Nike Vapor Grip 3

INTRODUCTION
These were my first main pair of gloves. I had bought cheaper pairs of gloves for when I played for primary school, and the cheaper pairs had served me well when I was playing against small young players, but when I got into secondary school, the shots coming at me were more powerful and harder to save, so I decided that it was time that I needed a better and more expensive pair of gloves.

I got a goalkeeping magazine, (which name I really can't remember at the moment), and flicked through all the gloves that were in it. They all seemed so great and fantastic, I really couldn't decide on which pair I should get. So I decided to do a process of elimination kind of thing. I went through the whole book, and going on price, grip, and all that, crossed each one off that I didn't want, so I would eventually come up with the perfect pair of gloves for me.

After a long while, I had eventually got the long list down to two pairs of gloves. They were the Uhlsport Absolute 360 Touch and the Nike Vapor Grip 3. They were quite evenly matched, apart from one thing, the Nike Vapor Grip 3's are worn by Arsenal and Germany's number one goalkeeper Jens Lehman. Well, being a dedicated Arsenal fan at the time, this swung the Nike's in my favour, so it was these I decided to get!

PACKAGING
After about two weeks of (anxious) waiting, my gloves arrived. I undid the secure wrapping and got my gloves out with their own special wrapping. The wrapping is like a bag, with some vents on the side, and a see-through front so you can see you product. On the back it is card, and here there is some information on the gloves inside and a small picture as well. I think that the packaging of the gloves is very good, and it gets even better!!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I unzipped the bag, and took out the gloves for the first time, and that beautiful smell of brand new, unused latex hits you. Mmmmmm. Anyway, sorry about that. Got a bit distracted. Where was I? Oh yes, I took the gloves out of the bag, and took of the protective plastic wrapper on the palms, (so that if the palms rub against each other on the journey they will not wear each other down before they are even used)!

So, I have the gloves at last. And I have to say they are a very good-looking pair of gloves. With the cool colours and the sweeping lines, they probably are the best-looking pair of goalkeeping gloves that I have had. I also noticed that the thumb, the 2nd finger and the 5th finger looked strange, (more on this later), and the latex on the palm was quite thick, (more on this later too)! So at this point, it was so far so good!!

LOOKS
As I just said before, the gloves look very good indeed! The colour scheme for the glove works perfectly, and makes them a pair of gloves that definitely stand out! The big Nike tick at the back of the hand is coloured black and stands out a lot on the white gloves. The main colour theme for the gloves is white. The palm of the gloves are white, and so is the backhand, (apart from the Nike tick). The wristband of the gloves is silver, and this complements the white gloves very well. On the wristband is writing that says Vapor, and this is written in a combination of green and black, and then further along the wristband is the black Nike tick. There is also a hexagon shape with the logo for the grip 3 technology.

On the thumb part, on the lower bit it is a material to cover your thumb and it is silver, then further up the latex covers the top.

On the backhand, there is the Nike tick, (as said earlier), and then around the edges of the gloves, there are some engravings and these are in the shapes of small lines, and they are coloured silver. The lines end near the ends of the 2nd and 5th finger, and I think that these lines make the gloves look very stylish.

On the insides of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers, the glove is coloured lime green, and it also has little ventilation holes, so air can enter, and come out of the glove.

In fact you know what, go look at the pictures at the end of the review! That will give you a much better idea of what the gloves look like without me babbling on!!

THE PALMS
The latex used on the palms of the gloves, (as well as the latex on the rolled fingers) is called grip 3 latex, (or contact foam). I'm not sure what the 3 means, but I have an idea that there are different levels of grip, and the 3 means that it is a pretty good type of latex!

On the palms, the latex is 4mm thick. This doesn't sound very thick, but going on glove palms, it is! With the palm being so thick, it gives the gloves a lot of advantages over other goalkeeping gloves. When the ball hits your hands when you are wearing the gloves, the shot will be cushioned quite a bit, so this makes goalkeeping more comfortable and safer. It also means that it will take longer for your gloves to wear down, because with the palms being so thick, once one layer deteriorates, there will be another couple, before the gloves become unusable!

THE ROLLED THUMB, 2ND AND 5TH FINGERS
Now, when I first opened the gloves, these are the parts that struck me as the strangest looking! On most gloves, there are the fingers, and then there is the backhand, and that's it, nothing in-between. Not the case with these gloves. Oh no. With these, when the latex reaches the edges of the thumb, index and little finger, it doesn't stop at the edge, it keeps on going round to the back of the thumb. Where there would normally be nothing on the back of the thumb and fingers, the latex continues and covers the top half of the thumb, index and little finger. Why is this I hear you ask? Well I will tell you.

When you hold onto a football with your hands stretched over it, (without realising it) you hold onto the ball with the front of your third and fourth fingers, but with the insides of your thumb, index and 5th finger. So with most gloves, you do not get a good amount of grip on the ball with your thumb, 2nd and 5th fingers because the ball is being gripped with the edge of the latex on the fingers, but with the Vapors, the ball is been gripped superbly by the latex on the fingers, because the latex surrounds the thumb, index and 5th fingers exactly where the ball rests in your hands. This makes the ball much easier to hold in your hands!

