MaxLax, or Maximum Lacrosse, is a Canadian-based box lacrosse equipment company, and it’s possible that you’ve never heard of them before (especially if you only play field lacrosse), but Marty O’Neil has been at this for a long time at the highest levels, and his experience in the padding market shows, as each of the MaxLax products are highly functional pieces of equipment.
MaxLax gear is designed to provide protection, comfort, function, and durability. On top of all that, their pricing is extremely competitive. I’ve reviewed the MaxLax bicep pads and rib/kidney pads before, and I still believe that both pieces of equipment are the best in their respective classes. MaxLax also offers up amazing goalie padding, from legs to shorts, to uppers to gloves and as a former goalie, O’Neil really flexes his design muscles here, offering a truly superb, protective, affordable, and tough product. For Americans looking for box lacrosse gear, MaxLax is definitely the place to go.
And now they offer gloves to match!
And if you want to learn how to play (or coach) box goalie, Marty has you covered!
This year, MaxLax has released upgraded goalie padding, and they still offer top of the line bicep, rib, and shoulder pads. But their big “new” item are their box player lacrosse gloves, which marry the best parts of an old school glove with a new school glove, and are specifically designed to take any and all abuse, while still allowing a player to feel really connected to their stick!
(Check out our other published 2018 Gear Reviews – Powell Lacrosse’s new heads and shafts, Cascade Lacrosse’s new S Helmet, Maverik Lacrosse’s 2018 gloves, shafts, and heads, Nike Lacrosse’s new head and gloves, Brine Lacrosse’s two new heads, new heads and gloves from Under Armour Lacrosse, and Four new Warps from Warrior Lacrosse. There are more reviews to come!)
MaxLax – 2018 Player Gloves
The new MaxLax player gloves are definitely built for box. The foam padding on the back of the hand is thick enough to absorb the hardest checks, and the hard plastic caps displace the impacts. At the same time, the padding is not bulky, and while there are no gaps in between padded areas, the gloves still flex with ease. It’s a hard thing to find the sweet spot between flex/comfort and protection, but these gloves pull it off, and your entire hand, from your fingers to your wrist, is protected. The function portion is excellent from this perspective.
The wrist and above is where you want to add a little extra padding, and seeing as these are box pads, this makes a lot of sense. Most players use a wrist guard now, so the gloves don’t need to come up as high as they used to. The new MaxLax gloves meet this new expectation nicely, and if you want them tighter on your wrist, the drawstring on the cuff does allow for that. You can also flare your cuffs out, as so many players like to do these days. The point is that you have options.
Another strong area of design is the palm. The palms are a high quality leather, and it is a simple two piece construction, with the thinnest portions of the palm leather coming along the fingers. This thin barrier allows for a great connection to the stick, and the quality leather means little to no break in time, but a product that will also last. I almost always find that palms with a mixture of leather and mesh can fold and crease weirdly, but the MaxLax palms are nice and flat. While the glove isn’t exactly “snug” like so many other modern gloves, your fingers don’t move around, and the stick doesn’t slip through your palms. The relatively simple design flat out works, and that’s what matters. If you cut the palms out of your gloves there are also good seams to do that, so again, options!
When you talk about the look of the gloves, it is definitely a classic approach. The gloves come in a couple of different two-color combos, and this is great for any team that is looking for a pair of reasonably priced, effective mittens. It’s also good for individuals who want the MaxLax glove but don’t want to stand out from their teammates too much. The gloves are covered in a tough old school cloth material, and as someone who had gloves made up this material as a kid growing up, I can tell you it doesn’t wear out. It’s tough stuff!
Overall these gloves are light weight, tough, protective, comfortable, and flexible right out of the box. The design and aesthetic is a more classic approach, but details like the stitched “Maximum Lacrosse” on the cuff, and off color grey leather in places make the MaxLax gloves look high end. The gloves run a little bigger than a lot of 13″ gloves on the market today, but they are not oversized at all. So if you’re looking for something a little beefier than the slimmed down field lacrosse gloves on the market, the new MaxLax gloves are probably for you! There is just a little more room for your hand in there, which I like, and the gloves are really solid in every way.
Marty O’Neil has once again found an approach to lacrosse padding that no one else is taking, and he’s once again produced a really good product at a reasonable price point ($110). Marty makes good stuff, period point blank, and you can once again add player lacrosse gloves to the list. The gloves come in a bunch of different color combos, so check them out here and find your colors!
2018 Gear Review Methodology – We did outreach to manufacturers asking them to send us any new (or relatively new) product they wanted reviewed for 2018. We made no promises on what we would say, and every brand is given an opportunity to participate. Our focus is on Heads, shafts, helmets, gloves, padding, and footwear. We will also a giant 2018 Mesh Review soon. No scores are given. We simply talk about the positives (and negatives) of any product. Our goal is to help you, the consumer, make informed decisions on equipment purchases. That’s it!
