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I mentioned that I got my mouthguard last week, so here's an "initial impressions" review.
Model: Gladiator Elite
Price: $75
I ordered the Elite after talking with John Hackman, president of Customguards, for a bit. I wanted to make sure that I would have enough protection for MMA and he assured me that the Elite should work for anything I wanted to do. Furthermore, any mouthguards ordered in the future are half the price of the original since the mold is already made. That way, if I ever wanted something w/ full bottom coverage, for instance, or something much slimmer (for grappling only, perhaps), the financial burden is minimal.
Customguards offers all the colors the other guys do, as well as two and three stripe designs, I believe. I went w/ solid silver and chose to forgo logos/name since I just wanted a simple look. I ordered via the website (www.customguards.com) and received an email w/in 30 minutes stating that my impressions kit had shipped.
The impressions kit, which arrived two days later, included two sets of materials to make sure I came out w/ at least one good impression. It also included a sample of a "good" impression so I would know what mine should look like when it was done. This was helpful because my first impression really sucked and I could tell by looking at the sample what I should do differently. The second one came out great.
I dropped my finished impressions in the included box and mailed them off the next day. John informed my via PM that one of the impressions was very good. My mouthguard arrived about one week from the day I mailed out the impressions.
When I opened up the box, I was actually very surprised. I expected a quality product, but never would I have thought that the guard would be as thick and strong as it is. I suspect I could hold one end and chain a twenty pount dumbell to the other and there would be minimal deflection. It is solid! (Includes a case, too.)
Fit is wonderful. It sticks to my teeth and really has to be pulled off by hand to break this thing loose. Breathing is very easy and talking isn't too bad either. Because it's an Elite, you can really feel the thickness, but it's still very comfortable. Before I ordered, John mentioned that if I wanted to incorporate a negative of my bottom teeth into the guard, there are ways to do this and he didn't want to "oversell" me on something I could easily do myself. I might do so since the guard is thick and I expect that a little space for my back bottoms would make it even more comfortable.
Performance-wise, I haven't done any really heavy sparring yet, but I've taken a few shots and can honestly say that I am 100% confident that I'm getting maximum protection from the guard. I think the photos will explain better.
A couple other side notes. As far as the debate of this guard vs. the other more talked about guards... Biteme uses a hard insert in between layers on their MMA guard. Customguards does not, but not because they have an inferior design. John truly believes that there is no added benefit to the hard insert and thus, they prefer to use another soft layer for what Customguards believes is the best method of protection. I'm sure both are great and there's probably no way of knowing which method is truly the best, but I figured I'd mention it to let you know that it's a difference in philosophies and not a short cut.
Also, though John has posted on Sherdog a bit, he has not mentioned that there are, indeed, MMA fighters that wear Gladiator guards -- Joe "Diesel" Riggs, for one. I know a lot of people talk about buying products from companies that "support the sport", so I thought this, too, would be worth a mention.
That's about all I can think to comment on for now.
Model: Gladiator Elite
Price: $75
I ordered the Elite after talking with John Hackman, president of Customguards, for a bit. I wanted to make sure that I would have enough protection for MMA and he assured me that the Elite should work for anything I wanted to do. Furthermore, any mouthguards ordered in the future are half the price of the original since the mold is already made. That way, if I ever wanted something w/ full bottom coverage, for instance, or something much slimmer (for grappling only, perhaps), the financial burden is minimal.
Customguards offers all the colors the other guys do, as well as two and three stripe designs, I believe. I went w/ solid silver and chose to forgo logos/name since I just wanted a simple look. I ordered via the website (www.customguards.com) and received an email w/in 30 minutes stating that my impressions kit had shipped.
The impressions kit, which arrived two days later, included two sets of materials to make sure I came out w/ at least one good impression. It also included a sample of a "good" impression so I would know what mine should look like when it was done. This was helpful because my first impression really sucked and I could tell by looking at the sample what I should do differently. The second one came out great.
I dropped my finished impressions in the included box and mailed them off the next day. John informed my via PM that one of the impressions was very good. My mouthguard arrived about one week from the day I mailed out the impressions.
When I opened up the box, I was actually very surprised. I expected a quality product, but never would I have thought that the guard would be as thick and strong as it is. I suspect I could hold one end and chain a twenty pount dumbell to the other and there would be minimal deflection. It is solid! (Includes a case, too.)
Fit is wonderful. It sticks to my teeth and really has to be pulled off by hand to break this thing loose. Breathing is very easy and talking isn't too bad either. Because it's an Elite, you can really feel the thickness, but it's still very comfortable. Before I ordered, John mentioned that if I wanted to incorporate a negative of my bottom teeth into the guard, there are ways to do this and he didn't want to "oversell" me on something I could easily do myself. I might do so since the guard is thick and I expect that a little space for my back bottoms would make it even more comfortable.
Performance-wise, I haven't done any really heavy sparring yet, but I've taken a few shots and can honestly say that I am 100% confident that I'm getting maximum protection from the guard. I think the photos will explain better.
A couple other side notes. As far as the debate of this guard vs. the other more talked about guards... Biteme uses a hard insert in between layers on their MMA guard. Customguards does not, but not because they have an inferior design. John truly believes that there is no added benefit to the hard insert and thus, they prefer to use another soft layer for what Customguards believes is the best method of protection. I'm sure both are great and there's probably no way of knowing which method is truly the best, but I figured I'd mention it to let you know that it's a difference in philosophies and not a short cut.
Also, though John has posted on Sherdog a bit, he has not mentioned that there are, indeed, MMA fighters that wear Gladiator guards -- Joe "Diesel" Riggs, for one. I know a lot of people talk about buying products from companies that "support the sport", so I thought this, too, would be worth a mention.
That's about all I can think to comment on for now.
