Equipment Bags

[Oreaopla 0]

Hey All. I hope I'm not duplicating a posting. I tried searching but couldn't find anything related to these particular bags. I took a look at the Mac Daddy at my LHS and it seems really nice. It has an internal fan included with it and seems roomy. Also, it has wheels unlike my super heavy old nike bag that kills my back. Anyone have any experience with these bags that have fans? I was hoping to pick up a wheeled bag anyway and figured I'd give one of these a try if they work well..I normally hang my gear up after every use but if this spares me all that trouble of cluttering up the basement, i wouldn't mind. Any info?

[Leafsrule16 5]

I have one, honestly the fan doesnt do a whole lot its more of a gimmick thing, it does work but very little, i dont suggest spending the extra money on the bag when you can just air your gear out some place else, its not a huge difference. It is a pretty well made bag though.

[CTHockey 2]

From selling these bags the past few years we've come to a solid conclusion. They work well for young small kids but for the average teenager or adult they do not work very well at all. The younger hockey player tends to not sweat as much making their equipment less wet and easier to dry out. The average high school player or adult usually comes off the ice soaking wet and this is when these types of bags are pretty much worthless. The fans are not strong enough and do not circulate the air fast enough through the bags to dry out soaking wet bulky adult size equipment. To me these bags were designed for the lazy hockey player or lazy parents who dont want to take the stuff out of the bag and hang it up. I take everything out of my bag when i use it which is usually twice a week and hang it up. Drys out quick and smells fine

[fieldofdreams 0]

I tried one of the Shock Doctor Bags. I wear adult sized equipment (albeit usually Small) and it seemed to dry my stuff pretty well. It works good if you live in an apt or dorm and don't have a place to air your stuff out. The one bad thing is that it circulates the smelly air back into your room though. Smells up something awful!!

[Neal 41]

I have one of the Shock Doctor bags and like it. I can't dry my equipment with one cycle, it takes 1.5 or 2 which is a pain, but I do think my gear smells less than it used too. I also can dry my equipment between games if I'm playing back to back or same day.

[number21 3]

I am going to agree with CTH.

I fell into the gimmick of the Shock Doctor bag. I was hoping the bag would help things dry over night then stow it away out of the better half's way (we share an apartment). That really didn't work out.

The best rating I could give it is, it's okay, it technically works but not dramatically faster or better.

I wear senior med. gear and for me it takes about 2 runs of the blower (6 hours). Which is about what it would take hung up with a box fan in the room. I don't think the ozone from the blower does much, but that is hard for me to judge since I only play in one adult league and occasional pickup/stick time. The high power blower may work better, but I don't think I want to spend the money for a "might".

I also never carry the bag. It's friggin huge and the solid plastic bottom (no wheels) is a pain in the ass, not to mention additional weight. I use it to dry stuff, then fold the bag up and slide it under some furniture.

I would say spend your money on a box fan, a rack of some sort and some spray to disinfect and call it good.

EDIT: The one thing I might do is get the blower attachment for skates/gloves use that and get rid of the giant bag.

[jimmy 194]

I've been using the 40" SD bag for about 3 yrs. I love it. It does take 2 cycles to dry but this is way better than just putting everything on a drying rack. I play 4 times a week, with no days off in between. I don't have a lot of time to dry. So when I get home at night and have to play in the morning, this thing does the job. I usually take the pants out because they don't really get soaked, and taking them out of the bag gives more room for air to circulate. Is it the perfect solution, nope, but it certainly is convenient and works better than laying them out.

[number21 3]

I stand corrected.

After my first (horrible) game since August, I used my SD bag and it worked fine. I put my gear in when I got home, set it, showered passed out in front of the tube then when i woke up and decided to go to bed I reset the time (it wasn't done yet) and all the gear is dry this morning.

So it does work. I have noticed time to time that it does take longer to dry stuff. I don't know if sometime the gear is more wet or if the relative humidity in the air make s a difference or what.

[jimmy 194]

Sd has a new more powerful blower now. I'm going to get one for next winter. Since I keep my stuff in the garage, it's hard for the small blower to heat when bag;s in freezing temps. The bigger blower should reduce the cycle times.

[DVX 0]

i bought some $30 easton stealth bag from hockey experts, hands down the best bag ive ever had. So compact, yet fits all of my equipment comfortably with space to spare and im a big guy.

[Oreaopla 0]

i bought some $30 easton stealth bag from hockey experts, hands down the best bag ive ever had. So compact, yet fits all of my equipment comfortably with space to spare and im a big guy.

Which one of the Stealths did you mean? I looked on hockey monkey and there are several of them. The Easton Stealth Sub Wheel and S17 large wheel look about the same and seem pretty nice. Seems like the SD bag has gotten some decent ratings from folks on here. I've been airing my stuff out for ages and especially now that I've gotten new stuff to replace my old equipment. It is a pain at times especially when i get home after late games and have work in the morning...I'm so tired I just want to drop. Mac Daddy definitely seems like a really well made and roomy bag but that fan seems very small so I don't know how well it would work. I have never actually seen the SD bag in person so I have no idea what it's about. My main goal at this point is to get a bag I can wheel around to avoid screwing up my already horrible back. But if this blower fan stuff helps I wouldn't mind. At this point, I'm totally undecided and lost so I'm stuck with what I have. Any further input would be appreciated. Thanks all.

