Best and Worst bang for your buck

[Hermans 9]

Best:

- ShockDoctor Power Dry Bag/Blower - at least me me anyways, I love it. Yes there is a timer function, but I find it to be great. The bag is only used when I use the Power Blower, or else it sits in storage closet until I need it again.

I agree. I have one too (dryer bag) that never leaves the house

BESTS

* shocktor bag and spray bottle - keeps gear clean and fresh and in my little apartment that is a good thing

* mesh "marine" duffle bag - tough as nails, better than a hockey bag, airs out equipment as it sits in the truck bed on the drive home

* Nike S70 gloves and Nike Ignite 44 elbows; on sale, solid, functional, going strong

* $1,100 tax in goalie equipment I use to play for sh*ts and giggles - lots of fun, play for free, helps me learn the rest of the game so much more. If I keep it up for a few more years I'll make back the cost in free shinny ice-time.

WORSTS

* first set of equipment bought on the cheap to see if I would like the sport; had to replace it all

* first two helmet; lower end ones that I bought trying to find one I liked

* $1,100 tax in goalie equipment; even when it's so cheap it's far more expensive than player equipment and I play intermittently and so I never get good

[Bruins.11.94 0]

best: pro stock easton se16 i still use it as a back up and unlike most se16s there isnt one single chip or mark on the paint after countless slashes

-eagle ppf's even though brand new by far the best glove ive ever worn and makes me love eagle

-prostock vapor xxx lite

worst: reebok 9k skates- fell apart after a season

easton s19 blade- broke after first clapper in practice

[saba 0]

Best

NBH One75 skates. No pair of skates has fit me better straight out of the box. No baking, punching, nor stretching. No pain/cramps after hours of skating

Eagle PPF gloves. Set the mark for what a true good fitting quality glove should be. Lasted forever and is not funny that everyone on MSH has scrambled for the better part of a year getting Eagle palms on all their gloves. Before we all jumped on the Warrior customizer bandwagon the PPF glove was the benchmark

Worst

Mission Wicked 1. Love ya Justin you were one of the best things going on this board for a while, but there is no way these skates should EVER have been released to the public. I still suffer from bruising and a painful medial malleolus from those skates

[pby 0]

best: inno 1100, still going strong after 7 years of service and half a dozen of blades

worst: itech hc95, it met its first puck and ultimately, its demise.

[Havok19 0]

Best:Easton stealth 05 christmas trade off on easton board 90$ of toy for a stick was a win win situation and my easton white custom s15 half priced cause a friend worked at easton factory in montreal.NIA glove was one of the 1 st to get in the custom program and it costed me 125$(cnd) (now it cost 300 cnd damn you warrior) and 1 week turn around.

Worst:Easton s17 stick (1 st batch) broke 4 under a 2 month spawn when i rarely brake a stick under a year.

[tamtamg 12]

'11 Dolomite DD, You're not going to find a better performing stick for $160 at retail, and is comparable to sticks in the $200+ price point. Slightly pingier blade that the one95, but still has amazing puck feel. It also shoots hard and releases quickly. Can't go wrong with this stick.

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Best: Easton Synergy 900 Shoulders. I love them, great protection and they are still great after 6 or so years. Love my Vapor XXXX skates. Awesome and durable. 9K elbows.... love 'em.

Worst: I bought a SherWood bag once at a tournament in Montreal. It ripped to shreds when I was putting it in the car after the flight home. Yuck!

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

Best: Jofa 7500 shoulders for 25 bucks, Bauer Pro Defender for 60. Got the 10k skates the day they came out for 400.

Worst: Rbk 7k pants. I love them, but god I've only used them for 5 months and they're torn up like crazy. Gonna have to get some replacements. Tackla's perhaps??

Otherwise, haven't had many bad pickups. I now know that I use the wrong flex and lie for sticks, but it felt normal enough so can't do much about that. The one thing I don't regret buying was a Canucks shell at the team sale. Only 30 I think, probs should've got that.

[Slapsht25 0]

best 05 Stealth Grip Gaborik that stick was a scoring machine

2nd Warrior Dolemite Kovalchuk Pro Stock what a snap shot

3rd Innovative True 1 Bret Hull Pro Stock 65 Flex one timer sniper

worst Easton SiCore one game broke the blade

[lassek20 1]

Best:

- Joe Corvo Easton S19 Grip stick w/o grip on the lower portion (sakic/87 flex)only $40 "used" at Caps sale, stick was brand new, it had only been cut down and taped up.

- 2 Mike Green Easton ST (1 grip,1 reg) w/ sandpaper blades(Sakic/100 flex?) brand new from Caps sale. only $80 for the pair.

Worst:

- Sher-wood RM7? 1pc stick (coffee/100)...whatever their first top of the line composite one piece stick was. i got it as my first 1pc stick b/c i loved the sher-wood blades for 2pc sticks and would always have like a 9050 featherlite wood stick for back up.

this stick was heavy, had no discernible kick point, shots were all over the place. vibrated like a church bell, you could still feel your hands vibrating/tingling long after shooting. Big chunks of paint/resin fell off all over, big crack down the heel of the blade. only used it 2 times before i purposely left it on the bench after a game.

- Oakley blue tinted visor. this thing was sooo retarded. the rep said it makes on ice visibility sharper and blah blah so i gave it a try since it was free. i couldnt even give that POS away.

