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My mid-range Oblivion - a very brief glance

What do you make of the different lengths though? Why this discrepancy. Explains why I have been mistiming my drives :))
 
Haha LOL - I doubt one cm makes a difference.

I am still trying to think what can be the reason behind it :)) :21:
 
But these are all CNC productions right? That should actually make the lengths more uniform.
 
Nope only GM and Newbery/TK has CNC.

Slazenger, Gray Nicolls (most of them would say 95%), Kookaburra etc are made in India by hand.
 
I am more intrigued by GM for that reason as it is the shortest. Could you check your own bats sometime when you get the chance?
 
Sure will do that for sure (give me a day or two though).

I'm sure they will be same size because they are made by CNC and GM claims they are exact same but it would be interesting to measure and see
 
Sure bro take your time; I am sure the world is not waiting for this discovery with baited breath :)
 
Looks very nice, how is the middle? Do you think this pings better than rest of your bats? Also how would you rate this bat among other Gray Nicolls bats you have?
 
Silencer said:
Looks very nice, how is the middle? Do you think this pings better than rest of your bats? Also how would you rate this bat among other Gray Nicolls bats you have?
Click to expand...

Will be able to test it better in the nets this Wednesday; but it looks and feels and pings (from what little I have seen) quite good. I would say it is better than the other GNs I have in my kitty and at par with the Nitro Carbo which is an amazing piece of willow.
 
Hey guys, I've seen this many times, even bats that are the same make and model have different lengths. No idea why or how. Maybe that will be my next question to GM.

Last question to them was if we need to oil their bats ever and their answer was no, the face if it has a poky oat never needs to be oiled as the poly oat will hold moisture inside, once a season a light coat can be applied to the edges and back of the bat.

I thought that was interesting, and got thy from the technical director at unicorn sports, aka GM.
 
hey guys got this back from GM this morning.

I cant comment on other suppliers, but all our bats are checked to make
sure they are within our tolerance's.

Please note one of the handle fitter s in the bottom right hand corner of
the picture, using a bat length gauge, sorry its a bit blurred




That`s the gauge sat across the blue bins and more by the finishers
elbow/forearm on the bench.



Simple, but very effective. the overall length of the bat is checked at
three different stages of manufacture in our factory.

ou can see the pics on my facebook page or my review website.
 
If a bat has polycoat on the face then it won't need to be oiled because polycoat prevents the bat from being internally dried (it holds the moisture in the timber) so only expose wood needs to be oiled. Once you oil the expose wood it will also act as an barrier and internal moisture in the timber will not decrease.
 
But the second part of your statement would mean that we will not be getting any reading even on those blades with no polycoat once they have been oiled. But that is not the case and that's what make things more interesting.
 
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If there is no polycoat and you have oiled the face then most likely the reading will be off top of the blade I reckon.
 
mrk said:
Can i have that bat plz ? :)
Click to expand...

Thanks MRK.


Alright, so I played with it in the nets tonight and am very very impressed. The balance and pick up are very good and the front foot pushes were all traveling like full fledged drives. Ping wise it is really really good. For the money this has to be one of the best bats I have owned. Thanks Hammer.
 
Indeed, I have always rated lower end Gray Nicolls bats very high as I mentioned earlier.

How much did you knock?

This is what I really like about Gray Nicolls lower middle bat compared to Gunn & Moore, if you see Powerbow and Oblivion now you will see how both of these have very low sweetspot yet the pickup is amazing while if you hold Hero the pickup feels bottom heavier (well to me at least it did).
 
I have always been a big fan of the Nitro which according to me has been the most complete GN bat; have to say I am really impressed with the Oblivion. The Hero 707 I have picks up nicely but the Oblivion has a better ping and handle feel.
 
And forgot to mention: I did not spend too much time knocking it in: about 40-50 minutes in all mainly concentrating on the edges and the toe as usual. Got very good response from the middle when I was striking it with the mallet.
 
zeusky said:
I have always been a big fan of the Nitro which according to me has been the most complete GN bat; have to say I am really impressed with the Oblivion. The Hero 707 I have picks up nicely but the Oblivion has a better ping and handle feel.
Click to expand...

Exactly Nitro is indeed allround and complete bat.

I remember I went to Gray Nicolls authorized dealer in Canada and held all of the bats and among them Oblivion felt the best so from there I decided to order one too!

In fact, it is so far my only bat shape which I bought after actually feeling it.

I had held Hero 606 once and didn't have good experience with it at all!

I agree, Gray Nicolls handles seem tad thicker than GMs

zeusky said:
And forgot to mention: I did not spend too much time knocking it in: about 40-50 minutes in all mainly concentrating on the edges and the toe as usual. Got very good response from the middle when I was striking it with the mallet.
Click to expand...

Thats not much, usually Gray Nicolls take longer than that to open up.
 
One interesting observation: remember the thread you had created some months back about the actual and advertised bat weight difference?

