shooter27

Of course this all comes out after I bought Mako's this past weekend.

I had the opportunity to try on the APX2 yesterday and they felt to me to be somewhat lower cut than the original APX. Is this the case? I was thinking its possible that this could be a result of the new oval eyelets allowing the top lace to sit a bit lower on the ankle instead of an actual change in the height of the boot, but I'm not sure.

WEll, he had switched to RBZs before these, so ...

I always used to go by that logic, but it has lead me wrong a couple of times. For instance, a while back I bought a pair of Graf 705s. I was able to fit into them and the lacing pattern looked good. But when I got on the ice it literally felt like I was spilling over the sides of the skate. My balance was way off, particularly in turning, because it felt like I was standing on top of the skate rather than standing in the skate, almost like I had just strapped holders and blades to my feet with no boot. That's why I've been so reluctant to go with the 9

I'm really conflicted about sizing of this skate. I wear a 9 Bauer TotalOne but a 9.5 Graf. I've tried on both the 9 and 9.5 Mako and I'm conflicted. The 9 fits in the sense that my toes are against the end cap, but its not uncomfortable (obviously will open up with baking) but the 9.5 I still can feather the end of the cap. The upper of the 9.5 seems to fit me better than the 9. I'm very worried about how the 9.5 might open up too much with baking.

So can I infer that you've had some success with asymmetrical flat bottom sharpening in skaters as well as goalies? That surprises me

From what I was told by the employees at HM, they were scheduled to get their personal pairs by the middle of this week, so I wouldn't think it would be too long.

I was there Saturday morning and they mentioned they had sold 4 pairs on Friday. In addition, they mentioned someone else had already called that morning stating they were coming in to buy either the 6 or 6.5D. Several of the employees I spoke to said they were a little annoyed that they couldn't try on their preferred sizes because they had either already been sold or someone had called ahead to say they were coming in to buy them. That was Saturday morning. Given that you're talking about being in the shop a day later, I could fully understand how they had already sold those four sizes. I get that it sucks they didn't have the sizes you wanted to try on, but it's not their fault that the pair in that size they were allocated were already sold.

I was at HM in Irvine yesterday and was told that each store got one of each size for the release. So if they had already sold the size you were looking for, that explains why they didn't have it for you to try on.

I tried them on and found them quite comfortable. The one thing I really liked was how far into the toecap the tongue padding extended. Though I wasn't able to get them on without them being heated a little bit first (about 5 minutes). I'm not sure if they're right for me though, I think I'm between sizes as the 9 felt like I was spilling over the sides of the skate a little bit, the 9EE felt too wide in the heel, and the 9.5 felt like it might be a touch too long. I wear a 9C in TotalOne NXG but I wear a 9.5R in Graf so I'm not sure about sizing.

Did you have the 288's specifically put on? A size 9.5 in Bauer has always been a 280 holder, in fact I'm still skating in a pair of Vapor XX's that are a 9.5D with a 280 holder, and the Graf 705's 9.5R I tried out last year were a 280 holder as well. I do believe the Bauer 9.5EE may have had a 288 holder on it though.

Has anyone that's been to a shop to try these on been allowed to bake them before making the purchase decision? I know it was mentioned before that stores should allow baking ginven the selling points of the skate, but I'm curious to see if any stores actually are allowing customers to do so.

Depends on your foot shape - best bet is to go to a quality Graf dealer and they can help you out. I've worked with one that has been really good and helped realize I had a much different heel shape than I thought.

jimmy - how would you describe the differences between the two?

I'll be honest, looking at that Blademaster PDF, I can't figure out how it's significantly different enough from FBV to get around the Blackstone patent. Is there a summary of the differences somewhere?

I know Anaheim Ice does Blademaster flat bottom. Not sure about Monkey.

Geeze, couldn't they get a better picture of him? He looks like he's 100 years old.

Thanks for the clarification. Totally understood that it happens with all brands, it happened to me with a pair of Bauer's a number of years back.

Chadd, can you say what the issue was or no?

I must have misread it. For some reason it seemed like you had done one at a time. Thanks

Chadd - does Easton specify that you should only bake one skate at a time? Or am I misreading your post in the review?

I was just thinking about it as a percentage of players wearing the skate, not as a percentage of the league. What percentage of guys that wear CCM/Reebok skates change holders> 60%, more? Same with earlier Easton skates. Graf seems to have a larger percentage of people using the Cobra holder, but it's still probably 50/50. To say that one player out of the 15-20 I've seen wearing the skates has changed the holders, to me is significant.

One thing I've noticed is that very few of the people I see wearing these skates have changed out the holders to LS2's or something else. The only exception I've found is Byfuglien. Given the number of people that switch out holders on previous Easton skates or CCM/Reebok skates, that seems significant to me.

Chadd - saw the pic of the depth in the review. Do you have a particularly high volume foot and generally need a deep skate, or are they just that shallow?

That's surprising to hear. I had several pairs of Micron Mega Air 90's and really loved them. Though, the skates had regular Custom+ holders, so how much can boot pitch overcome the neutral pitch on the Custom+?