Everything you NEED to know: Sparx BEAM and Sparx skate sharpener 3 - What is new ?
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Everything you NEED to know: Sparx BEAM and Sparx skate sharpener 3 - What is new.
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I bought the Gen 2 a year ago and absolutely love it. Glad to see the Beam works with all of the generations and gives alignment guidance. That's always been my biggest gripe with Sparx - its hard to adjust your machine to match your needs. This solves the biggest issue. Gen 3 would be much more appealing if the alignment happened automatically, but color changing lights and a needlessly more complex display doesn't move the needle. Seems like the Beam and app were the real new ideas.
From what I have read on their main website, beam checks the alignment and communicates back to the sharpener to ensure the sharpener is always aligned. Which would be enough for me to upgrade from the Gen2. Using that magnifier is a pain in the butt! I regularly sharpen 4 pairs of skates in our hockey family so I think it will be a worthy investment, especially since the Beam is over $300 CAD and I still have to manually do the alignment on the Gen2 smh 😅
@@BWT599 The actual adjustment on Gen 3 is still manual. With Gen 2 and Gen 3 it just gives instructions on which adjustment to turn and how many cycles to get it aligned. Exact same process. The Gen 3 just comes with Beam. The interaction between the Gen 3 and Beam and your phone is with the profiles, lighting and notifications. No difference in calibration - Gen 3 doesn’t do it automatically.
Doesn’t make sense. If your edges are uneven and adjustments are made to re-level them then this adjustment would not necessarily be needed for a different set of blades who are not uneven. Furthermore once you re-level one set of blades does not mean the adjustment is required moving forward for the same set. This seems very flawed to me.
@@BWT599you obviously don't understand that the optical is only for initial setup. Using the edge checker and driver is how you adjust the machine. Gen3 is a joke. Beam is only semi useful update
@@JordanWeinsteinMDyou obviously don't understand. You check the level-ness before and after sharpening. If it's off after it is because the machine is off or tweaked blade holder or blade. The adjustment is gorgeous the machine. 99% of the time you won't be adjusting it
If you have to advertise RGB LEDs as a first improvement, something is really off.
Agreed, lights don’t make sharpening better. That’s why I own a black stone
@beerleaguehockey4693 you sharpen skates with a cooking griddle? Lol
Great point! 😂 -Gen 2 owner
Why is there no label for paid advertising here? This whole video is a Sparx ad.
This is impressive. I’ve had my 1st gen sharpener for 4 years, and I hope it will last many more years. It’s superb. As regards recommended hollow, they forgot to add ice hardness. I recently had to move from 3/4” to 5/8” because the rink has turned the ice temperature down for the hockey season.
The app is useless but they did a nice job updating this machine. Incremental updates are the way to go.
The alignment and display are huge upgrades.
Very classy of Sparx to make beam backwards compatible and a sell-alone unit.
"Customizable lights" was not a great thing to lead with on Sparx's part. Other improvements are interesting. If the lights are oh so noticeable, don't even say anything and focus on the real value adds.
Yeah, when they led with the lights, I immediately thought ... that's their "wow factor" probably no point in watching the rest of this.
They should had led with the Beam technology and integration.
@@mhicaoidh1the light was also meant as a quick reference to the profile of individuals. Though that was mentioned after. I too thought who cares when first said though
Cool features for a new buyer.
Also cool that as a v2 owner I'm not missing anything I haven't already done
I just put my order in for the v3 pro bundle. I can’t wait to get my hands on the Sparx in a few weeks. We don’t have a reliable place to get our skate’s sharpened and this will save us a lot of time. BUT, even more important it should prevent bad skate sharpening issues that lead to poor performance on the ice. 🎉🎉🎉
So literally nothing was improved from a skate sharpening aspect.
Upgrades include a more expensive blade check that will help you burn a ring a little quicker to get a blade a little more level than before. What happened to the "you can't feel it" is it's off by one bar on the current edge checked?
