Hey everyone, been lurking here for awhile, collecting information and thoughts as I geared up to buy my first set of pro pads, and now that I've gotten them, I thought I'd share back with teh community.
So, I'll go ahead and post my first impressions of these pads after some ice time, and then in awhile post updated thoughts, probably in a month or so.
First of all, I'm playing house leagues, played competitively back in high school (B+/A-) and took a long time off due to life hitting me. That said, the reasoning to purchase pro level gear is mostly a "will last for freakin ever" decision, with a little thought about playing scrims with high level guys.
The pads are 35+1", and pictures aren't happening because my camera blows.
Comfort: Should be said that the pair I got were a 'Demo' pair from EastWest Hockey, local to Northern California (best shop in teh area imo). They were so new I didn't even realize they were the demo until later, but didn't have that usual 'Stiff as a board' feeling most v3's have. I spent the night strapping, and basically sitting on them to force them into the S I wanted, and when i took them out on the ice the next day, they felt just a little stiff. There was some collision between legs on the *very* bulky inner knee guard, but the padding is laced in, so some removal work fixed that problem. Midway through an hour of ice time, the pads, while stiff and not yet configured exaclty how I wanted yet, were playing like a dream. I actually chose to keep the thigh guards and nix my old bauer kneepads, and it feels alright, works well with my old Heaton 5 pants.
The pads fit well, and being used to some 34" old reactor 1000's, its a world of difference. My butterfly is more solid than it's ever been, and the front closes relatively well, though I need to work with the strapping a bit more to find a good fit.
Play: Jesus these things will move by themselves, exactly where you want them to be. The butterfly and profly feel amazingly secure, and flopping doesn't disrupt these at all. The move from 12" to 11" is huge as well, the mobility is so vastly improved, and I didn't even feel the blocking surface change. With the improved rotation on a profly, it felt like even though the face was 1" shorter, it was a larger blocking surface. The light weight is huge as well as the sliding, feels very controlled and easy to maneuver.
Protection: Pretty much just where I wanted. I can feel and deflect shots well with these, and at the same time, nothing even came close to pain on these. Dropping and moving, and the knee protection held up well, shot to the thigh guard went well. I'm pleased.
So far, this seems like a great investment. For those of you that are in Northern California, I HIGHLY suggest stopping by EastWest hockey. They have a website up, but there's nothing like going down and being helped by people who know what they're doing. The guys there sold me the pads for 950, after letting me demo them. It's tough to find a good shop around here.
I'll be back soon to input any changes.
