Vaughn V3 vs Epic 8000 C/A

[RonLopez 0]

WARNING IMAGE HEAVY 56K = EPIC FAIL (no pun intended)

Hello all,

I know there have been a lot of questions regarding these two pads in the past so I figured I'd try to help by writing out a comparison. I bought the 7500 for myself the weekend after Christmas because the Epic, while a nice fit, never felt "right." I drove up to Wesco and tried about 4 or 5 different chest pads and this one, by far, felt the best. I was actually thinking about going back to Brown, but this unit far and away just fit me better. For reference, the V3 is X-Small and the Epic is Small.

First up is an side by side front shot. As you can see, the V3 is an overall bigger pad. For me, the extra size in the body is negated by the fact that I tuck, so all that extra blocking space is really forced to contour to my body. I don't feel a difference in that respect as far as blocking space goes. The main difference, for me, is the shoulders. Clearly, the V3 shoulders sit significantly higher. At this point, I find putting my suspenders over minimizes the problem as far as turning my head goes. The Velcro adjustment doesn't allow for the shoulders to be cinched down. I wish Vaughn would've used a system similar to the RBK P1.

Also, those gold pieces in the front are kind of annoying. I notice during play that my arms get caught up on them. I wish they'd sit flush against the pad. At some point, I might just tape them down or something. Removing them leaves a significant hole in the protection (yeah yeah I'm a sissy), so I won't mess with that.

Next up is a comparison of the backs:

You can see that the V3 has much more Velcro back there to allow for more adjustments with regards to fit. What you can't see is that the V3 has a nice, soft liner similar to the Brown units. Definitely something I like over the Epic. Also, the back plate on the V3 is completely removable. I find you can customize how the unit sits a little bit better with this setup instead of having it attached via elastic like the Epic.

Sticking with the back, you can see the rib padding. Both pads wrap the body every well, in my opinion, so significant rib protection isn't needed. Vaughn has used a softer foam in this area, which I think is good enough. The Epic rib pad is slightly thicker, but again both are very soft and I think more for comfort than protection.

It seems I can't post the rest of this here. The board is telling me that both posts combined have too many pics. Look at the below link for the comparison in full:

http://www.goalieboard.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6899

[DCott 0]

Wow...never realized how boxy the Epic was. It looks as if over time the Velo will contour to your torso better, due to the breaks in the front aren't just vertical/horizontal, and there are more breaks in the floaters.

[RonLopez 0]

Yeah Dan, so far the body's done well contouring with me. The shoulders are still high, hopefully sticking them under my suspenders will help the break in process. BTW, I took pics of me wearing the two units as comparison. They're on the goalie board (follow the link at the bottom of the first post).