Synthetic Ice Can Be A Confusing Purchase. Do Your Research And Be Glad You Did.

I live in hockey rich Canada. We live and breathe the game. My kids played hockey, and I was coach, taxi, manager, marketing, fundraising, treasurer and most other jobs you can think of when it comes to minor hockey. Hockey has changed dramatically even in the past ten years. And what I mean by that is it has become a year round sport with camps, personal trainers, dryland and even synthetic ice so kids can train at home.

People have all sorts of opinions around synthetic ice. Certainly there are those who really like it and cannot get enough of it. Others hate it and never want to try it again. Admittedly it can be difficult for one to get their head around skating on plastic - especially for adults and purists. The questions are endless. "Do you use regular skates"? "Can you stop on it?" "Is it close to real ice?" "What is the maintenance?" "How do you compare to ABC and XYZ company?" "What makes your product better?" 'Why is yours so expensive?" "Why is yours so cheap?" And on and on it goes. The debate will go on. I can tell you this much. My two children grew up training at home on synthetic ice and they are two of the nicest, strongest skaters you will ever see. So yes I'm biased, but it certainly helped my kids and they love it.

In the mind of the consumer, no matter what brand you buy, none of it is "cheap". You are taking your hard earned disposable income and investing in your kids skating and skills future - whether they are hockey players, ringette players, sledge hockey players or figure skaters. You are still likely to spend thousands of dollars whether you purchase the worst product or the very best. Frankly, it is worthwhile to do some research and understand a few things that will make or break the purchase and user experience. And its OK to buy a cheaper product or the most expensive as long as it meets your application and expectations, and you understand that up front.

Based on survey research we've completed, one of the major reasons people hesitate or simply don't buy the product is because they simply cannot get what they feel is credible information from the supplier. For example when a consumer asks "why should I buy from you verses your competitor?" and the answer is "well I've been in the industry for 30 years". Well that's not really an answer is it? Think about it. GM has been in the car business for a long time too, but that didn't stop them from filing for bankruptcy and needing to completely overhaul the company. Its just one barometer, not the only one.

The consumer expects good information. The problem is that they may not always know what good information is. They don't know what they don't know. So what do they do? They will often default to price. One thing the consumer does understand is price, and that is something easily compared. The problem with that however, is they just won't always, or maybe ever get the product quality and skating experience that they expect. So what's a consumer to do?

Well let's think this through logically. You almost never get the best product for the lowest price, that's a given. Then there is the low end of the market when we are discussing price and material qaulity? What would they get for the lowest price? At worst you can stand on your skates and shoot a puck and stickhandle. At best they will get a product that can be skated on and might actually be pretty well suited for the small home rink. Again, consumers have to manage their own expectations. Meanwhile the sellers of product have to do so with integrity and reliable information that is backed up by fact...not just ego and opinions. There is a market at the low end of the product scale. The reality is however that these products will never be the best nor should they ever be marketed as such. That would just be irresponsible. The likely price range for this category will be between $6.00 and $8.00 per square foot - and frankly there will be a significant difference even between $6 and $8 per square foot product, so just use this as a guide.

The next level - for simplicity - let's call it mid-level performance will be the vast majority of products out there by sheer numbers of companies. This is your HMWPe (High Molecular Weight Pe) and HDPe (High Density Pe) products that are typically mass produced extruded sheet stock but machined into a panel that when assembled can likely be used for skating. The results will vary widely of course because there are a wide range of product materials within these categories. There are also differences in how the materials are made from injection molded and extrusion on the lower to mid-range of this category to sinter pressed material on the higher end of this category. We can debate the differences and it would be a lengthy debate - and it is here where you start to lose the consumer with technical talk about molecular weight and coefficient of friction etc.. The key thing for the consumer to know here is to buy a mid grade product you want to have a 500,000 molecular weight specification. If you do that one thing then you will be able to skate on it and it should last a good long time. Expect to pay between $9.00 and $12.00 per square foot. This will become the majority of purchases by homeowners looking for a decent product to skate on at home and in all likelihood they would be a satisfied consumer. Once again however, don't assume that a $9.00 product material is the same as a $12.00 product. One might be extruded, one might be sinter pressed so the durability,quality and skating perofrmance can still vary widely. Ask the seller for a certificate of material authenticity, that will quickly seperate the pack becuase most either won't have that or are not willing to show their "proprietary material". I'm always suspicious of that.

Now, onward and upward. The last category of product to consider is the high end products. There really may only be three or four products truly worthy of being in this category - sorry for you sellers who think yours is the only one in the marketplace worth considering - but it just ain't so. Most homeowners really don't need to even consider these if their home surface is going to be less than 200 square feet. Save your money and go with low or medium end product as already described. You can't truly appreciate a better skating product if the surface is so small you will never get to full stride. On the other hand larger home rinks like 1000 square feet and up or certainly commercially operated synthetic ice surfaces really need to pay attention to only this category. If your business income depends on the skating quality and product durability of the skating surface then please stay away from anything but this category! In this category there are essentially two types of material. One is classified as VHMWPe (Very High Molecular Weight Pe) and the other is UHMWPe (Ultra High Molecular Weight Pe). These products typically are sinter pressed because the molecular weight is so high. As a buyer, if you are unsure of what you are getting simply ask the seller for the material specification sheet, and also ask to see the manufacturing quality certificate, such as ISO 14001 or ISO 9000 or similar. This will at least ensure you are most likely getting what you should be getting in terms of consistent high quality material within these classifications. Once again the debate can rage on about which material is better suited for long term skating but you can expect to pay between $18.00 and $24.00 per square foot for these materials. Even in this category prices vary due to material and also the connection joint system of which there are at least five legitimate systems out there. The joint connection system should be based on proper understanding of the application. Suffice to say, there is no one synthetic ice panel connection system that is the best at every application - so just don't pay any attention to those companies that make this claim.

So there you have it. Three categories of product somewhat simplified as a way for buyers to better understand what they are getting into. Hopefully this can help you at least zone in on one of these categories to help make better, more informed decisions and set buyer expectations. It might be worthwhile to find and talk to companies that actually sell all three categories; at least then you may just get better information.