it'll need to be cut (machined to a flat surface) or replaced. If it can be cut, that's again mostly just labor but it may not be able to be. Same with the block. You'll know you're talking to a mechanic you want to do the work if they are able to speak to what the common problem is, whether its weak head gaskets, heads that warp, or whatever else 60k miles is pretty darned low for a leaking head gasket. Was the car overheated / run without coolant for some reason? Or do these have a reputation for this problem? I'm assuming there are some type of symptoms the car is exhibiting, vs. the dealer just telling you out of the blue that its got a leaking head gasket? Mark edit: There's no question that independents are out there that will charge you less than the dealer and who will do at least as good a job. Equally there are independents out there that will rob you blind and/or suck. The only reliable way I know of to sort them out is experience with them. With the dealer, one of the things you're paying extra for is someone to call if they fuck it up badly enough (in addition to typically more familiarity with the vehicle than a general all makes mechanic).

Howdy, What's the alarm thing? Mark

Howdy, So just how expensive (retail I guess) is the Bauer skate fitting thing? Mark

Howdy, Wow. Yeah, I don't have any artistic bent at all, but that strikes me as a pretty awful thing to have happen. Hopefully an honest mistake and all, but still lousy man. Sorry to hear it. Mark

Howdy, I think the goal is probably less "unattended" and more "the minimum wage counter person can use it without destroying skates". The pro shops and such are usually closed when I have league games, but there's always a counter person there. IIRC, that's kinda how your NHL teams are using it too, right? Not as "now we don't need our equipment manager" but rather as "trained people aren't available and as long as nothing special is needed, this will sharpen well"? For now, I'm still not a target customer because I have a good pro option available that's 'easy enough' in terms of accessibility. Were that to change, I'm still not decided if I'd go Sparx or a traditional single head portable. I have a workshop (i.e. dust isn't an issue), am comfortable with tools & basic metal machining, etc. but the convenience of "throw skate in and just works" is quite high. The biggest drawback to me is that I think I can reasonably expect a traditional single head machine like a Wissota to last for my entire lifetime w/plenty of consumable support and I don't have anything like that expectation of longevity for something as complex as a Sparx in as niche a market as home sharpening machines. Of course, if every rink's counter person had a Sparx then I'm even less likely to buy my own. :-) Mark

Howdy, I thought we agreed not to do this? Mark

Howdy, Depends on the vehicle. The point of replacing more than just the one tire is to keep any differentials from constantly slipping. The safe thing for most awd vehicles is to replace them all (to keep the center differential happy) and for any 2wd vehicle to replace in front or rear pairs (to keep the front or rear diff happy). These days there can also be some impacts to the stability control / abs systems, but you have to make a pretty large diameter change to effect that, probably more than just the difference in worn vs. new in the same nominal tire size. Mark

Howdy, Glad I'm not the only one that had that thought. :-) Mark

Howdy, Yeah, that makes me tired too. Mark

Howdy, Put my hands on one of these at the "local" Total Hockey the other day, along with a Re-Akt 200. It was just a quick play though, I was just there getting skates sharpened. I dunno if this will match everyone's experience, but I would say that the 710 is for more rounded heads than the Re-Akt 200, even though both show "round" on IW's fit guidelines. The 710 had noticeably more room on the side of my head / temples than the Re-Akt did. I didn't back to back compare, but it seemed like even more room as compared to the Resistance 300 that is my current helmet. Same adjustment mechanism on the 710 as the Resistance 300, that adjusts both length and width together. Like I said, just a quick grab and stick on my head (with adjustment for size) for each helmet, vs. anything extensive. I hope to check each helmet out more extensively later! Mark

Howdy, Today that same Mom and Dad go and buy junior helmet X because its cheap, because they like how it looks, or because its the only one in the store that's yellow. Said another way, its not the fault of the VT study if people are dumb. Mark

Howdy, I think its very, very unlikely that I'll (or anyone), will reach the end of the list before finding a helmet that fits well. Basically, I use the ratings as a way to order the helmets to try for comfort/fit. I'm not doing that because I believe that fit is important to safety (I don't know), but rather because I have enough experience with myself to know that a helmet I hate to put on isn't worth what I'm guessing will be a marginal safety improvement (again, assumption here is that there will be enough helmets at a particular rating area that I'll find one that fits well). I'm less sensitive to price on something like a helmet, but I will do a similar thing in that if the two helmets are very similarly ranked and both fit well, I'll pick the cheaper one. FWIW, that's one of the reasons I'm really interested in results from the new 710... If its a four star helmet it not only gives me another option in terms of fit, its also a LOT cheaper than the ReAkt 200. I treat the VT rankings as an important decision making criteria, but not the only one. Mark