colins

I've had luck (so far) on sidelineswap ordering a Left Jetspeed that was listed as P90T (had no curve code on the shaft, but was labelled WASHKURUK) and a Left Ribcor PMT2 that was listed a a P90T. Both look like the CCM info above not the Bauer, although I do think the CCM pic (which is the hockeystickman pic) makes it look more closed that it really is. Which is also why for a while I had the P30 and P90T confused as being the same. They aren't, but that pic makes it look more closed (and closer to a P30) than it is in real life. colins

Here's CCM's description: Bauer's customizer describes something that looks more like this. They call it a "beak toe": Nice and confusing when the two big guys Bauer and CCM start putting out a pattern with the same name but different curve isn't it! colins

What's the "Bauer's Benn?". Do you have a pic or description? P90T is often referenced back to this hockeystickman.com article: https://www.hockeystickman.com/blogs/hockey-stick-alerts/jamie-benn-pro-stock-style-curve

I left the P14 out of my last reply for the same reason. Personally it always felt/played a bit short for my preference.

I would also suggest a P88 for relative beginner. It's a great all around curve, doesn't make any big compromises. Stickhandling, backhands, wrist shots, there's nothing the P88 does really bad and it's pretty forgiving. If you want to stick with retail options that's a good one. If you want to play around, its not too hard to find some other great options via the pro stock route like mentioned already: - P30, essentially a P88 up to the middle of the curve and then it provides a toe kink and at the end for toe drags / pocket for snapshots. - P90T, often described as a hybrid between the P88 and P92. - P19, aka Nugent-Hopkins, this was a pretty popular CCM curve a few years back. Slightly open towards the toe but less aggressive than the P92. For someone who masters the P88 and wants to add some enhancements that aren't too radical but can provide some benefit beyond the P88 the above are 3 options worth checking out. colins

I've owned and compared both in the past and came to similar conclusion - the 7092 is the better option over the SuperTacks IMHO, unless you need the adjustability and the slight difference in protection. I've basically modified the SuperTacks to make it more like the 7092 in fact. Just remember with either the SuperTacks or 7092 - the fit is almost a full size smaller than what you would be used to from most other pants/girdles. If you are a Medium in a pant, try the Large in the girdle. The medium in either I find too snug for me at about 5'10 180lbs, whereas a Medium Nexus pants are perfect. colins

How did you like the P30 vs. the P88? I have a P30 now and I find it plays pretty much exactly like the P88, but I can cup the puck with the toe hook if I want to drag it or get off a quick snapshot. I've only had a chance to use it a couple times so haven't come to a conclusion yet but I'm really liking the potential so far and find it an easy adaptation from the P88. colins

Are you losing money at 3,2$ a sharpening? Do you anticipate no repeat business and only damaged uneven edges always coming through your doors? You bring valuable new experience/data to the group - but your conclusions are difficult for some of us to understand.

Because he's sharpening super damaged and very uneven edges on every single pair he does, and he can't relate to anyone who isn't. Nor can he see 10 yards down the road, where if his 'customers' are happy they'll come back with even edges that are just normally worn and he won't have to do more than 4 passes the second time he sharpens the same pair of skates. I dunno... the guy has come into this thread and crapped on Sparx from the get-go. It's getting a bit tiring to be honest. We all appreciate new info and rational debate about the product, but that hasn't been the case here. colins

So you averaged 6 passes per skate? That's a lot. Your statement "Getting 40 pair of skates out of one sharpening ring is only reachable if you're exclusively sharpening your own skates by basically maintaining them every 2-3 hours of skating." is somewhat misleading. If you exclusively sharpen your own skates every 2-3 hours of skating, you'll get over 50 close to 60 'pairs' sharpened at an average of 2-3 passes per skate. That's what I do. It's 320 passes per ring, use them however you like, that's how long a ring lasts. And the amount of material it removes per pass is fairly significant, at least when compared to the ProSharp for example. You might be better off with a traditional machine like a Blademaster 850 if that's the typical type of usage you're going to see. Would be a lot cheaper in the long run. colins

I didn't use the 65 myself, it was my son's and shorter than I use. Also it's an XCore 9 and I've only used the A5.2 True's myself. But I have used 75 Flex A5.2 and the exact same A5.2 in an 85 flex, and would say the 85 Flex A5.2 plays more like a CCM Tacks 75 or a Bauer Supreme 77. I find the 75 Flex A5.2 more whippy than those sticks. colins

Once you get the oven to the pre-heated temp, put the skates in and turn the oven off to ensure the burners don't come back on if you lose some heat while the oven door is open. You don't want those burners coming on red hot again once the skates go in. I've done it in a non-convection oven after pre-heating to the desired temp and turning it off. One skate at a time stood up straight (used some strong magnets on the runners sitting on a steel cookie tray) in the middle of the oven. Worked great. colins

65 Flex Intermediate XCore 9 measures essentially same 3 5/8 circumference as a Senior 75 Flex A5.2 as well:

Are you able to measure the hollow somehow? How do you know the manual 1/2" is closer to a 'true' half inch than the Sparx 1/2"? Here's an interesting video from Sparx, it's about their Fire rings not Radius but it will give some insight into the kind of depth they put into precision with this machine when it was created: Their Youtube channel has a bunch of great technical content mixed amongst the marketing stuff. The 3 history/prototype videos that show the creation and evolution of the machine I found quite interesting. The first in the series is this one:

It's not just vacuuming the tray you have to replace the internal filter more often. In the USA especially there's an issue of liability. "I followed the directions in the manual which said change the filter every 4 rings, I didn't know the Cross Grind ring could cause my machine to start smouldering and burn my house down"... once those original manuals went out with the firmware coded for forcing a filter change every 4 rings, you can't put the cat back in the bag. Yes, they could have revised the firmware and revised the documentation, and forced more frequent filter changes, but at the end of the day they determined using cross grind rings on a machine designed with only internal filtration was not something they wanted to do. And as a true consumer oriented home user, do I care at all? Not a bit - I probably would have bought a X-Grind ring just to have it on hand, but I've had zero instances in the past 4 years of ownership where I felt I really needed one. Was I f*'d in the face and somehow missed noticing it? Why are you so upset about that but it doesn't bother me at all? If I wanted the X-Grind I'd sell my unit and get the PS100. But that makes no sense to me as a home user.

