Reebok 18k (TGC Price spec) review

[JackFu]

Hi all, first equipment review here so please go easy on me =)
Thanks to Rod at TGC for answering so many of my questions and handling my many annoying phone calls.


I'm using the Reebok 18k TGC price spec full set in all white.
I came from a set of Vaughn 9400 pads + blocker and 7480 glove.
Here is a pic for reference.


The rest of my gear is as follows for reference:
Reebok 9k C/A
Reebok 11k pants
Reebok 6k Fleury Stick (27")
Bauer One80LE Skates
Bauer knee pads and jock
Simmons (Fusion) 9961 Mask

I have had this set for 2 weeks now, and used about 10 ice sessions. I have had 3 adult league games, 2 lessons, and the rest in stick sessions. As such I feel quite comfortable making a review of them.

Catch Gloves
Function/Design: 10
Protection:
After today (05/31/12) I have downgraded protection to 7.(Explanation on page 2)
Important and detailed information about protection here:
http://www.goaliestore.com/board/1819951-post18.html
Workmanship/Finish: 9
Durability: 7 (06/20/12) see link for comprehensive durability assessment
http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equ...ml#post1826548


WOW! This is by far my favorite piece. It is a 590 model with the 60 degree break. It appears that TGC 18k's have an offset T placement. When I put on a non-offset 18k at my LHC and compared the closure, the offset T felt much more natural.


The closure of the glove came out of the box excellent, but I broke it in with the hot water method just to make sure it closes perfectly (and it does). Closure when put on the ice is great, although some pressure needs to be put on the glove to make the material stay tight to the ice.


The front thumb plastic piece is a big improvement over the Vaughn 7480 glove. It is concave so that any puck that hits that area is redirected into the pocket, whereas on the 7480, the convex angle of the front thumb plastic caused shots to bounce out of the glove.

Pop-outs are rare, I'm able to make catches I didn't think was possible. The only down-side of this glove is the protection level. It is slightly less than the 7480 (which I have suspicions are close to pro-palm level protection). The 7480 was a tank and I never felt a stinger. In the first game out in the 18k I got 2 stingers in warm-ups, but now as I have adjusted my catching a little bit, it seems to have gotten better.


The workmanship and stitching is good. It is a nice nylon chord that they used to lace together the glove, so I don't see it breaking on the outer edge of the glove after repeated uses along the ice. One thing to note, it appears that on the backside of the 1-piece cuff board, there is a slight depression in the foam that is probably from the injection mold used to create this foam piece. It doesn't affect performance or durability in any way I can tell.

Blocker
Function/Design: 10
Protection: 10 (As far as can tell)
Workmanship/Finish: 9
Durability: 8.5 (06/20/12) see link for comprehensive durability review
http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equ...ml#post1826548


Blocker is a blocker. NOT! I initially hesitated in trying Reebok blockers because I thought the side board was undersized compared to my 9400 (check out the side board on that thing!) When I got the blocker, I was pleasantly surprised - the side board on the 18k is actually quite large. In fact, it is perhaps bigger than the 9400 blocker side board.

The board curve is not quite as extreme as on the 9400, the 18k board is rather smooth curve instead of the kink in the 9400. This helped me a heck of a lot in rebound control.


The blocker is very protective. It has a velcro-ed in side pillow that protects the side of the hand and the thumb. There is an extra piece of index protection on the side that does not interfere with the stick. The front of the hand protection is standard. I have not taken a puck to the side of my index finger yet so I cannot comment, but the above mentioned protection seem sufficient.


Downside (also on catch glove): the material seem to have tiny pin prick holes on its surface, which I suspect to be made when the material was cut or moved around during assembly. They don't affect performance at all, but is a slight deduction in the workmanship department.

If I was to get a custom glove, I would move the board down the hand by an inch. I have had some pucks slip by, hitting me in the finger protection and just missing the board. This is probably because I use a 27" paddle on my stick.

Pad reviews continued...

