Sniper skin- anyone used this?

[Stewie 721]

3 hours ago, Bbd94 said:

So wouldn't this work both ways, kids don't care what their tape looks like? The customization is practically useless then.

Just playing the opposite side here, and what I would think if I had to stock my (non-existent) pro shop with this. With different brands out there for the butt end of the stick (Tacki Mac, Buttendz) it's facing an uphill climb there, too. Like I said I never like crapping on someone else's idea but I'm just really not sure it'll pay off. I was really into BladeTape and that really never became popular. Would rather say something now and hopefully the owner decides to backtrack and avoid possible losses. Kudos though to entrepreneurship. 

Off topic but how cool would it be if someone designed custom made hockey helmets? Better fit = better protection and while I'm not sure it would be used at the retail level, I could definitely see a market for pros and people who have suffered prior concussions. That, and gloves that are designed to be baked would make me open up my wallet without hesitation.  Too dumb to do it myself so hopefully someone sees this and runs with it.

nope. kids definitely care about how things look, my point is they don't have the same brand specific needs with tape as they do what stick their favorite pro uses. This is the type of product they could think is cool though, both in terms of how its applied and how it looks. Ive very rarely seen adults use blade tape, but I have seen kids use it, or things with designs on them, which this material could allow as well. Having his/her name and number on the stick is something a kid would find really cool.

 

As far as your sales point with this, they probably don't have to do the production levels to take up store space, and can probably be successful keeping this a smaller niche product. Definitely don't think now is a time for back tracking, its probably being made in smaller batches, especially when you are talking about a product that can be customized to create a single unit. The work has been done to go to production, why would you pull the plug now?

57 minutes ago, start_today said:

- Is this environmentally better than cloth tape? You change it less often, but I assume the materials that go into making whatever rubber-plastic compound this is are more toxic and take longer to biodegrade than cloth tape. 

 

- Bbd, I think someone makes customized goalie helmets, but they can't get them certified by the helmet overlords, so kids can't wear them. 

according to their description, and the package, this product is recyclable, so ideally it would end up in a recycling bin.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

9 hours ago, Stewie said:

nope. kids definitely care about how things look, my point is they don't have the same brand specific needs with tape as they do what stick their favorite pro uses. This is the type of product they could think is cool though, both in terms of how its applied and how it looks. Ive very rarely seen adults use blade tape, but I have seen kids use it, or things with designs on them, which this material could allow as well. Having his/her name and number on the stick is something a kid would find really cool.

 

As far as your sales point with this, they probably don't have to do the production levels to take up store space, and can probably be successful keeping this a smaller niche product. Definitely don't think now is a time for back tracking, its probably being made in smaller batches, especially when you are talking about a product that can be customized to create a single unit. The work has been done to go to production, why would you pull the plug now?

according to their description, and the package, this product is recyclable, so ideally it would end up in a recycling bin.

If this really is heat shrink tape, seems like the "production" would just be cutting it to length and stamping a pattern into it.

Anyone know if that's what it actually is?

Mark

 

[Troubadour 46]

Is this supposed to offer me better performance or what? They just show putting it on, but don't really show any true benefits of it.

[xstartxtodayx 343]

13 hours ago, start_today said:

- Is this environmentally better than cloth tape? You change it less often, but I assume the materials that go into making whatever rubber-plastic compound this is are more toxic and take longer to biodegrade than cloth tape. 

 

- Bbd, I think someone makes customized goalie helmets, but they can't get them certified by the helmet overlords, so kids can't wear them. 

 

First of all, great username!  

 

with all the talk about plastics in the ocean the materials question is a valid concern, but as Stewie mentioned it seems they are recyclable which is great news.

 

I have ordered a grip kit, I figure since I use a pretty short grip I can do 3, maybe 4 sticks with the 1 kit so it's worth a shot, I'll update the thread once it arrives.

[Hills 712]

I bit the bullet and order the enforcer skin for the blade and they decided to send me the grip as well. I'll post my thoughts and review here when I get it and use it. Grip might take a while because I am not going to pull off my fresh Tacki-Mac for it yet.

[MrData 93]

The grip looks pretty cool. Funny thing is, I ordered some shrink wrap electrical tubing off of Ebay to do exactly this. I'm planning on putting a tape knob and candycaning the grip with a tape rib, then slipping the shrink wrap over for durability and saving my glove palms.

[Hills 712]

 

Sniper Skin was kind enough to send a Grip along with the Dangle style blade wrap for me to use and give feedback on. Since I just put my beloved Tacki-Mac onto my Warrior QRL The Grip is going to have to wait a little bit until I can actually test it out.

 

Blade Wrap: The wrap feels like plastic and was stiffer than I was expecting. It feels thick enough to make me believe this isn't something that is going to rip apart anytime soon, but at the same time feels like it will not dampen puck feel. Putting the wrap on was fairly easy, except I didn't cut off enough at the end of the wrap so the wrap ended up sticking up because of the excess material (see photos). This mistake was completely on me and I suggest you read the instructions more carefully than I did! So far I haven't found this lip to be affecting my shooting, I can always cut it off but just left it the way it is currently. So far when shooting the wrap felt very similar to a normally taped blade, and if it lasts me 3 months it might be worth the hassle of not having to re-tape my blade every 2 skates since my tape is usually pretty eaten up then.

 

Grip Kit: I am a huge fan of Tacki-Mac and this Grip Kit seems like a more customizable option. It comes with 4 rubber rings, a foam wrap, and a thicker rubber ring for the top of the shaft to create a knob. The rubber rings and foam wrap are a good way to really customize how you wrap the top of your stick and to ensure they fit your hands perfectly. I used tennis grips (while playing tennis) with a raised wrap before and always found my hand and fingers never really fit into the grooves right and I always preferred a flat grip option, I feel Sniper Skin allow for a good deal of customizing the fit here. The grip it self is softer than the Blade Wrap and isn't exactly tacky but it feels like almost a velvet grip feeling found on certain Warrior sticks. I also like how you can get custom text on the grip.

