[Petey4485]

I'm sure by the exclamation points in the thread title, you can all tell that I am excited. All of my equipment is minimum 5 years old (pads are 7!) and I bought this stuff as a University graduation gift to myself in July. It arrived at my office 10 minutes ago and I haven't been this excited in a long time. Here is my "fresh" out of the box review:

Service: Excellent - Marc and Glenn were both very helpful, even before the sale was final. It took a bit longer to make than expected, but I did order them the last day of the sale. My only real issue is that I had asked for leather straps on the bottom 4, but I got all quick-release. I think I'll just give it a try - heard good things about them.

Pads: Holy cow these are light! The width really scared me, but it is definitely workable, and I keep hearing that it is easy to get used to. They are actually pretty flexible out of the box, and I have them upside down underneath the chairs in the conference room to make them even more flexy. I got a 2" thigh rise and thigh boards as well. My ATK is about 17.25" and these are a 33"+2" and seem like they are perfect. They measure at a 10.5" width, which I expected from the previous threads

Blocker: What can I say other than it is light, very robust with padding, and feels completely natural. I don't know how to really break in a blocker, but it doesn't matter because this thing is ready to go!

Trapper: WOW!!! I have always had problems trying on trappers because I have weird hands, but this thing is great! Lots of padding, and even with the pro palm it is almost ready for the ice. I'll just keep playing with it, and it will work great by tonight!

Concerns: Switching to a full butterfly pad. I have never used a true butterfly pad, and spent years making my TPS Contours rotate correctly - which they never really did. Is there a particular way I should strap these as far as tightness to make them work properly? How does tying the toe ties compare when using sliding bridges compared to pads without sliding bridges? Should I tie them tighter/looser?

I will ask a lot more questions soon, as well as give the full review! Here are the first round of pics I took with the iMac in my cubicle:

Many more pics/info will come soon!