So overall, by having the rolled thumb, index and 5th fingers, holding onto the football is much easier and comfortable while wearing the Vapor gloves. It makes the ball much easier to control, and so it is easier to do whatever you like with it. You hear about strikers who have superb ball control, and can do whatever they like with the ball. Well, now it can be the same for goalkeepers handling the ball!!

FEEL AND CONTACT
You can really feel anything that happens when you are wearing the gloves. With some gloves, you can't feel anything, but when you wear the vapors you can get the exact shape of the ball in your hands.

Because the Grip 3 technology latex is so good, it means that the contact made between the ball and the gloves is brilliant. And this is also in dry and wet conditions! You can make really good fingertip saves that you wouldn't be able to make while wearing other gloves. It is also easier to catch the ball when wearing the Vapors because of the rolled thumb and two fingers, you get a lot of grip on the ball when you wrap your hands around it, so these gloves are great if you need to get a lot if grip on the ball during a match!

A SECOND SKIN
The latex that covers the gloves makes them incredibly comfortable, and it is also very flexible, so this means that since it is used all over the glove, you have total control over your whole hand. When you wear the gloves, it really is as if you are wearing a second skin on your hands. You have total control over the whole of you hands.

A lot of gloves restrict how far you can move all the parts of your hands, but with these gloves, it is the exact opposite. You can move your hands in any way you want to when you wear these gloves, you can bend your fingers back, flex your hands, and make it into a fist. Anything. It really is as if you aren't wearing any gloves at all. And because of this, they are one of the most comfortable pairs of gloves that you can buy!!

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF THE GLOVES
So, my first time wearing the gloves. I put them on, and they are as comfortable as they were when I was trying them on! I was at my local football field, and I put my gloves on. The first thing I realised that my hands were the perfect temperature. I could feel the wind blowing into my gloves and keeping my hands nice and cool! Then it was time to try saving some shots. I got my friend to kick a few balls at me at about head height, so I could try catching them. And I noticed that catching shots were so much easier than wearing my old gloves, the ball just seemed to stick to my hands! I couldn't believe how easy the ball was to save. Then there were some powerful shots into the corner of the goals, and again, these were easier to save. I could make really acrobatic fingertip saves with the Vapors, and this is because of the superb grip 3 latex used!

Overall my first experience of the gloves made me want to play football again straight after I had left. The gloves had let me make saves that I wouldn't have being able to save with my old gloves. From my first experience of them, the gloves were fantastic!!

THE OTHER COLOUR OPTION
There is also another colour scheme for the gloves. In my opinion, it is not as good as the white ones, but it is up to the buyer.

The main colour of the gloves is silver. The backhand is silver, the wristband is silver and orange and the Nike tick is still black. Look at my pictures for a better idea of what they look like.

BEWARE THE FAKES
There are also a number of gloves that look like Vapor Grip 3's, but aren't. They just have the same design as the real ones, but don't use the Grip 3 contact foam, which just makes them an average pair of gloves.

There are a couple of ways you can tell which ones are real and which ones are fake. First is the wrapper. If it says Vapor Grip 3, then they are real, if it just says Vapor grip, then they are fakes.

Another way is to look at the couple of hexagons on the gloves. There is a hexagon on the index finger, and there is one on the wristband. The one on the wristband says grip 3, and the one on the index finger has a little 3 inside of it. Grip is also written just under the hexagon on the index finger. If there is a 3 in the hexagons on the index fingers and the wristbands then they are a real pair, and are worth your money. If the 3 is not in either of the hexagons, stay well clear of these average fakes!!

PRICE
I bought these gloves for £44.99. I haven't seen these gloves a lot recently in sports shops, but there are a couple of pairs knocking about. I think that they are pretty much the same price that I bought them for. The price is the same for the silver version of the gloves!

THE BEST PART OF THE GLOVES
Oh my. There are so many good parts of the gloves to choose from. Hmmmm. Which part? I think it would have to be the total control you have over all the parts of your hands, which creates the fantastic comfort when you are wearing the gloves. It really feels as if you are not wearing a pair of goalkeeper gloves at all.

So the best part would have to be the fantastic comfort that these gloves give you when you are wearing them!!

OVERALL
To finish things off, I will say that these gloves are one of the best pairs of gloves I have ever had. The only thing stopping me from getting another pair of these after the first pairs I had was that I wanted to adventure into different brands to see which is best for me. I got a pair of the Lotto Neo Concepts, (go look at my review for more information), and after I got these I really can't decide which are better.

The Vapors offer you absolutely fantastic comfort and hand and ball control. I couldn't believe how comfortable they were when I first wore them, and they still surprise me now when I put them on.

These gloves are worn by professionals such as Jens Lehman and Fabien Barthez, and if you buy these gloves, you can start to understand where a lot of their goalkeeping skill comes from- their fantastic goalkeeper gloves!

I suggest you try the vapors, because they really are a great pair of gloves!!!