Pro Vest® Testing Results

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Pro Vest® Test Results

Please read the introduction and then click on the link of the product you are interested in below to view the impact testing data for that particular product:

PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests
PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests

Introduction

The main focus of our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests and PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests is to enhance the quality of the athletic experience by providing the player with a degree of protection from off-target pitches and lacrosse shots/passes. Recognizing that some players/parents want extra protection for the center-chest area from high-speed ball impacts due to the serious injuries that can occur, we incorporated a center-chest-pad pocket into the vests that accommodates a two-layer, combination plastic & foam chest pad that can be inserted or removed based on the wearer's preference.

If you are considering purchasing any of the chest protector-type products out on the market for yourself or your child, or if any league is recommending the use of any of those products, we recommend that you check out the effectiveness of the product by checking the impact testing data available for the product. If impact testing data isn't available for any particular product we recommend not purchasing the product, because it's important to know how effective a chest protector-type product actually is at preventing injury.

Since sports-related deaths from Commotio Cordis, although very rare, receive extensive coverage from local, regional and national newspapers, magazines and news programs, we feel compelled to address the issue in marketing our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests and PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests. Commotio Cordis refers to a blunt, non-penetrating, precordial chest impact that causes arrhythmia or sudden death without any apparent injury to the heart. Please be aware that we neither claim nor guarantee that our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests or PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests will prevent Commotio Cordis.

That being said, although the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) does not have a performance standard for either baseball or lacrosse chest protectors, instead of taking advantage of this lack of a performance standard by putting an untested product out on the market, we contracted a highly regarded, nationally known impact testing & research firm to test the effectiveness of our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests and PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests, the results which are below.

If you conduct an Internet search for an article titled "Upper and Lower Limits of Vulnerability to Sudden Arrhythmic Death with Chest-Wall Impact (Commotio Cordis)" that appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, you will see that in the experiment on which the article was based, the threshold velocity to cause Ventricular Fibrillation in the experimental model (i.e. the lower limit of vulnerability to Commotio Cordis) via a baseball impact was 25 to 30 mph, and that baseball impacts at 20 MPH did not induce Ventricular Fibrillation. In addition, the incidence of Ventricular Fibrillation increased incrementally from 7% for 25 MPH baseball impacts to 68% for 40 MPH baseball impacts, and then diminished at ≥50 MPH baseball impacts.

Given the above, our goal going into the impact testing of our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests and PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests was to attenuate the impact of a 75 MPH baseball and a 100 MPH lacrosse ball on the vest upon the center chest plate/pad below that of a 25 MPH baseball impact. As you will see in the results for Tests 1, 2 and 5 below, our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests and PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests surpassed both goals by relatively large margins.

Please note that after a multi-year product development program we launched two new vests in 2009, which replaced the model we had marketed earlier. Among the many significant improvements in our new vests are a molded plastic chest plate with raised ribs (versus the flat plastic chest plate in the old model) and new foam for the center chest pad. We engaged a highly regarded, nationally known impact testing & research firm to test several foams in combination with the molded plastic chest plate so as to select a foam for the center chest pad that would effectively attenuate the impact of a baseball and lacrosse ball.

The results of the baseball and lacrosse ball impact testing conducted on our new vests by the impact testing& research firm we contracted to perform the testing showed significant improvement over the impact testing results for our earlier vest. This is not to denigrate our old vest - if it was still on the market we believe that it would be the next-best product on market. The better impact testing results achieved by our new vests (versus our old vest) were the result of the molded plastic chest plate deflecting a greater degree of the impact and spreading out the remaining impact shock more effectively and the new foam used for the center chest pad absorbing more of the remaining impact shock.

Sharing our testing information

BASEBALL

77 MPH-and-under Pitch Speeds

For those people looking for a baseball batting chest protector-type product for use in an age group where the pitch speeds do not exceed 77 MPH, if - after researching all of the products on the market - you don't determine that, relative to a 40-77 MPH pitch speed, our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests offer not only the most effective, but the only effective protection for the center chest area, we would appreciate it if you would tell us via an email to feedback@pro-vest.com. What do we mean when we say "the only effective protection for the center chest area"? We mean that the impact force of a 40-77 MPH pitch is reduced far enough to provide an effective degree of protection.

We think our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests are the only product of their type on the market for which impact testing data is provided to the consumer - let us know if we're wrong. Why is that important? We think that if you research the issue of protecting the center-chest region you will determine that any product that only reduces the impact of a 40-77 MPH pitch to the equivalent of a 30-40 MPH impact does not provide enough protection.

