[0:00]Hey, what's up, guys? Today I'm doing a review on the Phenom Boxing FSHG Headguard. So check it out.
[0:30]Hey, what's up, guys? Carlo here, and today I'm doing a review on the Phenom Boxing FSHG Face Saver Head Guard. This retails for $175 on the Phenom website. I got mine in black, size large. You can also get this in white or sangria, which is more or less a maroon colorway. and three different sizes, medium, large, or XL, just depending on the size of your head. There is a sizing chart on the Phenom website so you can use that for reference. It's made of full genuine leather construction with both soft and firm density foams, as well as an aluminum frame. It is manufactured in Pakistan. When I put this face saver on the scale, it weighed in at roughly about 21.5 oz, so, that's you know, obviously on the heavy side when it comes to head gear, but it's definitely expected when it comes to face saver. That's kind of the tradeoff when you're getting a face saver, is getting more protection, especially on the front of your face, particularly your nose. But because of the aluminum frame and the size of the head gear, uh, you're going to be offsetting that with the weight of the head gear, so it's a little bit of a tradeoff. Now, from a design standpoint, there's a couple of things I really like about this head gear, actually, there's several things I like about this head gear. Uh, one is going to be the aniline leather they use on this head gear. Now, the aniline leather that they use has a little bit of a grippiness to it and it's very soft and subtle. You can't see it from the naked eye when you're actually looking at it. Uh, but it has a a textured feel to it. So essentially, when it's sitting on your face and you start to sweat, typically there's, I guess two types of head gears or two types of liners that we generally see when it comes to head gears. You have your standard leather liner, uh, that is the same type of leather they use on the exterior of the head gear as well as on the inside, and once you start to really sweat and you get punched or you get hit in the face, the head gear will start to kind of shift around a little bit. Um, and then you have the kind of suede or micro micro suede type liners, um, companies like Rival typically use those liners and those are great for both comfort and for really staying in place on your head. It doesn't slip around as much compared to uh, standard leather liners. The drawback to those is that they tend to soak up sweat and after a while they kind of get really funky and they can really smell bad if you don't air them out.
[2:55]So there's there's kind of pros and cons to both. Uh, the one thing I like about the aniline is you're kind of getting the properties of both. You're getting the properties of the head gear not slipping around too much, but it also does not soak up your sweat. So it's kind of like a happy medium in between both, so I definitely like that. You do have the aluminum frame, which is adjustable. I do love aluminum frames when it comes to uh, face saver head gears. I'm not a big face saver fan in general, but if you do get a face saver, always look to get the aluminum style framed, uh, face savers that way you can adjust it. So when you put the head gear on, if there's any kind of pressure points on your chin or on your temples, your forehead, on your cheeks, um, then you can either compress it or you can widen the head gear, just depending on where those pressure points are. And you can also adjust this front bar section right here, so that if you, depending on the size of your nose, if you have a longer nose, a bigger nose, and you can feel that the bar kind of touches against it, um, then you can adjust that as well. Um, there is a misconception with face saver head gears that this bar should go directly in front of your nose, so when it when it hits it, it's going to end up jamming, and that's a misconception. Uh, face savers are typically going to have a little bit of a tilt, almost like a 45 degree tilt when it sits on your head. And when you do take a front, uh, punch to the face on the front bar right here, what happens is it it should tilt into your mouth area, not into your nose, so that's more or less the positioning of it, which I'll show you guys here in a second. Um, another great feature and to me, it's it's kind of the classic thing. Keep it, keep what works well. I mean, if it works, why, you know, if it, if it's not broken, don't fix it. And to me, that's going to be the laceup system. So you have the crown lace adjustment with the leather straps up top, and you also have the rear lace adjustment. So the crown lace adjustment's going to be for the depth on which the head gear sits on your head. And then obviously, the rear lace adjustment's going to be for the circumference of your head to give you that perfect fit. Once you fit it on your head and you tighten it up, from there it's going to be adjusted to your head only. The only thing you'll have to do now is slide it onto your head and then attach the chin buckle. You do have the Phenom logo right here on the front part of the forehead. I do like the fact that they just used embroidery and there's no actual sharp edges or a plastic patch. So you do have this leather patch that's stitched on here with the Phenom logo, but there's no sharp edges and no plastic. Again, you do have the leather on top with the laces, uh, the rear lace closure. You do have the ear donuts on both sides that says Phenom across. It's kind of like ghost lettering in gray. I'd say that you have maybe half inch of medium density foam padding on that crossbar and about an inch of firm density foam padding that goes over your ears on the ear donut. Um, you do have a firmer foam that goes on the exterior. So on the punch surface all along your temple, your forehead, the side of your head right here on the