JR97

Bauer Vapor X60 Stick'um Flex: 67 flex (intermediate) Curve: P88 Time used: Sporadically over 10 months Reviewer: 5'7 140 Beer-leaguer Aesthetics: I love the subdued earthy tones. I'm not a fan of flashy sticks. Weight and Balance: The weight and balance are great for this stick. 10/10 Blade: I'll agree with a previous poster that the blade feels livelier. This helps with my stick handling and receiving hard passes. Which you'd think the opposite would be true. I guess it's a force feedback response sort of thing for me. When I can feel that much "detail" my muscles react quicker/better compared to something more stiff. I don't know. Either way I really like the blade. 8/10 Shaft and Flex: When I first bought the stick I absolutely loved the feel and flex. My snappers and slappers had some serious zip. The stick didn't feel like a 67 flex until I loaded it up. Even loaded it never felt like noodle. It felt solid. Having said that, after picking up a Vapor X:50 with a different flex and the concave shaft, I couldn't go back to the One60 without making serious adjustments. There's nothing wrong with the One60 flex/feel. I'm just more comfortable the X:50 now. 8/10 Stick Handling and Passing: I really liked this stick for stick handling. The lively feel gave feedback that made things easier. Probably all in my head but the outcome was not. Receiving hard passes was great. Passing was good but nothing that stood out above any other stick I've used. 9/10 Shooting: This is a great stick for slappers and snappers. I really liked not only how the stick loaded up but where it loaded up. The only thing I didn't like was hard one timers. Probably because I"m using such a whippy flex, I couldn't get any mustard or accuracy on hard pass one timers. It was like the shaft absorbed all of the energy and never gave it back. My wrist shot wasn't as good with this stick compared to the X:50 though and I'm more of a wrister guy than slapper/snapper. I did get comments from 3 different goalies I played with last year that they noticed my shots in warm ups were coming with a lot more heat when I was using this stick. 8/10 Durability: I used this stick for about 2 months straight of 2-3 games/drop-ins/scrims a week with no issues. The blade stayed stiff. I relegated it to backup duty once I picked up an X:50. I whipped it out for a game last month and some schnozzle slashed it hard right in the middle. It didn't break, but it's creased pretty good and pretty much done. It'd probably break taking a hard pass let alone a shot. The blade is still in great shape. I'm not sure I used it enough to give a decent durability rating. 8/10 Conclusion: This is a good stick for over all play. It did just about everything well and was a good shooter if you're a slapper/snapper kinda player. Which I am not. However, it's a great price point for a OPS and at that price point is a great value. Even though I prefer the Vapor X line now, I have no qualms recommending the One60. Overall: 8.5/10

Bauer Vapor X:50 Flex: 67 Cut down about 3 inches. Curve: P88 Stick'um Height: 5'7" Weight: 140 Postition: Beer league forward/defense Used since: 11/01/11 - 9/15/12 Aesthetics: I don't really pay attention to aesthetics unless the stick really draws attention to itself which the Bauer X:50 does not. The 2012 has more black than the 2011. 8/10 Weight and Balance: When compared to the other stick I used at the time, the Bauer One60, weight and balance were comparable. Now that I've played with an X:7.0, the X:50 feels a tad blade heavy. Not necessarily a bad thing. Just something that is noticeable if you have another stick to compare to. 8/10 Blade: I was extremely happy with the blade on my first X:50. It lasted almost an entire year before it finally split along the bottom. Like all blades, it eventually lost stiffness over time but at a much slower rate than others I'd used... mostly Eastons. I'm more of a passer than shooter so ymmv. I loved not only how the puck left the blade but was also received on the blade. No complaints at all. 9/10 Shaft/Flex: The the X:50 was my 2nd OPS with the Bauer One60 being the first. The first thing I noticed was the lower kick point. My slap shot lost lift but that was more than made up by how quick the puck left the stick on wristers, snappers, and hard passes. The One60 has a mid flex which is good for slappers but since I'm more of a wrister/snapper guy the X:50 has been a better fit for my style. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like feeling a lot of flex in a stick until I shoot and that's what the X:50 gives me. The concave profile feels great in the hands and it's hard to play with anything else now. 9/10 Stickhandling and Passing: I'm not a slick stick handler. I prefer to minimize how much I have to handle the puck and use my legs instead. The One60 was actually a better handling stick for me in traffic because the mid flex helped me 'soften' the hands for whatever reason. However, my passing is so much better with the X:50. The stiffer feel really helps my accuracy and the lower flex point just puts on the zip. 7/10 Shooting: This is where the stick shines. My accuracy with this stick is heads/shoulders above when using any other stick in my stable. I think the stiffer feel/lower kickpoint has a lot to do with that. From mid to close range the puck goes wherever I aim and gets there quick. Last night in warm ups I was bar down or pinging corners on just about every shot. I just need to do that in game. :P My slapshot velocity is about the same as other sticks but getting it up takes a little more effort with this stick compared to others even with the same blade profile. 9/10 Durability: My first X:50 lasted about 10 months of 2-3 games/scrims a week before the crack in the bottom of the blade made the stick unplayable for me. 9/10 Conclusion: The X:50 is a great stick at a great price point. Durability was very surprising and refreshing. I highly recommend. I'm on my 2nd one now and don't plan on deviating from the Vapor line anytime soon.

