Are you a big hockey skater with large, wide feet that have serious trouble fitting properly into any kind of skate? Are you tired of wearing ice skates that feel uncomfortably narrow, skates that consistently squeeze the hell out of your toes, forefoot, and heel? Maybe you should read my previous post Best Ice Skates for wide feet before you dive into my review of the men’s hockey skate I’m about to assess, huh?
I’m sure you have tons of pain-packed stories you’ve never shared, yet. But here’s good news: All of that misery ends today. Now. Here. Because in this Bauer Nexus 800 Hockey Skate review, I’ll disassemble this ice skating shoe into its various parts to show you how each component helps make this shoe what it is.
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Last update on 2025-03-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Product Overview
The Bauer Nexus 800 Men’s wide-fitting hockey skate belongs in Bauer’s Nexus lineup of hockey skates. This ice shoe comes in men’s sizes, and the product in the image above is a size 10D.
But while D width means a standard-width fit in most comparable skate boots, width D in the Bauer Nexus 800 is like width EE in regular-width hockey skates. It’s pretty roomy where it matters most — in the toe box (around the forefoot) and around the heel.
Also, the Bauer Nexus 800 skate is well put together. Nothing about the product’s appearance looks cheap or poorly crafted. Its sweat and moisture management liner works quite well, and its insole features a heel stabilizer. The ice shoe offers great ankle and heel support, and its protection abilities against play-related impacts are matchless.
What’s more, this ice boot features a lightweight composite outsole designed to foster responsiveness while boosting energy transfer to the skate’s stainless steel blades. Plus, the boot fits true to size. Overall, it’s a great mid-range ice skate that performs satisfactorily, and it’s considerably roomy to boot.
Features and Specs of the Bauer 800 Men’s Hockey Skate
1.A compression-moldable EVA quarter package crafted from super-tough Pro-Tech Nylon
2.Liner System: Hydrophobic Retro Tan Clarino Liner
3.Patented Pro-Integrated heel and ankle support that provides an anatomic fit
4.Proper padding around the ankle provided by the skate’s Anafoam ankle pads
5.Toungue: A molded, thick, foot-hugging 2-piece felt tongue + molded metatarsal guard
6.Form-Fit footbed/insole that offers great grip while promoting moisture control inside the boot. The foot boasts a heel stabilizer as well as toe protection
7.Outsole: Lightweight, full-composite carbon sole
8.Upper: Can be heat-formed
9.Blade Holder: Tuuk Lightspeed 2 (LS2)
10.Runners: LS2 Edge Stainless Steel blades
Yes, that’s a nice little list of every feature and spec the Bauer Nexus 800 hockey skate provides.
But what do all these fancy-sounding features and specifications mean for you, a player with really wide feet? How do all of these aspects come together into this wide-fitting skate boot you’re eyeing?
Well, that’s why I write this review. So, let’s go!
Unboxing the Bauer Nexus 800
My husband’s Bauer Nexus 800 finally arrived. Well, it’s not an Amazon Prime product. At least, it’s not a Prime item as of this writing. Right out of the box, you could tell that Bauer did whatever it takes to create an appealing product that promises great performance and overall user satisfaction.
The boot cuts a clean, neat look, the kind of product you want to receive as a birthday or Xmas gift. It looks every inch like the premium-quality product it is.
Bauer skates have always been exceptional in many respects, and the Bauer Nexus 800 doesn’t deviate one bit from that tradition. You’re going to love this boot the instant you see it, just as we did.
The Quarter Package
This ice skating boot is heat-moldable. Moldable EVA foam starts somewhere behind the boot’s toe box, and it extends through the midfoot all the way to the ankle area. It’s this EVA foam that makes this boot bake-able since the foam has thermo-moldable properties. Thermo-moldability helps skate shop pros to create a custom fit where foam conforms to the wearer’s foot shape.
The quarter package of the Bauer Nexus 800 skate comes reinforced with a layer of high-quality Pro-Tech nylon. When these two durable components come together, they make the boot really stiff and rigid.
But the nylon side of things also gives a little flexibility to the entire boot’s construction. Without having rigidity/stiffness and flexibility in the right proportion, you’ll never achieve complete flow when it comes to launching strides on the ice.
The Comfort Liner System
After you break it in, the Bauer Nexus 800 is among the comfiest pro-level hockey skates on the market. The inner part of the boot features Bauer’s Hydrophobic Retro Tan CLARINO lining.
