Bauer Vapor 2 Leg Pads – seems like I hate everything Vapor, what about these?
Written: May 10 '05 (Updated Dec 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Customizable knee and calf cradle is excellent
Cons: Poor rebound control due to bladders, nothing revolutionary
The Bottom Line: The Vapor 2 is a sound pad, but there isn't anything exciting about it.
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Bauer Vapor 2 Goal Pads |
Hmm, more Vapor stuff
Bauer has repeatedly drawn my ire by making crappy, throwaway hockey equipment and marketing it as lightweight and revolutionary. Typically they should be marketing it as disposable. I took a very low set of expectations with me when I took a look at the new Vapor 2 leg pads. The Vapor stuff might have been as light as a vapor, but it was also as fleeting. I wasn’t going to be fooled by them.
My first impression wasn’t very good. The insides of the Vapor 2 pads are full with enough padding to allow you to crawl safely through a minefield. The dreaded calf lifts were what really bothered me. Without going into the boring details yet, calf lifts can ruin a goalie pad (I promise to get to the boring details later).
However as I looked into the pads a little bit deeper, I found myself surprised by them in more way than one.
The look
The Vapor 2 is a singularly unique pad. Bauer has something of a history of putting something a little different in their goalie pads. They were the first to have angled knee rolls and flex darts in pads. Both of these allowed for a more natural bending of the pad. However these are oddities of the past. The Vapor 2 has a look all its own.
The first rather strange thing is the knee roll. Where a typical pad has three knee rolls to allow knee flexion and the new flat faced pads have no rolls, Bauer more or less split the difference. They went with a single roll. This gives the Vapor 2 a somewhat flat face.
The other thing that is a bit different on the Vapor is the sweeping five-hole ridges. These curve gracefully up to the single knee roll and are the only real graphics on the pad. They also keep the face of the pad from being really flat.
The dreaded calf lifts
I was ready to write another scathing review of how Bauer has gone to the dogs when I looked at the calf lifts. I guess I should mention the problem with calf lifts first. Essentially all decent goalie pads have knee lifts. These will lift the goalies knees anywhere from a half inch to as much as five inches from the ice when in the butterfly position.
Knee lifts are important because the higher they are the further they allow the goalie to extend their feet when in the butterfly. Unless you have rubber knees it is impossible to have them on the ice together and extended out along the goal line. The effectiveness of knee lifts is limited by the width of the pads. If they are higher than 4 or 5 inches the goalies leg will stick out above the pads.
CCM’s Blockade pads were the first that I tried which used a thick calf rise. There are two problems with the calf rise. The first is that when you raise the lower leg and foot in the butterfly position you undo all of the benefit of having the knees up higher. It takes away all the extra extension that the knee lifts provided. Secondly, it puts the goalie’s skates higher from the ice surface. This lowers mobility from the butterfly. Either one of these is a bad thing - the combination of the two is horrible. You cannot get wide enough to make a save and you cannot move to a position where you increase your chances even though you are a small target.
Thus at first glance, I was ready to dismiss the Vapor 2 as more Nike influenced mistakes on poor Bauer. However a closer inspection showed that the entire pad was user customizable. Bauer used the same system that Vaughn introduced with their excellent Velocity pads to allow the user to add or remove lifts at both the knee and the calf.
Hey, nice job Bauer.
There are four removable pads of various thickness and shapes at the calf. My personal preference would be to take all of them out. However Bauer has given goalies the option of playing with the calf rise in as well. I cannot say why anyone would like to have that in place, but it’s there if you do like the idea of it.
At the knee cradle Bauer used the same idea. Rather than the normal square knee rise pads, Bauer uses an almost triangular pad here. There are again four removable pads of various thicknesses. If you haven’t guessed, I would leave them all in here.
The rest of the goalie side
The goalie’s side of the pad is typically more important than the shooter’s side. Bauer did a nice job with these. The pads have a nice complete wrap to help protect goalies who are facing the wrong direction. (If this is a common problem for you, it might be a good idea to take a goalie camp or find another hobby).
There is a nice strap to lock the knee in place. It will be the first thing to wear out on the pad as it is a thick elastic strap. However, no one has come up with a better way to lock the knee into the cradle yet. The fact that it is there is a positive.
The leg channel is of average depth. With all of the removable lifts you can easily customize how tightly you’d like your leg locked in. The boot portion of the pad is similarly average. Too deep would inhibit the keeper’s mobility, too shallow his safety. Bauer picked a good depth here.
I was a little surprised to not see Nash or Clarino in the leg channel. These have become standards of higher end leg pads in the last few years. Both are excellent materials with great wicking properties. They also dry soft. Instead Bauer used a ventilated nylon. It seems to be comfortable. Only time will tell if they are as durable as Clarino or Nash.
A rather large pair of thigh guards cover the center of the five-hole. Thigh guards have become rather standard on goalie pads and there isn’t anything too out of the ordinary about the pair on the Vapor 2 pads.
