TRUE TF9/TF7 skates

[flip12 715]

The mid-tier skate has been getting stronger and stronger, much like the mid-tier stick. Going up in price from what in the early 00’s was the top end ($400 for skates, $150 for sticks) gets you reduced weight and the latest set of tech/gimmicks (depending on how you look at it) but the performance is usually elsewhere: technique and tuning spec to what your body needs. I suspect the TF7 is merely exposing this effect, forcing a Warren Buffet low-tide on the marketing of skates.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

On 8/14/2020 at 10:10 AM, Miller55 said:

Yup, QC is the name of the game here for True. I know a few shops who are not stocking the retails and stopped doing fittings for custom Trues even, just because of how many build issues there were. I'm expecting the retails not to have that issue, but if this first batch winds up not being great, they might have a very tough time overcoming that reputation. They're gonna end up like Easton

It's probably a good thing they stopped doing customs if they were having so many issues. Dollars to donuts it was a scanning issue. Of the last 200 pairs I have done I have had 1 rebuild. 

I have had a couple boot fractures of high end players from shot blocks. But we had Pro returns they could borrow and had the skates repaired in days. 

The quality has just been getting better and better.  

 

[innotastic 12]

How's the pitch on these skates? I'm strongly considering them coming from jetspeeds profiled neutral and wondering if swapping out holders will be necessary.

[djinferno 2]

So my LHS received these today so I went to give the TF9 a try, I'm coming from a Bauer 1S 7EE, the guy yanked out a foot measuring thing, i would of though they would of scanned my foot and told me my size, my foot came out to a 7.5, I said give me the Wide... they seemed to have room at the toe so I tried a 7W, I could not make up my mind on witch size to go with, add to the fact that the store had no idea about the customer appreciation discounts... I decided to sleep on it

My overall impression of the skate are good, better finish then the customs I've seen in the past, better finish then Bauer IMO...

The skates are very hard to put on and take off, its also very hard to lace a hole once you have em on, i never managed to, I had to take em off, you have to pry these off your feet...

Skate is very stiff, having no toecap makes the overall feel very different

I did not mind the tongue...

The holder looks sharp, pitch feels forward, hard to not have a knee bend... The steel is very low as compared to Bauer or CCM and they had no replacement steel in store yet, I was not so hot about the fact that the holder holes don't lineup to a TUUK, does not look like a clean swap

Foot-bed is mushy, makes it difficult to tell where your toes are at the end of the boot...

I'm sure web sales where fantastic but i feel the ball was dropped in my part of the world, Ottawa Canada, when it comes to releasing these skates, they came out so heavy on the custom end, you'd think they'd use some of that tech to help me figure out what size to buy, I never felt my heel sit in back of the boot properly (heel lock) to give me confidence in witch size I need... The LHS had basically no more of the saran wrap required for fitting, so True sent the skates but not all the tools required for the proper fitting...

Looks like a great product but cant tell if i fit in it...

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by djinferno

[Sniper9 530]

1 hour ago, djinferno said:

So my LHS received these today so I went to give the TF9 a try, I'm coming from a Bauer 1S 7EE, the guy yanked out a foot measuring thing, i would of though they would of scanned my foot and told me my size, my foot came out to a 7.5, I said give me the Wide... they seemed to have room at the toe so I tried a 7W, I could not make up my mind on witch size to go with, add to the fact that the store had no idea about the customer appreciation discounts... I decided to sleep on it

My overall impression of the skate are good, better finish then the customs I've seen in the past, better finish then Bauer IMO...

The skates are very hard to put on and take off, its also very hard to lace a hole once you have em on, i never managed to, I had to take em off, you have to pry these off your feet...

Skate is very stiff, having no toecap makes the overall feel very different

I did not mind the tongue...

The holder looks sharp, pitch feels forward, hard to not have a knee bend... The steel is very low as compared to Bauer or CCM and they had no replacement steel in store yet, I was not so hot about the fact that the holder holes don't lineup to a TUUK, does not look like a clean swap

Foot-bed is mushy, makes it difficult to tell where your toes are at the end of the boot...

