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Reviewers Specs 5'10 180 lbs Inline 4-5 times a week Elite level Past Helmet Bauer 4500/Bauer 5100 Time Of Use 3 Months First Impressions When I received the Inhaler helmet I was blown away(no pun intended) with the out of the box fit. Having used the 5100 in the past I was right at home with the Inhaler, my head sits really well inside this helmet. The adjustment system is extremely easy to use and get correct, same central location just like the ReAKT/9.0 and just as easy to use. I was playing that same night so I had to get the stickers off and the ear guards removed, I could really feel how well the ventilation was when using the heat gun to get the stickers off. The air blew right through the helmet. After all that was said and done I hit the rink. My first use was on an average fall day( not too hot or too cold) so testing how well the helmet vents might not be as noticeable as it might be in the summer but still a good test. Once again, coming from my 5100 I noticed a big difference in the air flow when skating and the amount of sweat I had dripping down into my eyes. The built in sweat band did wonders but the overall "coolness" of the helmet was noticed. Didn't really noticed I was wearing anything at all. First skate went well and just as expected. Fit The fit on the Inhaler is ideal for me. No pressure points at all. I found my head sat inside the helmet rather than the helmet sitting on top of my head like the 4500 does for me. Nothing to complain about. Not very bulky or any additional room. Very much like the 5100 fit. 10/10 Durability Having used this helmet for a few months now with hours and hours of game time I have noticed a little wear. The helmet it self is perfect, no issues with the foam or anything like that. Only wear I have noticed is the sweatband and where it attaches to the helmet. The pegs have started to come unglued a little bit. This is a replaceable item so nothing to be surprised about. I'm sure I could fix this with a little hot glue. 9/10 Protection This helmet isn't marketed to have the best protection or the latest and greatest tech/spec when it comes to safety. Fully HECC certified and everything so still a safe helmet to wear. Safety is on par with the VN foam style helmets. I have had a few shots to the head and unexpected hits and have not missed a shift. comparing this to other helmets at the same price point I would have to say this would get an 8/10 Conclusion This helmet is perfect for the inline player, we all know how hot the rinks get during the summer and even spring for that matter. This is a game changer in my opinion. I don't have to worry about having to wipe sweat from my eyes or being hotter than I should be. Would I recommend this helmet? Yes. Easy answer. With Mission you expect quality product. I feel very happy with this helmet and its worthy to wear the Mission badge. 27/30 90%

Reebok 9k Pump Roller Skates Size 8.5 E Used roughly 1 year, about 30 games Player Bio: Age: 24 Height: 5' 7" Weight: 250 Play: Semi Competitive 1-2 times a week. Previous Skates: Mission RMx, CCM pf8, Reebok 9ks, Mission AC2. Currently with the AC2s Fit: The fit at first was great and I thought "OK, finally a skate for my foot!" and i bought these bc the LHS told me with my foot size the Reebok E size would be the only boot wide enough for me. I played some games and I got used to it very quick but then i realized my foot was sliding around in the boot while other parts of my foot were cramped in. I then tried to use their lace lock and that helped but only so much. i would leave the bottom barely taught and the top had to be laced up tight, this led to other problems such as not enough forward flex but thats another issue. For an E width boot there is also very little volume for the top of your foot. mine was coming out so much that the top laces had to flex out to fit my foot. The toe box also doesnt get wider for the E width and that does other things to the boot that seem to inhibit it as well. I think half of this is the boots fault and the other half is that after getting my foot sized i was told the reeboks were the only option for me but they clearly were not. they are for a wide and flat/low volume foot, not a wide higher volume one such as mine. 6/10 Wheels/Bearings/Chassis: The wheels that came on the skate were alright labeda millenniums in x-soft. i used them for a game and they were like skating on gummy bears, enough grip but it slowed me down. I immediately saw chunking so i switched to my trusted rink rats. no issues since and i cant blame the wheels bc they werent made for my weight. maybe one day there will be an option for us larger guys to get harder wheels stock. Or better in my option, leave bearings and wheels out of it bc i will be putting on my harder wheels and sweet swiss bearings first thing anyway. The chassis is a disgrace. Heavy, clunky, can take a shot off them but the holes for the wheel axles go out of round and develop burs that i needed to remove. I was told by a trusted source that reebok just made the chassis haphazardly to put on a roller boot and then paid labeda to have their name and a license on it. for a real chassis look at the high end tours, missions and the new apx2r. now those are chassis. Bearings were abec 7s, they are weak especially for the $350 price point of the skate, immediately switched them to my bones swiss bearings. 4/10 Weight/Protection: Weight wasnt an issue but now in the lighter AC2 skate i see how heavy those things were. I even think my old CCMs size 10 were a little lighter. Protection was fine and i never got hit in the foot, ankle or skate and had any pain afterwards. 