I just added a custom telecaster to the stable. What a fun guitar. It can really twang. It can also growl quite a bit as well.

Nice ESP's. Also gotta love the Jackson Rhoads! He was my hero/inspiration when I was a kid. RIP.

I love my v-twin. I like that it even has jacks for using a channel switch pedal or something like a rockman midi octopus.

My main guitar is a Musicman Silhouette Special. By far the best playing neck I've ever played. Not cheap, though! I haven't swapped any pickups yet. The bridge hummer is pretty anemic for anything heavy, but it does the job for non-heavy stuff. I just use a different guitar if I want heavier. How have those other pickups sounded? Drastic change? I'd love to get the older model Steve Morse. I played a neighbors and I couldn't believe how many different sounds that thing could generate. The Eddie V.H.'s are awesome, too but I"m not about to fork out that much cash for a guitar any time soon. (close to $2k or more for those not in the know.) Have you guys seen these? http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Transatlantic/transatlantic-TA-15.html There's one for sale locally on CL for $700. I am sooooo tempted.

Wow. Thanks for the offer. I'll pm ya and we can discuss.

The PRS looking thing is an early 80's Washburn. Apparently it was PRS's first foray into major production/distribution. I don't know the whole story of his time with Washburn, but he did a couple of lines and then split. It's got passive EMG's that suck @ss. The fretboard is carbon which is pretty different. I've been planning on dropping in some Seymour Duncan's but haven't gotten around to it. I had a Washburn rep tell me that they're collector's items, but I can't see why other than for "historical" reasons since the thing isn't worth anywhere near the original sticker price. These were $1k guitars back in the day. I got it off of ebay for $80 and put about $100 in to it to get playable again. Below is a pic of the hollow body my buddy took.

Valvestate's sucked. Have you guys tried hybrids that have a tube power amp section instead of the tube pre/solid state power? Personally, I think it's a lot better. Crunching the power tubes is what gives the compression sound/feel. I've always that lacking with the pre-tube/solid state power type hybrids.

Here's a pic I took of my stuff when I was packing it all up and moving to a new apt. The pic doesn't do the finish on the hollow body justice. That thing is a piece of art.

I loved mine. I used them for almost 10 years. Had duct tape holding it all together. Amazingly, the palms never wore out. I ended up losing one and figured it was time to move on. I've still got a pair. used them for maybe 10 minutes. Decent enough, but I liked a rocker on my inlines. What? That thing sold tons of units and they were tanks. Yeah, I loved mine, I wish they still sold them. My wish is for the TriCore to make some kind of return. I loved the square shaft version. I love the tricore. I picked up a genesis here at modsquad. Paid a hefty price though, but well worth it.