I'm sure web sales where fantastic but i feel the ball was dropped in my part of the world, Ottawa Canada, when it comes to releasing these skates, they came out so heavy on the custom end, you'd think they'd use some of that tech to help me figure out what size to buy, I never felt my heel sit in back of the boot properly (heel lock) to give me confidence in witch size I need... The LHS had basically no more of the saran wrap required for fitting, so True sent the skates but not all the tools required for the proper fitting...

Looks like a great product but cant tell if i fit in it...

 

 

 

You can't expect to have them fit properly without baking them. Heel lock on Trues feel diff than other skates. From my experience the heel lock on other skates feet like ur heel is literally jammed up against the heel pocket. Probably bc ccm and Bauer skates don't have much of an ergo heel pocket vs trues. True skates have a pretty deep heel pocket that actually allows more flexion at the ankle and knees. It's a diff feel, to the point where some ppl might feel that they aren't getting heel lock with trues. 

If you can't tell which size to get I personally would go for the smaller of the two. My preference is to go as small as I can with out the toes jamming. You can always take the footbeds our and stand on them and see how your feet line up on them. Should give you a good indication of the length. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

3 hours ago, djinferno said:

The LHS had basically no more of the saran wrap required for fitting, so True sent the skates but not all the tools required for the proper fitting...

Looks like a great product but cant tell if i fit in it...

 

 

 

Its not the responsibility of TRUE to provide stores saran wrap and such for fitting skates. Stores should buy that themselves. My store does and I dont mind. Its cheap. Same with clamps as well. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by SkateWorksPNW

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

3 hours ago, djinferno said:

So my LHS received these today so I went to give the TF9 a try, I'm coming from a Bauer 1S 7EE, the guy yanked out a foot measuring thing, i would of though they would of scanned my foot and told me my size, my foot came out to a 7.5, I said give me the Wide... they seemed to have room at the toe so I tried a 7W, I could not make up my mind on witch size to go with, add to the fact that the store had no idea about the customer appreciation discounts... I decided to sleep on it

My overall impression of the skate are good, better finish then the customs I've seen in the past, better finish then Bauer IMO...

The skates are very hard to put on and take off, its also very hard to lace a hole once you have em on, i never managed to, I had to take em off, you have to pry these off your feet...

Skate is very stiff, having no toecap makes the overall feel very different

I did not mind the tongue...

The holder looks sharp, pitch feels forward, hard to not have a knee bend... The steel is very low as compared to Bauer or CCM and they had no replacement steel in store yet, I was not so hot about the fact that the holder holes don't lineup to a TUUK, does not look like a clean swap

Foot-bed is mushy, makes it difficult to tell where your toes are at the end of the boot...

I'm sure web sales where fantastic but i feel the ball was dropped in my part of the world, Ottawa Canada, when it comes to releasing these skates, they came out so heavy on the custom end, you'd think they'd use some of that tech to help me figure out what size to buy, I never felt my heel sit in back of the boot properly (heel lock) to give me confidence in witch size I need... The LHS had basically no more of the saran wrap required for fitting, so True sent the skates but not all the tools required for the proper fitting...

Looks like a great product but cant tell if i fit in it...

 

 

 

If in Ottawa you should be going to BSharp to be fitted.

All stores have been given all the information to do the fittings properly.  Sounds like they didn't bother to do the fitting seminar online. 

[start_today 770]

I’m a little nervous about the “you have to bake them to truly tell the fit” aspect, because every skate feels awesome when it’s close to fitting correctly and then baked and all soft and warm. But, I worry that once it fully cools after a few hours it ends up being too tight or not enough volume. 

[djinferno 2]

2 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

You can't expect to have them fit properly without baking them. Heel lock on Trues feel diff than other skates. From my experience the heel lock on other skates feet like ur heel is literally jammed up against the heel pocket. Probably bc ccm and Bauer skates don't have much of an ergo heel pocket vs trues. True skates have a pretty deep heel pocket that actually allows more flexion at the ankle and knees. It's a diff feel, to the point where some ppl might feel that they aren't getting heel lock with trues. 

If you can't tell which size to get I personally would go for the smaller of the two. My preference is to go as small as I can with out the toes jamming. You can always take the footbeds our and stand on them and see how your feet line up on them. Should give you a good indication of the length. 

well the lack of heel lock is worrisome as when you walk around you get this foot slipping forward feel i hate but I can also tell that the support comes from the top of the skate,the top part collapses on the foot and theres allot of side support...