7/10 Durability: I never had a lace break except on these skates. mentioned above chassis holes needed deburring after a while to get the axle to go through. Screws stripped very easily. though the boot itself does seem to stay decently stiff it only does that around the ankle and the rest of the boot gets soft. the bottom outsole where the chassis bolts on also seems to be very thin and never looked like it was fitted right to a wider boot. 7/10 Intangibles: It took about 3 games to get used to the straight 80s chassis and i ended up really liking that set up because i could accelerate and skate faster than i used to even though it did cut down on some maneuverability. That larger front wheel is something i miss now but the switch is for the better. even with the straight 80s it still wasnt as good as say a tour skate where its all 80s but its recessed in the front to add some maneuverability to it. The pump is ok but it never locked my heel in there. It was more of a push my ankle forward so thats its tighter to the tongue, because of this i only pumped the thing about 2-3 pumps per game to take up the extra space that they put in there. Moving to the AC2 i now see a good heel lock with my heel all the way back and no need for any pump nonsense. the carbon outsole on the bottom is soooo thin that it flexes a lot and doesnt do its job really. a matter of fact my skate bottom flexed so much it rubbed against my second wheel and the wheel wore a hole through it. HUGE no no! but i do wish more skates had a skate lock, but going to waxed laces also helps with that. 6/10 Conclusion: Reebok roller really is lacking, especially for the price they charge. The little to no effort shown to make a roller boot is evident throughout the design and after talking to some industry insiders the whole thing just wreaks of a fast cash in at the cost of the roller market crowd. 30/50 = 6/10 I would say avoid at all costs unless you really, reaaaaaaallly reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllly just want an easy switch, fit wise, for their ice skates, but even then the fit is different and the roller parts are subpar. I moved on to Mission AC2s and couldnt be happier at the moment.

What is it? Developed independently by former NHLer Tom Pederson, the Green Biscuit is an off-ice training tool aimed at helping players develop better passing and stickhandling skills. The Green Biscuit is a two-piece puck supported by three ‘posts’, which gives it a better central balance. Positives The biggest selling point on these guys definitely has to be the stability and slide. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I could send you a hard 100 ft pass on reasonably flat concrete/asphalt without it flipping or rolling over. Despite being lighter than a regulation puck (perhaps necessary to achieve its level of glide on outdoor surfaces), the friction from the ground translates into the GB mimicking very accurately the glide of a puck on ice. I have had no problems transitioning my passing motions (touch-passes, snap/slap passes, saucer passes occasionally, backhand passes etc.) onto outdoor surfaces. An interesting little behaviour quirk (not really a feature per se) that I’ve noticed is that the rebound qualities of the GB are actually very substantial. I’ve occasionally had my pass miss my target and ricochet off the brick/concrete wall of the school field I play on with almost the same velocity that it impacted with! The GB would often rebound right back to my stick like a regular pass and remain perfectly flat as well. Stickhandling is the other strong point offered by this product. Since it can remain flat and can closely approximate the glide and behaviour of a puck on ice, it is good for practising off-ice stickhandling and puck carrying. Overall, the level of glide is done well enough that one can approximate it to your average sheet of ice after a couple hours of drop-in. Before going into the negatives, I would like to stress that this product is NOT meant to be shot; it wasn’t designed to sustain such heavy impacts and will likely shatter over time as a result. That being said however, I believe that the GB is tough enough to be shot by weaker or lesser-skilled players who do not put the same velocity into their shots as others. With that, the GB can serve as very beneficial off-ice or off-season option for younger/beginner players to practise and learn basic hockey skills. Negatives After understanding that this puck isn’t meant to be shot, there aren’t a whole lot of negative aspects to it. One aspect that could bother some players would be the weight difference. I personally do not find this to be a drawback because I believe that an outdoor puck (like roller pucks) must be lighter to compensate for the greater friction of outdoor surfaces. However, if I might add one small complaint, I would say that if the GB ever starts to roll on its side, it is somewhat difficult to render it flat again, especially if there is no stick impact to help it along. Perhaps future GBs could incorporate some kind of sidewall or corner texture to prevent this. Overall Although I have mainly used this product for outdoor street hockey and fooling around (mostly on roller skates), the benefits and characteristics are all too apparent. An excellent product for anything from a light street game with friends and off-ice puck training, to teaching younger/newer players some of the basic stick skills of the game. Well worth the $15-$20.