That is why it is important to check out the impact testing data for any baseball batting chest protector-type product you are considering buying, and to not purchase a product that has not been proven to be effective in impact testing.

Pitch Speeds over 77 MPH

As you will see below, the fastest pitch speed at which we tested our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests was approximately 77 MPH. As such, those people looking for a chest-protector-type product for use in an age group where the pitch speeds exceed 77 MPH will have to factor additional information into their purchase decision. To that end, we encourage you to 1) finish reading this section, 2) check out the impact testing information provided below for our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests relative to 77 MPH-and-under baseball pitch speeds and 3) then compare our impact testing data to the impact testing data for the other chest-protector-type product(s) you are considering purchasing.

Please note that since we neither claim nor guarantee that our interpretation/estimation of the load-over-an-area impact testing results is accurate as any visual representation is subject to subjective interpretation/estimation, we encourage you to not depend on our interpretation/estimation of the results - in fact we would prefer that you don't - but instead use the Contact Us form on our website to request that pictures of the baseball impact tests be emailed to you.

Please note that while we would like to impact test our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests at pitch speeds over 77 MPH, we would like to find a company that uses an anatomically accurate model of a human torso for the testing - for reasons we will explain further below.

Given the significant degree to which our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests attenuated the impact force of 77 MPH-and-under baseball impacts to the center chest area we are hopeful that they will effectively attenuate the impact force of even faster speed baseball impacts to the center chest area. How much faster, however, we will not know until we test them at the faster speeds. When we do conduct impact tests at speeds over 77 MPH, we are hoping that, at a minimum our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests attenuate the impact force of a 90 MPH baseball pitch to the center chest area below that of a 30 MPH baseball impact - thereby providing effective protection from the injuries that can result from high-speed baseball impacts and reducing the chance of inducing Commotio Cordis.

We are basing our hope (that our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests attenuate the impact force of a 90 MPH baseball to the center chest area below that of a 30 MPH baseball impact) on the fact that 90 MPH is only 12.62 MPH faster than the 77.38 MPH impact speed we already tested the vest at, and even if none of the impact force of the additional 12.62 MPH is absorbed or deflected, as long as the first 77.38 MPH (of the 90 MPH impact) is attenuated below the 17.29 MPH level - as a 77.38 MPH baseball impact was in the impact testing - then even with the addition of the additional 12.62 MPH (i.e. 90 MPH - 77.38 MPH), the total residual impact force would be below 30 MPH (i.e. 17.29 MPH + 12.62 MPH = 29.91 MPH).

The reason why we want to use a company that uses an anatomically accurate model of a human torso for the impact testing of our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests at 80-100 MPH pitch speeds is because we think that the impact testing method employed to impact test our vests for the 77 MPH-and-under pitch speeds underestimates the extent to which the vests will lower the impact force of a baseball in actual use. While this has not been an issue in the 77 MPH-and-below impact tests given the degree to which the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests have attenuated the impact force (of the 77 MPH-and-below baseball impacts), it could be an issue in the impact testing of faster pitch speeds.

Why do we think that the impact testing method employed to impact test our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests for the 77 MPH-and-below pitch speeds underestimates the extent to which the vests would lower the impact force of a baseball in actual use? Because the impact testing is conducted against immovable steel plate - which, unlike a person's chest wall, does not compress upon impact and, as a result, absorb some of the impact shock - we think that the impact force registered on the steel plate in the impact testing is greater than the impact force that would get through to the heart in actual use. As such, we think that an anatomically accurate model of a human torso would provide more accurate impact testing results.

LACROSSE

As you will see below, the fastest lacrosse ball speed at which we tested our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests was approximately 100 MPH. As such, those people looking for a chest-protector-type product for use in an age group where the lacrosse ball speeds exceed 100 MPH will have to factor additional information into their purchase decision. To that end, we encourage you to 1) finish reading this section, 2) check out the impact testing information provided below for our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests relative to 100 MPH-and-under lacrosse ball speeds and 3) then compare our impact testing data to the impact testing data for the other chest-protector-type product(s) you are considering purchasing.

Please note that since we neither claim nor guarantee that our interpretation/estimation of the load-over-an-area impact testing results is accurate as any visual representation is subject to subjective interpretation/estimation, we encourage you to not depend on our interpretation/estimation of the results - in fact we would prefer that you don't - but instead use the Contact Us form on our website to request that pictures of the lacrosse ball impact tests be emailed to you.

