Is it just my imagination, or have graphite palms gone out of fashion? All the major manufacturers featured graphite palms in their range a few years ago, and now I see almost none. They were popular when I was in my hiatus from playing, but the few I used were outstanding in both wet and dry. Any thoughts?
I used a pair of puma v-kats 2 years ago. To be honest, I didn't really like the graphite palm (even though it was very durable) I'm not saying it's a bad palm, but there are better in that price category imo.
I think what many companies found was that the grip versus durability factor really came into play. That and consistency. I had a few pairs of graphite palmed gloves and even in the same model the grip was never the same. I also think that people wised up to the fact that gloves fall apart and you need to have a fresh pair of gloves every season.
Would it be too cynical to mention that producing extra-durable gloves may not be in glove manufacturers' interests?
lol...Not at all eloydejong...I have had 3-4 pairs, and had great success with them. I would not wear them in a downpour, but for dry conditions, I really thought they out performed many latex's that are a lot more expensive.
The palm on my Puma V-Kats is excellent value for money and works in all conditions. They can handle quite a bit of mud aswell. I think it is a great latex as it performs like top end gloves but has better durability. They are very good in the wet aswell imo.
Edit: Has Nike ever done a graphite palm as ive never seen one....
Dida still needs a team! lol
Why be negative when you can be Positive? Beats me!
Keepers are criticised and praised, its the keepers choice to decide what to listen to.
theres a point there though. "Planned obselecence" (sp?) is surely evident in gloves, manufactures arnt going to make a glove that lasts forever with great grip.
yeah, a glove can't last forever while providing lasting grip
companies would go out of business, graphite palm and reusch's D1 palm are examples of gloves that have good grip but are still relatively durable
and no, i don't recall nike using a graphite palm at all
I used to use the Puma King SL glove a few seasons ago which had the 4mm graphite palm. It was a fantastic palm, really good in all conditions and I considered it a top end palm. Durability was pretty damn good aswell. But, I found the same palm a few seasons down the line was not as good as it was when it first came out. Felt thinner too and the grip was not as good. Thought it might have been a one off but I still have not had as good a result as before. Shame really.
I found the old Adidas Titanium palm really good too along with the Selsport Titanium palm which served me superbly inddors for a good few years.
But the best of all was the Sells durasoft palm. Just both gloves I used had an awful fit which really let them down.
I have a pair of Adidas fingersaves (black, gray backhand and trimmed in neon green) from six years ago and they are in fantastic shape and I still use them. Conversely, I have a pair of Brine fingersaves with graphite palm where the grip is non-existent (no wear, though).
So the observation over consistency is spot on...
i had a pair of puma cellerator 4.0 with the graphite palm, that was the top end puma glove at the time and the latex was fantastic. it had very good grip in all conditions and lasted a year and a half. the only complaint i had with the glove was the rubber cups on the finger tips, but they grew on me
I've had experience with 3 gloves using graphite palms (Puma Cellerator Zero 4, Reebok Presa Pro and Reebok VR-4000 Gunn Cuts) and I found the grip to be superb in dry conditions. It was almost as good as contact foam and much more grippy than regular supersoft foam.
The grip in the wet was good as well (not excellent). I found that the graphite definately added more durability to the gloves.
I still think that the graphite palms are in use, I believe that the Puma King Roll Finger still uses this foam.
NOTE: I also hated the rubber fingertips in the Cellerator Zero 4, they are actually called GripFrame Technology and were supposed to provide better grip in wet weather conditions. I don't know if this is true or not.
I used Puma v-kats and Kings and Reebok VR-400G gloves with graphite palms and honestly I was disappointed with the grip as well as the durability on all of them. I won't miss graphite palms at all.