Where is that located? tiny rink. The other team only had 3 players? way to run up the score on 'em. We always went with 3 if the other team only had 3. The rink is located in Bangor, Northern Ireland and yes it is tiny. The game itself was an NIIHA league game and the Badgers had arrived late. As per league rules if a team arrives late they must serve a 5 minute bench penalty to begin the game, hence why they only had 3 players at one stage. ah. ok. bench penalty. how many teams in the league? I think I'd go nuts on a rink that small.

Where is that located? tiny rink. The other team only had 3 players? way to run up the score on 'em. We always went with 3 if the other team only had 3.

That kicked ass. Thanks for sharing.

Shooter Jennings

I've been using Jofa something or the others for the last 10 years. They were a great elbow pad. I don't recall the model number and the numbers have worn off. I'm replacing them because the straps have no stretch anymore and with underarmour or other long sleeve underwear, they slide around too much. I bought the CCM Vector 10's based off of the reviewer above. Plus HockeyGiant is closing them out and I had found a coupon code for an additional 5%. So all of that brought a top of the line elbow pad down into my budget. Comfort/fit: Out of bag, these weren't very comfortable. Hopefully, they'll break in over time. But having said that, I didn't notice the slight discomfort once I was on the ice. The fit is perfect though. The forearm section is a sleeve and the draw string is used to cinch it down. They cinched down very snug on my puny forearms. I could actually get them to tight which I've never done with a pad before because my forearms are such twigs. The bicep protection is good and my tiny biceps fit in there fine. The wrist guard is just a sweat band, so it fits fine. 9 out of 10 Protection: NHL Grade protection. My only complaint is that the forewarm protection doesn't go down as far as my jofa's do. But I"m only talking maybe an inch max. The wristband protection is slight but better than nothing....... 9.5 out of 10 Mobility: I had no noticible mobility issues with these pads. They are a bit stiffer than my 10 year old jofas, but they should break in nicely. I'll take that trade off for the top notch protection. 9/10 Design: I'm sick of elbow pads sliding around. Especially from slap shots. These things do not slide around at all. The design is novel but I think people might have taken it to be novelty since the design has changed for 2008? Other than the bicep strap wearing out over time, I can see myself using these for another 10 years. The sleeve concept is great and combined with the draw string, eliminates straps losing stretch and velcro losing grip. The sweat band wrist guard is connected by a tag and is meant to be cut off and a separate piece. I'm leaving mine connected, though. Two less things to try and fish out of the bottom of the bag. 10 out of 10 Conclusion: With a new model coming out for 2008 I might just buy another pair while they're still available in my size and for a good price on close-outs. I hate spending money on non-peformance items like elbow pads and shin guards, but they're a necessity and I'm very pleased with the CCM Vector 10's.

CCM Vector 10 Elbows arrived today. These are sweet. Not as much forearm protection as my Jofas but these things don't move once they're cinched down. My Jofas are old and the velcro is worn out and they slide all over. I'll post up a review after some play time with these.