This is a huge miss from Sparx. The mission of Sparx doesn't seem to be a sharp blade, but a level one... but this time you can customize your lights!
The Gen 1 was so well executed, I'm not sure you can really improve on perfectly level and smooth edges.
@@Pau1ywog5 Correct, this is more of a quality of life improvement rather than a function one, it's more fancy for people why don't already have one.
@@Iggykoop A buddy of mine brought his Beam to the rink the other day, and can confirm my Gen 1 is cutting level edges according to the lasers.
I don’t know about y’all, but when I sharpen my skates, I need to make sure I can change the colors on it
Why not just integrate the calibration tool into the sharpening machine and have it auto calibrate every time you start a sharpen? And add the ability to profile blades pls and cross grind. Everything should be automated nowadays, I do not want to go on a seperate device to set everything up.
Short answer: Price point. They wanted to be under $900. A machine that does all of what you're suggesting would be pushing $5000 minimum. Note the ProSharp AS 2001 is going for $9000 ... used.
@@mhicaoidh1exactly. A prosharp is around $14,000. Templates are $65-80. Etc, etc. People want all of that, plus laser scanning the blade in real time and having the machine do on-the-fly adjustments. All for well under $1000. Keep wanting.
Everyone is lucky we have this.
That's what I was expecting the v3 to be, actually, and would have felt like I bought too early. I'm not missing much
@@mhicaoidh1 ah bummer, just hope future iterations have some of these features
I still gotta go to the pro skate sharpeners for an expert to round out the toe and heel. I can only use that white stone slab for so long before it doesn't matter what I do post sharpening on Gen2.
They got me. I ordered the BEAM and and super excited for it.
What are you doing about the final pass? My Skate sharpens all don’t have perfect smoothness.
It also would be nice to have a half pass option, so one could use a skate blade lube on final pass.
Edit: what have you done to upgrade the actual skate sharpen? A final single pass that is softer would be ideal.
Should have added a profile movement. Prosharp do it
Yeah, for $14,000 +
Some of these have already been asked but I'll double down given my experience with gen 2.
For what it's worth, I'm a very happy owner of Gen 2 and have seen the exact value I was looking for when I purchased it more than a year ago. I probably won't buy Gen 3 because the improvements don't seem to outweigh the costs of a new unit.
- "Toe Pick" issue. One of my only real gripes about the Sparx compared to traditional sharpening is that the machine lacks the soft edge at the toe of the skate in which a human is able to finesse. I don't presume to understand how it all technically works but the grinding wheel moves forward, hits the same spot on the blade (that you manually set) and then the pressure sensor says "I need to start moving along the blade now". However, hitting the same spot with what appears to a greater amount of force (based on audible changes of the grinding sound) which causes the blade to develop a sharp toe pick almost immediately and very very prominent over time. So the question is, you mention all the cosmetic and user experience changes, but has any modifications been made to the actual sharpening algorithms? You mention the ability to update firmware in the future, will that include updates to the sharpening function itself?
- Grind wheel height. I do love the digital user profile in gen 3 but I missed if the grind wheel height was one of those variables recorded and displayed either on the unit itself of in the app? Going back to the toe pick issue ^^^ one of my challenges when sharpening a household of 4 skaters is manually checking and adjusting the wheel height each time. If I forget and it doesn't hit the "toe pick" in exactly the right spot...it doesn't end well.
- The new laser alignment is cool and all but does the unit or app track the "offset" of where the wheel is currently aligned? In gen 4 I'd expect digital alignment of the wheel :) but for gen 3 if I have 4 skates to sharpen and each one theoretically has a different offset to achieve an even grind, it would be a logistical nightmare to go 5 clicks left, sharpen the blade, and then know that I need to reset 5 clicks to the right to get back to the zero offset. Sure you can say "just remember to go back right 5, if you went left 5" but sometimes you are in a rush or just forget. And if I now sharpen the next blade with the wrong offset I need to 1. identify the mistake and 2. go over at least 5 more times to fix the mistake.