Please note that while we would like to impact test our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests at lacrosse ball speeds over 100 MPH, we would like to find a company that uses an anatomically accurate model of a human torso for the testing - for reasons we will explain further below.

Given the significant degree to which our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests attenuated the impact force of 100 MPH-and-under lacrosse ball impacts to the center chest area we are hopeful that they will effectively attenuate the impact force of even faster speed lacrosse ball impacts. How much faster, however, we will not know until we test them at the faster speeds. When we do conduct impact tests at speeds over 100 MPH, we are hoping that, at a minimum (i.e., a worst-case scenario), our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests attenuate the impact force of a 110 MPH lacrosse ball to the center chest area below that of a 30 MPH baseball impact - thereby providing effective protection from the injuries that can result from high-speed baseball impacts and reducing the chance of inducing Commotio Cordis.

We are basing our hope (that our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests attenuate the impact force of a 110 MPH lacrosse ball to the center chest area below that of a 30 MPH baseball impact) on the fact that 110 MPH is only 9.43 MPH faster than the 100.57 MPH impact speed we already tested the vest at, and even if none of the impact force of the additional 9.43 MPH is absorbed or deflected, as long as the first 100.57 MPH (of the 110 MPH impact) is attenuated below the 20.15 MPH level - as a 100.57 MPH lacrosse ball impact was in the impact testing - then even with the addition of the additional 9.43 MPH (i.e. 110 MPH - 100.57 MPH), the total residual impact force would be below 30 MPH (i.e. 20.15 MPH + 9.43 MPH = 29.58 MPH).

Please note that the reason we use Major League baseball impacts as benchmarks for interpreting the lacrosse ball impact tests below is because the aforementioned article on the Internet titled "Upper and lower limits of vulnerability to sudden arrhythmic death with chest wall impact (commotio cordis)" that appeared in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY concerns baseball impacts, and not lacrosse ball impacts.

The reason why we want to use a company that uses an anatomically accurate model of a human torso for the impact testing of our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests at 100-120 MPH lacrosse ball speeds is because we think that the impact testing method employed to impact test our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests for the 100 MPH-and-under lacrosse ball speeds underestimates the extent to which the vests will lower the impact force of a lacrosse ball in actual use. While this has not been an issue in the 100 MPH-and-below impact tests given the degree to which the PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests have attenuated the impact force (of the 100 MPH-and-below lacrosse ball impacts), it could be an issue in the impact testing of faster lacrosse ball speeds.

Why do we think that the impact testing method employed to impact test our vests for the 100 MPH-and-below lacrosse ball speeds underestimates the extent to which the vests would lower the impact force of a lacrosse ball in actual use? Because the impact testing is conducted against immovable steel plate - which, unlike a person's chest wall, does not compress upon impact and, as a result, absorb some of the impact shock - we think that the impact force registered on the steel plate in the impact testing is greater than the impact force that would get through to the heart in actual use. As such, we think that an anatomically accurate model of a human torso would provide more accurate impact testing results.

Impact Testing Conducted on the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vest

Note: The following test results are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as a claim, guarantee or warranty that our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests will protect the wearer from injury of any kind.

Please note that in conducting the impact testing we considered our Full Length and Half Length PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests interchangeable.

Please also note that the center-chest pad used in the testing are designed for our medium-sized PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests, and that the center-chest pads designed for our large-sized and extra-large-sized PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests are larger in size and the center-chest pads designed for our small-sized and extra small-sized PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests are smaller in size than the center-chest pads used in the testing.

Impact tests termed a load-over-an-area test were conducted on the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests to determine the effectiveness of various types and combinations of center-chest pads and the foam in the body of the vest in attenuating the impact of a Major League baseball traveling approximately 60, 75 and 77 MPH. The load-over-an-area test provides a visual indication of the degree to which an impact is 1) dispersed, or distributed over a larger area than the impact point and 2) attenuated, or reduced in force. The test is conducted by attaching the test sample to the front of an immovable steel plate - with a paper-thin, two-layer film between the test sample and steel plate that captures the force and focus of the impact visually - and propelling a Major League baseball into the test sample with an air cannon.

Please note that we neither claim nor guarantee that our interpretation/estimation of the load-over-an-area impact testing results is accurate as any visual representation is subject to subjective interpretation/estimation. As such, we encourage you to not depend on our interpretation/estimation of the results - in fact we would prefer if you don't - but instead use the Contact Us form on our website to request that pictures of the baseball impact tests, lacrosse impact tests or both sets of impact tests be emailed to you.

