Easton Stealth RS stick

[Zjack38 46]

Me: I'm either 5 foot 9 or 5 foot 10, weigh 133 lbs, I play competitive Hockey, I've used this stick for the second best division in Bantam Majors of Little Caesars this past year. Now I'm on to U16 and its survived tryouts. I use the Iginla curve, and I have no grip on the shaft.

BLADE: The blade on this stick is very hard/stiff, which allows me for hard, and acurate shots/passes but when I receive a pass it seems to bounce off the blade of the stick. A plus of this stick though is that the feel when I stick handle is amazing. 8/10

Shaft/Flex: I love the shaft on this stick, the clear grip is amazing and the shaft isn't to big and bulky, so it's easier to Stickhandle, and take wrist/snapshots. The flex doesn't seem to whippy though the stick is starting to lose some of its power on slapshots.

9/10

Stickhandling/Receiving Passes: I find this stick very easy to stick handle with its very light and well balanced in order to give me some pretty dirty dangles if you know what I mean. For some reason though, I find it very hard to catch passes on this stick, this is the first time I've never been able to catch a pass with a stick so that's a big down factor of this stick.

6/10

Shooting: This is the best thing about the stick, all my shots are hard and acurate, and my slap shot is always a bomb and its on target. I love shooting with this stick its soooo easy to nip top shelf with this on goalies. Shooting with this stick is amazing.

10/10

Weight/Balance: This stick is super duper light, and its very well balanced, I love it.

10/10

Durablility: Well I'm one of those people that couldn't break a stick if they tried to, but I've had this since Christmas 2012 and its still fine, there's a few chips and scratches on it but it doesn't effect the performance of it at all. As I mentioned I play a high level of hockey so this stick has held up very well.

10/10

Intangibles: The non grip version is a huge plus, and I love the graphics of this stick black and yellow, nothing better than that. Plus I got it for like 140$ when it was 170$ everywhere else.

10/10

Conclusion: This is a great stick, probably one of the best I've ever used, and it shoots very well. While there is a downside to it, there is an even bigger upside to this stick. If I was you I would get this. Once the RSII goes on sale I'll probably get that as well. GET IT.

OVERALL SCORE: 62/70 or 8.8/10

p.s. sorry if my math was off on the total I did it all in my head.

[Hills 712]

Easton RS 87 Flex Parise P6

Stick History: Sherwood 9950 Wood Coffey, Bauer Supreme (Sport Chek SMU) Kane, Sherwood T70 Stastny, Winwell GX8, Easton RS Parise, Warrior AK27 , Warrior DT1LT Pavelski, Warrior DT1ST Grandlund

Usage: 1 year

Personal Details: Male, 6'3", 210lbs, 24 years old. Adult B-level.

About me: I played hockey my life as a goalie and about 4 years ago I decided I wanted more ice time and that I wanted to skate out as a player. I had no idea what kind of stick I liked as well as what curve I liked and what flex, this was all new to me and my shot was terrible to begin with as expected. Since then I have obviously gotten better and stronger but I am still figuring out what curve/length/flex that I prefer.

Preface: As you can see through my stick history this was the first high end stick I ever used, and it really opened my eyes and showed me how much of a difference a quality stick makes verses a low end budget product. I got this stick on super clearance and thus took the only stick that was my hand and ended up with an 87 flex Easton RS with a Parise curve. I play defense and had to transition from using a taller stick (I added an extension) to a normal size stick that feels slightly too small for me as I am 6'4". That said my stick handling greatly improved with this stick and that was partially because of the height, but more so because of the blade feel, balance and weight of the stick. I do not have great hands and would never consider myself a good stick handler, but my puck control has immensely improved with the RS and I am able to more easily chip the puck through and around players in the corner as my maneuverability with the stick improved so much.

Grip: This particular stick is not the grip model, but the paint on it is more of a matte finish than a clear coat. I enjoy using this stick very much and the paint feels much nicer on the gloves than the clear coat of the Bauer, Sherwood, and Winwell sticks I have used as well. Perhaps that is the material it is made of but as it stands it is my second favourite stick to hold that I own (favourite is the Velvet grip on the Warrior AK27).

Aesthetics: The aesthetics of the Easton RS sticks are very pleasing to me, I like the minimal use of colours and the black base with blacked out graphics. The yellow accents really gave this stick a distinct look that really caught my eye all while looking understand and not trashy.

Blade/Curve: I really enjoy the blade on the Easton RS, the curve is something I experimented with and don't mind it but I do not believe it is my favourite. I learned to saucer pass and learned more advanced puck control when using this stick. This wasn't because I practiced doing so (I tried multiple times on the sticks I had before) but the blade really allow to more easily lift the puck and doing so with the Sherwood, Bauer, and Winwell is much more difficult. I find it slightly harder to receive hard passes off this stick compared to my Warriors and I believe that is do to the blade. The pucks seem to bounce slightly when receiving passes yet the feel is extremely soft and cushioned.