Do you have a good edge checker? The alignment tool is decent, but most users have found that even after using the alignment tool, a good edge checker is required to exactly dial the alignment in such that you get perfectly level edges. Once you get steel sharpened on the Sparx to a particular ring/hollow, it shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 cycles for a maintenance sharpening, I do that all the time. However if one of my kids brings home a teammates skates that were sharpened somewhere else are are very damaged, it takes 4 or more cycles before I'm satisfied to send them out the door. In either case, I always use my edge checker to verify I'm cutting perfectly level edges, and if I'm concerned about the hollow I'll use the marker test. colins

Its comments like that which leaves me scratching my head... again what kind of crazy conspiracy theory is that? I was on the Kickstarter with many others here, go re-read the Campaign and FAQ and updates from Russ and hopefully you'll see what kind of foolishness this looks like to those who got involved early. colins

The Sparx page has a table comparing the capabilities of the ES100 vs. PS100: https://www.sparxhockey.com/pages/commercial-homepage The units are essentially the same, with the PS100 having added external filtration, which Sparx determined was necessary for high volume use and for Cross Grinding. The rings are the same but the consumer rings are coded for the ES100 and the commercial rings (which are discounted) are coded for the PS100. I don't think any of this is news to you as you've figured that out from web sources and questions here already. The rest was about how to possibly use the cheaper ES100 unit with the discounted PS rings - this would obviously not be supported by Sparx and would requiring altering the ring or the unit. I was just suggesting that conversation be taken to a different thread specific to hacking the Sparx. Others including myself are no doubt interested in this, but it may be confusing for the average Joe coming here reading this thread who just wants to know if he should buy a Sparx to sharpen his kids' skates. Bottom line is if you want support from Sparx, Cross Grinding and discounted rings, do the math and see if the extra expense of the PS100 makes sense or not.

Or keep it and use it the same as you would a cross grind ring (ie: taking steel down to eliminate sidewall nicks or badly damaged edges). Or for cutting new steel which requires 8-10 passes. It'll help save the lifespan of your usual ring. colins

If lfc26 wants to continue to look at ways to hack the ES100 and/or PS100 or ES100 rings, perhaps that discussion belongs in a new thread? The theme so far seems to be "I've bought the cheaper unit but want all the advantages of the more expensive one" which is going to be a bit confusing for the average Joe looking for Sparx info in this thread.

Russ, the creator of the Sparx, is a member of the modsquad community here. The conspiracy theory you propose above seems like a bit of a stretch knowing how Sparx has approached their customers so far I would say? The X-Grind ring was not part of the initial launch of the product nor do I recall it being part of any contractual breach to the original Kickstarter participants. The X-Grind ring debuted on/around Nov. 13th 2016 (My Sparx shipped in July 2016) and the warning about the swarf issue and the need to change the air filter was emailed out to owners on Jan 29th 2017.

If you search this thread you'll find some previous comments from Sparx employees confirming RFID is being used to track the cycle counts on the ring itself by overwriting the serial number field. I'm not sure anyone has talked about or figured out how a PS grinding ring is detected vs. an ES ring.

The rings do 320 passes. Conversion of passes to 'sharpened pairs' is arbitrary and has been stated different ways on occasion since the Sparx first shipped. I keep my steel well maintained and 'sharpen' my skates every 3 or 4 hours of use with a couple passes per skate, which I judge mostly by the absence of nicks in the steel sidewalls, and by a uniformly smooth pitch/sound for the full pass back and forth the runner. Unless my blades have suffered trauma from hitting a post or stepping on debris or metal around the dressing rooms/benches, I find two passes every 3-4 hours of icetime means perfect edges all the time. It's quite liberating to play like that, and I think most new Sparx users quickly realize constant 'touch up' maintenance like this trumps letting your blades get bad enough to require 4 or 6 or more passes. So based on my metrics of two passes per skate I can "sharpen 80 pairs" of my own skates per ring. But on the flip side, I do sharpen way more frequently now that I would if I still had to drive to a shop and pay $8-$10 per sharpening. colins

It's no doubt a marketing decision. Two different markets with different volumes and base requirements, so they are segmenting down those lines. Has pretty much zero to do with the technology itself. The thing that's interesting in your situation is that Monkey Sports in europe is exposing this via their online store. For N.A. customers who deal with Sparx directly, you don't get to see the Commercial / PS100 side for Grinding Rings unless you first buy a PS100 unit. The PS rings and pricing are not viewable on sparxhockey.com as far as I can see. It probably wouldn't be "too hard" for someone to figure out how to hack/modify an ES100 to use PS100 rings. But of course doing so would throw out any chance of having support or warranty. Bottom line is if you want support and you want to use PS rings, you need to buy a PS unit.

I don't think Sparx sells any Cross Grind rings for the consumer ES100 model in North America. They pulled that product from the market early in it's life after issues reported from the amount of swarf it created and the resulting fire hazard I believe.