Bauer Vapor Apx

[Souldriver 64]

I had this stick for about a year before it finally snapped but it did good for a tax return gift to myself
Body: Type: 5' 7" 250 lbs
Stick: RH P88 Kane 87 flex cut down to the 105 flex mark, about 55-54"
Recent Sticks: APX, Widow, DT1

Blade:
the blade is stiff and has that great sandpaper texture to it. its not a lot but it does help tape stick better and the puck as well., the texture also holds up nice over time and doesnt smooth out. The feel though is average and unlike both Warriors i couldnt tell where the puck was on the blade, I left a lot of pucks behind because I didnt realize they rolled of the edge of my stick 8/10

Shaft/Flex:
The shaft has that great small round contour for it and it really helped me get back into hockey and relearn how to stickhandle a little better. Though i outgrew this and wanted a little more shoulder to fill my palms i did enjoy this and it was a good stepping stone. The flex feels stiffer than rating by a little, really stiff compared to the easy loading warriors. 9/10

Stickhandling/receiving passes:
stick handling was great and rolling your hand around the shaft was a breeze when you needed to. receiving passes was a little pingy but not too bad, a little wax helped this 9/10

Shooting:
Wristers and snap shots were great, right on target and real hard. For me the more i put into the stick the more i got out of it with these shots. the widows and dt1s were a hair harder but its negatable. Slap shots though for me were an atrocity! Only once during warmups did a get a good one. Maybe i was trying too hard as others suggest but I havnt had a problem doing this with other sticks. To me the intelli-sense tech is there but it didnt work for me 7/10

Weight and balance:
Weight is great and balance is too. the stick was a pinch shaft heavy before i cut it but post cut it was spot on. 10/10

Durability:
Lasted a full year before it snapped which is good seeing how much i used it, It must be that new epoxy their using. the stick never fully lost its pop, it did drop off though but it never fully died. 8/10

Intangibles:
matte finish was nice and so is the blade texture. micro shaft feel will be greta for those with small hands or those that love a tiny shaft. Itelli-sense seems great for some but flops for others. 8/10

Conclusion:
A great stick but overall not for me. I would much prefer a tiny bigger shaft and just a straight low kick, non of that intelli-sense nonsense. Right now though im cruising with my DT1s and couldnt be happier, it seems like that stick was tailored for me. as another member said the APX is great at a lot of things, but is a master of none. 59/70 = 8.4/10

[CTB 32]

Stiffness - 87 flex cut down about 1.5"
Pattern - P92L
Tactile finish
Period of use - Just started using it July of 2013

Reviewer is a C/D beer leaguer. Primarily wing and occasionally D.

Side note - This is a pro stock stick, however from what I've deciphered on the pro stock codes, it's the same as the retail APX (P92L pattern, 87 flex, A26B shaft construction). The only difference between this and the retail APX would be the tactile grip texture, which is available on My Bauer anyway. I am also going to make some references to other types of Bauer sticks such as the TotalOne, TotalOne NXG, Nexus 1000 and the older Vapor X:60. I realize this review is a bit late to the party seeing that the APX2 is due to be released soon but maybe this will be useful for people that like to buy the older version of a line when the new one gets introduced on a discount.

Blade - 9.5/10

My previous experience with the Vapor line of sticks was the X:60 and to be honest I was not the biggest fan of that model. Some of it might have been due to the fact that I had to buy it off a clearance rack in a pinch and they didn't have the curve I was using at the time (P88) so I had to settle for a PM9 which I just couldn't get used to. The other aspect of the X:60 I didn't like was that the blade played really pingy. Before deciding to venture back to the Vapor line I read up a lot on the reviews of the APX and found that the biggest improvement on the APX was using the same blade as the original TotalOne, a stick I had owned and liked the blade. The blade handles the puck much better than the X:60 and all the issues with puck bouncing off the blade are now a non-issue. I'll be honest though, having used the Nexus 1000 and NXG, the newer blade on those sticks I feel is a hair better than the blade that's on the APX.

Shaft/Flex - 10/10

I absolutely love the tactile texture on the shaft. One of the other sticks I own, a TotalOne NXG pro stock had this texture on it and for me it's almost a must have on my sticks now. I've handled both the clear and grip versions of the retail APX and to be honest I don't know which one of those I'd go with if the tactile texture wasn't available. The matte finish on the clear version of the latest line of Bauer sticks just seems a little too slick for my liking. I've never been a huge fan of grip sticks either. I suppose splitting the difference on those versions would be candy caning a clear version. From reading the reviews of this stick before purchasing it, the flex of the APX has seemed to be a common concern with the stick. The dual flex points take a while to get used to. From my experience, I was most heavily playing with a TotalOne NXG with the same stiffness and blade pattern, it takes some adjustment getting used to the dual kick points. While I my hand positioning for wrist shots and stickhandling was roughly the same, I had to place my bottom hand a bit lower for slap shots than I was used to doing on my NXG. The middle portion of the shaft is extremely rigid and if you don't grip at the right spot for the bottom flex point you'll end up with a pretty weak slapper. The shaft shape also takes a little while to get used to if you're coming from a traditional square shaped shaft. In my hands it feels a bit thinner than most square shafts.

Stickhandling/receiving passes - 10/10

Puck control is great with the stick. This is where I think the more rounded shaft shape comes into play, I just feel that I can make slightly more deft touches with the puck than the other types of Bauers.


Shooting - 9.5/10

I used to be more skeptical when it came to the advertisements about all the high end technology that was being used in sticks, even after I had owned a couple of the nicer models that were available. However, after using all 3 of the Bauer lines of sticks, I can say that in my experience the description of how each stick will affect your shot is pretty accurate. The higher kick point for wrist shots really helps get off very clean and crisp wristers. I don't have the biggest slapper and don't unload it that often during games but I've found that the loading of this stick for slappers isn't quite as good as compared to NXG and Nexus 1000. On those sticks you can really feel the shaft kick when you hit the sweet spot, the APX isn't quite as dramatic but given my general shooting style I can't say it's that big of a detraction.

Durability - 10/10

It's held up well, I'm not in an overly physical league but factoring in the normal clashing of sticks, aggressive stick lifts (both giving and receiving), blocked shots none of that has caused any problems.

Intangibles 9.0/10

I've never been the biggest fan of the Vapor line's graphics. It's always been a bit more flashy, especially compared to the Supreme and Nexus lines, but since this was a pro stock stick the coloring was modified where the white portion is the same as the grip version but the red has been replaced by royal blue. I think it sort of "cools" the graphics down a bit and I like it better. Still, the stick's performance is the biggest concern for me and while I loved the understated look of the Nexus line, I can live with how this one looks.

Conclusion

I was a bit skeptical about this stick given my not so favorable experience with the X:60. However given that I had read about improvements to the blade and this time I was able to get this stick in the pattern I preferred along with the shaft texture I enjoy I was willing to give it a shot. It didn't hurt that since it was a pro stock I was paying a bit less than the retail version. I've certainly been won over by the APX. I certainly understand how people might be hesitant to try it given the dual flex points take a while to get used to. I wouldn't say that it's the best stick I've used, but I can see myself really enjoying playing with it for as long as it lasts.

Overall score - 9.6/10