GR8 equipment

[Huck]

Just curious if anyone has used one of the GR8 lightweight steel masks. Any review would be helpful

[Ump242]

2 hours ago, Huck said:

Just curious if anyone has used one of the GR8 lightweight steel masks. Any review would be helpful

they look like the honigs masks, if they're solid steel, then they'll be about 25 oz and sturdy

 

[DerekGDS]

Hollow-steel, 16.8oz. It’s the Honig’s K4 frame.

[wolfe_man]

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[DerekGDS]

2 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

Honig's leathers

The GR8 Call leathers and air mesh pads are also the “Honig’s” pads which basically have the same internals as the All-Star FM25 pads. You may be noticing a trend here all originating from when Dick Honig sold the company years ago.

[wolfe_man]

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[Marcus6]

A shame what happened to Honig’s - they were the gold standard at one time. Hard to believe now.

[MadMax]

12 hours ago, FranklinT said:

A shame what happened to Honig’s - they were the gold standard at one time.

This is why relationships, and connections, and first-impressions matter. 

Dick Honig built that “gold standard” on 3 pillars: 

1. His connections and relationships secured his company as the “official outfitter of MLB Umpires”. 15+ -year umpires on here will attest, during January & February, there’d be tales and photos of allllll the uniforms, and shoes, and plate coats of all the MLBUs being prepared (in his Ann Arbor store, IIRC) for the upcoming season. And Dick, himself, wasn’t a professional umpire! 
2. All 6 (?) of his brick-&-mortar stores treated you as a fellow sports official, not as a “just a purchaser”. Responsiveness and accommodation were very dynamic, key factors to their success. It wasn’t about getting you into Wilson Gold shinguards, because that’s “what the pros wear”; it was getting you into a set of shinguards – might be All-Star, might be Wilson, or very well might be Honig’s – that fit you best and accommodated the level and frequency at which you worked. 
3. Gear with the Honig’s name on it was well-crafted, and to my point, well-intended. He and his staff understood that the users & wearers of this stuff were the amateur sports officials, and there are varying levels of budget, resources, intensity (of competition) and frequency. That responsiveness I mentioned above also factored in here, too. Best example was on officials (all sports) shirts. While Majestic and Champion Apparel (? NBA?) made the Pro- uniforms, the staff at Honig’s picked up on that a dearth of Pro officials would have their shirts custom-tailored. So, accordingly, Honig’s staff designed the Honig’s -brand officials shirts to have those sort of typical alterations already built-in. 

Granted, Point #2 has been eviscerated by overseas production & centralized warehouses feeding online sales, the panic-demic*, and the escalating costs of doing business, but there still are vendors actively endeavoring with “Best Intent” in this space. @JimKirk and Ump-Attire, Purchase Officials, Hudson51, @DerekGDS and GerryDavisSports are all shining examples. Then, on one end of the spectrum, you have @Razzer and UmpLife as an example of a niche, one-man-band producing value-specific products, and at the other a “big manufacturer” in All-Star, who despite being catcher-focused, still dedicates time & attention to umpires. 

Relationships & responsiveness. 

I think the flaw and shortfall of many … I’ll say, “producers” in our umpiring space here… is a loss or lack of responsiveness. Douglas, made in the USA, and very personable and accommodating, but their gear hasn’t improved responsively to the evolution of materials and demands. It’s like they’re operating with noise-canceling headphones on. Champro and Champion (gear) are engaged in such a wide, broad range of equipment for a variety of sports, they simply lack the attention to our needs and requests; it’s like they’re operating in a multi-stage rock festival. Noise everywhere. 

Honig’s (and their split into Honig’s and Gr8Call) has fallen onto hard times because of relationships, internally. 

Lastly, there’s a vendor that I will not name, but if I omit their existence, it’s a disservice to my above 👆🏼 message. They’re on my 💩 list because of a lack of ethics and a cavalier, conniving attitude regarding relationships. Which is a shame, because they’re fellow umpires. 

[Marcus6]

2 hours ago, MadMax said:

This is why relationships, and connections, and first-impressions matter. 

Dick Honig built that “gold standard” on 3 pillars: 

1. His connections and relationships secured his company as the “official outfitter of MLB Umpires”. 15+ -year umpires on here will attest, during January & February, there’d be tales and photos of allllll the uniforms, and shoes, and plate coats of all the MLBUs being prepared (in his Ann Arbor store, IIRC) for the upcoming season. And Dick, himself, wasn’t a professional umpire! 

They posted these on Facebook a long time ago! Thought this was so cool.

[MadMax]

2 hours ago, FranklinT said:

Thought this was so cool.

Indeed. I remember the long rack of plate coats. 🤤 

Even with the shirts and jackets not being "theirs", Honig's staff still gave them the utmost of care and attention. 

[concertman1971]

On 2/23/2025 at 8:46 AM, MadMax said:

Relationships & responsiveness. 

*cough cough*