Ultra Lite- Olive green 100 flex Reviewer Background: 5'7", 120 lbs. Ice, Adult League or drop-ins ice 2-3 times a week. Usage before Review: 6 months of ice, 2 years of inline on sport court Test Blade: Easton Si core focus flex Iginla, Easton something or the other focus flex sakic. Shaft shape/flex: I was used to the shape from having been using an Ultragrip for a few years. The flex is a bit stiff for me, but that's all the LHS had that day and I needed a stick fast. Being 120 lbs, I don't get a lot of flex on the stick. But I'd rather have stiff than a noodle. I've also cut mine down, so it's probably closer to 105. 8/10 Stickhandling/passing: I like the 100 flex for passing. I'm more of a passer anyway and this stick does what I ask in that dept. My last inline goalie said my breakout passes were some of the best he'd seen. The stick did its job in that there was no awareness of the stick at all when making those passes. Just look up and pass and the puck went where I wanted to at speeds.. slow or fast.. that I wanted. I once had a 75 flex intermediate stick and my passing with that was a joke. Passing hard felt like I was going to break the damn thing. Just that slight awareness of the stick took focus away from the game. Stickhandling is good with the ultralite but I think it's relative. 8/10 Weight/ Balance: The weight is good, but I think it's all relative when you're talking a few grams here and there. Balance is more important imho and this stick has a good balanced feel to it. Nothing like the Easton S17, but that's a different world altogether. 8/10 Shooting: When I played inline I was a D and took a lot of slapshots/snappers from the point. I usually aimed for sticks for deflections and I was pretty happy with the accuracy I was getting. For ice, I'm a forward and I'm thinking I'd like a little more flex with the heavier ice puck for wristers/snappers. 8/10 Durability: I've had this shaft for 3 years and it still looks brand new and I do not baby this thing by any means. It's probably going to become my backup but it'll be a good backup. Sort of like always knowing your spare tire is in good shape. 10/10. Conclusion: For the money, this stick has been great. To me, the best stick is one you don't ever think about. You just go out and play knowing your stick will do what you ask of it. This stick has done that. Not bad for something that was total impulse buy. If I see an 85 flex, I'll probably pick it up just to have. Because my stick was never on my mind, I never looked for something else. But I think I'd like to venture into the OPS world. 8/10

Picked up a pair of NBH Vapor XV's. I didn't get the best price, but they were the only glove the shop had I liked and I need them for tonight's game. I've been walking around the office with them on glaring at people threatening to drop'em.

Ice Skates: CCM 952's. What ever year they first came out. 98/99? These saw 1 season's worth and then were used 1 or 2 times every 3 or months or so while I was in my 8-9 year roller hockey phase. I'm barely back to ice full time this past month and these skates are still in fine condition function wise. But I'm debating getting something made in this decade. Scoping on the One90's, CCM Vectors, and of course Tacs closeouts. Inline Skates: Tour 892's. I love'em. But I don't care if I ever play inline again. They saw about 3 years service and are still in great shape. Gloves: Mission 3 finger something or the others circa 2000. Falling apart. Lost one at a drop-in this past weekend so I'm upgrading and picking up whatever I like at the LHS tomorrow. I don't know why the 3 finger never caught on. I don't know if they're better, but definitely different. I felt I had a better feel on the stick once I got used to them. Relative subjectivity applies of course. Shins: Mission Warp Zero's circa 2000. I love these things even though they're falling apart now. I found a slightly used pair on ebay that should arrive soon. Elbows: Jofa something or the others circa 2000. Model number has worn off. Mid to upper level for the time with the molded plastic bicep. The elastic is worn out on the straps and I've stitched them shorter. I'm debating on whether to upgrade. These fit and protect just fine, but having them slide around when I wear the underarmor is a bit annoying. But $35-$45 annoying? That's a ski resort lift ticket right there. Or 1/2 a tank of gas. Since they're not performance enhancing pieces of equipment, they're pretty low on the upgrade totem pole. Helmet: CCM HT2 circa 1993. I've replaced the ear loops and chin strap a few times and I'm on visor #3. I'll probably upgrade soon since the technology has come along way in reducing concussions. This is a little higher on the list since I've suffered a few concussions in my days. Pants: Mission L1's. Picked them up a month ago. They replace some Lousiville something or the others from '93. Shoulder: Itech 255's. For the money, I liked these better than any other brand in the price range. I play adult no check, so I don't need battle armor and these fit the bill both budget wise, fit wise, and mobility wise. Stick: Easton Ultralite 100 flex. I needed a stick fast and it fit the bill at the time. Easton Sicore blade Iginla. I'm looking to venture into the OPS world. I'm only 5'7 120 lbs and I think I could use a whippier flex. 85 maybe? I guess I've used OPS'ers before. I mean, technically, woodies are OPS's, eh? I'm not a gear whore by any means. I basically replace stuff only when something is completely unusable, lost, or stolen. I've got other expensive hobbies that keep my hockey budget down. Besides, my game doesn't warrant forking out multiple benjamins for skates and sticks made out of sub feather light, steel strong, and bullwhip flexy, irradiated unobtanium.