A quick word about the design of our product:

In addition to the fabric, the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests are comprised of the approximately .35" thick (+/- .05") perforated foam in the body of the vest and the combination plastic and foam chest pad that has an upper layer comprised of an approximately 3mm (+/- 10%) thick molded plastic plate with "raised ribs" for extra stiffness and a lower layer comprised of an approximately 2/5" (+/- .05") thick foam.

Relative to a direct impact on the center-chest pad in our PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests, the plastic plate with raised ribs that comprises the upper layer of the chest pad is intended to deflect some of the impact shock and spread out or diffuse the remaining impact shock over a wider area, while the foam comprising the lower layer of the chest pad and the foam in the body of the vest is intended to compress and absorb a degree of the remaining impact shock.

Test 1:

Load-Over-an-Area Impact Test Result for the following: A PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vest, which includes, in addition to the fabric, the approximately .35" thick (+/- .05") perforated foam in the body of the vest and the combination plastic and foam chest pad that has an upper layer comprised of an approximately 3mm (+/- 10%) thick plastic plate with "raised ribs" for extra stiffness and a lower layer comprised of an approximately 2/5" (+/- .05") thick foam.

Ball: Major League baseball, Impact Speed: 77.38 MPH

Discussion of Results:

In order to have benchmarks to compare the impact testing results for the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests to, a Major League baseball was impacted directly against the film/steel plate at 25.88 and 17.29 MPH and the force and focus of the each impact was recorded visually on the film. Please note that the benchmark 25.88 MPH impact test was done during the current testing and the benchmark 17.29 MPH impact test was conducted during earlier testing.

A side-by-side comparison of the results from Test 1 and the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark Major League baseball impacts shows that the impact force registered for Test 1 is less than that registered for both the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts. The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows the impact being spread out across a much larger area in Test 1 than in the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts.

A further review of the results for Test 1 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock.

Test 2:

Ball: Major League baseball, Impact Speed: 75.43 MPH

Discussion of Results:

A side-by-side comparison of the results from Test 2 and the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark Major League baseball impacts shows that the impact force registered for Test 2 is less than that registered for both the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts. The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows the impact being spread out across a much larger area in Test 2 than in the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts.

A further review of the results for Test 2 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock.

Test 3:

Ball: Major League baseball, Impact Speed: 60.79 MPH

Discussion of Results:

A side-by-side comparison of the results from Test 3 and the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark Major League baseball impacts shows that the impact force registered for Test 3 is significantly less than that registered for both the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts. The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows the impact being spread out across a much larger area in Test 3 than in the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH benchmark baseball impacts, although you have to look closely since the impact force is relatively low.

A further review of the results for Test 3 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock.

Test 4:

Load-Over-an-Area Impact Testing Results for the following: The approximately .35" thick (+/- .05") perforated foam in the body of the PRO VEST® Baseball Batting Safety Vests.

Ball: Major League baseball, Impact Speed: 61.61 MPH

Discussion of Results:

In order to have benchmarks to compare the results of Test 4 to, during impact testing conducted during an earlier a Major League baseball was impacted directly against the film/steel plate at 33.83 and 64.26 MPH and the force and focus of the each impact was recorded visually on the film.

A side-by-side review of the results from 1) Test 4, 2) a 33.83 MPH Major League baseball impact on a steel plate and 3) a 64.26 MPH Major League baseball impact on a steel plate shows that the impact force registered for Test 4 is less than that registered for the 33.83 MPH baseball impact. While it is hard to estimate exactly how much less, we estimate that the impact force registered for Test 4 is approximately 10% less than that registered for the 33.83 MPH baseball impact.

Assuming that the speed of the baseball and the impact force are a linear relationship, using our estimate that the impact force registered for Test 4 is approximately 10% less than the impact force registered for the 33.83 MPH baseball impact, the perforated foam in the body of the vest reduced the impact force of a 61.61 MPH baseball impact to the equivalent of a 30.45 MPH baseball impact - meaning it cut the impact force of the 61.61 MPH baseball impact roughly in half.

The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows the impact being spread out across a larger area in Test 4 than in the 64.26 MPH benchmark baseball impact, although you have to look closely because the impact force was relatively low away from the impact point.

A further review of the results for Test 4 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock at the point of impact.

Impact Testing Conducted on the PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests

Note: The following test results are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as a claim, guarantee or warranty that our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests will protect the wearer from injury of any kind.

Please note that in conducting the impact testing we considered our Full Length and Half Length PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests interchangeable.

