Rock Bottom

That's great to hear @MadMax! Thanks!

Has anyone taken a shot with these yet? If so, what did you think?

Too late in the season for this? Make me a reasonable offer please, and I'll consider it - again, this has never been used - not the mask or the pads - it's a great deal!

LOWERED PRICE to $75!

This great mask is as light (or even lighter) than many of the magnesium masks out there, and I'm seeing them used more and more by MLB catchers and umps this year, even over the FM4000 magnesium. I'm asking for $75 (plus shipping cost for the method of your choice: USPS, FedEx, UPS from Chicago burbs to your destination) for an unused All-Star FM4000 steel - black powdercoated, with brand new pads still in bag, plus an unused All-Star traditional harness. This was my back-up mask to my other FM4000 and I never needed it thankfully. If desired - you don't need to take them - I'm happy to throw in two sets of additional pads (one lightly used, one more heavily) and two used harnesses (one DeltaFlex and one traditional All-Star) at no additional charge. Here are the pics:

Thanks! Looking forward to it. The AS magnesium fit well enough, but the bottom pad isn't as snug to the frame as I'd like plus visibility from that big pad has always been an issue for me, although still a great pad.

@DerekGDS Any new update on when the pads will be available?

Look at how curved the Mirage is! LOL (top is Mirage, middle is FM4000 steel, as is the bottom - strange the two are so different - guessing it has to do with the manufacturing process of the steel):

Just got my new Mirage today - it looks and feels great. I did weigh it and compare it to my All-Star FM4000 steel, and it actually came in at 11.78 oz vs. 11.61 for the FM4000. (This is not a calibrated scale, so maybe it's slightly off.) But - the Mirage allows me to remove my 3 oz. dangling throat guard!!! Can't wait to try it out tomorrow!

SOLD! I just purchased it - I'll likely have an unused (my backup) black powder coated steel All-Star FM4000 going up for sale, but won't do it until I have the Mirage in hand. My gamer FM4000 will move to back-up. Message me if you're interested in the FM4000 before I post it in the sales forum (I have unused extra pads too if I recall - I switched to the mag pads so never used them). The XCG (XTG) is what sold me on this, plus the weight. I'm a believer in the throat guard - especially after seeing videos of guys caught from one bouncers coming from below, but this one looks so good and the testimonials here are convincing. Thanks all for all the great info!

Does the XTG hit your chest protector too much? If looks great, just wondering.

Thanks -- one more question - will the cost of the pads be the same if I the mask now and then the pads later when they are available? Or will they be discounted if I buy them all together at the same time? (And sorry, I forgot I had already asked about the FM4K mag pads, and saw that was answered above - in my excitement I was too hasty. EDIT - but not hasty enough on pulling the trigger apparently - I see the Mirage is out of stock now - any idea when it will be back?)

Do you know when the mask with the pads will be available? I assume the Mirage-specific pads are going to be better for than anything else on the market currently? Also, has anyone used the Mirage with the All-Star FM4K Magnesium pads? If so, how well did they fit. I know the Gerry Davis website says the FM4K pads fit, but doesn't reference the mag version.

Derek@ the Gerry Davis address? Will the All-Star FM4000 magnesium pads fit? Are you going to have Mirage specific pads coming soon?

Is anyone else having problems getting on this website? For about the last week some days I can't get on at all, other times it's VERY slow loading. I've tried different computers, phones, browsers, and it's all the same. So I'm wondering if it's the site or me.

I'm not espousing anything - just repeating what I read from an expert who sells both HSM and traditional. I'm guessing Brad Jurga knows more about masks and the science behind them that 99% (or more) of the people on this site, and CERTAINLY more than I do. I choose to wear the All-Star Cobalt skull-cap, and wear it tight enough it's not easily slipping off - I've taken some massive shots with it on and while the mask has come off it didn't come flying off - so I'm guessing it's a mid-tightness level. Similar shots (as much as one can really tell) had rocked me before the Cobalt. While I agree it's mostly in the pads, especially for jaw shots, the Cobalt is a great investment in my opinion.

I know @MadMax you don't wear a dangling throat guard, but for those of us who do, do you think we'll be able to forego doing so with this new Mirage?

Found it: From Brad Jurga - see the link below: "The argument that when a traditional mask spins off during impact it helps lessen the impact is still uncertain. NOCSAE has done tests and has concluded that when you get hit with a traditional mask on, all the energy is transferred to the head almost immediately, even before your head would move back from the impact. With this in mind, by the time your mask would spin off, most of the impact would have already been passed to the players head." https://community.hsbaseballweb.com/topic/hockey-style-mask-vs-maskskull-cap

I'm all but certain that some high level person at All-Star (maybe Stan or maybe Brad Jurga - but I'm NOT completely sure it was either, so my apologies if I'm recalling incorrectly) said that the mask being worn loosely and spinning off has negligible difference in lessening the impact severity. I tried to quickly find the article but was unsuccessful, but I'm 95% sure that's what they said. If I find it I'll update it here. UPDATE: Found it: From Brad Jurga (allegedly) in the link below: "The argument that when a traditional mask spins off during impact it helps lessen the impact is still uncertain. NOCSAE has done tests and has concluded that when you get hit with a traditional mask on, all the energy is transferred to the head almost immediately, even before your head would move back from the impact. With this in mind, by the time your mask would spin off, most of the impact would have already been passed to the players head." https://community.hsbaseballweb.com/topic/hockey-style-mask-vs-maskskull-cap

Derek - are the earguards as narrow as they seem, or is the frame wide and the earguards just appear very narrow? I'd love to say I keep my head perfectly straight at all times, but I know that's not the case.

Any idea when it will be out this year? I've been holding off on a new mask purchase - season starts in April here (Chicago burbs); I'd love not to have to use a separate plastic throat guard, but with the small one on my current mask (All-Star FM4000 steel) I won't ump without one. This one looks and sounds like a great option!

I wear a thin down jacket under my pullover ump jacket on those cool nights - on the really cold night I put a thicker down jacket underneath - Stay-Puf like, but who cares, I'm warm. It was a game changer for me - before I started adding the down layer I was frozen no matter how many layers I seemed to add.

Most of the fields I ump on are not manicured well enough to even use the term "manicured" and especially in the damp spring the long grass is really slippery - went down hard once covering a triple. For those wet games I've switched to black golf shoes - give me that extra traction and are water-resistant.

Thank you all for the info!

Great! Doesn't pull off to the side or anything?