Itech Helmet Shield Bag – You wanna be able to see, right?
Written: Apr 08 '05 (Updated Apr 10 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Keeps your face mask transparent longer
Cons: Won't protect if from the Ginsu knife collection in your gear bag
The Bottom Line: Put it in the bag or buy a shield more often. This is worth the money. Keep your Ginsu knives at home.
|
|
|
| puckmugger's Full Review: ITECH Helmet Shield Bag |
What the heck is this for?
I’d have to almost agree with those who don’t really give a rip about putting their helmet in a bag. I mean what’s the point? It gets smacked with sticks, stepped on with skates, pounded with pucks and sometimes you just fall down and hit the boards or metal net with it. Helmets that look all nice and shiny don’t scare anyone. Then there is my goalie helmet. I spent about 40 hours painting it. That one goes in a bag. And if someone steps on my head while I’m wearing it they will face my wrath. The wrath of a woman scorned is nothing compared to a goalie that just had his head stepped on.
But I’m getting off track here. This isn’t a bag to protect helmets so much as it is to protect shields. You see, there isn’t much point in buying one of these unless you are using a face shield.
I still don’t get it
Well, just for you I will back up a little and explain the entire face shield thing. But do try to keep up. You are holding back the rest of the class here!
There are a couple of different types of facial protection for hockey. These are cages and shields. The cage is a bunch of wire welded together to keep pucks and large rodents away from your face. The shield is a bit of lexan (poly-carbonate for those who prefer the generic term) which does the same thing but without the annoyance of vision impairing stainless steel wire in front of your eyes.
While both options are equally effective in protecting player’s faces from a puck induced contusion or a rabid guinea pig attack, the vision offered from a visor is quite a bit better. At least it is better when the visor is new. This is where the bag comes into play.
Huh?
Sigh . . . I’m not kidding, please focus or it’s back to remedial hockey bag class and riding the short bus for you!
While getting whacked by sticks and pucks will certainly mar the finish on a visor, tossing it in your hockey bag full of rocks, broken glass, and barbed wire isn’t going to do much for it either. What? You don’t keep that stuff in your bag. What are you going to do when you’re in a pinch and need it someday?
Well nonetheless, simply having Lexan rub on the wrong bit of coarse material will mar the finish and make it much harder to see through. Skates can be pretty sharp as well (I’ve had my goalie skates cut right through leather straps like butter, like BUTTER I tell you!)
The bag?
Alright, let me connect the final dots here for you. Putting your helmet in a bag will help to protect the facemask from some calamities. Most notable the Itech helmet bag will protect it from being rubbed the wrong way. I’m not talking about little kids who make your dog look funny here. This is where most visor calamities actually occur. Somewhere on that bumpy, unpaved back road that you take as a shortcut home (you and I know you just like the feeling of driving far too fast on an unpaved surface, crazy thrill seeker you are), your helmet is rubbing violently against the hockey pants you haven’t washed for almost two years.
If it isn’t in a bag, forget about it. It will be time to get a new visor unless you like playing through a haze. However if you bag it in Itech’s bag, it will probably be cleaner than it was when you left the game. You see the Itech helmet bag is made from a very fine, soft material much like you would use to clean off a pair of glasses.
The bag itself is pretty simple. A single draw sting keeps your helmet from escaping on that bumpy road. The very exciting Itech logo is slathered on the outside of the bag, rendering it non-reversible.
But if Skates can go through butter . . .
Leather! Not butter, they cut through leather like it was butter! You’re really pushing my buttons now! But I get your point. Will this bag keep your visor safe from wayward skate blades? Nope. The only way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to pack your bag carefully. While the Itech helmet bag will keep you safe from rubbing damage to your shield, having a stick blade or a skate blade pushing up against it is simply too much to ask.
Is it worth it?
At last a reasonable question. If you use a shield it is for one of two reasons. Either you wanted to look cool or you wanted to see better. Either way, you probably don’t want a scratched and scuffed semi-transparent piece of plastic in front of your eyes. Not seeing where you’re going and running into everything on the ice doesn’t look cool at all. Not seeing is also not better than seeing through some bars.
The Itech helmet bag is pretty inexpensive compared to the price of a new visor. We sold these for $15.99 and the cheap people I worked for overpriced everything on purpose. I would bet that a little research would yield one for 5 or 6 bucks. Compared to the more than $20 that you would pay for a new shield, this is more than a fair price even at $12. The bag will still outlast several visors since you cannot really wear the bag while you’re playing (for reasons so obvious to me that I won’t state them).
Parting Thoughts
The Itech helmet bag is a good investment to help protect expensive face shields. I highly recommend them unless you have so much money that you aren’t sure what to do with it (I would also be willing to help you decide what to do with your money for a modest fee).
I don’t actually recommend putting rocks, barbed wire or broken glass in your hockey bag although a spare tractor tire isn’t a bad idea.
That “shortcut” you take on the dirt road is actually 1.3 miles out of the way and takes approximately 4 extra minutes. It also cost you an additional $12 annually since you have to wash your car more often. Further, I saw you that time you ran over that dude in the raincoat (the one with the hook for a hand). He isn’t dead either, just really, really mad at you!
A few of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Hockey Mask and Cage Buying Guide
Itech FX 50 Facial Protection
Itech HC100 Helmet
Oakley Aviator Visor
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
puckmugger
|
 - Top 50 |
|
Location: wandering the fringes of the goal crease
Reviews written: 488
Trusted by: 246 members
About Me:
My book is now available in major bookstores or by order from my profile page.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.