That's a really good point! If you're doing multiple pairs - good way to burn through rings!
Re: Toe Pick (non) issue: You aren't skating on that portion of your steel. It's not even profiled.
Re: Laser alignment: Yes, the machine knows where it's at. Just use the Beam in conjunction with the app and don't overthink it.
Man what a game changer. Impressive
That holder for the BEAM looks nice. What was included was a flat table pad - do you possibly have a 3d model to print to be able to do that with the pad that was included?
Just the sharpener 3. Let’s say I have 3 pairs of skates. I sharpen the first pair, check with beam and make adjustments to make the blade perfect. Then reset it back to default, sharpen the next pair and make adjustments if needed, then set it back to default . Do this with the 3rd pair. Does that mean now that the blades are perfect, I should be able to set it back to default and shouldn’t have any issues for sharpening the same blades in the future or am I overthinking it? Also as the grinding ring wears down do I need to adjust the height of the grind ring to keep making contact where it needed on the blade?
Unfortunately updated Sparx machine still lacks support for larger skate sizes (so larger than 13 US) :(
If you turn the clicks that is suggested to correct the level and run the recommended number of passes, do you move the clicks back for the next pair of skates you are going to sharpen?
that's actually a good question or do you use the beam on every pair of skates you are about to sharpen?
It sounds like you sharpen the skates and then check the level and if they aren't level the beam tells you how to calibrate it so you shouldn't have to adjust it again until it's unlevel again.
Yep, good question. If for some skates you have to go say five clicks left then go back five clicks right for the other skates do the User profile (QR code) store this settings ? If not could be very tricky when you do a lot of different skates
In his example where all skates sharpen level "except that one pair" ... the answer to your question is yes. You would turn the adjustment the recommended number of clicks for that one pair ... then turn it back the other direction to sharpen all other skates.
Yep I've been requesting a feature that tracks this, and the wheel height, for some time. 99% happy with my Gen 2 but this is one of my biggest complaints if you want to call it that. When I saw all the Gen 3 digital improvements I thought ..... "Yes! here it comes"....but nope.
If you have one pair this isn't an issue but when you have a hockey household, sharpen for friends, etc this become a major issue IMO. They say "except that one pair" but in my experience (validating with their edge checker) its a little more common.
If you remember to "go back 5 clicks" okay great, but sometimes you forget or are in a rush, whatever, and currently the only mechanism to correct it, is to sharpen the skates, check the edges, adjust the knob, sharpen the skates, check the edges, adjust the knob, and rinse and repeat until get an even edge. And this isn't 1 pass because 1 pass wont correct the issue, they typically recommend 4 or 5 passes to fix the impurity.
I aligned once, checked edges once and never do it anymore. Next time I’ll align is with new grinding wheel.
Gen 1 owner here. With this finally fix the toe pick issue?
You aren't skating on that portion of your steel. It's not even profiled.
Hmmm might have to invest in one of these things now!! Thanks for sharing.
yeah mine didnt come perfectly aligned. had to adjust it
looking forward for Gen 3 to be available in Europe.
A question to the QR code. Or these available as well as small stickers to have them on the exchangeable blades in blades pouch?
A few questions about the Sparx App and not being a Sparx Machine owner.
Will there be a monthly/yearly fee to use the Sparx App in order to save personal data in the cloud?
Not being a Sparx Machine owner, can you use the QR codes feature to store player profiles when not using a Sparx Machine such as owning a BladeMaster, Wissota, or other non-Sparx Machines?
Not being a Sparx Machine owner, can you use the Sparx BEAM tool with other home or shop skate sharpening machines such as Blademaster, Wissota, or other non-Sparx Machines?
You guys got a walk through video??????
Yup. It’s coming
Would be great if they added the ability to “profile” your blades.
They have those machines. Usually $5000-$10000.
take my money. going to website to order now for the beam.
First!! Looking forward to the unveiling.
🎉🎉🎉 😂😂😂
Interesting look at the new stuff!
