Rec player. On ice 2-3 times a week in the competitive divisions. Nothing fancy, but love to play and try out new sticks and gear. Owned 3 or 4 sets of pro stock skates the last few years and settle don 1n's 2 years ago. Like the boot. Have gone through 3 sets of LS4 steel. Cracked on me every time. Keep a spare pair of LS3's for backup. Bought and sold every stick/curve I could find, and Ive never had a game changing experience with new sticks.
The other day I broke my LS4 steel on a hard pass off the feet. Great, another 100$ :s
My local hockey shop Al Andersons had a young guy who said they had a few pairs of Step Steel black that were no longer being produced and he suggested I go with them or just use my LS3 steel and keep the one spare LS4 blade I had.
I worked some overtime recently so I had a few bucks burning a hole in my bank account. I told him to toss in the Step Steel Black into my 1n's and I would try them out.
Im on my 5th game with them so far, and I couldnt be happier. Im not sure if it is the extra blade, the radius, the "bite" if thats a thing, or whatever. But I feel more blade contact, and it gives me more confidence in my turns and I feel I have more power throughout my whole stride. The ice at my local ASHL facility SUCKS, as they are very busy and do not flood enough or let the ice sit after floods to let it settle. But with these skates I have more confidence to dig into hard turns.
Once in a while I enjoy comign to the forums to read whats going on with gear so I figured I would toss out a quick post to anyone who hasnt tried this stuff out yet. Compared to the Bauer Steel, i notice a positive difference!!
Oh, and after 5 skates, they still have a great edge on them. I am curious to know when I will need to sharpen!