Mission Commander SE Size: 6.5 D About me: 155lbs, defenseman and intermediate/advanced skater. Pass skates include Vapor 8, Vapor 10 (yes I was a moron and bought into the rocker hype), Nike Quest 1 w/ Red Star, Mission Boss Black. Surfaces: Only on sport court twice a week. Usage: roughly 85 skates Fit – I felt the fit is very similar to the newest Vapor line of ice skates. I may get a bit of flack for this but my foot shape requires pretty much no break in time for Vapors or Supremes. This skate felt a little closer to a vapor fit. It provides great ankle lock and the ankle pads really hold everything in place. I do have a higher instep and these are no different than any other skate I’ve worn. I barely passed the pencil test. I didn’t feel this boot had more or less forward lean than any other’s I’ve tried. I usually go with a 6D in ice skates. However, my stance in roller is more upright and I thought I'd need a little bit more breathing room for my toes so I went half a size up. It's worked out great. The liner provides ample grip without any unnecessary tugging or pulling. I’m a sockless skater so the liner is quite important to me. The moose suede is the main reason I chose these over the Black SE skates. They just felt great to the touch. The outsoul gave me absolutely no flex during my stride and felt solid. My only gripe is where the boot meets the toe cap. It seems a bit narrower than other Bauer skates I’ve tried. Considering how much break-in time my previous skates have required, not a big deal. 9/10 Chassis/Wheels/Bearings – This is the second reason why I chose the Commanders instead of the Blacks. The lower price point gave me the same chassis as the Black SEs. The magnesium chassis is very light and is a standard Hi-Lo set up. The finish is very durable and there have been no chips or even scratches to them. The most I can ask for in a chassis is that I never have to think about it, and I haven’t. At this price point, it is a great value to get a top end chassis. 10/10 Coming from Labeda Gripper Millenniums, I thought I would give the Rink Rat Hornets a try before I swapped them out. I couldn’t be happier. It has great grip on cornering and stopping. Take this with a grain of salt because I have only ever used Labeda Gripper Millenniums on inferior skates and really have nothing else to compare them to. 10/10 The mission Swiss 608s give me no reason to complain either. In the winter, I play at a rink where dust is a huge problem. The bearings still roll great with weekly cleanings. 10/10 Weight /Protection – The weight is nothing out of the ordinary. I wouldn’t find it extremely light or extremely heavy. But at this price point, I would say they’ve done an excellent job with the magnesium chassis and the relatively lighter boot. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary in terms of weight reduction. 9/10 I’ve taken a few clappers off the side of the boot with no bruising or injury. Protection is as good as any other high end skate. Also, wipe outs, nicks, and rubs against the board have not affected the look of the skate. 10/10 Durability/ Intangibles – The fit and finish is probably the most impressive thing about the skate. Everything is well put together. Being a skater in pre and post Bauer Mission skates, it seems like they’ve improved their fit and finish even better than the current Bauer (ice) models. The durability of the materials seems great as well. I don’t baby my skates and they don’t look worn out at all. I was worried about the moose suede liner at first, since it’s not a liner I’ve had experience with before. However, after 80 skates, there are no signs of wear and tear that would concern me to least. 10/10 The third and final reason I chose the Commanders over the Blacks was the sharp look with the blue and the black. I couldn’t be happier with the look of the skate. The annoying thing will be when I replace the rink rats; I don’t think I’d be able to get matching color wheels for the skate! 10/10 Conclusion – I think most people looking at these skates will need an answer to the big question of whether it’s worth the savings over the Black SEs. That was my main concern and I have absolutely no regrets. It has outperformed every other high end skate I’ve ever worn and I couldn’t be much happier with my purchase. 9.5/10