robo body armour

Robo Body Armour Modifications

Next came the most painful and bloody part of the modification, yes ladies I can sew 😉 I’m domesticated.

Hey everyone this is obviously my first post on the resources (most of you probably know the username/name from FHF)

I didn’t want to write this review as part of the competition as I kind of see it as more of a rant than a review, but hey enough talk time to stop boring you people.

Right well it all started one training session when I coped a rather nasty shot on my right shoulder, the body armour did it’s job of protecting me from serious harm. However I started feeling more and more uneasy with shots in the shoulder region to the point of flincting when a ball went there.

Fearing that I had lost a lot of confidence I decided to try other brands of equipment in shops to see what felt better and a bit more solid around the shoulders. I was amazed to find that nothing on the market at the time had solid shoulder protection. I found my old ice hockey style protector (mercian shoulder caps) and thought “hey I wonder how they would work together.” Safe to say having both on was silly.

I then decided modification was the key, I then chopped off both shoulders of the Robo armour and carefully removed the shoulder caps off the mercian shoulder caps. I then removed the hard protective foam across the top of the remaining parts of the BA, making the BA look like a vest haha.

Next came the most painful and bloody part of the modification, yes ladies I can sew and I did sew the mercian shoulder caps on to the BA. Looking rather messy I made some covers for the shoulders which I later removed cos they was PANTS!

The last thing I did was resew the arm attachement velcro or whatever it is to the shoulders to allow the arms to be attached again.

Finally my mod was done, I felt like a tank but as fast as a shit off a shovel. It also gave me a massive confidence boost not only in my goalkeeping but in life as it gave me the drive to get properly creative again, which really helped my job too (web design.)

I hope I entertained you for a small amount of time, or if I bored you sorry, but you could have clicked off!

🙂

Here are some links to pics of the BA. Just to let you know I now no longer use the BA but my good friend and back up keeper is wearing it and believes its the best thing since the pull cap on baked beans.

I hope that the new generation of OBO Robo Armour can be reinforced up in the shoulder department.

Anyway take care and happy keeping!

ROBO Bodi Arma Review

Hi Amazing Guys and Girls

I’m going to keep this short and sweet, just like me 🙂

I’m the proud owner of Obo ROBO Bodi Arma, well let’s just say when the parcel arrived I was like a small child at Christmas, and was soon bouncing about in my new toy.

Why do I think it’s so great???

1) When I’m wearing it I don’t look like a midget sumo wrestler!!! ( that’s because it’s super slim lined).

2) Those occasional blows to the chest dont’t feel like bullets and take my breath away; rendering me useless and the goal open to those goal hungry forwards.

3) I can move and jump around without it getting stuck on my shorts, (making it hard to get up fast from a slide), riding up (not covering tender parts) and twisting, which my previous body armour did (not sure about the make and model it was one I lent off my club).

4) It looks good with or without a a smock, also lets me have more choice on the smock front (well we all know how us girls love clothes). No need for super baggy or boring, I can becomne an individual with awesome designs :).

What’s not so great???

I have a real problem with the shoulder pads, they seem to rub and dig into my skin, especially if I’m not wearing a long sleeved top. They seem to over lap the main body of the Arma. I’ve tried to bend and mould them to no joy :(.

I think the main reason for this is that I’m a girl, which means I have those things men don’t have but love lol. This seems to push the Arma up and out causing gapping around the area (see pictures) meaning that the shoulders don’t sit in the right place.

But hay I think I can get over this small niggle.

Maybe Obo could think about making a Bodi Arma just for us girls????

Enjoy 🙂

Side View of Bodi Arma View from shoulder Gap between chest and Bodi Arma Better view of the gap

Review: Robo Bodi Arma

This is my review of the Robo Body Armour which i have found to be among the best in the world.

Earlier this season I took ownership of my first set of obo body armour. I have to be honest it was the best money I’ve ever spent. Made from 38 individual pieces of foam (many of which are dual density) this piece of kit is in my opinion among the best in the world. It’s as light as a feather, offers protection similar to that of a nuclear bunker and is as thin as the plot in a Stephen Segal movie.

i own the old model.

