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SnipeeMacgee

Can somebody please explain SMUS!

By SnipeeMacgee, in Ice Hockey Equipment

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blueliner27    12

blueliner27
Posted
This is in relation to the tps response plus I bought...I searched but it did not bring up anything usefull....Thanks

I see what you mean.

There are couple of Sportchek stores around my area, and I saw "new" TPS Response Plus sticks. I knew those ones are not the originals (feels like vector 110). I think they have become Speical Make Uup. I don't know what the heck was going on with TPS, but I'm pretty sure this is what you menat.

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DamnLocust    0

DamnLocust
Posted

I was thinking the same thing when reading the thread about them. perhaps they're new sticks with different construction but with the old name. Sportchek gets the benefit of the response/R+ name, with the low cost of an SMU. Since TPS no longer produces R+ (except for Pros), they just slap the graphics on a lower end stick and ship them off to Sportchek.

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oldtrainerguy28    478

oldtrainerguy28
Posted
I think there was a lawsuit against the forzani group and false advertising a while back.

If you check the actual add and see the group of sticks that they are listed with and look at the stick it isnt false advertising at al it is what it is... a fiberglass SMU of the response plus! 99.99! thats it.

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srv2miker    0

srv2miker
Posted
What don't you get about SMUs?

If it is NOT in the catalogue it is a SMU.

I think what he's asking is how can they get away selling a TPS Response + that isn't actually a Response +.

I'd be interested in that answer too.

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Reaper    0

Reaper
Posted
What don't you get about SMUs?

If it is NOT in the catalogue it is a SMU.

I think what he's asking is how can they get away selling a TPS Response + that isn't actually a Response +.

I'd be interested in that answer too.

That part confuses me as well. Considering the Response Plus had already been in the marketplace in one configuration for some time it seems pretty shady. It is a real bait and switch for Sport Chek to be selling a price point stick made with a great deal of fibreglass and having it painted up like a Response Plus. It's not like they don't know that people are going to assume that it is a "real" Response Plus and not the knock off that it is.

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srv2miker    0

srv2miker
Posted
What don't you get about SMUs?

If it is NOT in the catalogue it is a SMU.

I think what he's asking is how can they get away selling a TPS Response + that isn't actually a Response +.

I'd be interested in that answer too.

That part confuses me as well. Considering the Response Plus had already been in the marketplace in one configuration for some time it seems pretty shady. It is a real bait and switch for Sport Chek to be selling a price point stick made with a great deal of fibreglass and having it painted up like a Response Plus. It's not like they don't know that people are going to assume that it is a "real" Response Plus and not the knock off that it is.

Still waiting on a decent answer to this question: how can Forzani get away with selling the REsponse + thats not a response +?

If I went on eBay and sold people Cuban cigars that were actually rolled in the Dominican, but slapped Cuban rings on them, I would get roasted. Why does Forzani get away with this?

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BK    0

BK
Posted
What don't you get about SMUs?

If it is NOT in the catalogue it is a SMU.

I think what he's asking is how can they get away selling a TPS Response + that isn't actually a Response +.

I'd be interested in that answer too.

That part confuses me as well. Considering the Response Plus had already been in the marketplace in one configuration for some time it seems pretty shady. It is a real bait and switch for Sport Chek to be selling a price point stick made with a great deal of fibreglass and having it painted up like a Response Plus. It's not like they don't know that people are going to assume that it is a "real" Response Plus and not the knock off that it is.

Still waiting on a decent answer to this question: how can Forzani get away with selling the REsponse + thats not a response +?

If I went on eBay and sold people Cuban cigars that were actually rolled in the Dominican, but slapped Cuban rings on them, I would get roasted. Why does Forzani get away with this?

Go ask them..

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hockeymom    2

hockeymom
Posted

Go ask them is pretty good advise.

I don't know enough about this specific SMU to speak of it directly - and the link no longer works, so I can't see the stick.

Do I have this correct...

1. the Response plus is a retired brand and is no longer manufactured.

2. Sport Chek is currently selling a SMU that LOOKS identical in every detail and name to the retired brand?

3. They are advertising it correctly - giving the details of what the stick actually is - but because it has the identical paint job and name of the retired brand you find it confusing and possibly - umm - underhanded?

4. And you are wondering how they can do this?

Is this correct?

It is not "bait and switch" - bait and switch is illegal. It is when a store offers an incredible deal on something (the bait) and when you come into the store they say "oh, gee, sorry that is sold out, but we can offer you THIS brand" (the switch). It is why - in Canada anyway - the advertiser states how many units of an item they have in stock in the ad.

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srv2miker    0

srv2miker
Posted
Go ask them is pretty good advise.

I don't know enough about this specific SMU to speak of it directly - and the link no longer works, so I can't see the stick.

Do I have this correct...