My Oblivion sticker says 2.7; on my weighing machine it weighs about 2.88; took the grip out; without the grip it weighs 2.67-2.69. Weighed the grip: it weighs 1.9 by itself. Also, the same kind of octo grips that I bought from someone on Ebay weighs 1.6.

Inference 1: GN weight sticker is put on without grips and Hammer might be able to corroborate this one as we have had conversations as to how GN actual weight differs from the sticker weight.

Inference 2: While the GN bat grip might be of good quality, it is a tad heavier than some other grips around.
 
Yup remember it - Actually all of retailers and factory people weigh bats without final properties, hence, we see that increase in weight.

At the end I believe two ounce is so little that you hardly feel anything.
 
Yeah but for some 2 ounces might mean a lot; for me for example, it will not change my game too much as it is beyond any repair; but for a more serious cricketer it might be important.

And to add to that my 2.10 stickered CA weighs 2.9 with the original grip on.
 
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I got rid of the bat sticker on the back and it is probably why it weighs 2.9; but this kind of shows that this weighing business might differ from company to company--again no biggie for the majority of us.
 
Yep, played with it in a game. Unfortunately could not cross 20 :(

But felt good while it lasted--- pushed a cover drive to the boundary :))
 
Obviously Cover Drive is guaranteed from a bat which Cover Drive recommends ;-)

Ah okay, hopefully it will give you big score.

How many grips do you have on your Oblivion?

I am still trying to perfect handle/grip setup for mine, it is almost there though.
 
I think the grip factor is more to do with comfort than anything else; so on a bat with a thin handle I use two grips. The oblivion's handle is a little thicker and oval at the bottom but I still used 2 to reduce the vibration as it was new and probably not fully knocked in. But hardly felt much vibration so might go with one next time in the nets. I have never used more than 2 grips on any of my bats. But I know people who have used 3-4 grips.
 
I have never used more than two either on some of my bats I have double thickness Chevron (such as GN Pro, Oblivion, Legend etc) and for some of them handle is not getting along with me so will be fixing that.

Actually I am fan of thick oval handles like Screaming Cat, Millichamp and Hall etc
 
The worst vibration I felt was on my friends V100; it was really bad. The V200 is so much better.
 
Worst vibration I ever felt was when I first used my Laver Legend which has CarboCane handle against bowling machine, man that was dreadful!

Then couple of weeks ago against cheap Pakistani-Indian balls with my GN powerbow
 
Arre no man--- don't tell me your PB is giving you vibrations; that's the dearest of the lot right? Have you started using your roaring tiger yet?
 
Haha that was probably because I played cricket and was batting after five months :)) But afterwards it felt good!

Haha no man, had few throwdowns with it and it is brilliant bat, can't ask for more!

If I manage to shift few of my 'unwanted' then I might go for another Screaming Cat but Series Three this time LOL but that is long long long way down the road
 
What model of Oblivion are you getting for 300? If it is a Limited Edition model then just close your eyes and take a plunge.
 
Are you located in Canada? Either way, you are getting good deals on the Oblivion--both the players and L.E; in fact the L.E is giving you more value at 350 bucks. Take the plunge quickly and then come back and review it here :D
 
Chances are he is just selling below msrp. I could also sell for that price but then I don't make any profit. There are tone of small shops opening up now buying gear from Bedessee. He by the way also has an office in Canada.

I get calls from people every day asking me to price match these small guys. There is a guy in the USA selling kahuna 1000's for $309. I sell them for $399 ( msrp ) I have to price match and lose all my profits that help me stay in business. These Guys selling bats cheap just to get some business whilst is great for the consumer, is bad for the economy.

We need to keep our prices stray so that the economy stays strong. Selling at those prices he will stay in business for a year and close his doors just like cricworld did recently. Selling at his prices you can't stay in business. The only people winning are the consumer and Bedessee. I'm sure you guys agree.
 
Tupac Bhai,

I have been to Hagee and have seen his bats, my friend also bought Oblivion LE from Hagee for $350 and it was brilliant bat.

If you can fork out additional $50 I would say fork out and go for LE model, compare the prices of Hagee Gray Nicolls with UK website and there would be big difference, all you will be doing is replacing currency size whereas numerical figure would be same.
 
thanks a lot guys, really appreciate your time and effort.

Sorry Hammermellet to hear about the situation, best of luck to you in the future
 
Hammermellet said:
Chances are he is just selling below msrp. I could also sell for that price but then I don't make any profit. There are tone of small shops opening up now buying gear from Bedessee. He by the way also has an office in Canada.

I get calls from people every day asking me to price match these small guys. There is a guy in the USA selling kahuna 1000's for $309. I sell them for $399 ( msrp ) I have to price match and lose all my profits that help me stay in business. These Guys selling bats cheap just to get some business whilst is great for the consumer, is bad for the economy.

We need to keep our prices stray so that the economy stays strong. Selling at those prices he will stay in business for a year and close his doors just like cricworld did recently. Selling at his prices you can't stay in business. The only people winning are the consumer and Bedessee. I'm sure you guys agree.
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Hagee is in business for quite some time even before you started your business.