Shooting: My shots vastly improved with this stick compared to my previous ones and that can be attributed to the quality of the Easton RS, everything from the blade to the flex allowed me to raise the puck easier and to shoot much harder. With this stick I could take quick snap shots from behind the net and rim it off the glass (something that took much effort and was hard to do with the Winwell, Sherwood, and Bauer). My wrist shots improved in accuracy but I found the biggest change was my snap shots. With the Easton I was really able to use my height to my advantage and load up the stick on a shot, which created the hardest and highest shots I've ever achieved at the time. Before this stick I had a hard time shooting over the net or up high. My slap shots also improved with the Easton RS but since I am so inconsistent with them and my slap shot is considerably better with the new Warriors I wont mention it much.

Passing: Being a defenseman I have the need to make long and hard stretch passes and with the RS I gained confidence and skills to do so. The curve is good for turning wrist shots into passes and I felt extremely comfortable making hard passes.

Durability: Since using this stick for over a year now the flex has obviously gotten softer. While I found the RS to be more flexible compared to my similarly rated Bauer and Sherwood I found the evidently stiffer Warriors to feel similar to the RS to the point of adjusting between the 3 takes little to no time. In comparison the Winwell is considerably more stiff than anything else I own. I preferred this stick when it was slightly stiffer as puck feel was better and my shots felt harder. But now with the softer flex wrist shots are easier to take and my shots come off the stick sooner and thus I adjust my game to include quick release shots vs more powerful shots. Also since the break down of stiffness I find stopping passes close to my feet more difficult as when the puck hits the blade I can feel the stick flex and create an sling shot like affect.

Because I play defense this stick takes a bit of abuse, I get hacked often, block shots and dig along the boards. But most of the damage comes from other players as I am generally really good to my equipment and sticks and take care of them. That said there are obvious chips and scrapes all over the Easton RS and the blade has softened up a bit. But the most worrying part is the toe of the blade where it is cracked and chipped quite a lot. This comes down to normal wear and tear and I do not fault the stick at all as it has stopped slap shots, been stepped on, and jammed into the boards and I still feel comfortable using it.

Feel: One thing I noticed about the Easton RS compared to my other sticks is how it feels so light it feels like I am not holding my stick. I found I always know where my blade is with my other sticks and because of the weight I end up holding the other sticks lower down when skating with 2 hands on the sticks and their blades are usually on the ice. I don't consider this a negative for the Easton RS, but rather feel it is so well balanced and the blade feels so light it feels like the stick is just a shaft. This feeling never hindered performance at all.

Other: The Easton RS has a tapered shaft and my Warrior DT1LT and DT1ST both do as well. I can definitely feel a difference between the sticks that have it vs the sticks that don't. But since my only sticks with a taper are top of the line vs cheaper alternatives I don't feel I can make a good comparison or really comment on this feature any more.

Closing: Since I am still unsure exactly what sticks I like I grabbed the Warriors when they were too good of a deal to pass up. When I received them I was pleasantly surprised that they are longer than the Easton RS, and being relatively tall and a defenseman I enjoy this added height. I bring this up because I have since relegated the Easton RS to 3rd/4th stick in my rotation. I like the added length of the Warriors but I have a soft spot for this Easton RS since it was my first real good (and high end) stick I ever purchased. I really really like this stick and almost want to retire it instead of using it until it breaks, which is pretty stupid of me but I am also overly sentimental.

Like I said the Easton RS has a special place in my sentimental heart, that said I really enjoy using it and would recommend it to anybody (especially for the price I paid). If Easton's newest models are anything like the RS that I used I would love to use another one. Overall I'd recommend the Easton RS and enjoy using it whenever I bring it out onto the ice.

I love the look of this stick, pretty understated and the grey on black is a very nice look.

The yellow accents are a great touch and make it instantly recognizable.

Blade is in pretty good shape minus the toe area. The look of this is fantastic as well with carbon weaves going in multiple directions. I feel this stick is pretty hard to receive passes with and believe the blade is to blame. Now when I put pressure on the blade and bend it slightly you can hear the material snapping/cracking (same noise when touching the broken part at the toe of the blade) so I am pretty sure this is what is going to go first on this stick.

Basic yet attractive back of the blade.

The damage done to the toe of the blade, this damage happened within the first month of use and hasn't really gotten much worse. When it happened I didn't tape the stick all the way to the toe so I am unsure if that is why this damage happened.

Heel and bottom of the blade are in great shape with no damage noticeable.

A player skated over my stick and left a small scratch through the blade, but no issues were caused.

Damage to the shaft, just paint chipping.

Another view of the shaft damage.