BoltThrower
07-05-2007, 04:31 PM
These have been in my hands for a week now, and have been on the ice a couple of times, so I thought I'd share some thoughts. The thread will contain pictures eventually but I don't have a camera, which means I'll be borrowing or purchasing one.
First off:
Customer Service: 10/10
Scott and Tischa answered every question I had promptly and informatively. I wasn't able to pay the rest of the balance in one shot after the deposit, and the Battrams were easy to work out a payment plan with. Scott called me on the day of production and had a couple of suggestions regarding mods I had asked for. I PM'd Scott at the last minute and asked him to bill me for expedited shipping to California and he was extremely accommodating. My pads got left Scott's shop on a Thursday evening and arrived here the following Wednesday afternoon. I couldn't have been more happy with the service I received and wouldn't hesitate to do business with Battram again.
THE GEAR
Fury Pad, 32+2 11" Width, stock graphic white jenpro/silver weave:
Two things I thought immediately when I pulled these out of the box was "Holy cow, these things are light!" and "What am I gonna do with all of these straps?".
Weight: I've got no scale for comparison but they were decidedly lighter than the 35" Vaughn VPG3700s I had been wearing, which were also substantially shorter. The 11" Width didn't really seem like a huge difference to me appearance wise, but I'm sure it saved some weight. Requesting all nylon straps helped as well.
Construction: This is about as well constructed a pad as I've ever seen. Not a stitch out of place, everything feels very solid from the get-go. The materials are of utmost quality. Scott is truly a master craftsman.
Features/Modifications: I had originally requested this pad to be made with knee rolls like the Cyclone and Deceptor pads, to make the pad look and play a bit more like a V3, and because I'd never used a completely flat faced pad as well. Scott called me on production day and suggested I stick with the stock flat knee, that not only would the graphic line up better but the pad would be lighter and would play better. I went with his suggestion and the knee was left flat. I had a "Strap Keeper" installed on the outside of both boots to avoid having to tape my boot straps up before playing. A detailed description of the stock Fury features can be found on the Battram website.
Fit: I measured out to an ATK of 17.5-18 depending on the day. Scott said this was a 32" pad. I was a little skeptical at first since I've always worn at least a 34" but again I trusted that Scott knew what he was doing. I asked for the equivalent of a +2 on the thighrise, so in essence, this is a Battram 34" pad with an ATK of 17.5-18. My knee sits right where it should, at about the middle of the cradle on these.
Aesthetics: These are pretty visually stunning! I had originally requested that all the material be Jenpro. Again, Scott suggested using a silver Robocop Weave instead of Silver Jenpro and I was happy that I did.
PLAY: After reading several other threads both here and on other boards, I decided to remove the "thigh tension" strap immediately. The knee cradle straps I moved to their lowest possible position on the outside and made them medium snug so the knee wings wouldn't clap when I walk or skate in them. I left all three knee stacks in. The calf/ankle strapping is all medium loose and the bootstraps loose as always. About 1.5 inches of slack in the sliding toe bridges.
On tile, the rotation and butterfly presentation were absolutely perfect. The flat inside gusset provides a very stable foundation for the butterfly and the knee stacks kept stress off of my knees when down. There was no five hole to be seen.
On ice, it's been a bit of a different ballgame so far. Where on tile I could drop effortlessly into a perfect butterfly, it's a little different on ice. While the pads themselves always rotated perfectly, getting even a decent narrow spread seemed to take a little more work then I was used to. During stick time I had a number of shooters blast at me from the blue line to the top of the circles and I practiced getting down to the butterfly and "driving" my knees to the ice. The flat inside gussets, while providing great stability, also provide a sliding sensation that I'm not used to. Once I was able to adjust to this, getting a decent butterfly was a bit easier. I think I may loosed the calf straps a bit more and see if that adds a little width to my narrow b-fly. Half butterfly saves are effortless. This is a very flexible pad, however I still feel I should've spent more time breaking them in a bit before wearing them on the ice the first time.
Rebound control wise, stuff just sort of dies in front of my feet. Shots that I would angle the shin to deflect to the corner in my old pads simply died a few inches from the pad. While it's a good thing for easy smothering, it's an adjustment from directing the rebound to the corner.
One thing I noticed regarding the knee lock and velcro strap used there is that if it's worn tight enough that there is bare elastic on the outside knee wing, the outside wing does tend to want to fold inward on you. I think perhaps Chakal had the same issue? One remedy for this would be to make the outside wing of the knee cradle longer perhaps?
The narrower 11" pads made mobility a non-issue. I was able to skate fluidly in them right out of the box. I noticed decidedly less fatigue after a stick time session and a game due to the lighter weight of these pads.
Overall, I am very pleased with the pads. It's apparent I need to do some more playing around with straps, etc to find what works best for me. It's also my first modern box pad so I am definitely going to have to adjust a little from being conditioned to playing butterfly style in a more traditional pad (Koho 560, Vaughn 3700). I don't expect the adjustment period to be long though.
Will update this review with further commentary as I play in them some more.
