Petey4485's VK7 Set!!!

[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!

[hroark2112]

You should get your moneyz back. Those gloves are backwards!!!

[Petey4485]

Haha, that's from the camera (it's a mirrored view)...

[tide1]

Congrats on the set. It looks good. Marc is a great guy to deal with.

I speak from experience, you'll love the gloves. I don't have Vortek pads so I can't comment on them or answer your questions on strapping/toe ties.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that leather straps (other than the boot) prohibit the pad from functioning properly.

[TAS33]

Nice gear gope they work out well for ya and I look forward to seeing more pics.

[Colonial]

Originally Posted by tide1

Congrats on the set. It looks good. Marc is a great guy to deal with.

I speak from experience, you'll love the gloves. I don't have Vortek pads so I can't comment on them or answer your questions on strapping/toe ties.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that leather straps (other than the boot) prohibit the pad from functioning properly.

The leather strap issue was on the VK5 and actually Glenn has modified the strapping system so leather functions well on those too.

Marc

[tide1]

Originally Posted by Colonial

The leather strap issue was on the VK5 and actually Glenn has modified the strapping system so leather functions well on those too.

Marc

Shows how much I know. I'll go sit in the corner with my "dunce cap" on.

[swisswall]

I dont know if you have leather straps and if you wrote it in there im too lazy but i strap min in the 2 slot allthe way to the bottom which is a 4 and it seems to work the best. the bott strap is in the 2 hole again and the toe tie is at about 6 notts.

[Gregan]

Originally Posted by Petey4485

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?

Welcome to the Vortek club... I'm a happy VK5 owner. Your set looks great and I'm sure they'll perform up to your expectations.

As far as the strapping goes, keep everything loose except for the knee lock.

The toe ties can be tied tighter when you have the sliding toe bridge, though you may still want to put in a few knots at the toe bridge slider to give yourself a little more movement between your pads and your skates.

[cRoy]

Sweet set man! Good luck with them. I'm still adjusting to my VK5 pads, enjoying the vk5 demo gloves until my VK7 gloves show up.

[Petey4485]

Okay, here are more pictures. No point in writing anything else about them until I take 'em to the frozen pond! (hopefully by Thursday)

The ever-popular couch shot:


The Trapper:




The Blocker:

[Petey4485]

Pads Side View:


Leg Channel:


Ghost-Fly:


And the Carpet-Fly (pre-major strap adjusting):

[Petey4485]

So, the two days between getting my vk7 gear and using it were the two longest days of my life! Nonetheless, I went to my usual Thursday rat hockey session, only to find out we had 2 goalies and 7 skaters. Kinda crappy, but one of those players happened to be Nikos Tselios - Chris Chelios' cousin who got drafted by the 'Canes in I think 2000, played for them , the Coyotes, AHL, SEL, UHL, etc. Eventually the 3 on 3 wore everyone else out, and I got to stay and have a 45-minute shooting gallery with Tselios - couldn't have asked for a much better way to get these things broken in! So, here is my first on-ice review:

Blocker:
Worked amazingly. I had some great deflections to the corner, and after a few shots to that side, I couldn't tell the difference of the new NHL sizing. When I played around with a stick at home, I was a little concerned with my ability to grip my stick, but once the glove got a little moist it was all good.
One thing I noticed was a semi loose nylon black pillow inside that sits between the board and the back of your hand. I'm assuming this was to prevent the "shock" issue that some have had with flukey shots in the past - nonetheless, it was very comfortable.

Trapper:
There's always been so much hype surrounding this thing, and I can see why. I couldn't tell a difference at all with the new NHL sizing of this glove, and it's lightweight gave me a faster hand. I flashed the leather on so many shots, and this thing sucks the puck up, and holds onto it tight. I felt at the minimum as comfortable with this glove, as I had with the TPS I've been using for 6 years! And the pro palm was amazing - I felt nothing on my palm but the puck rolling into my pocket.
My sticks are both kind of cracked a bit (I use cheap X-Lites) so I wasn't playing the puck too much, but the trapper held this stick pretty well.

Pads:
Got a lot of work to do with these. Definitely lightweight, and comfortable, I just have to work on my b-fly rotation, and get used to bigger pads. I went from a 32" TPS to these 33"+2", so I have to get use to widening my butterfly and stance a bit, as well as keep my stick out a bit more while I'm down.
I took out a knee stack, hoping it would help lower the tops while in the b-fly (see my carpet fly picture near start of thread), and it did a little bit, but I still have that problem. Marc suggested loosening all strapping a bit more, and maybe getting rid of the top strap. I loosened everything, and made the top one as loose as I could, but I'm still not there yet.
Even though I've been working them in, and got the boot nice and flexy, they're still a little stiff. Moving around was a bit weird, and I was getting out of position a lot - but I had also gotten my skates sharpened the other day too, which I hadn't done for a while.
What they did very well was deflect shots away. It seemed like every shot that hit the pads below the knee went straight to the corner, and those above the knee hung around for me to grab and freeze.
Like I've said, I still have a lot of kinks to work out, with the pads, but I am overall very satisfied with their first performance.

Anyone who has experience with this stuff, please feel free to offer suggestions. Thanks!

[Smokey 32]

On the catching glove, you are supposed to wear that palm pad "inside" the glove. By the looks of several of your photos, you have it "outside" where it should only be when drying it.

As for the pads, just relax. By your 2nd or 3rd skate they will be fine. You really do have to play around with the strapping to find out which set-up works best for you.

[Colonial]

Honestly, I think the top strap is a ****ty additional and we are considering removing it completely except on plus 3" pads. It just gives another strap to bind up in the pants. I would just cut it off and you will see a difference right off the bat.

Marc