Oakley Mace Gloves: Hockey gloves from . . . the sunglasses people?!?
Written: Apr 28 '04 (Updated Oct 05 '05)
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Pros: Best comfort for wide hands, good full protection
Cons: Oakley is too proud of the Mace, Price>durability
The Bottom Line: The Mace is comfortable, but with questionable durability, you better make sure it is the only choice for you
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Oakley Mace Pro Hockey Gloves |
Oakley has been making hockey gear for a few years now. But they had limited themselves primarily to the manufacture of lexan shields for helmets. That seems a little more in line with what a company known for making sunglasses might do in the hockey industry. I mean come on, these guys are a bunch of surfers, right?
The company sales representative, who also represented non-hockey brands like Body Glove, O’neill, and Burton, hadn’t had a hair cut for ten years, wore bright colored tee shirts and baggy shorts rather than the polo’s and khakis his peers generally donned. Heck, he even talked like a surfer. So when he said, “Dude, I’m really stoked about the new Oakley Gloves. You guys should really, like, check them out.” and made a little hang loose sign with his hand as if that would instantly seal an order for a couple thousand dollars worth of gloves, we weren’t convinced.
Nonetheless, we placed a small order as much to keep our zen sales rep happy as to sate our curiosity. It wasn’t as if Oakley knew nothing about gloves. The company they purchased to get their foot in the hockey door – 1 Excel – knew a thing or two about making a hockey glove. We hoped that Oakley remembered what 1 Excel once knew.
The Mace at First Glance
The gloves came to the shop and the first thing that struck me was the intimidating skull and crossbones on the thumb of each pair. This was a love it or hate it logo. As a goalie and admitted gear head, I thought it was great. Nothing like having death symbols to scare your opponent a little in the face off. Unfortunately most forwards who looked at the gloves tended to profess something to the effect of, “I like them except for the queer little skull.”
Mothers as well were not pleased with this aspect of the design. While the larger sizes sold rather quickly the child gloves lingered on the shelves quite a bit longer. Many a child was disappointed as mom told them, “I’m not buying you the gloves with a skull on them.” The second model year of the Mace was unchanged, save one feature – the skull was not present on the sizes smaller than 13 ˝”.
Other than the skull, the styling was your basic high-back style glove with a long cuff. The half ellipse on the back of the glove was somewhat flashy, but nothing more outlandish than many other companies graphics.
Comfort, Construction and Materials
In a good hockey glove the cosmetics are meaningless if it isn’t up to snuff and comfortable.
The sizing on the Oakley Mace is a little odd. The senior soze gloves come in 13 ˝”, 14” and 14 ˝”. Now in gloves half sizes are the exception rather than the rule. Further, the companies who made half sizes didn’t make full sizes. It was pretty much a standard that gloves sized at 15 ˝” were really 15” gloves. Sizing wasn’t governed by that strict of a guidline that you could try on a CCM 15” and if it was too small the Easton 15 ˝” would fit perfectly. In fact Easton’s 15 ˝” would feel pretty much the sameas CCM's 15" gloves. The numbers were just guidelines, not a real formula for perfect fit.
Anyway, to have Oakley producing glove in true ˝” increments was surprising and new when the Mace came out. Further, despite the fact that 14 ˝” was their biggest glove, it fit my size 15” hands quite nicely. The half inch increments in adult sizes translated to a more appropriate fit for more people's hands.
The Mace is a very comfortable model. It is almost on par with an Eagle glove for comfort which speaks volumes - Eagle is the current benchmark for quality and comfort in hockey gloves. The Mace’s reinforced nash palms are as supple as those of Eagle gloves. Further the Mace is perhaps the widest glove on the market. People with chubby hands will find them much more accommodating than other gloves are.
Off shelf break-in on the Mace is pretty good. The gloves are flexible, but as with all hockey gloves will take a short break-in period until they lose the small amount of stiffness they do have. There are no seams that feel weird. The gussets and palm are outstandingly comfortable.
The backing of the glove is a synthetic leather material that will have no durability problems. However, the palms have been something of a question mark. They are made of nash, which is considered the best material for hockey palms currently used. However, they seem very prone to premature wear.
I saw three or four pair of Oakley gloves come back for new palms in the first year we sold them. All of the players were diehard, competitive league players who were on the ice in excess of 5 hours weekly, but still to go through palms in less than a year is pretty quick. On the other hand, the fact that they were willing to invest $60 in new palms is a strong indication that these guys liked the Mace enough to keep them.
Bottom Line
The price of the Mace is on the high end for gloves. They need to be as comfortable as any gloves on the market to justify top tier pricing, and they are. In fact, for more heavily built hands, only the mace and Hesspeler’s Fat Cuff gloves are viable options. In my opinion, the Mace is a far more comfortable glove than the Hesspeler.
Still, even with the comfort issue, I would expect a high level of durability from any gloves that costs in excess of $100 a pair. Whether it is the width of the glove palm, thinner than standard nash or questionable reinforcing materials, the palms of the Oakley Mace gloves are not as durable as I would hope.
The simple fact is that you will need to do some math on this model. If you try on the Mace and love it, expect it to last in the ballpark of 250 to 300 hours before it needs new palms. Depending on how many hours a week you play, it might be enough to satisfy your needs. Remember that you can re-palm gloves for about $60 a pair, but unless you have a very good shop, they aren’t going to be quite as good as they were off the shelf.
I would conditionally recommend the Mace only to players who feel they are the most comfortable glove for their hands. The condition – make sure that you are comfortable with the price and the possibility that you will be paying that price again and again.
© Scott Noble – Unauthorized use prohibited
Some of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting and Selecting Hockey Protective Gear
Hockey Stick Buying Guide
Mission M-2 Gloves
Recommended:
No
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