[JackFu]

Pads
Function/Design: 9
Protection: 10
Workmanship/Finish: 9.5
Durability: 9 (06/20/12) see link for detailed durability review
http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equ...ml#post1826548


Size is 35+3. Previous Vaughn set is 36+1. My ATK is 18.5" and my FTK is 21".
Had to mod the knee block a little. See end of review for details.
The knee cradles of the two pads sit at the same place.


First word on these pads is STIFF. The TGC Price specs are Price's old specs, aka no breaks inside or out. When I got them, they were straight and stiff as a board. I worked them in gradually and now they have a slight S-shape to them and will bend some when I go into the crouch.

The extra thigh rise was difficult at first to get used to. It was so bad that right after my first attempt at using them, I considered selling them at a loss. However, I stuck with them, and the second time I took them out on ice it was a heck of a lot better. By the third time, it didn't bother me much except once in a while.


The seal while on the ice is great. I can flare them out, cover my 5-hole. If I do that on the goal line, I am 2 inches away from being able to do post to post.


Picture of the strapping setup. 2 calf, 1 knee, velcro on calf, and velco on knee lock.
The 1 knee strap causes a slight problem, which is what I had to mod.

Sliding is superb, thanks to the raised calf and the higher knee block. The solidseal feature on the knee block is great. I no longer have to worry about squeakers like there have been on my Vaughns. I have trapped quite a number of pucks with this new calf set-up. Whereas the Vaughn has nice hard foam on the sliding edge of the pads, Reebok has very soft material along the medial sliding edge. This has helped me trap quite a number of pucks as well.

One thing I have had to adjust to is playing with a wider stance and overlap of the thigh rise a little bit. I am much more comfortable keeping my right pad in front, although I recognize that to become proficient, I have to feel just as comfortable with my left pad in front.

Rebounds are hard and fast, and very easy to direct. I like the Reebok boot angle because it is easier to kick the puck off the the side boards, and not as much back at the shooter.

Now, for the mod that I had to do. This is a picture of the inside of the knee block foam, where Reebok introduced the "Max Coverage" with the raised outer edge to improve seal where the sliding foam ends:

With the single knee strap, the extra foam piece MOVES! It's not glued down or velcroed, much to my surprise...


So I had to open up the pad by de-lacing the knee block and removing the interior foam pieces and I velcroed together the pieces. I laced everything back up and now the two pieces stayed together as intended.

The side embroidery on blocker side for the Reebok letters are fraying a little bit. I suspect its because of the way I hold my blocker and the way I make low blocker saves. It's a sign. I need to improve that.

One thing I wish it had was a sliding toe bridge. I really enjoyed that feature on the 9400s.

EDIT: I got scored on 3 times tonight because of the extra thigh rise in the VH position. The extra thigh rise made the pad get caught when I was trying to transition from a VH to a butterfly. This opened up a little hole that allowed the opposing forward to jam the puck in. I have heard of this problem for others transitioning to larger thigh rises. I'm confident it will go away with practice.

Overall, it will still take some more time for me to get used to. But the wonderful extra coverage that I get from these pads and the harder rebounds were exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks for reading, I will probably add more details in the coming days.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to let me know!

[Kayen]

Great review. Really liking the series, i might be grabbing a blocker myself in the future.

Also isn't the hole sizing the same so you can move your sliding toe from your 9400's over to your 18k's?

[JackFu]

Originally Posted by Kayen

Great review. Really liking the series, i might be grabbing a blocker myself in the future.

Also isn't the hole sizing the same so you can move your sliding toe from your 9400's over to your 18k's?

I tried to because I thought the same as you did. The holes on the 9400's are a little bit closer than on the 18k's. I thought about drilling another set of holes, but decided against it because the toe ties on the Reeboks are working alright.

[vancitygoalie]

What's the difference between the 18K/P4 Pro Catcher (with pro palm)? Mentioned 8/10 for protection above....is it due to a lower model? Did you pro palm it?

[JackFu]

I have the senior model from TGC. I suspect it is equivalent to the game ready palm on the pro glove. GM has the 18k with the pro palm on their 18k's I think. The stingers were surprising for me probably because I was coming from the 7480, which was an absolute tank.

