Gerry Davis D3O CP

[wolfe_man]

I took my first glancing blow in my Enduro on Saturday.  Varsity ball, batter fouled one back off my arm/shoulder guard - I didn't feel a thing beyond the impact!   

CP fits great, is aerated for cooling, is comfortable to wear and protective.  Everything that one could ask for in a great CP!

[UAME]

4 hours ago, wolfe_man said:

I took my first glancing blow in my Enduro on Saturday.  Varsity ball, batter fouled one back off my arm/shoulder guard - I didn't feel a thing beyond the impact!   

CP fits great, is aerated for cooling, is comfortable to wear and protective.  Everything that one could ask for in a great CP!

I moved from the Adams (Schutt) XV to the Davis D3O this season.  Over the weekend, I took my worst shot of the year: a tipped ~80mph fastball right over the catcher and into my right pectoral.

POP!

"Ooooohs" from the stands; "Walk it out, walk it out to the mound.." from the defensive head coach to his F2. 

Me:  "I'm fine, let's play." 

F2: "That sounded VERY bad!"

Me: "It's pro level gear.  That's why I spend $250 on a protector."

I literally felt nothing but a shove.  No pain, no aftereffects.

To be fair, the Adams XV was always great in this regard, too.  However, the Davis is pliable.  It hugs your torso and lays tight to the body at every point.  No jostling or rigid plates rubbing uncomfortably when you're sprinting out on a rotation.

  

[wolfe_man]

1 hour ago, UAME said:

I moved from the Adams (Schutt) XV to the Davis D3O this season.  Over the weekend, I took my worst shot of the year: a tipped ~80mph fastball right over the catcher and into my right pectoral.

POP!

"Ooooohs" from the stands; "Walk it out, walk it out to the mound.." from the defensive head coach to his F2. 

Me:  "I'm fine, let's play." 

F2: "That sounded VERY bad!"

Me: "It's pro level gear.  That's why I spend $250 on a protector."

I literally felt nothing but a shove.  No pain, no aftereffects.

To be fair, the Adams XV was always great in this regard, too.  However, the Davis is pliable.  It hugs your torso and lays tight to the body at every point.  No jostling or rigid plates rubbing uncomfortably when you're sprinting out on a rotation.

  

Same experience for me with the Mirage frame on Sat in a Varsity game.  Fastball fouled straight back to the middle of my mask.  Mask on ground at my feet and dead silence from the crowd, waiting to see if I'm good or not.  Coaches start telling F2 to walk the ball out, but I just tell my partner he jinxed me because he asked me how it felt to get hit in the new mask prior to the game and I hadn't had it happen yet of course. So he's apologizing from C and I'm laughing it off behind the plate and calling F2 back so we can keep moving.  

Buy the best and stay safe out there!

[834k3r]

5 hours ago, UAME said:

It hugs your torso and lays tight to the body at every point.  No jostling or rigid plates rubbing uncomfortably when you're sprinting out on a rotation.

IMHO this is an underappreciated quality of the Enduro. With both my previous CPs (Champro then AS Cobalt) I would have to pull them up regardless of how I had the straps, because they'd slide down (I swear I nearly broke my collarbone one year, but that's a different thread for a different day). The Enduro has no such issue in my experience.

[The Man in Blue]

4 hours ago, 834k3r said:

IMHO this is an underappreciated quality of the Enduro. With both my previous CPs (Champro then AS Cobalt) I would have to pull them up regardless of how I had the straps, because they'd slide down (I swear I nearly broke my collarbone one year, but that's a different thread for a different day). The Enduro has no such issue in my experience.

 

Is that more an aspect of the CP, the harness, or of properly dialing your gear in?

I give the Cobalt top marks in that regard.  Mine never moves.

I'm really wanting to try the Enduro, but I can't justify the want. 

(Although I worked with a guy this weekend who should have better gear -- yeah, Champro bro.  He said he is going to finally buy some new gear after the HS season.  I debated using that as my "I'll buy it and try it, and you can buy the other one off of me" move.  That was how I tried and moved a Force3 that I didn't end up liking.)

[Jonump]

So I posted a question/concern about the temperature range capabilities that Derek was kind enough to provide a thoughtful answer to.

Have since used the DX30 in multiple high school games in the (alleged) low 50s with wind chill and took a couple of solid hits to the foam and with no issues. Very happy since it's incredibly comfortable to wear.

I kept it inside the truck cab instead of the bed to be sure to keep warm just in case.

And of course its in the 40s today. Sheesh.

[wolfe_man]

5 hours ago, Jonump said:

So I posted a question/concern about the temperature range capabilities that Derek was kind enough to provide a thoughtful answer to.