 

 

 

Below is showing the excess wrap, I should've cut it down more. It has not affected performance.

 

 

 

I will keep posting updates with this as time goes along and usage increases.

 

Link to actual review thread.

 

 

[mnpucker 33]

Anyone know if pouring boiling hot water on carbon blades can damage the structure?  

[Neal 41]

8 hours ago, mnpucker said:

Anyone know if pouring boiling hot water on carbon blades can damage the structure?  

shouldn't cause any harm at all.  For a two piece you'd use a hot air gun to change blades without issue.  And you're pouring the water over the blade, there isn't much time for the heat to transfer, the temperature of the blade won't raise much at all.

[Hills 712]

Here is my review by the way. I'd check out the conclusion if it is too long to read.

 

 

[Hills 712]

They sent me an updated version that was labelled as SS3. It features printing to make it more look like tape and has a coarser texture to it compared the the smooth and slippery plastic one I had before. I posted a new review here, so if that gets approved I'll link it here as well.

[Bakum 25]

I would be curious to try out the grip. My immediate thought was that it would tear apart the palms of gloves but the video specifically says it won't. In recent years, gloves purchases for me were very focused on a durable palm. Usually something with multiple layers.

[kmfdm86 112]

Anyone tried it on sport court yet? Curious if it holds up well and if it creates extra drag or if it glides well.

[Hills 712]

27 minutes ago, Bakum said:

I would be curious to try out the grip. My immediate thought was that it would tear apart the palms of gloves but the video specifically says it won't. In recent years, gloves purchases for me were very focused on a durable palm. Usually something with multiple layers.

I see the grip as a more custom Tacki-Mac. I don't think it would eat up gloves at all and is made of a softer material than the blade wraps that I have seen.

Here is the post:

 

[Bakum 25]

1 hour ago, Hills said:

I see the grip as a more custom Tacki-Mac. I don't think it would eat up gloves at all and is made of a softer material than the blade wraps that I have seen.

Good to know. I Just ordered 2 of them in clear. Once I get them, i'll probably post a few photos. Was about $16/each(including shipping) after the currency conversion. 

[Bakum 25]

Here are a few pics  after molding this to my stick. I'm not sure how I feel about it. When it shrunk down, it exposed the end ring but sealed on the other side. So I think it might fall out. We'll see though. Otherwise, it seems like a solid grip. I got the clear so you can see some of the condensation under the grip from the hot water and moisture.

 

[IPv6Freely 2093]

Oops on the ring getting exposed! It looks okay except I really don't like the clear at all.

[Bakum 25]

55 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

Oops on the ring getting exposed! It looks okay except I really don't like the clear at all.

Yeah, I thought I had it lined up but I think it just shrunk up a bit more than I expected. We'll see how it goes. I'm not a fan of the clear either now that it's on there but oh well. Worst case is that I tear it off and tape it up.

[Hills 712]

How much material was overhanging on the top before you shrunk it? I like how yours looks compared to how it looks on their Youtube videos.

 

[malcb33 97]

How thin is the grip version compared to a Tackimac?

[Bakum 25]

6 hours ago, Hills said:

How much material was overhanging on the top before you shrunk it? I like how yours looks compared to how it looks on their Youtube videos.

 

I watched this video before shrinking it to avoid that excess material. I lined it up just above where the stick ended and just kinda eyeballed how much I thought it would shrink. Unfortunately it shrunk up a bit more on one side than the other. I would say, if you wanted to install this on your stick, just let that overhang happen and then trim off the excess with razor blade or something when you're done. You can see the exposed top ring in my 3rd picture a bit.

[Hills 712]

2 minutes ago, Bakum said:

I watched this video before shrinking it to avoid that excess material. I lined it up just above where the stick ended and just kinda eyeballed how much I thought it would shrink. Unfortunately it shrunk up a bit more on one side than the other. I would say, if you wanted to install this on your stick, just let that overhang happen and then trim off the excess with razor blade or something when you're done. You can see the exposed top ring in my 3rd picture a bit.

Thanks for the info. I tried to cut excess off of the first blade I had and it caused the blade to start to shatter... so I am not sure if that is the best idea. But the blade was stiffer overall than the grip was.

[Bakum 25]

After the first use, I had to take this wrap off my stick. As I expected, the top ring fell off somewhere on the ice. It made holding the stick kinda tedious since I only took 1 stick to public hockey last night. 

While it was nice on my gloves, I didn't feel like I had the same control on the stick as I would with a normal tape job.

 

[Hills 712]

19 hours ago, Bakum said:

After the first use, I had to take this wrap off my stick. As I expected, the top ring fell off somewhere on the ice. It made holding the stick kinda tedious since I only took 1 stick to public hockey last night. 

While it was nice on my gloves, I didn't feel like I had the same control on the stick as I would with a normal tape job.

 

Thanks for the update. I just applied mine and mine ended up looking quite interesting... Just from using it in the backyard I believe I like Tacki-Mac more.

[Bakum 25]

3 hours ago, Hills said:

Thanks for the update. I just applied mine and mine ended up looking quite interesting... Just from using it in the backyard I believe I like Tacki-Mac more.

You had the opposite effect as me. I didn't have enough Excess on the top and you have too much. Part of the problem I had(for the short time it was there) was the butt end. The Ring didn't quite feel right either, it's width is kinda small compared to a normal tape wrap. I would give the product like a 5/10.