STX Surgeon 500

[Hat_Trick_Hokie 49]

Male, 6'1", 210lbs, playing in B-D leagues.  I mainly use 4-roll gloves from various manufacturers (Eagle PPF, Eagle X72, Eagle X95, Eagle Fusion, Warrior Franchise 14N, Easton 4-Roll Pro, and Graf G65) so these STXs are a big change for me.  I have played with these gloves once a week for 8 months.

Disclaimer: I went by the factory STX sale and bought these Surgeon directly from the manufacturer.  The shell is slightly different from retail as they are pro stock samples, so they have less branding, and the entire shell is nylon.  Otherwise, they are identical to retail Surgeon 500 gloves.

Fit:  This is where I was most skeptical initially, as I normally use 4-roll gloves that give me a ton of mobility.  After playing for a while, I'm in love.  I have tried on every glove at the store, and can't find anything that has a snug fit in the fingers and backhand, but has no limitation for wrist movement.  I find they give me the great mobility of a open-cuff 4-roll, but they take away the sloppy lower hand fit.  These are my first pair of gloves with stretch gussets, and they allow for a low gusset height, but allow for a tight grip on sticks.  The gussets combined with the three-piece fingers and flex thumb, give great dexterity.  One note: I use 14" gloves for everything else and use a 15" for these, so be sure to try on a size up.  10/10

Protection:  The foams in these gloves are on the thin side, but they are backed up by full plastics.  I have taken a good amount of beer league slashes, and have no major complaints.  The gloves offer good wrist protection, as cuffs are pretty long and flare out.  However, they are not tanks like my Franchises, so I am a little cautious during games.  8/10

Weight:  These seem to be very light weight gloves.  I'm not sure about the actual weights, but they are lighter than all my other mitts.  10/10

Durability:  My only real complaint about these gloves is durability.  The shells are holding up well.  The binding between the thumb and finger on my upper hand is starting to fray.  The biggest gripe: is the palm.  I use a very small cloth tape butt end (example) and it's chewing up the palm on my upper hand.  I think they would have been better serves by using a different overlay, maybe a tougher grip material.  5/10

Intangibles:  I am a bit of a snob about gloves, and think they could have used better materials for the palms.  Something a bit softer for the main material, and something a bit more grippy/durable for the overlay would be preferred.  I like the cleaner look of the pro-stock model without all the graphics.  Padding throughout the gloves, all the way through the fingers makes these extremely comfortable.  7/10

Conclusion:  I might be converted from four-rolls forever.  A REALLY good first try for a new hockey company, they got a lot right.  By far the best fitting "anatomical" gloves I have tried on.  Once I wear through these palms, I'll get them replaced with better materials, then these will be unstoppable.  40/50