The Remfry comparison seems to come up an awful lot, George - what are the main differences between your guards and theirs? Not having used or stocked any Remfry kit before - or even seen them in the flesh - I am a little in the dark here...
I have huge respect for Remfry as hes been making guards for ages and must admit am chuffed to bits to be talked about in the same category
so firstly a massive thanks to you guys for liking my product !!
For actual reviews I think it would be best for others to see what they think if they have experienced both and post on the forum, I don't want to try and duck out but wouldn't want to be seen overly promoting myself for obvious reasons !
But heres my thoughts... )
To start from a aesthetic pov they are very different with the choice of a leather or technical finish. What I love about both brands is they are simple and clean, no go faster stripes and just focus on the product and what it actually does without reference to "uber-tech-thingies" that actually don't add anything to the performance of a guard.
Remfry guards all have a slightly softer finish with a very high density foam (I think between 15-20mm) for its primary barrier, whilst I have a combination of various materials which are fused together (8mm max excluding guard skin), it's like different ways of achieving the same objective. My focus was always to have a malleable finish that really grips the user as i used to get so fed up of pads "jumping" out of place when running or just playing shots.
The finish used in Stretton Fox guards also makes them super light, plus gripping the body so much avoids any feeling of having to carry excess baggage so the batter can just concentrate on hitting the ball and not about where their thigh pad is!
The outer skin of the Remfry guards I have seen are leather with a towelling inner whilst Stretton Fox pads have an entire top surface in loop velcro, so removable straps can be placed anywhere rather than only in one place. You can take them off completely and have under a baselayer or adjust to wear over a tracksuit, so you always get a good fit. The spacer fabric on Stretton Fox guards means they are machine washable.
From a longevity pov, any cricketer knows that towelling tends to get quite nasty after a few seasons unless it can be washed at a good temperature. When I was a kid I used to freeze my thigh pads (much to the disgust of my family!) to kill the bacteria before then washing them but the leather would go hard and need treatment and towelling would pile and fall apart going quite thin.
Stretton Fox guards will get more comfortable season after season. I can be confident with this as when making tweaks to guards at Warwickshire Bears most of them didn't want me to touch the actual guards as they had all moulded exactly how they wanted and were getting more comfortable as time went on, kind of like a pair of nice leather shoes !
I met up with a friend of Remfry who coaches at Worcestershire CCC and showed me a brand new set last July at an event in Essex. We did the mallet test to compare and the expression of shock on onlookers faces when hitting my guards did show there was quite a difference in the sort of punishment they guards can take.
Haha maybe one way to find out will be to have a good old fashioned Harry Hill "Fight !" and get a store to do an Oww-Ometer reading with all the different guards !
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Topic: Stretton Fox Chest Guard Review (Read 5671 times)