STX Surgeon 500 Gloves - McDougalfaschnitzer

[Gummer12 134]

Open

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Background:

5'9" 150lbs

13" Senior

Playing style:

I am a rushing D/Set-up LW who loves the Gretzky curl. I like slap shots, weak side one timers, and left side rushing backhands. I will almost always take a snap shot if I am below the top of the circle. I don't dangle, but I use speed and quick stickhandling to make my way around the ice and prefer to set others up over scoring goals. I guess I'm a shootout specialist as well. I am a goalie coach, which leads to a lot of repetitive passing and shooting and lends itself well to testing equipment performance.

Recently used gloves:

Easton Synergy HSX

Bauer Vapor APX2

CCM CL500

CCM U+ CL

Thanks to JR and the folks at STX for making this possible! I enjoyed reviewing the STX Stallion stick, and while I was hoping for a little handheld STX harmony with the arrival of the Surgeon gloves, the stick unfortunately lost its battle with blade softness and had to be put down.

For the past few years I have really embraced the "Try Everything" mentality when it comes to gear, which was a big departure from the much more common "Be Loyal to a Brand" mentality I previously employed. I feel like the change in pace has really benefited me as a hockey player, as I've been exposed to more equipment that has allowed me to really pick the stuff that is best for me. I encourage everyone to give this approach a shot, because too much of the same, year after year, can lead to some stagnation, at least in my own experience. I went from having pretty much all Bauer stuff with some sprinkles of CCM/Reebok to now having a smorgasbord of Bauer, CCM, STX, Easton, and Warrior gear.

Anyway, on to my first impressions of the gloves.

Just like with their first stick in the hockey market, STX's gloves look like something made by a company that knows what they are doing. Inspecting the way the glove is put together, you can see that the build quality is very nice. Stitching looks neat, Logos are clean, and the mixture of nylon and rubberized materials that make up the exterior of the glove mesh well together. The palm looks good, as well as the matching stretch gussets. On the thumb, I like how the material has a mix of a knit-like texture and embossed shapes on the white areas (you can see it in the large photo). I kind of wish this type of design embossing was featured in other parts of the glove.

Looks-wise, I like the graphic design of the glove, which has some nice contrast while not looking too crazy. The embroidered STX logo looks nice and pops off the glove well, however the rest of the logos don't look as nice to me. In my eye, the gloves suffer from "Too Many Logos Syndrome". You have the large STX logo on the cuff roll which does a fine job of establishing the brand, yet you have three other stx logos on the side of the hand, the thumb, and the index finger. This, coupled with the rubber Pureform, and the Surgeon and 500 logos that feature a somewhat cartoonish black outline, kind of takes away from that pro glove look. Having a little bit of equipment design under my belt, this is something I am usually very nitpicky with which is why I'm addressing it. If it were up to me, I'd have the main STX logo where it is, move the Surgeon logo from the knuckle area to the thumb, and have the 500 next to/around the Surgeon logo. i'd leave off the Pureform logo or feature it inside the liner, as I am against displaying the gimmicky sub-brands so prominently. For some super nit-picking, I would have preferred the embroidered STX logos on the index finger and thumb to be the color of the glove (in my case red instead of black).

Looks aside, let's move on to the fit and feel of the gloves. My preference with gloves has usually been a fit where there is some snugness on the fingers that opens up at the cuff. This is pretty evident based on the gloves you see in my "Recently used" list. The Surgeon gloves do a great job of fitting very snug while not choking your hands and wrist. The liner feels very soft and airy while it is on your hand, which helps in not feeling like you are being constricted by the glove. The palm feels great on my hand, and fits my hand perfectly. The stretch gussets, in conjunction with the open seam of the main knuckle joint and the three-piece fingers (2 piece pinky) really give you a lot of mobility in the finger area. The thumb has a nice feel to it, with a good amount of flex in one way and a nice solid lock in the other direction. The wrist area opens up nicely to give a full range of motion that doesn't feel like you have to fight the design of the glove to move your hands the way you would like, which is a must have for me. The kangaroo pouch inside the glove does a really good job of giving you some snug yet soft support on your backhand and the upper thumb area, which makes it feel like your fingers are suspended in air and able to move freely while the glove stays perfectly balanced on your hand. The same goes for the wrist area. I'm not sure if I've felt that sensation before with a glove, but it feels really good. All those good feelings of the glove in hand remain when holding a stick, as it kind of doesn't feel like you are wearing gloves. The Easton Synergy HSX gloves that I have been using most recently felt nice to me up until now, but after wearing the STX gloves and noticing how well they feel, the HSXs feel a bit clunky despite the tapered fit.