Please also note that the center-chest pad used in the testing are designed for our medium-sized PRO VEST® Lacrosse Vests, and that the center-chest pads designed for our large-sized and extra-large-sized PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests and the center-chest pads designed for our small-sized and extra small-sized PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests are smaller in size than the center-chest pads used in the testing.

Impact tests termed a load-over-an-area test were conducted on the PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests to determine the effectiveness of various types and combinations of center-chest pads and the foam in the body of the vest in attenuating the impact of a Major League baseball traveling approximately 90 and 100 MPH. The load-over-an-area test provides a visual indication of the degree to which an impact is 1) dispersed, or distributed over a larger area than the impact point and 2) attenuated, or reduced in force. The test is conducted by attaching the test sample to the front of an immovable steel plate - with a paper-thin, two-layer film between the test sample and steel plate that captures the force and focus of the impact visually - and propelling a lacrosse ball into the test sample with an air cannon.

Please note that since the article on the Internet titled "Upper and lower limits of vulnerability to sudden arrhythmic death with chest wall impact (commotio cordis)" that appeared in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY concerns baseball impacts, and not lacrosse ball impacts, we use Major League baseball impacts as benchmarks for interpreting the lacrosse ball impact tests below.

Please note that we neither claim nor guarantee that our interpretation/estimation of the load-over-an-area impact testing results is accurate as any visual representation is subject to subjective interpretation/estimation. As such, we encourage you to not depend on our interpretation/estimation of the results - in fact we would prefer that you don't - but instead use the Contact Us form on our website to request that pictures of the baseball impact tests, lacrosse impact tests or both sets of impact tests be emailed to you.

A quick word about the design of our product:

In addition to the fabric, the PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests are comprised of the approximately .35" thick (+/- .05") perforated foam in the body of the vest and the combination plastic and foam chest pad that has an upper layer comprised of an approximately 3mm (+/- 10%) thick molded plastic plate with "raised ribs" for extra stiffness and a lower layer comprised of an approximately 2/5" (+/- .05") thick foam.

Relative to a direct impact on the center-chest pad in our PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests, the plastic plate with raised ribs that comprises the upper layer of the chest pad is intended to deflect some of the impact shock and spread out or diffuse the remaining impact shock over a wider area, while the foam comprising the lower layer of the chest pad and the foam in the body of the vest is intended to compress and absorb a degree of the remaining impact shock.

Test 5:

Load-Over-an-Area Impact Test Result for the following: A PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vest, which includes, in addition to the fabric, the approximately .35" thick (+/- .05") perforated foam in the body of the vest and the combination plastic and foam chest pad that has an upper layer comprised of an approximately 3mm (+/- 10%) thick plastic plate with "raised ribs" for extra stiffness and a lower layer comprised of an approximately 2/5" (+/- .05") thick foam.

Ball: lacrosse ball, Impact Speed: 100.57 MPH

Discussion of Results:

In order to have benchmarks to compare the impact testing results for the PRO VEST® Lacrosse Safety Vests to, a Major League baseball was impacted directly against the film/steel plate at 25.88 and 17.29 MPH and a lacrosse ball was impacted directly against the film/steel plate at 89.28 MPH and the force and focus of the each impact was recorded visually on the film. Please note that the benchmark 25.88 MPH baseball impact test was done during the current testing and the benchmark 17.29 MPH baseball impact test and 89.28 MPH lacrosse ball impact test were conducted during earlier testing.

A side-by-side comparison of the results from Test 5 and the 25.88 and 17.29 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmarks shows that the impact force registered for Test 5 is between that registered for the 25.88 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmark and that registered for the 17.29 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmark. We estimate that the impact force for Test 5 is approximately 1/3 of the way from the 17.29 MPH Major League baseball impact benchmark to the 25.88 MPH Major League baseball impact benchmark, which would make it the equivalent of a 20.15 MPH Major League baseball impact.

The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows that the test sample in Test 5 also spread out the impact across a much larger area than the baseball impact test benchmarks.

A further review of the results for Test 5 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock.

Test 6:

Ball: lacrosse ball, Impact Speed: 89.70 MPH

Discussion of Results:

A side-by-side comparison of the results from Test 6 and both the 25.88 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmark and the 17.29 Major League baseball impact test benchmark shows that the impact force registered for Test 6 is significantly less than that registered for both the 25.88 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmark and the 17.29 MPH Major League baseball impact test benchmark. The side-by-side comparison of the results also shows that the test sample in Test 6 also spread out the impact across a much larger area than the bare baseball impact.

A further review of the results for Test 6 shows that the perforations in the foam in the body of the vest - which are put in to make the vest cooler wearing - also served to break up the impact shock.