RBK Premier Pro Catch Glove – Not quite revolutionary
Written: May 25 '05 (Updated Dec 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Solid glove, but nothing new
Cons: Two piece palm is asking for trouble, heavier than most new entries
The Bottom Line: The Pro is a solid glove, but there are better new trappers on the market.
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| puckmugger's Full Review: RBK Premier Pro Trapper |
No Revolution Here
The story has been the same with all of the RBK gear thus far. It is good stuff, but they haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel like rival company Nike did when first coming to the hockey market. Instead RBK has made good quality gear that just works. It isn’t flashy or outlandish. It just is.
The trapper is less impressive than the other items I’ve reviewed have been. While the chest and arm protector was all new and the leg pads were updated, the catch glove is nothing new. Clever observers will note that this glove is in fact the same glove that was last year’s Koho 590 with a little bit less sparkle.
Let me back up a moment and explain in case you haven’t read about the Leg pads and Chest and Arm Protector. RBK is of course Reebok’s hockey line. In order to make a hockey line Reebok purchased Maska, the largest conglomerate of hockey manufacturers. They now own CCM, Heaton, Koho, Jofa and a bevy of smaller name gear makers that were included under the umbrella of Maska. So when the RBK gear seems a lot like a Koho, Jofa or CCM product that you’ve seen before, there is a reason.
Koho . . . RBK, what does it mean?
Koho was one of the premier brands on the market in years gone by. Now all of the pros that you formerly saw wearing Koho pads will be in the RBK models. Koho still makes gear under their name although their line has been trimmed back. So did all these goalies make the switch because the RBK stuff is better?
Well, that isn’t how it works. In fact they didn’t really pick Koho because it was the best stuff out there. Most NHL goalies are under contract to wear a certain brand of pads. They get paid a pretty fat bonus from the company who makes the gear to wear it. Reebok owns the contracts now that they own the company. Essentially the goalies are living billboards and Reebok wasn’t all that interested in promoting Koho. So you really cannot read anything into what the Pro players are wearing.
What you can read something into is the players that are breaking their contracts. For instance, Bauer sponsored Peter Forsberg at one time. He was struggling with their skates and switched to Graf in the middle of the season. This of course didn’t make the folks at Bauer too happy so he spend the season skating in Grafs with tape over the labels that read Bauer. Funny stuff. (Oddly he's now back with Bauer). The fact is I haven’t heard anything about goalies jumping ship because they don’t like the RBK gear.
The Trapper
The 590 was a pretty good trapper and the Premier (which is one and the same) is a pretty good trapper as well. This is a full sized rather round glove with a 60 degree break. The break of a trapper will affect the way that it closes. Different breaks will create different shapes of gloves and vary in comfort for the goalie. The range of breaks runs from about 30 degrees to 90. A 90-degree break would be a high and very narrow glove. A 30 degree would be a little wider and squatter.
I personally prefer trappers in the 45-degree ballpark. They have a nice all around shape and typically are a good size. They are also the most comfortable closing gloves for my hand. I won’t find any fault here. Break is a personal issue and 60 degrees is close to middle of the road.
The T-pocket is fairly deep and well formed. While it is nicely designed to keep the puck in, there will be problems from time to time for goalies who like to play the puck. Getting it back out will not always be predictable with the depth of this trapper. Putting the puck into play cleanly can be the difference between a painless breakout and facing a shot.
The area around the T in the glove is covered in Clarino, a suede-like synthetic. The 590 and Premier Pro are the only two catch gloves that I’ve seen with Clarino catching faces. Clarino is an excellent material. It is very durable and shouldn’t be a big issue but I wonder if it will hold up as well as leather, which is more common in trapper faces. Further the stitching that was required to piece the Clarino to the leather in the face of the glove is certain to need repairs much sooner than a traditional all leather face would.
The wrist pad is a traditional separate piece. Unlike the new Blockade-style gloves there is a large pad which is independent of the glove’s catching surface. This doesn’t have a huge impact on the glove usability. However it does make the glove a little heavier than the new styles.
As with any decent glove the back of the glove opens to allow the goalie to personalize the fit or aid in drying the glove. There are two cinch straps on the back of the internals of the glove. These fasten with Velcro to customize the glove fit. It isn’t much fun when your catch glove flies off in mid-game so these are pretty important.
Fit and Comfort
The glove itself has a very nice liner. It is quite comfortable on the hand. Like Koho’s gloves for the last few years, the RBK Premier Pro has a great of the shelf break in. It is ready to use. No need to park the motor home on it or spend countless hours squeezing it shut in while watching Gilligan’s Island re-runs.
The cuff might be a little bigger than that of the Koho 590. Regardless, the wrist flexibility of this glove is very good. There is not problem with the cuff hitting my arm no matter what direction I flex my hand. This is good as some glove cuffs will inhibit motion. No such problem here.
Materials and Construction
As mentioned the glove isn’t as shiny as Koho’s last 590 was. This is the lack of Roboweave material in the glove. While Roboweave looks cool this is a purely cosmetic issue. The Jen Pro synthetic materials that were used instead will not wear out any more quickly than Roboweave.
For pure aesthetic value, the RBK could look either cheaper or classier depending on which side of the fence you stand with Roboweave. I personally think that some small amount of it makes a set of pads or a glove look a little more expensive. However, I suspect that it is something of a fad material. In a few more years we might not be seeing it on anything. Who knows?
The Clarino center of the trapper is an oddity. The remainder of the catching surface is leather. While leather isn’t always the best material in hockey gear, it is still the best for goalie trapper faces. It is durable and has excellent break in qualities that man made materials haven’t quite reached yet. Cheap gloves with man made faces are nearly impossible to break in and will likely never close properly.
Under the leather and Clarino catching face there is a rather stiff layer that will protect goalie’s hands from even the hardest of shots. The protection level of this glove is excellent. Unlike a few of the older Heaton models there isn’t a wide seam between the two sides in the catcher. This led to stray pucks giving players nasty stingers from time to time.
In all the glove is very well made. With the exception of the manufactured Clarino catch face, I would expect this to be a very durable piece of question. I suspect that the Clarino innards were an attempt to put a little more grip on the inside of the glove. The less slick suede-like Clarino would feasibly be better at holding on to a tough save, but I don’t think the benefit outweighs the durability cost.
Parting Thoughts
The RBK Premier Pro Glove is not as impressive as their leg pads. I do applaud them for not trying to reinvent the wheel here. However, there are some items that could do with an update. The glove is fairly heavy by today’s standard. There is also the issue of the two-piece catching surface. If Clarino wasn’t strong enough for the entire catch surface why use it at all? If it is strong enough, why sew it to a piece of leather?
In all you won’t be too disappointed with this trapper if you have one. Just don’t expect it to last forever. Repairs to the catching face will be very expensive as it will require a great deal of disassembly and reassembly if it needs to be sewn. It might not be worth the price depending how long it lasts you between repairs.
For my money I would get something else. The Blockade pads suck, but the Blockade Trapper is outstanding. I won’t tell anyone your gloves don’t match.
Some of my other reviews which you might find helpful:
Fitting Goalie Gear
RBK Premier Pro Blocker
RBK Premier Pro Leg Pads
Koho 14 Pro Blocker
CCM Blockade Trapper
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:
No
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