sjd215

Thank you for covering the gap, and I hope you've enjoyed the last three years! 1) As a guy who sweats easily, I appreciate the heat-based upvote for the Smittys. Fall ball here in Vermont shouldn't be too bad temperature-wise, but this summer has been particularly muggy, so these will come in handy. 2) It sounds like the Enduro is the way to go. I think I will have to buy the bullet and get a CP that a) affords great protection; b) is bound to last long. 3) Same thing for the Force 3. Tons of folks recommend these, so I will have to join the Force 3 club. Derek, thank you for the detailed breakdown (and straight from GDS, no less!). This has made my pants-purchasing task much easier. I have a tab with the Enduro and Force 3 ready to go. I completely agree about pants-buying: an actual store would be nice. Good to know about the sticking point. Always great to hear from the undisputed gear guru! I'm really excited about GDS's future products, and I think I will celebrate by getting myself that Enduro. All, this has been super helpful, and it feels incredibly great to be back, SJD!

Hi, all, After a three-year hiatus, I've decided to again hit the field. I'm stoked! Unfortunately, I let go of most of my gear, and there's so much product out there nowadays, that I'm not sure where to start (besides the mask and plate shoes I'm after). The gear/attire has changed much in the last few years, so any recs would be appreciated. If this is duplicative of other threads, please flag for deletion. Pants: It seems like there have been multiple evolutions on this alone. I even saw that Mizuno has both plate and base pants out. Ideally, the type I'd get would last long, even if the price tags of these are a little higher. Before hanging it all up, I was wearing Honig's polywools for the most part, and I'd occasionally wear GD's poly-spandex. Any recs ? CPs: Speaking of GD, I saw that they rolled out two new ones: the DX Mk2 and the D Enduro. They're both very Power-adjacent, and so, they're catching my eye. I used to have the Cobalt nd Douglas and thought these were okay. Should I go back to one of these or try one of the new rigs? Shins: I was a Douglas-shins loyalist. Sure, they might have been a bit squeaky, but they got the job done. Has anything recent supplanted the Douglas? P.S. I used to fly under Sd181612, but I lost access to that account a few years back. So I profusely apologize if I never reached your message in my inbox. Thank you, all, SJD.