[GenericSpoon77]

If I'm not mistaken, that glove is not the price spec, as it does not have skate lace, I could be wrong however.

[kedjlng3]

Originally Posted by GenericSpoon77

If I'm not mistaken, that glove is not the price spec, as it does not have skate lace, I could be wrong however.

I'm petty sure the hole set is price's first test equipment specs, ala the removal of the skate lace.

[digitalcrease]

Are the foam pieces supposed to be glued normally? Strange they would stack them and hope to stay together.

[JackFu]

Originally Posted by kedjlng3

I'm petty sure the hole set is price's first test equipment specs, ala the removal of the skate lace.

The goalie crease didn't order the white gloves with skate laces because they didn't want to have 2 different sku's or somthing. The Price color set from TGC does have the skate laces. I was hesitant to go back to nylon lacing after the 7480, but I haven't felt bad catching with this glove. I might restring it later with white skate lace when I feel like.

[JackFu]

Originally Posted by digitalcrease

Are the foam pieces supposed to be glued normally? Strange they would stack them and hope to stay together.

Ya strange indeed. I was thinking that with the stock double strap through the knee block, the 2 straps combine to hold the smaller piece in place. With only 1 strap, it serves as a pivot point for the smaller piece. With 2 straps, the 2 points serve to anchor the smaller piece.

[UkieWall33]

Jack, nice review! Really in-depth, really thorough! How does the offset T feel compared to a single standard T? You said it felt more natural, how so?

Did your Visions have no break as well? If they had a break, how did you find the transition to flat out no break in the Reeboks?

I've always been scared of big thigh rises, and even hard pads. All my pads before my H-series were soft and squishy. It honestly took me half a year to get comfortable with the pads and break them in to some degree. Experiment with your stance and thigh rise, and if you don't like it after a little while, you learned what you don't like and get to buy new equipment! Goalies are very adaptable.

[apewrench]

question, was wondering, does the new "Flex Core - A new softer boot flex option for goalies wanting more flex at the ankle" make the pad sink or collapse more than the PIII's? What i am getting at is that i have worn 33+2 in PIII's but with this less stiff and softer boot options coming out, I wonder if i would be a better fit for a 34+2 over the life of the pad.

[JackFu]

Originally Posted by UkieWall33

Jack, nice review! Really in-depth, really thorough! How does the offset T feel compared to a single standard T? You said it felt more natural, how so?

Did your Visions have no break as well? If they had a break, how did you find the transition to flat out no break in the Reeboks?

I've always been scared of big thigh rises, and even hard pads. All my pads before my H-series were soft and squishy. It honestly took me half a year to get comfortable with the pads and break them in to some degree. Experiment with your stance and thigh rise, and if you don't like it after a little while, you learned what you don't like and get to buy new equipment! Goalies are very adaptable.

Hey there, the offset T was great because if the top of the T was centered on the upper T-break, there was extra resistance when closing the glove. Since in my glove the T is offset to the finger side, closing is easier. Also, I try to catch the puck with the T parallel to the puck. This offset angle means I can hold my hand at a more natural angle while keeping the T parallel to the ice.

The visions come stock with double internal and no external breaks. They were quite squishy and flexible. The transition was very hard the first time on ice. But the second time out was already a lot better. Now about 14 ice times later, they don't really bother me anymore. In fact I stopped 4 of 5 breakaways the other night and not once did the stiff, large thigh rse get in the way.

And I agree, we are very adaptable! Make use wear smaller equipment ==> better mobility. Trapezoid behind net ==> Marty has 4 assists haha

[JackFu]

Originally Posted by apewrench

question, was wondering, does the new "Flex Core - A new softer boot flex option for goalies wanting more flex at the ankle" make the pad sink or collapse more than the PIII's? What i am getting at is that i have worn 33+2 in PIII's but with this less stiff and softer boot options coming out, I wonder if i would be a better fit for a 34+2 over the life of the pad.

I think you are ok with the old measurements. I don't see the softer bootflex causing the pads to settle at all. They return to the unsquished position quite readily. However that could be because I have only had them for close to 2 weeks, but I don't think they will settle like older vaughn pads.