Have since used the DX30 in multiple high school games in the (alleged) low 50s with wind chill and took a couple of solid hits to the foam and with no issues. Very happy since it's incredibly comfortable to wear.

I kept it inside the truck cab instead of the bed to be sure to keep warm just in case.

And of course its in the 40s today. Sheesh.

My game on Saturday was in the 50's and tonights was 40's, so I know what you mean.  I've had no issues with the Cloud pads or the Enduro's D3O foam at those temps.  Your body heat also helps to bring those temps up.  I used to wear the Schutt/Adams with D3O foam also in cold weather games with no negative impacts.  YMMV

[834k3r]

12 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

Is that more an aspect of the CP, the harness, or of properly dialing your gear in?

That's fair. But "dialing in" the Enduro felt more permanent and straight forward. Full disclosure, my AS Cobalt is still my backup. I like it. I like the Enduro more.

[UAME]

13 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

Is that more an aspect of the CP, the harness, or of properly dialing your gear in?

I can only speak to my experience with the Adams XV and moving to the Davis D3O, and will explain it this way:

The Adams was a rigid plate system with D3O pads mounted to the inside.

The Davis is a D3O pad system with plates mounted on the outside.

That's the best way I can say it.  The harness design doesn't seem particularly special.  But when you get the harness adjusted properly, the protector is "clinging" to you.

I tried limited heating, bending of the XV, but it never held my desired shape no matter how much I tightened the harness.

[Velho]

14 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

Is that more an aspect of the CP, the harness, or of properly dialing your gear in?

I like my Adams XV a lot. It fits well after I modified it extensively.

The D30, besides adjusting the throat portion (velcro so simple), fit well and felt good out of the box. After tightening the harness, and then tightening it some more, it fits like a properly broken in glove.

[MadMax]

23 minutes ago, UAME said:

The Adams was a rigid plate system with D3O pads mounted to the inside.

There’s a confession – by the industry – to make on the Adams XV. 

The orange foam on that one? It wasn’t D3O. 😲

Yes, the Schutt XV was true-blue (err, orange), genuine D3O. Schutt was able to employ it on the XV, at a relatively scandalous price point (≈ $89), because they had sourced it from D3O for their football helmets and high-end shoulder pads. Schutt has had a terse, toxic rivalry with market-competitor Riddell, and has lost several lawsuits between the two. This put Schutt in a precarious position in 2018, when they were acquired by a private equity holding company. The PE firm restructured them, and their assets, and split their departments up (ie. sports). Officiating gear was relegated to the Adams sub-brand. As a consequence, Schutt lost its relationship with D3O, and their Adams gear could not use it. So, starting in 2018/19, the Adams XV’s were equipped with a generic EVA foam, dyed orange. 

Here’s where I need to disclose a secret, and confess – I didn’t use it. When my original Schutt XV plates gave out (cracked) in 2019, I was given a “new” set of plates from an Adams XV, sans the foam jacket, and transplanted my genuine D3O foam vest to them. To its credit, that D3O has lasted 10 years of near-constant use, primarily in SW-USA environments, and in MLB velocities. Not. A. Hiccup. 

On 4/20/2026 at 11:18 AM, UAME said:

To be fair, the Adams XV was always great in this regard, too.  However, the Davis is pliable.

So we’ve disclosed, the Adams XV is not real, genuine D3O. Only a Schutt XV from 2015 (debut) to 2018 has it. But even then, the D3O being used on the Schutt is not the same D3O on Davis gear today. It has evolved, of course. Same “mechanics”, but it has certainly improved. One of the big telling points, as you’ve noticed, is pliability. It’s less springy, more… spongy. More like putty than trampoline. That allows it to conform to the user’s shape more/better than simply sitting atop it. 

Someone a page back mentioned heat-bending the plates, and the XV wasn’t particularly good at it. Like its football pad cousins, the XV’s plates were primarily cast in ABS, but with a twist – because they shared the same molds as shoulder-pad plates, Schutt had “perfected” their shape to be as low profile, curved, and thin as possible, and likely optimized the recipe with a hardener so the resulting plate held its shape instead of creeping (flattening out). That, or they might have used polycarbonate (which is used for football helmets), which would explain the high-shine gloss finish on a brand-new XV. Note that Douglas, Wilson, Champro, Champion, and pre-Cobalt All-Star CPs all were… semi-gloss… more like satin. Telltale ABS (without an additional lacquer or finishing spray). 

Point is, polycarbonate is a b!+€h to heat-shape. I know… it took me many, many hours to shape my original XV, cycling between a heat gun and a freezer. 
Yup, the freezer. 

However, the +POS Cobra, the All-Star Cobalt, and now Davis DX-family CPs use HDPE (high density polyethylene), which while more expensive, retains its shape better with less material required.