The gloves are ready to go off the bat, there's no doubt about it. I don't see the need for any parts of the glove to break in, but I'm interested in seeing if the feel gets even better as time and use accumulates. As soon as I get some on-ice time, I'll make sure to report back on initial performance.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

My first time on the ice with the Surgeon 500 gloves has come and gone, and I got a nice extended look at the gloves' initial performance. Working with goalies in game situations gives you the opportunity to jump right into the kinds of motions, shots, and quick decision stuff that can be a challenge when wearing stuff for the first time.

What do we look for in a glove, anyway? To me, it is pretty simple.

- I don't want to fight against the structural design to move in the way that feels natural to me.

- I don't want to overly notice the fact that there are gloves on my hand, unless someone just slashed me and I don't feel pain but want to make sure that the glove is okay.

Most high end gloves these days are plenty light, and it has been years since weight played a factor in a glove to me, whether it was overall glove feel or how the glove felt after absorbing sweat.

That being said, such simple demands can be nuanced when it comes to how a glove can go wrong for someone. Something can feel really good in your finger/palm area but clash when it comes to wrist movement. In my experience, many of the tighter fitting gloves have felt nice on my hands but have felt too restrictive when it comes to holding a stick and actually playing the game. Looser feeling gloves can remove that restriction but at the same time for me can feel overly clunky and distracting.

Now, onto the Surgeon 500 gloves. Like I mentioned before, the fit and feel initially was very nice. They have a feel of balance that I haven't experienced with another glove. On the ice, that feeling was maintained, and I really didn't notice them in any way, in the fingers, in the wrist, or anything. Not noticing them is definitely the best compliment you can give, especially for a glove that fits so snug. As I wrote about before, the snugness is placed on your hand in a way that your wrist and fingers feel like they aren't really holding any of the gloves weight, which feels very liberating. The palm fits my hand so well that my grip on the stick felt like I wasn't wearing a glove, which is awesome and worrying at the same time, only because the feeling of nothing there makes me worry that the palms may not last.

I was able to do all of my usual movements and maneuvers with no break-in period physically or mentally. I think that plays a big factor, since it is often a head game when you are using a brand's gear for the first time. When you put something on, there is a bit of habitual imbalance where you want to justify what you have to either say "these aren't as good as X glove" or it makes you ignore negative aspects because you want to like the new thing no matter what. I wasn't able to have this internal debate because I didn't notice anything about the glove and that is the best possible outcome for me.

As of now, durability and protection are still on the table of unknowns to me. Just by using and looking at them, they are on par with most high end gloves when it comes to protection. They will protect you from whacks just fine, yet are vulnerable in in the fingertips when your bottom hand grips the stick just like any other glove. They don't stick out in any way that makes me say "uh oh, this part feels a little flimsy", but until you face some variables you never know for sure. In that respect I see no reason to worry. As far as durability, the palm didn't give any signs of early wear which was nice. I will continue to keep tabs on the palm health, as it is the one area that I feel could have some issues with durability based on how good it feels. I hope to be surprised in this respect, and will let everyone know how it progresses.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

A long overdue update:

After a lot of use, the gloves are holding up surprisingly well. There is a tiny bit of wear in the left palm where my buttend goes, but my expectation based on the fit of the glove was that they would have a full blown hole in that spot by now.

Aside from the palm, I have had wear in the usual areas, with some threads coming loose and needing trimming, but all in all the gloves still look fairly new. They don't stink, but that has part to do with my own upkeep.

Using in a game, they are pretty unnoticeable in action, and that is as high of a compliment I can give to any equipment. I think I only got hit in the glove a few times, but I didn't feel anything and didn't encounter any strange situations that wound up hurting my hand. The only time I notice the gloves in a negative way is between whistles when I take a glove off to adjust my helmet or other equipment, and the inner cushions gets turned inside out, but that is more of a first world problem than anything.

I will continue to use these unless something else blows me away. I stopped wearing my Easton HSX gloves because they just felt so clunky after using the Surgeon 500s. I really wish I could get my hands on some pro-stock 500s, as I think they look much better with minimal logos and color schemes.