Adidas or Nike?

[JoHart10]

There are obviously a couple masks on eBay that have changed from Adidas to Nike in this past week. My question is this: since they are majorly secondary market products, is there a way to tell them apart and do you care?

[Bluehands]

I've noticed that too. At least one of the sellers has marked his as Nike Ti "style". The other guy's trying to get $300 for his. I noticed these complete Adidas masks typically go for $50-80.

But the frames alone weigh close to a pound and the ear guards are a dead give away with the crimped corners. 

The titanium masks I've seen have smooth corner transitions and will weigh a little over 11oz

[Bluehands]

Ha, I don't think you've got much to worry about and it seems like you're describing your item to the best of your ability. The other guy, however is trying to get more than I paid for a complete Nike Ti, so I think he knows what he's doing and it isn't nice.

Anyway, if you look at pics of a titanium mask the bars are solid throughout. I haven't held one of these Adidas masks but it looks to me like the sharp turns in the ears are crimped. It also looks like it's powder coated in a matte silver so the ends of the bars appear cleaner but maybe I'm wrong.

The weight of your mask falls in line with say a hollow steel All-Star FM25. There was another user here who said his Adidas weighed around 15oz. I weighed a +POS @ 12.5oz

As far as the profile goes, I can't tell the difference between the two and it's very possible they come from the same source. It's interesting that the Nike Steel mask has quite a different profile than its titanium sibling.

Personally, I appreciate the weight drop from a Ti more than any added shock absorption that a steel mask provides. As a catcher in a rec league, I rarely see anyone throwing over 70, so direct shots don't do much. Plus I can definitely feel say, a 3oz difference sitting on top of my head after 7 innings of up and down, and whipping my body around to throw down to second. For an umpire, where you keep your head relatively still, i suppose it might not be as important.

[Bluehands]

Wow, these are popping up quite a bit. A few more on eBay. Looks like mr. $300 retracted his auction, so that's good. I'm glad no one fell for that. Though honestly, they look so much alike it's a wonder if a buyer would ever realize he didn't have a real Nike titanium. Hopefully, more people will know what they are looking at when they see one of these Adidas frames.