Rattlesnake Pro Review
Video Companion here: https://youtu.be/2jwe_yEcxF0
After having received 2 concussions from getting hit in the back of head (BOH) with a soft overlay (SPES Unity) I have become extremely picky regarding my mask overlays. I only use rigid ones now, and have been generally really happy with the Wukusi offerings of the Cobra mask and Rattlesnake overlay. The released the “pro” model of the rattlesnake merges of the hard plastic Cobra BOH, and the rigid styrogum head cover of the standard rattlesnake. The TLDR is that this is now my default recommendation for all my students and others.
North Armoury provided this overlay at a discounted price in exchange for a review. However, all opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced.
The plastic BOH section offers a few benefits over the standard model:
It contours the natural shape of the head & upper shoulders better, so overall it minimizes the gap between the plate & the mask bib around the neck. Obviously everyone’s anatomy/gear configuration is different so this may not be 100% the case every time, but everyone we tried with it seemed to reduce this gap compared to the standard version.
The actual back of head plate also contours around more the side of the mask, which covers that gap more and has an added bonus of helping it ground to the mask better than the original.
Several hits during testing would glance & slide due to the curves of the smooth plastic, compared to the standard where no matter where the sword hit it would stick there and impart its force into the mask. So unless the hit is square it does a better job of minimizing direct impact.
There is a very clear noise difference between a side of head & back of head hit. As a director for many tournaments it’s really nice to be able to immediately identify where a visually borderline shot landed. And vice versa, as a competitor I’ve had hits be called BOH hits when they were not. Having that additional method to discern between the two is very handy.
it was loud, I could tell it was a hard hit (Brett is a strong guy) but didn’t feel a whole lot.
Of course, this does not mean that this will completely mitigate brain trauma. I don’t want to insinuate that you will not receive a TBI while wearing this overlay. Nothing we wear can guarantee that. But from my experience of being hit in the head with a variety of overlays, these rigid ones by far feel the best. I feel impacts significantly less and I would wear this 10/10 times over something like the SPES Unity. And this Pro version I feel is worthwhile enough to choose instead of the standard version. At the time of this review there is only a $20 difference between the two, which to me, makes it absolutely a no-brainer. Each one of the above points to me would be worth the $20, but all 3? Easy.
There are a couple negatives I do want to bring up.
The original back of head piece was longer so it does cover the nape of the neck better. I find the length of the Pro plate to be sufficiently long so I’m not actually worried about it. But that was one of the nice parts of the original that this pro version doesn’t necessarily have. I wouldn’t consider this so much an overall negative, but one in a direct comparison between the two.
Is a bit of an issue with the customer service side of things. Alongside this unit we did a regional group order and one of the BOH plates did not have the holes drilled out to attach it to the head piece. But as remediation, North Armoury was promised a replacement piece on the next batch sent to them. While I appreciate the the fact that they are willing to rectify the problem, that’s quite a long term solution for what’s an (admittedly small) immediate problem. If I had a larger issue that I couldn’t fix myself, would I also have to wait months for a new overlay? North Armoury said that they would eat the front-end cost to send a replacement to me but that leaves me feeling a bit icky. I appreciate North Armoury’s commitment to good customer service but I don’t feel like it’s fair for them to deal with a very long term cost recoup.
And to close this off, here’s some negative things I’ve heard from the community about these overlays that I don’t really agree with. Obviously I’m not trying to invalidate their opinions, but rather provide my perspective on the raised issues.
A thing I hear about these is some people say it makes them feel like they have giant bobbleheads. I personally don’t feel that way, but it is a bit bulkier than the super slim overlay designs. However, looking at people wearing them, visually it looks fine to me. I don’t think anyone looks like they activated a big head mode like in NBA Jam or Tony Hawk. I personally feel that the mild bulk increase is worth getting used to as people feel significantly less force behind head hits. But not everyone prioritizes the same things, so that’s up to you.
Some people say they get hot, but I honestly cannot tell the difference between this and the old spes unity I had. That’s not to say it doesn’t get hot - it does but that’s just the nature of it I feel.
This sorta makes me curious if the back plate could maintain structural integrity if it was made into a trypophobia’s nightmare and ventilation holes were added.
Thanks for reading my review, hopefully you found it useful. If you’d like to pick up this mask I highly recommend North Armoury. They are great to work with and do a great job being involved with the community. https://northarmoury.ca/rattlesnake-pro-overlay/