UPDATED PICS - 11/24/07:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000097.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000100.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000098.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000099.jpg
First off:
Customer Service: 10/10
Scott and Tischa answered every question I had promptly and informatively. I wasn't able to pay the rest of the balance in one shot after the deposit, and the Battrams were easy to work out a payment plan with. Scott called me on the day of production and had a couple of suggestions regarding mods I had asked for. I PM'd Scott at the last minute and asked him to bill me for expedited shipping to California and he was extremely accommodating. My pads got left Scott's shop on a Thursday evening and arrived here the following Wednesday afternoon. I couldn't have been more happy with the service I received and wouldn't hesitate to do business with Battram again.
THE GEAR
Fury Pad, 32+2 11" Width, stock graphic white jenpro/silver weave:
Two things I thought immediately when I pulled these out of the box was "Holy cow, these things are light!" and "What am I gonna do with all of these straps?".
Weight: I've got no scale for comparison but they were decidedly lighter than the 35" Vaughn VPG3700s I had been wearing, which were also substantially shorter. The 11" Width didn't really seem like a huge difference to me appearance wise, but I'm sure it saved some weight. Requesting all nylon straps helped as well.
Construction: This is about as well constructed a pad as I've ever seen. Not a stitch out of place, everything feels very solid from the get-go. The materials are of utmost quality. Scott is truly a master craftsman.
Features/Modifications: I had originally requested this pad to be made with knee rolls like the Cyclone and Deceptor pads, to make the pad look and play a bit more like a V3, and because I'd never used a completely flat faced pad as well. Scott called me on production day and suggested I stick with the stock flat knee, that not only would the graphic line up better but the pad would be lighter and would play better. I went with his suggestion and the knee was left flat. I had a "Strap Keeper" installed on the outside of both boots to avoid having to tape my boot straps up before playing. A detailed description of the stock Fury features can be found on the Battram website.
Fit: I measured out to an ATK of 17.5-18 depending on the day. Scott said this was a 32" pad. I was a little skeptical at first since I've always worn at least a 34" but again I trusted that Scott knew what he was doing. I asked for the equivalent of a +2 on the thighrise, so in essence, this is a Battram 34" pad with an ATK of 17.5-18. My knee sits right where it should, at about the middle of the cradle on these.
Aesthetics: These are pretty visually stunning! I had originally requested that all the material be Jenpro. Again, Scott suggested using a silver Robocop Weave instead of Silver Jenpro and I was happy that I did.
PLAY: After reading several other threads both here and on other boards, I decided to remove the "thigh tension" strap immediately. The knee cradle straps I moved to their lowest possible position on the outside and made them medium snug so the knee wings wouldn't clap when I walk or skate in them. I left all three knee stacks in. The calf/ankle strapping is all medium loose and the bootstraps loose as always. About 1.5 inches of slack in the sliding toe bridges.
On tile, the rotation and butterfly presentation were absolutely perfect. The flat inside gusset provides a very stable foundation for the butterfly and the knee stacks kept stress off of my knees when down. There was no five hole to be seen.
On ice, it's been a bit of a different ballgame so far. Where on tile I could drop effortlessly into a perfect butterfly, it's a little different on ice. While the pads themselves always rotated perfectly, getting even a decent narrow spread seemed to take a little more work then I was used to. During stick time I had a number of shooters blast at me from the blue line to the top of the circles and I practiced getting down to the butterfly and "driving" my knees to the ice. The flat inside gussets, while providing great stability, also provide a sliding sensation that I'm not used to. Once I was able to adjust to this, getting a decent butterfly was a bit easier. I think I may loosed the calf straps a bit more and see if that adds a little width to my narrow b-fly. Half butterfly saves are effortless. This is a very flexible pad, however I still feel I should've spent more time breaking them in a bit before wearing them on the ice the first time.
Rebound control wise, stuff just sort of dies in front of my feet. Shots that I would angle the shin to deflect to the corner in my old pads simply died a few inches from the pad. While it's a good thing for easy smothering, it's an adjustment from directing the rebound to the corner.
One thing I noticed regarding the knee lock and velcro strap used there is that if it's worn tight enough that there is bare elastic on the outside knee wing, the outside wing does tend to want to fold inward on you. I think perhaps Chakal had the same issue? One remedy for this would be to make the outside wing of the knee cradle longer perhaps?
The narrower 11" pads made mobility a non-issue. I was able to skate fluidly in them right out of the box. I noticed decidedly less fatigue after a stick time session and a game due to the lighter weight of these pads.
Overall, I am very pleased with the pads. It's apparent I need to do some more playing around with straps, etc to find what works best for me. It's also my first modern box pad so I am definitely going to have to adjust a little from being conditioned to playing butterfly style in a more traditional pad (Koho 560, Vaughn 3700). I don't expect the adjustment period to be long though.
Will update this review with further commentary as I play in them some more.
UPDATED PICS - 11/24/07:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000097.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000100.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000098.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/dinerojp/battram/P1000099.jpg