shooter27

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+?

Mako gloves popped up on eBay. Don't think they're at retail yet http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Stock-Pro-Return-Easton-NHL-Pro-MAKO-Flyers-13-Hockey-Gloves-NEW-/261166022422?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D5477515505251632706%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D261166022422%26 not my auction

I'm VERY tempted because I think I'd end up being a size 9, but I'm just not sure about pulling the trigger because I vacillate between 9 and 9.5 depending on the manufacturer.

I just tried to squeeze the uppers, didnt try to flex in any direction. Makes sense that they'd be stiffer laterally than front to back, I was just surprised at how stiff they were given the promotion of forward flex

Saw the Mako skates in person last night, though only briefly. They felt significantly more rigid in the uppers than I was expecting given how much they are touting the ability to gain forward flex. Also, the tongue was significantly more substantial than I would have thought. Still looked nice though and I'm still very interested in trying them on when they are available. Also, and maybe this is just me, but these skates look really big. Whether I'm seeing them on tv or even when I held them last night, they look big for the respective sizes. Maybe it's a visual effect due to the coloring or the size of the holder, but I always had the same thought about the MLX skates.

I thought the G75 has a more pronounced heel shape than the 705/G5, no?

Are those contoured or straight? Are they planning on bringing something like that to retail at any point?

Did the heel of the APX2 get more pronounced than the original, or are my eyes deceiving me?

Couple interesting pics of the skate internals here http://blog.icewarehouse.com/hockey-skate-reviews/first-peek-at-the-easton-mako-skate/