Review: Creed Focus Mitts

ClampXVII

Bravado Muay Thai Trainer
@Black
Joined
Oct 15, 2003
Messages
5,395
Reaction score
0
Introduction:

Greetings and salutations readers! Century really surprised a lot of us with their new Creed Thai Pads. They've definitely turned the corner with that product. In this review I'll be talking about how their new smaller and lighter focus mitts hold up to the beating I put them through!

Fit & Feel:

I'm really digging these mitts. I love how they're curved and how they're smaller than the standard sized mitts. The hand compartment on these puppies is tight but it loosens up after a lot of use. The focus mitts do take a little time to break in so expect a pretty tight fit until it breaks in. It's the opposite fit of their Thai Pads. That product felt like it was better for big people. This product feels like it works great for people with smaller hands and individuals with huge or fat hands might find that they have to work on the fit. One thing that helps a little is that the hand compartment is done in 2 different parts. There is the main hand compartment and then there is the padded cuff. In between is a gap that I find rather comfortable. It helps to alleviate some of the snugness of the pad while it conformed to my hands. I also realized that it let me hold the mitts in pretty much any position I wanted a little easier because the hand compartment gave me just enough stretch due to the gap. It made holding at more awkward angles easier and combined with it's smaller form I could hold them in any position, range, and angle I wanted to.

The inside of the hand compartment is missing a cloth lining. What they went with instead is a leather lining which I like. It's wicked easy to clean. I just take a cloth and dry out the inside every other night. I really don't have to worry too much about the mitts smelling because whatever I can't dry up gets taken care of by the mesh lining hood. It's a good design because it'll help to the keep the mitts fresher longer and I find that it's just a little more sanitary. The bad is that I don't have as much traction with these mitts that I do with my Ring to Cage mitts with the cloth lining. I have to work a little more to take care of those mitts but they feel a little more secure and comfortable. The Creed focus mitts have a mesh hood but my hands still get really sweaty, and once I started sweating I could move my hands around even with the snug fit of the mitts.

Something that I liked that is that their hook and loop closure is a combination of elastic and leather. I really like this design because it really gives you a secure fit. It' cinches down and clings to your wrists and hands. The strap requires a lot of break in though. So when you pull the strap over to tighten it, I feel a it's just pulling the ring instead of gliding over it. I'd like to see a revision of this because I want something that glides over so it's easier to strap on tight. I'd also like to see a little thicker of a padded collar around the wrists. It's fine but once the elastic strap gets stretched out in the next couple of years I'd like to feel like I have a 2nd line of defense to fight off the slipping and sliding. I don't doubt that I'll have these for a few years but I'd like to see a thicker padded collar.

Quality & Craftsmanship:

The craftsmanship of the focus mitts really is impressive. I found everything to be just well done. The stitching was super clean, straight, and strong. The mesh material feels tough and durable. The screen printing was clean and simple. The piping was stitched on and laid over the Velcro perfectly. It's really easy on the eyes. It's simple but eye catching and cute because they remind me of Panda Bears.

I work in a school. Teaching is all I do. I teach privates and classes ALL DAY LONG. I use these ALL DAY LONG! I have logged in over 300 rounds with these mitts. I use them for EVERYTHING! I catch punches, I catch knees, I catch elbows, and for little kids I catch kicks with these mitts. I have used in every way possible since I got them and they're still holding up! Not one popped stitching and they still feel awesome to hold! The padding is freaking fantastic. It's a unique feel of dense but kinda soft and a special combination of high and low density foams. It gives it an awesome combination of just a little bit of springiness but with a lot of absorption.

As much as I love these mitts. There are a couple things that keep it from being perfect in my eyes. The ring on the hook and loop strap is rusting just a little bit. I try to take care of my gear because I believe that it is taking care of me. As much as I did my best to wipe them down every other day and air them out. The ring still rusted. You have to open the strap to see it but knowing that it did that still bothers me. The lining also started to loosen up in the hand compartment. It started out tight and glued down but after a while I guess the glue wore out. I'm also surprised that the paint around the edges is starting to chip. Gear should be taken care of but it should also look like it's been used over the years. It's only been roughly a month since I got these and put them through the trials. I have to give it a little credit though, business has picked up and I've been thrice as busy as I normally have so these are seeing 3 times as much action as any pair of focus mitts before it. Besides the hand compartment issue, all the problems I noticed are only happening on the right mitt. That same mitt might be a defect one but still it's something that needs to be brought up considering the price of the mitts. As I mentioned in the Thai Pad review. Their prices are much more reasonable at wholesale.

Performance:

Century's new Creed Focus Mitts combine a lot of what I look for in a focus mitt. It's made from really good and long lasting materials, the padding is light but thick and absorbent, the size is small to maximize focus, has a padded wrist for additional comfort and protection, and come with a hook and loop closure for security. Other than some of the issues I mentioned above, I found that I really like the mitts. It's padding is excellent for catching everything that was thrown at me. It's smaller size isn't micro but it is challenging to hit. It gives a very satisfying pop when struck successfully. I've been having elbow and wrist pain from reviewing crappy mitts. When I switched over to these mitts I felt almost no pain from holding. The feeling of hitting and holding the mitts can be described as the mitts absorbing the blow and then deflecting it back out. Most mitts just absorb but then after a while they stop absorbing as much. These mitts feeling like it's dual acting and because of the materials they feel like they'll last longer than other mitts. It'll be a while before someone can wear out a brand new, fully functioning pair of these puppies.

Closing Comments:

Overall I really like the mitts and they're holding up pretty good considering that one of the mitts might be defective with the rusting ring, chipped paint, loose lining, and wrinkled leather from constant use. It's only happening on one side and it bothers me a little because I know that they can do much better because the other companion mitt is perfect as was the Thai Pads. I hope that they go back and fix this as I have sent the pictures to Jamie to get his take on the mitts. I'm sure I got just one bad mitt and other than that, these are the only mitts that I'm using. I have a couple of other reviews that I'm doing but I keep coming back to these. I recommend them even if they're not perfect. They're legit focus mitts for any skill level.

Final Score: 8/10

-2 for Quality (rusty ring and chipped paint)

For those who don't like to read:

+Awesome Padding
+Small size
+Good Craftsmanship
+Bisected hand compartment
+Elastic and leather hook and loop strap
+Easy to clean
+Comfortable
+Looks nice
+Mesh and leather hood
+/-Snug fit depending on how fat your hands are
-Materials might need some work but it could be due to a defective mitt

Pictures





 
Hey Clamp I sent you a PM about an unrelated topic. Also, if you had to choose. Would it be the R2C Mitts or the Century ones?
 
I'll respond by tonight. I've been swamped bud. I like both but without a wholesale account I would go ring to cage.
 
Back
Top