This moisture-hating liner gives the boot a soft, comfortable fit and also efficiently wicks away moisture and sweat.
But if you think this wide Bauer boot offers great soft-boot comfort by sacrificing performance during play, think again. Some boots can be optimally rigid and stiff while also being super comfortable. And the Bauer Nexus 800 is one of those special skates.
Anafoam Ankle Pads and Heel Support
Powerful strides are rarely a chance event. Rather, great strides on the ice happen when the heel does its job right. Bauer knows that, which is why they included ample ankle support via the seemingly good-quality Anafoam ankle pads.
While the toe box of the Bauer Nexus 800 is pretty wide to accommodate high-volume feet, the heel isn’t as wide. The boot gives skaters a deep V-type heel designed to lock in the heel throughout the game. With the heel locked in like that, you’ll always be in your best skating form in every game.
An Ultra-thick 2-Piece Tongue
Well, the tongue you get with this skate isn’t a 3-piece affair, but it’s still super thick and useful. The upper side of the tongue features a molded plastic guard, the metatarsal guard I mentioned in the Bauer Nexus 800 skate’s specs and features listed out above.
This molded-onto-the-tongue plastic guard serves two critical roles.
First, this component makes sure you never get lace-bite. That means you’ll stop experiencing pain wearing this skate as soon as you break in the boots.
Jason, my significant other, has had many nasty lace-bites while playing in skates from quite a few brands. But when he discovered Bauer’s wide-fit skate boots, he’s never looked back. Second, the metatarsal guard absorbs any kind of impact directed at that area of the foot.
Additionally, the 2-piece felt tongue hugs your foot in a way that’s …just different. Plus, the tongue contributes greatly to the overall quality of the fit you can create with this skate.
FORM-FIT Fitted With Bauer’s ERGOTOE Protection Feature
Let’s talk about the skate’s FORM-FIT footbed a bit. This footbed is a high-quality part that increases the boot’s overall comfort while supercharging its foot protection credentials.
This component is what offers the V-heel lock I mentioned above. The rear part of this insole curves upward in a way that compels the heel to stay stabilized and do its job throughout your play. Then there’s the stabilizer, a feature incorporated into the insole to curb undesirable foot movements.
Another feature the FORM-FIT insole offers is the ERGOTOE toe protection system. If you hold this footbed in your hand with the front facing away from you, you’ll see that the front features barriers designed to shield the forefoot and toes from hard impacts.
The footbed offers tons of grip, too, and that means your foot won’t slide forward all the time. But just in case that happens, the front area of the FORM-FIT footbed prevents your toes from crashing into the sides of the toe box and the toe guard.
But there’s more. The FORM-FIT is designed to work best for low-arch, high-volume feet. If your feet are flat, chances are you have a low foot arch.
As explained in detail in this post: Best Ice Skates for Wide Feet, this type of insole is a great solution for when a skater still gets foot pain even though their boot is the correct width.
I liked that my husband didn’t need to spend extra money buying good quality inserts as is typically the case with certain competing models.
Lightweight, Rigid Carbon Outsole for Maximized Energy Transfer
This skate features a pair of long-lasting outsoles built to provide as much rigidity as needed to improve energy transfer. If the sole is no good, you won’t have anything like power transfer to your blades when doing strides. The outsole is engineered from great-quality carbon. And it lasts.
TUUK Lightspeed 2 Blade Holder And LS2 Steel Runners
There’s a reason most ice skates for hockey players use Tuuk Lightspeed 2 blade runners. It’s because they’re good quality tuuks. Plus, these edge holders work perfectly with Bauer’s LS2 high-grade steel runners.
Do you like premium steel that holds a sharpen long enough so you can make fewer trips to the skate shop? If you said yes, then look no further than these stainless steel runners.
Bauer Nexus 800 Skate Review: Final Thought
Overall, the Bauer Nexus 800 skate is a worthy bet when it comes to packing wide hockey-playing feet. The boot is and looks like really good quality. After all, it’s a Bauer creation. And Bauer shines when it comes to this kind of craftsmanship.
The toe box comes wide enough, and the V-heel-lock coupled with the stabilizer keeps the foot adequately prepped for intense play. Well, the boot isn’t anywhere near cheap. But when you play in the Bauer Nexus 800 skate, it never feels like you’d have netted a better deal.