I own the old model. i believe the new model is largely the same.

(OBO comment; Largely the same but some key improvements – larger protection area for the sternum, refined shoulder protection and new fabric.)

Up until this I had either used some school supplied chest pad and separate arm pads or some low-to-mid range body armour, most of which were pretty poor. I settled on a set of Slazenger Phantom Body Armour which in its defence (even if I will be banned forever for saying this) has served me fantastically for the past three years. However, next season I’ll be moving up a division with my club as well as taking the first team place for my school (here’s hoping anyway) so the Slazenger gear really won’t cut the mustard. Don’t get me wrong, the protection is top notch but it’s bulky…. Really bulky!!! I was also considering “Going Dutch” but since the Slazenger gear came with stitched-on arms it was impossible.

So the Slazenger gear had to go. But what to replace it with? Well I toyed with some lower brand gear but I couldn’t find anything to fit as well as the Slazenger stuff (last time mention it I promise). This meant that any time I dived the pads would shift and I’d be left as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from standing on a nail or something.

So I decided to go for a top of the range Robo Body Armour (http://www.obo.co.nz/#Products/ROBO/Body%20Armour) and I’ve never looked back. Straight out of the box I was immediately impressed by the quality. It glistened like nose hair after a sneeze. The mesh felt strong and durable and each contour in the dual density foam felt deliberate and perfectly formed. It fit beautifully too, not like the other brands with a million different straps to secure each pad. In fact there are only 5 straps in total yet they can be adjusted to give a perfect fit. The fact that most of these straps are elastic also has a dramatic effect on the flexibility.

If anybody is considering loosing the weight of the arm pads I wholeheartedly recommend the Robo chest guard. Not only are you loosing the weight of the arm pads but the chest pad its self weighs less than any other I have found. The dual density is tough as nails offering protection in all the right places like the vital organs. With or without the removable inner soft pad it offers protection which is more than adequate all the way up to (and including) international level. The slim fit also allows you to move and react naturally without having to compensate for the pads.

It lasts forever too. Despite the wear and tear of playing on a sand based pitch the signs of this on the chest pad are minimal. Just some minor fraying edges on some of the mesh which I’ve repaired using material from an old smock (actually that’s a tip worth remembering). Such little wear after spending nearly a whole year sliding around on a sand filled pitch leads me to believe that if proper care is taken these pads could last forever.

I have been told that I play with a slightly unusual style just doing whatever feels natural to get the ball away quickly. Since I’ve been using the Robo chest pad I’ve had the option of controlling the ball on my chest at my disposal. Several times this season I’ve been in the situation where the ball has been flicked across the D and my only options were to take it on my chest or deflect it straight into the path of an oncoming forward. In the past I would have just gone with the latter and hope for the best but with this new gear I can take the ball on my chest and have it drop perfectly to clear with my kicker. Without compromising protection the thin design lets you feel the ball on your chest meaning you don’t end up with that numb feeling that comes with the spongier gear. And it no longer hurts the way your tongue hurts when you accidentally staple it to the wall. While this has only happened a hand full of times this year that’s still five or six scoring opportunities that they’ve prevented this season.

Now I know that style isn’t meant to be important to a goalie but let’s face it, all keepers like to look unique. With most of the bulkier chest guards I used to find myself limited to the single tone smocks that most manufacturers offer. While I know that OBO offer a fairly decent selection of colours but if I’m just buying the best one I can find then surely hundreds of other keepers will do the same. With the slim line nature of the ROBO chest guard, however, I have found that I can wear almost any regular t-shirt I can find over my pads. This truly offers a unique selection of styles to choose from.

When it comes to chest pads there’s a huge variety to choose from. I believe that I have sampled a decent cross section of these (including being sponsored by gryphon for a time but that never felt right for me) and can proudly say that I would recommend the Robo Body Armour or Chest Guard to any keeper who wants to perform at their personal best.

The design is simple, like my brother Phill but unlike Phill this design works. It is usable by all and from what I have heard from my fellow keepers there have been no complaints.

If you have any questions feel free to leave comments and I’ll get back to next time I’m online.

Cheers,

Cormac