Leather straps would likely be the only thing that I would really question on this side of the pad. Bauer wants to save weight and make a lighter pad yet they put leather straps on the pad? Hmm, nylon straps are lighter and actually last longer than leather. It seems that most companies overlook this, as leather seems like it might be more durable in the mind of buyers.
Materials and Design
The faces of the pads are high quality synthetic leathers. Bauer is apparently using a roboweave type product. This is much more flashy than standard Jen Pro. The roboweave materials are very good quality and I doubt that there will be any problems with it.
One thing that does have a potential for problems down the road is the air bladders in the pads. I’m not certain, but this seems like something that might have been Nike’s doing. Essentially there are air bladders in the pads. These bladders deflate with the impact of a puck striking them through vents on the sides of the pad.
The theory is that the rebounds will drop right in front of the goalie so he can scoop them up or cover them. It’s a nice theory and a real weakness in the design of these pads. Let’s not even talk about whether they work or not yet. Instead let’s consider the problems if it did.
There are many times as a goalie that the last thing you want is for a loose puck to be sitting in front of you. I’ve lost more than one fight to keep the biscuit out of my net as the result of a short rebound. Let’s consider this possibility:
The goalie is sliding across the net and a pass goes back to the far side. The shooter keeps the puck low assuming he has the goalie beaten. A flash of the goalie’s leg pad proves the shooter wrong. However the shooter is so close that he scoops the two-foot rebound right over the tender’s leg pad and scores anyway.
My point is that there will be times when goalies would like to be able to kick a rebound away from themselves and other times when they would like to have it drop and cover it. I prefer to kick my rebounds to the corner or direct them to one of my players whenever possible. The worst thing is a rebound that dribbles just out of reach of my stick. Second chances turn into goals far too often.
So the question now is does the air system work? Unfortunately, it works about as well as I expected. The air bladders take just enough off the shots to put them in that danger zone that I hate so much. I will grant that a big part of this might be the result of my personal playing style and preference to kick rebounds away. It might be something that I could adjust to but I don’t plan on it since I’m not buying new pads anytime soon.
In all the Vapor 2 is put together pretty well. Unlike the typical item which Bauer stamps “Vapor” on these seem like they will last a fair amount of time. It’s a good thing too. Wasting $450 on a pair of skates that last a year is a lot less painful than it would be with a $1400 pair of leg pads.
Another Surprise
Most of the Vapor gear does have one thing going for it even if it isn’t durable. Bauer’s Vapor line is light. The Bauer rep pointed out how light the Vapor 2 leg pads were when I was perusing the wares of several goalie companies. I figured it would be light and when he told me how light they were I expected to find them very light.
In fact I was surprised by how light they aren’t. The Vapor 2 doesn’t come close to any of the new pads in terms of weight reduction. They were on par with my four-year-old Velocity pads for weight. The Velocity was a pretty light pad when it came out, but the Blockade and similar pads have shattered any illusions of what lightweight pads really are. The Vapor isn’t heavy, but it isn’t feather-light either.
Color and Size Choices
The stock color choices on the Vapor 2 pads are black, blue and white; black, red and white; black, silver and white; white, silver and black (sound the same as the previous one, but there is much more white and less black) and gold, silver and white.
The Vapor 2 pads come in senior sizes running from 32” to 38” in one-inch increments. The pad width is 12” on all of these sizes. They are also available in 11” wide intermediate sizes. These run from 29” to 32” (Note that the 32” pad is available in both senior and intermediate).
Bauer will also do custom colors and sizes on these. I assume that you would have to be pretty patient on these.
Parting Thoughts
Bauer products are typically innovative even when they aren’t very good. While CCM’s Blockades changed the goalie pad forever, the Vapor 2 isn’t all that revolutionary beyond the appearance.
What Bauer did do here was to take the better parts of some proven pads and blend them into a new product. I am very impressed by the customizable support in the pads. This could be something that we see more of from other makers. Most high-level goalies prefer less padding than what we’ve seen lately in many new entries. The customizability of these pads is a great way to make everyone happy.
The weight of the pads and the air bladders are non-issues as far as I’m concerned. Weight is average and rebound preference varies greatly with a goalie’s style of play.
The overall pad is pretty good, but nothing amazing. I’m pleased that Bauer may have remembered to leave a reasonable amount of durability in their product even if it is a bit heavier than it could have been.
The bottom line is that the product is as bland as its styling is. There isn’t anything wrong with it, but there isn’t enough great about it to be amazing either.
A few of my other reviews which you might find helpful:
Fitting Goalie Gear
CCM Blockade Goal Pads
Louisville XLite GLL Goal Pads
Vaughn Velocity II Goal Pads
Bauer Vapor 2 Catch Glove
Battram Custom Goalie Equipment
© 2005 Scott Noble – All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
Thanks to openroad for adding this item so I could review it.
Recommended:
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