[epstud74 24]

I use a Shock Doctor bag and a friend of mine who works at a LHS just gave me the blower for free. It works out pretty well for me. I leave the Shock Doctor bag at home and use a different bag for when I travel to the rink. I bought an SMI pro bag for $29 from SMI direct w/o the logo and I use that for games. When I get home, I put the gear into the SD bag and push both heater and ozone buttons and let it work overnight while I sleep. That tends to keep the funk out of my normal carry bag as well. You just have to discipline yourself to go through the process after the games.

[kklinder 0]

Was curious how the Warrior Funk Off compared to Shock Doctor bag, so dug into the archives. After reading the comments, I have to add that I'm really impressed with the Shock Doctor. Since I've gotten it, my stuff doesn't stink at all. It is definitely heavy, though. I thought about taking the relevant components off the SD and modifying a Grit Tower to make the ultimate bag.

[number21 3]

With the SD bag I have found something new. When I used it indoors in my apartment it worked well enough. Stuff dried to 2 runs of the fan.

Now I am in a smaller flat and my gear has been moved into the basement with the laundry. Either the blower is slowly dying, or the extra dampness and/or coolness of the basement has slowed down the drying process.

I may have to change and set up a shelf with a box fan in front of it to dry things out instead.

Again, it works technically, but I don't think it's worth the cost of the bag blower combo.

(Unless the new center air chamber bags are better - i don't know)

[kklinder 0]

For the record, I do have the center air chamber bag. I keep it in my garage on the floor. I've mostly used it in the colder weather with pretty dry air, but I don't anticipate too much difference when the weather gets warmer. I use it with heat and ozone on and I do run 1.5-2 cycles.

[puckhoggy 0]

I bought the Shock Doctor bag and blower last year and love it. I usually use it for my hockey torunaments out of town or else when my brother goes to his tournaments. i usually have to use 2 cycles though if i want EVERYTHING dry. usuallly just turn on the ozone and heat buttons. but if im in a hurry ill just use the heat button. not too sure if it has a direct impact on drying time.

i also throw in a odor sneaker ball and a puch of activated carbon from fish tanks in the bag to help minimize odor output after the blowing is down. or else throw in a bag of opened baking soda.

i only use the bag indoors and dont use it to travel back and forth to the arena since i dont want to damage or rip the bag.

I remember checking out the Warrior bag and it was only a fan and nothing with "heat" or "ozone" functions, that's why i opted out from getting that one. but the warrior bag is ideal if u want to use it back and forth to the arena since there is no additional attachement, u can just plug it at an arena and let it work its magic.

[jmacie3 0]

I bought the warrior mac daddy funk off bag from perani's over Christmas break. It was discounted to 59.99 or something like that so I said why not. It seems to be pretty effective, I usually just plug it in after playing and stop it like 5 hours afters. Seems to dry everything and I don't notice any smell. However, I also lysol all my gear all the time just in case.

[cptjeff 0]

I bought the Shock Doctor bag and blower last year and love it. I usually use it for my hockey torunaments out of town or else when my brother goes to his tournaments. i usually have to use 2 cycles though if i want EVERYTHING dry. usuallly just turn on the ozone and heat buttons. but if im in a hurry ill just use the heat button. not too sure if it has a direct impact on drying time.

i also throw in a odor sneaker ball and a puch of activated carbon from fish tanks in the bag to help minimize odor output after the blowing is down. or else throw in a bag of opened baking soda.

i only use the bag indoors and dont use it to travel back and forth to the arena since i dont want to damage or rip the bag.

I remember checking out the Warrior bag and it was only a fan and nothing with "heat" or "ozone" functions, that's why i opted out from getting that one. but the warrior bag is ideal if u want to use it back and forth to the arena since there is no additional attachement, u can just plug it at an arena and let it work its magic.

I don't think that makes any difference at all on drying.

I have a shockdoctor and it works fine for me. I have to do two cycles after an intense game, but I'm not a heavy sweater. I also have the first gen bag and pump though, so it balances out with the heavier sweaters with the more powerful pumps.

And it's great for dorms.

[NuggyBuggy 0]

I have an SD bag. It doesn't dry my stuff out unless I run it for at least 2 cycles. Dumping stuff in after a game usually leads to gear that is stinkier when it comes out of the bag then it would be if I just aired it out. This is because most of my games are evening games, so I am usually asleep when the 2nd cycle rolls around. So I end up keeping the bag around for occasional ozonation, which is a lot of real estate for occasional use.

If the blower could only be made to run for twice as long, I think the bag would be a lot more usable.

Also, the bag was absolutely massive, even moreso than regular wheeled bags. For me, it was too big to be used practically, so the dream of being able to leave my stuff in the bag after coming home died after exactly one trip to the rink.

[epstud74 24]

I'm 6-2 230lbs.. I sweat a bit out on the ice. I also have a Shock Doctor bag with the blower motor attachment. I never use the bag for games though. I use it for storage and keep it plugged in out in the garage on a table. I'll run it full cycle and then probably again when I walk by it. The equipment is usually bone dry when I take the stuff out to put in my regular use hockey bag.

[Jarick 5]

I ended up selling my old SD bag...it was the first version with the smaller blower and no center channel.

I would cycle the thing twice and it would get my gear dry, but the smell was a lot worse than just airing it out. Also, it would stink up the entire house when it ran, rather than just the area around my gear. Kind of disappointed.

I'm sure the newer version with the center channel and the bigger blower would be better, but I've got a second bathroom that I just load the stuff on a wire rack and turn on the fan.

FWIW, I'm only 5'8 and my stuff is all medium, and I do tend to sweat a lot.