1. the Response plus is a retired brand and is no longer manufactured. 

2. Sport Chek is currently selling a SMU that LOOKS identical in every detail and name to the retired brand? 

3. They are advertising it correctly - giving the details of what the stick actually is - but because it has the identical paint job and name of the retired brand you find it confusing and possibly - umm - underhanded? 

4.  And you are wondering how they can do this?

Is this correct?

It is not "bait and switch" - bait and switch is illegal.  It is when a store offers an incredible deal on something (the bait) and when you come into the store they say "oh, gee, sorry that is sold out, but we can offer you THIS brand" (the switch).  It is why - in Canada anyway - the advertiser states how many units of an item they have in stock in the ad.

Lets ignore the advertisement for a second, because our original poster didn't see the ad, he just went in and saw the sticks.

If you went into a hockey store that sold Response + sticks, painted EXACTLY like every other Response + you'd ever seen, you would assume they were the real deal, right? Thats what SniperMcGee did, but now after the fact he has found out that the stick was a low quality SMU. This does not seem fair to general public, and I tend to agree with him.

If I saw a Rolex Oyster sitting in Peoples jewellers I would assume it was an Oyster, not a cheaper version specially made for Peoples. If the stick had said anything different, like "Response XL", or "Response Positive", then I would assume it was an SMU. But for the stick to be painted AND branded exactly like the regular +'s seems misleading to me.

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hockeymom    2

hockeymom
Posted

First of all, some generalities.... SMU's are not automatically "low quality" nor should they be looked at as "fakes" - an SMU is simply a special order... it could be of any quality.

Much in the same way as you don't consider a - say - Vector v120 a "fake" Vector v10. They are both CCM brand name sticks of differing materials, quality and price points.

An SMU gives the retailer a product that is not offered anywhere else, the consumer has more choice (usually at a better price point) and the manufacturer makes and sells more product.

I'm getting into more sketchy ground here as I move into more specific stuff about this stick. Usually, an SMU will look a bit different and have a slightly different name or coding attached to the brand name. It is in the manufacturer's interest to protect the brand name.

Now I am a bit hampered because I haven't seen the SportChek ad, so I don't know what the core material is in this stick. But I'll accept at face value what's been presented in this thread: that this stick is a fiberglass, or principally fiberglass, stick which is a different material than the original graphite stick and that it has been marketed that way. It does seem to share many of the other features of the original Response and the only difference (not to trivialize the difference) is the core material.

However, the fiberglass Response stick IS a different colour than the graphite Response stick. They are both red, but the SMU is a brighter red than its graphite brother and it is solid, only one tone, red. The graphite Response stick is a darker red and looks like it has more pigment in the paint (hard to tell from photos) but it definitely has more tonality - and it is two-toned, with black paint blended on the end of the shaft and at the blade joint.

That takes us to the name or badging. It is unusual for the sticks to have the same name - IMO the only possible explanation is that as it is a retired name, TPS was not worried about recycling it in a final incarnation. Their top of the line stick is now the Adreneline... and the Response is yesterday's news. Heavens, I could throw in a WILD and COMPLETELY GROUNDLESS SPECULATION that maybe they had decals left over and were happy to continue with the name to use them up. Or that they might be continuing to make Response's but only as fiberglass SMU's.

Is this confusing to the consumer? Yes. You know the name Response and you know it as a graphite stick and here it is in a lower price, a different red colour but the same name and different materials. That's confusing.

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althoma1    575

althoma1
Posted
hockechamp14 Posted on Oct 13 2006, 11:48 PM

  http://www.sportchek.ca/sportchek/do/style...5&styleId=29831

it looks pretting confusing and underhanded to me.

It says "the great one piece stick at an affordable price" hmm... ok. 

and even on the website on the specs tab I don't see Fiberglass anywhere. It says:

Feature                                                    Benefit

An 11" taper through the flex zone  Lowers the kickpoint for more accurate shots 

Extreme concave shape  Results in faster energy transfer and quicker puck release off the blade 

Compression molding  Yields a more durable, high-performance blade 

Faster and more complete shaft loading  Causes faster energy transfer than conventional sticks (no lag) 

Length: 60" 

Weight: 455 grams

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hockeymom    2

hockeymom
Posted

Hockechamp14: I agree - it is confusing.

This stick has the same diameter and features (lower kick point etc) as the retired stick. The original question was "is it a fake" - and the answer to that is, no it isn't. Is it the "2005" Response Plus? - no, it is a "2006" Response Plus.

I don't know what material the core is. People have speculated about what it might be in this thread, but I don't see that anyone has stated that they know. For all I know, it could have the same core with a different paint job. Unlike what some people have posted here, it definitely has a different paint job from the 2005 Response.

So, what is the core? That question takes us back to BadKitty's post: Go ask em.

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