First Impressions of the Pro VIII Series King Cheetah, Maximus, Empire and Dagger Cornhole Bags made by Gladiator Cornhole Gear.
Pro VIII Series – Out of Box Thoughts:
First thoughts when you take it out of the box
- For the King Cheetah, I was pleasantly surprised at how the gold logo popped against the blue bag.
- With the Maximus bag, I went with the red and like that it is a different red then most bags I have seen.
- The Empire bag I chose the orange color and it makes the Colosseum look like it’s on fire (to me at least)
- And then there’s the Dagger bag. I chose the brown color, because you don’t see many brown bags, and my personal opinion, now I know why. I don’t like the brown bag. The black dagger gets lost on the dark color bag.
Overall appearance of the bag, round or square corners, stitching color, logo color, etc?
Each Pro VIII Series of the Gladiator bags features corners unlike most other bags. They are described by Gladiator as the “Emerald Cut” corners. The purpose of this is to provide a flat edge which is said to be better for pushing bags. Whereas bags with a rounded corners have a tendency to kick the bag out of the way rather than pushing it.
The stitching looks great and being that it is black, it blends with the bags rather than standing out. The logos and writing look great on each bag, depending on what color you select. I feel that the brown bag with black logo is not a good color combination, but that is a very opinionated statement. You may like that contrast.
Using your thumbs, pull the material apart on each side, is there movement? How about the seams?
I did not notice any movement or separation in the material when I pulled it apart. The seams are well stitched. These bags should break in well and last for a long time!
How does it feel in your hand, soft/hard, thick/thin, loose/tight, heavy/light, etc
Right out of the box feels:
- The Maximus bag feels “GameChanger” loose. Both sides are made of a slick or fast material. This bag feels ready to play! Only thing I want to note is that there is no way to tell which side is fast and which is faster. (this has already been noted by Gladiator and might already be fixed)
- The slow side of the Dagger bag is a material I have not seen on any bags. It’s almost like a corduroy or something. Can’t wait to see the performance of it on the boards. But overall, the bag has that already-broken-in feel.
- The Empire bag has the same slow side material as the Dagger. And it too, much like the other bags mentioned above, has a nice broken-in feel right out of the box.
- The King Cheetah bag is different. It has a tighter feel out of the box, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It might just need that break in period like most bags.
Weight consistency?
King Cheetah, Maximus, Empire and Dagger Pro VIII Series bags all weighed in at a consistent 15.8 oz
Size of bag?
King Cheetah measures approx 5.85” square
Maximus measures approx 5.85” square
Empire measures approx 5.95” square
Dagger measures approx 5.75” square
Pro VIII Series – Bag Performance Thoughts:
Conditions day of test: Sunny, 74 degrees and zero humidity. Tested on Professional quality boards by BBJ.
How does the bag play when it hits the board? ex. Lands flat, any kick, etc
Let’s talk about the 2 slick and stick Pro VIII Series bags, Dagger and Empire. During my tests, based on the conditions listed above, both of these bags were fast on the slick side and good movement but not as fast on the stick side. I was able to land a blocker bag in front of the hole and push through it with no problems. The Empire bag is a little more loose and forgiving around the hole than the Dagger.
The other 2 bags, King Cheetah and Maximus performed very fast in these conditions and took a couple throws to get used to the speed. In an attempt to not fly off the back of the board, we ended up hitting the front of the board but once we got dialed in, the bags settled down nice. Both bags, but especially the Maximus, felt and performed much like an All-Slide.
All the bags feel great in the hand. One flaw which is already being worked on is that it is hard to tell which side is fast/faster on the Maximus and King Cheetah. Gladiator is aware of this design oversight and is working to rectify it ASAP (they probably already figured it out and fixed it)
Pro VIII Series – Final Thoughts:
After testing all 4 of the Pro VIII Series bags, my personal favorite is the Empire bag. It is a loose bag that sits well, not sloppy, in the hand while throwing. It is forgiving around the hole and with a stick side, allows you to lay up a blocker as needed. The bag had no problem pushing through the blocker and when it did, I did not have an issue with the pushing bag kicking off to the side.
I feel that each bag, when used under the right conditions, will dominate the boards. Very impressed with the bags right out of the box, the material feel, color selections of bags, size and weight of bags and designs.
Ready to get your own set of Pro VIII Series bags? Purchase them right on our site
Gladiator Pro VIII Series cornhole bags
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