I also tend to go with the smaller size but I was not confident enough to chose, they did half bake 1 skate so I could get an idea but i still...

[djinferno 2]

1 hour ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

Its not the responsibility of TRUE to provide stores saran wrap and such for fitting skates. Stores should buy that themselves. My store does and I dont mind. Its cheap. Same with clamps as well. 

I don't know whos responsible for what but it seems like i was not getting the full experience, add to the frustration that they had no idea about the Customer appreciation deals, I planned on getting the skates and a stick...

[djinferno 2]

21 minutes ago, oldtrainerguy28 said:

If in Ottawa you should be going to BSharp to be fitted.

All stores have been given all the information to do the fittings properly.  Sounds like they didn't bother to do the fitting seminar online. 

first i ear of BSharp, ill give them a try

[djinferno 2]

19 minutes ago, start_today said:

I’m a little nervous about the “you have to bake them to truly tell the fit” aspect, because every skate feels awesome when it’s close to fitting correctly and then baked and all soft and warm. But, I worry that once it fully cools after a few hours it ends up being too tight or not enough volume. 

my exact sentiment...

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

1 minute ago, djinferno said:

first i ear of BSharp, ill give them a try

All your questions will be answered and your experience will be the one your looking for.  

 

Tell Joe I sent you. 

[Sniper9 530]

1 hour ago, start_today said:

I’m a little nervous about the “you have to bake them to truly tell the fit” aspect, because every skate feels awesome when it’s close to fitting correctly and then baked and all soft and warm. But, I worry that once it fully cools after a few hours it ends up being too tight or not enough volume. 

Not sure how much you've been following vh or true skates but these skates aren't like any other off the shelf skates. You HAVE to bake them. Even the custom skates which are made for your feet, you HAVE to bake them otherwise they don't even feel like they were made for your feet. 

The small mom and pop shops are the only ones id go to for fittings. Big box stores, nope. 

I can also vouch for bsharp. I follow them on IG and heard great things from them from buddies in Ottawa. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Sniper9

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

51 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

Not sure how much you've been following vh or true skates but these skates aren't like any other off the shelf skates. You HAVE to bake them. Even the custom skates which are made for your feet, you HAVE to bake them otherwise they don't even feel like they were made for your feet. 

The small mom and pop shops are the only ones id go to for fittings. Big box stores, nope. 

I can also vouch for bsharp. I follow them on IG and heard great things from them from buddies in Ottawa. 

Actually I would go by mom an pop and pro shops that have staff wearing the product and have a couple hundred fits by now.  

[SirJW 207]

On 8/10/2020 at 11:58 PM, Miller55 said:

No. You have to set it up on your account and then file a claim within 30 days of the return. 

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/returns

Details. Hope this is okay to post here. 

The link works in the US, thanks!

[flip12 715]

7 hours ago, start_today said:

I’m a little nervous about the “you have to bake them to truly tell the fit” aspect, because every skate feels awesome when it’s close to fitting correctly and then baked and all soft and warm. But, I worry that once it fully cools after a few hours it ends up being too tight or not enough volume. 

My experience molding my MLX has been the opposite. They feel nice and snug while baking, but then feel a bit slackened and on the verge of loose after they cool. It doesn’t translate to the skating experience though. They feel extremely connected and locked in on the ice. It’s like @Sniper9 says, you can’t judge their performance feel to their walking around feel.

I haven’t baked my MLX with the shrink wrap method yet, but swapping out the stock tongue, which was very stiff, for ones that were increasingly soft brought my feel for the ice way up. I plan on doing a shrink wrap bake before taking to the ice again, maybe this month. My guess is the shrink wrap is intended to compensate for the looser feel after cooling from just lacing up the skates for the heat molding.

Edited August 22, 2020 by flip12

[Giltis 116]

17 hours ago, djinferno said:

first i ear of BSharp, ill give them a try

I'll second a recommendation for Joe at BSharp. He's fixed my Trues before to perfection.

A stand up guy to boot.

I wrote about his work here

https://modsquadhockey.com/forums/topic/71678-vh-footweartrue-by-scott-van-horne/?do=findComment&comment=1099320

Edited August 22, 2020 by Giltis

[Sniper9 530]

17 hours ago, flip12 said:

My experience molding my MLX has been the opposite. They feel nice and snug while baking, but then feel a bit slackened and on the verge of loose after they cool. It doesn’t translate to the skating experience though. They feel extremely connected and locked in on the ice. It’s like @Sniper9 says, you can’t judge their performance feel to their walking around feel.