[Secti0n31 0]

Love this thread. Some people absolutely love products that others despise, and there are also a lot of people that love or hate the same damn things, good times. For me:

Best: Nike/Bauer 5500 with the cage for $50. TPS Tri-core with an old school Z-carbon blade on it at play it again for $30. and the Bladeshark for my ball hockey stick (alltho now, I'm under the impression that bladetape is the better bang for your buck w tape substitutes)

Worst: That XXXstiff Koho shaft, no idea what it's called but it was kind of a copper/bronze color. This pair of cheap Nike inlines (white, 2000 era, and <$90) that were about 2 widths too narrow. and the WORST was an inline chassis called 'quickchange' that supposedly let you swap out sets of wheels at will, but fell apart more than once and left my wheels all over the rink.

[JSK81 400]

Best:

-Totalone stick P14/77 flex. So far the best curve and flex combination for me.

-Vapor X60 Pro gloves. RBK 10K's were nicely mobile as well but their palm wore out too fast. These seem to hold up better.

Worst:

-RBK 6K elbow pads. Too stiff, with these I couldn't straighten my lower arm and therefore shooting was really awkward and crappy.

-RBK 3K neck guard. I wear it for a minute on ice and find out it has worked it's way over the shoulder pads and shirt. AND it has rolled 180 degrees so that the velcro strap is against my throat. Piece of shit.

[ju87 0]

Best: RBK 4K Shins... 5 years old and showing no signs of letting up anytime soon or ever

Worst: CCM V130 OPS... loved the stick but the blade disintegrated after a month or so (got one of the defective ones).

[HockeySavants 5]

My Pro Stock Vapor X:60s....$200 bucks

[Jarick 5]

Worst:

-RBK 6K elbow pads. Too stiff, with these I couldn't straighten my lower arm and therefore shooting was really awkward and crappy.

You're talking about the new KFS elbows, right? Really poorly designed. They have that little lip that prevents you from straightening the arm. No clue why they don't just sell their JOFA pro elbows at retail instead.

[JSK81 400]

You're talking about the new KFS elbows, right? Really poorly designed. They have that little lip that prevents you from straightening the arm. No clue why they don't just sell their JOFA pro elbows at retail instead.

Yep, the new ones. Replaced them with X40 pads and wow, what a difference.

[heatley15 5]

Best: Any Jofa/ first gen Rbk protective. Jofa jock, Rbk 5k shins, 9177 elbows, 8800 shoulders

-One95 shafts

-vapor xxxx gloves

-vapor xxxx/x:60 skates

-shockdoctor jock, used for a long time until it fell apart

Worst: Easton 1300C skates

[reverseit 0]

Not sure I have a best, but one notable mention would be the Vapor XXX (the original blue w/ red XXX). Lasted the longest out of any of my OPS purchases. The only stick to last me a full season.

Worst: Probably the old synergy SL. I absolutely loved how it felt, but it exploded at the fuse point after a couple of months.

I'm waiting to see where my new skates end up on this scale. Absolutely wonderful in terms of weight and performance but they seem to kill my feet if I'm in them for more than a couple of hours at a time.

[Leafsrule16 5]

Worst:

- Sher-wood RM7? 1pc stick (coffee/100)...whatever their first top of the line composite one piece stick was. i got it as my first 1pc stick b/c i loved the sher-wood blades for 2pc sticks and would always have like a 9050 featherlite wood stick for back up.

this stick was heavy, had no discernible kick point, shots were all over the place. vibrated like a church bell, you could still feel your hands vibrating/tingling long after shooting. Big chunks of paint/resin fell off all over, big crack down the heel of the blade. only used it 2 times before i purposely left it on the bench after a game.

rm7's are far from the top of the line stick. Rm19 was the top of the line rm series which wasnt an overly bad stick but nothing special, rm9's were second and were just a bit heavier then rm7's were heavy as hell. The first sherwood composite stick was the eclipse that i know of also, the gold one with the axiom blade, i had one a long time ago, it was in peewee though so i dont remember if it was any good, had a crazy taper though.

One95 shinpads dont seem to be very high quality, mine broke from a slash about 3 months in but with shinpads its hard to tell, maybe something damaged them before and they just finally cracked, who knows.

[bdh13 1]

Best: One95 stick; Staal, 102 flex. I sent in a warranty return One90 and ended up with one of my first current top of the line sticks. Usually I have to wait for them on closeout.

Worst: Titan Big Curve blade. This was circa 1996, but it literally broke after one shot. It must've had a manufacturing issue I didn't notice or something went wrong back in the inserting blades via stove heat method.

[watchgreat 4]

Best: Bauer x60

Worst: one90, i could not stand this stick.

[Haineser 0]

Best: A tie between Pro Stock Mission Intake Helmet for $50 and 3 Inno Thunderdome sticks for $180

Worst: Reebok 8k Helmet the micro-dial didn't work, so it wobbles. pretty flimsy helmet.

[theelite 1]

New 07 Dolo 75 flex Shaft for $60 :)

[twistoffate19 0]

Best: My old Iginla One95 prostock I got from TSR a year or so ago. Had an Ovechkin pro clone for the pattern, 95 flex, very soft grip. Best stick I've ever used. If I could find another one, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Worst: I picked up a Kovalchuk prostock Warrior last season from a friend for under $100, but I couldn't stand the super boxy shaft. So really it is a personal preference thing, but it turned out to be amongst the worst money I've dropped on hockey gear.

[All Torhs Team 0]

Best: Graf 703's. Had them for over three years now. Still fit snug, and they arn't even close to their death.

Worst: Mission Hex-1 OPS. Those blades chipped away so easily on multiple sticks.