How does sparx plan to deal with the toe pick?
You aren't skating on that portion of your steel. It's not even profiled.
The Beam concept seems flawed. After sharpening blades, you check your edge with Beam and says your edges are off, you now have to re-sharpen your blades using Beam's recommendation. But if you then put in a different set of blades, then you might not need those adjustments for those next set of blades. You would then have to Beam those blades and potentially resharpen.
Welcome to checking edges on skates. The process is the same no matter if you use the Beam, or a traditional device. Are you new to hockey?
Does the BEAM give precise instructions on how to level the edges? I have a G2 machine and found the YT video on how to level edges to be very complcated. How does the BEAM simplify this?
Did you watch the video? That's literally what it's about.
Amazing
Some of the comments on here are hilarious. Are people seriously that confused as to how Beam works? And QR codes? it's really not rocket science. And yes, no two pairs of skates are alike, so with any Gen Sparx, or any older manual sharpener, you're going to have to adjust for uneven edges that are a result of bent steel/holder.
By way of example, I have a Gen 1 Sparx. I've probably adjusted it 3 times in the last 5 years. The edges are always perfect, but I'm also doing the same pair of skates every time. If someone blows up my steel with a clapper, yes I'm probably going to have re-center the ring **relative** to my bent steel.
beam is next level!!
I’ve had my skates in 3 different sparx machines and every time had to run back into the locker room and use a sweet stick to even skate. I’ve had 14 year olds in the pro shop do a better sharpening job haha
Sweet sticks don't "even skates" (whatever that means). This comment is pure fabrication. No 14 year old is going to out perform a robot in it's ability to create level edges and not mangle your skate profile.
I'm sorry, but who the f.. cares about the colors of LED lights in the skate sharpener? Also, most blades are ever so slightly warped length wise, so the alignment only works for parts of the blade during actual sharpening.
Review the trigger 8 pro and compare it to the ft6 pro
Oh yeah I need LED gamer lights for skate sharpening. I forgot how important this is. Yeah I want my skate sharpner to be more like a Tesla.
I've heard nothing good about Sparx. Can anyone tell me different? The local Source For Sports store got rid of their old sharpener and is now using and selling Sparx. Have heard nothing good. Our town has one good skate sharpener and if he were to retire, we are all screwed.
It's great if you align it. Seems like this is what v3 is all about
If you actually know what your doing and and stay on top of the occasional alignements, these things are pretty good. Are the perfect, no. Are they better and more convenient that have some kid or other person who really isn't very good at sharpening, yes. I know multiple people who own them and are very happy with them.
Yep as nopf69 said if you follow the instructions and align it properly (not difficult) then the results are good. Nope, won't compare to that ex-equipment manager who's sharpened 1M pairs of skates but takes a minute or two to give you a fresh edge consistently every time. No playing the game of roulette to see if you can last another practice or game on the current edge and no dropping it off and picking it up later.
I have seen issues with the box stores using them and the issue is they sharpen at volume and don't align and adjust the machine for each pair of skates that come in. Its not surprising they have crappy results.
@@noupf69 I've found them to be virtually perfect. Certainly more than any human.
@@ericbodkin2112 I've compared my Sparx Gen 1 edges to guys that literally sharpen NHL'er skates. My Sparx always comes out on top. How does a human sharpen a pair of skates down to 1/10000th of an inch, or 1/40th the thickness of a piece of paper? Do tell.
Can you do a trigger 8 pro review?
We are late with that one. I’ve been injured and overseas but I will work hard to drop that video tomorrow evening 6pm GMT London time.
@@HockeyTutorialOfficial Thank you!!! Love all your videos and reviews hope you get better!
And how much is this beam going to be $400?
Hardly. 249 USD
I have the v1 Sparx, I was thinking this was actually going to be something big like the ability to change profiles or something. Blue tooth edge checker? What a waste of time.
underwhelming.
Profiling capabilities, yet? Soon? Never?