temples, towards your chin area, and more or less your your chin, your cheek area, should I say, and the front of your face, you do have that firmer foam. On the inside, you have a softer density foam, and that's more or less for comfort. So when you slide this onto your head, it conforms to the shape of your face a lot easier than a stiffer foam would and would cause discomfort. Um, you do have, I'd say, about a half inch of foam around the ear donuts and on the back of the head as well. So you have a good amount of foam on this back right here that gives you some protection on the back. And then you also have that tapered neck, uh, that way you have full mobility and being able to rotate your head when you have this head gear on. So let me go ahead and slip this on. And one thing I love about Phenom products, both in terms of their head gear and their gloves, and just their equipment in general, is their emphasis on comfort. And, uh, it's the same thing with this head gear. Um, when I initially got it, I had to spread mine out just a little bit 'cause it felt a little bit tight around the cheeks. Uh, but what I ended up doing again, because it is an aluminum frame, I was actually able to kind of spread out um, the side of the head gear. Um, and one thing about this head gear is the vision is probably, um, the best, if not one of the best visions in terms of a head gear or a, or a face saver style head gears, excuse me. Um, typically face savers, uh, the big complaint is going to be that this bar obstructs your vision, and it does, um, especially for, you know, uppercuts or shots that are coming from an upward motion. Um, and again, that's kind of the the tradeoff you're getting with wearing a face saver, you get more protection, but you lose a little bit of of vision or visibility in this front portion. But they did a really great job of keeping both your peripheral vision on on your side-to-side, your horizontal plane, and your vertical plane really good for face savers. Some of the best I've seen in terms of being able to really have great peripheral and not having my my vision obstructed other than this front bar. But in terms of the vertical and horizontal height, it's awesome for face saver. You can really see what you're looking at, your target in front of you, your opponent. Even if you're crouching and you're weaving underneath a shot, you can still look up and this part of the head guard does not restrict your vision. So you have a a nice open window right there for your vision. The comfort of the head guard is good as well. It's very comfortable, that nice soft foam against your skin feels really good. Um, the actual ear donuts, you can see this the proportions is is perfect, it's spot on. My ear sits right on the inside of that donut. It doesn't feel like the foam on the donut pushes against the cartilage on my ears. So in terms of the sizing and the proportions, everything is perfect right there. The top lace for the depth of the the head gear feels good and the rear laces feels good as well. And that all feels really, really nice. So in terms of comfort, I have full rotation on my neck and my head. Really good vision. And then lastly, it's going to be the chin buckle. So they did an awesome job of implementing what a like a lot of people like to say is the going to be the winning clip. So, you know, winning is probably most really, really well-known for is their chin clip or their chin strap. They don't use a metal buckle with an old style belt buckle where it takes forever to try to find the hole. You just have that plastic clip and that's all you have. So you have that quick click system, and then you also have this little pad right here that goes up against your chin, so you're not just getting that plastic right up against your chin and giving you any kind of discomfort. And then you have this little leather flap that goes over that. Positioning of the chin strap is perfect as well. It's right underneath your chin. It's not too far back so it's not going to jam into your throat, especially if you tuck your chin in. Sometimes if you tuck it in, then you feel it digging into your throat, then you know that the chin strap is a little too far back. But when I, when I drop my head right there, it doesn't dig into my neck at all, so the positioning of the chin strap is perfect. And then lastly, is going to be the bar position. I have probably maybe a quarter of an inch of clearance between my nose and the front of the bar. But even then, when I got hit in the face with this on, the bar never jammed into my nose at any point in time. And I have, I guess you can say I have a fairly large nose, but basically, when you take the hit, the impact, you can see that it actually, the way this head guard sits, it's a little bit at an angle. When you take a front, uh, punch, it lands over your mouth. It doesn't actually jam into your nose, so it kind of just tilts at that trajectory into your mouth. And even then, even with a hard shot, there was never a point in time that this bar actually jammed into my mouth. So, overall, I'm extremely satisfied with this head gear. It is on more of the pricier side at 100 and $75, but I definitely think if you're looking for a really nice face saver head gear, you like the colorways, this is the way to go. Always spend a little bit more money to give yourself a quality leather head, face saver head gear that's comfortable, gives you a good amount of protection, has superior vision compared to some of the other ones I've used in the past, and overall, was really pleased with how this performed, uh, for a face saver, uh, when I was using this for sparring. So, if you guys have any questions or comments, make sure you guys leave them down below in the comments box. I'll put the link in the description box where you can find this Phenom FSHG 250 head gear. I'll see you guys later. Take care.