I haven’t baked my MLX with the shrink wrap method yet, but swapping out the stock tongue, which was very stiff, for ones that were increasingly soft brought my feel for the ice way up. I plan on doing a shrink wrap bake before taking to the ice again, maybe this month. My guess is the shrink wrap is intended to compensate for the looser feel after cooling from just lacing up the skates for the heat molding.

Also on the note on tongues. After I heat mold my tries, I actually reheat the tongues so they form back to pre mould. I do this so it needs up the tongues again as I don't like the creases that are formed from the bake. I know it'll eventually break in and crease but I like them stock and firm to start. 

[Sniper9 530]

7 hours ago, Giltis said:

I'll second a recommendation for Joe at BSharp. He's fixed my Trues before to perfection.

A stand up guy to boot.

I wrote about his work here

https://modsquadhockey.com/forums/topic/71678-vh-footweartrue-by-scott-van-horne/?do=findComment&comment=1099320

I remember this. Solid stuff. Also props on that holder and steel setup, you know, since it's the same as mine 🙂

[BenBreeg 493]

On 8/21/2020 at 9:03 PM, SkateWorksPNW said:

Its not the responsibility of TRUE to provide stores saran wrap and such for fitting skates. Stores should buy that themselves. My store does and I dont mind. Its cheap. Same with clamps as well. 

Responsibility?  True is responsible for the performance and fit of the skate for the end user, that they are relying on supply chain to provide some of that value is fine but ultimately they need to ensure the QC no matter what the arrangement.

[Sniper9 530]

7 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

Responsibility?  True is responsible for the performance and fit of the skate for the end user, that they are relying on supply chain to provide some of that value is fine but ultimately they need to ensure the QC no matter what the arrangement.

Does Bauer and CCM etc give shops free skate ovens? I'm legitimately asking. 

Bauer ccm and true all make shops pay for their scanners don't they? I know Bauer does and it's a ridiculous price.  You'd think something like a scanner should be loaned out to the shop free of charge since it's something that is required in custom orders. 

[Miller55 333]

1 minute ago, Sniper9 said:

Does Bauer and CCM etc give shops free skate ovens? I'm legitimately asking. 

Bauer ccm and true all make shops pay for their scanners don't they? I know Bauer does and it's a ridiculous price.  You'd think something like a scanner should be loaned out to the shop free of charge since it's something that is required in custom orders. 

That's surprising, given that the scanner are often pretty far off with their results. And I'm surprised shops even make enough on the customs to warrant them. Doesn't sound like custom is the most lucrative option for a shop. Personally, I'd take a good footing from a human being over the scanner every day of the week. 

[BenBreeg 493]

6 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

Does Bauer and CCM etc give shops free skate ovens? I'm legitimately asking. 

Bauer ccm and true all make shops pay for their scanners don't they? I know Bauer does and it's a ridiculous price.  You'd think something like a scanner should be loaned out to the shop free of charge since it's something that is required in custom orders. 

Dunno, but if that is the arrangement then I am sure they ensure shops have them, others can provide first hand info.  Whether it is providing them or mandating them.  If you put all this R&D into moldability you can’t have it fall short because shops don’t want to perform what seems to be a valuable step.  Not saying the responsibilty is to buy it, but they should ensure the customer walks out the door with the skate fitting to the standard they are selling.

[boo10 323]

6 minutes ago, BenBreeg said:

Dunno, but if that is the arrangement then I am sure they ensure shops have them, others can provide first hand info.  Whether it is providing them or mandating them.  If you put all this R&D into moldability you can’t have it fall short because shops don’t want to perform what seems to be a valuable step.  Not saying the responsibilty is to buy it, but they should ensure the customer walks out the door with the skate fitting to the standard they are selling.

Understand your point, but realistically speaking this is impossible to do.  True, (or any other manufacturers in any business) can only ensure that they offer complete training to the retailers.  It is then up to the retailer to provide the best shopping experience.  That's what the retailer does to earn their markup.  Short of having their own employee in every store, True can do nothing to ensure retailers are following protocol.