You buy stuff from Bedessee and then sell it whereas Hagee directly gets from manufacturer.

Again it is upto shop keeper how much profit he wants to keep, soem can keep $100 on a bat and some can keep $50, it is really upto shop owner.

Well if you have high supply of bats and believe you can increase the demand by undercutting the price then there is no harm at all! It harms the competitors who end up losing business.
 
Agree, it is up to shop owner and not saying Hagee is undercutting to get business. But I know my margins and am at as low a price I can possibly manage. Some know how hard it is to make a living in this industry. Cricmart for example makes zero profit on his prices. He has 3 supplemental businesses to pay his salary. His money comes from wholesale and uniforms. Not from his website.

Others may be the same.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Hammermellet said:
Agree, it is up to shop owner and not saying Hagee is undercutting to get business. But I know my margins and am at as low a price I can possibly manage. Some know how hard it is to make a living in this industry. Cricmart for example makes zero profit on his prices. He has 3 supplemental businesses to pay his salary. His money comes from wholesale and uniforms. Not from his website.

Others may be the same.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I am sure cricmart makes profit though; quite sure, trust me. Anyway, as consumers we just hope the prices remain low and trustworthy sellers like you and Hagee stay in business---just hope both work together.
 
Yeah, I don't have a problem with people being cheaper than me. I will one day take over the world and hope that's ok with everybody else:)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I guess the question I'm struggling with is....am I really going to be able to tell the difference between a $225 bat and a $300 one, or even a $150 one. I've always grew up with the attitude that a good batsmen is a good batsmen is a good batsmen....he will be fine with any bat. But according to you, what is the right approach?
 
Tupac said:
I guess the question I'm struggling with is....am I really going to be able to tell the difference between a $225 bat and a $300 one, or even a $150 one. I've always grew up with the attitude that a good batsmen is a good batsmen is a good batsmen....he will be fine with any bat. But according to you, what is the right approach?
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That is the best attitude to have frankly. A good batsman, is a good batsman is a good batsman. Period. A good bat might just help you with the confidence, that's it. Look at Inzi, he would just pick up any random bat and would sleepwalk his way to big scores.

Now for the majority of us here, we need all the help we can get and hence the insatiable urge to keep looking for the perfect willow :)

As far as the first part of the comment is concerned, you need to be a little knowledgeable or have knowledgeable friends and a knowledgeable seller to help you out. And also, you need to be just a little bit lucky as well :) as even some 400 dollar bats might turn out to be planks. You should also know your game; so if you are an opening batsman who cuts and pulls a lot, you might want to avoid those bottom heavy bats. I hope this helps.
 
Tupac said:
I guess the question I'm struggling with is....am I really going to be able to tell the difference between a $225 bat and a $300 one, or even a $150 one. I've always grew up with the attitude that a good batsmen is a good batsmen is a good batsmen....he will be fine with any bat. But according to you, what is the right approach?
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What you are saying is correct and it is really upto the batsman not the bat.

Also for the standard we play mid-range bats are good.

Today I was at nets and there was Canada's team opening batsman and he had two bats, one very old Slazenger and second one was MB Malik Sher Amin which is a mid-range bat really.

So it is upto batsman.

However, if I am not mistaken a top of the line bat will have better performance in comparison to a lower end bats, hence, there is a price difference.

I have a lower end bat which performs well but that rule can't happy every time really.
 
Hammermellet said:
Yeah, I don't have a problem with people being cheaper than me. I will one day take over the world and hope that's ok with everybody else:)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I can't wait for all the wonderful videos we will get to watch then. :)
 
Cover Drive said:
What you are saying is correct and it is really upto the batsman not the bat.

Also for the standard we play mid-range bats are good.

Today I was at nets and there was Canada's team opening batsman and he had two bats, one very old Slazenger and second one was MB Malik Sher Amin which is a mid-range bat really.

So it is upto batsman.

However, if I am not mistaken a top of the line bat will have better performance in comparison to a lower end bats, hence, there is a price difference.

I have a lower end bat which performs well but that rule can't happy every time really.
Click to expand...

is the oblivion Players edition a mid range bat?
 
Cover Drive said:
Today I was at nets and there was Canada's team opening batsman and he had two bats, one very old Slazenger and second one was MB Malik Sher Amin which is a mid-range bat really.
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Who was that? Don't have to answer if for contractual issues--will totally understand.

Maybe those were his net bats?

Barkhurdar, ajkal international players ke saath net ho raha hai? ;-)
 
Some next guy called Mohammad Iqbal.

Haha LOL - Nahi he came to bat and he was batting.

I don't know even if they were his nets bats some people here have net bats which would be his top of the line bats haha
 
I have practised at the same facility as the Canadian team last year, before they departed for the world cup, I have seen their bats (remember Zubin Sarkari and a few use SS bats that appear to be off the shelf)
 
STR8DRIVE said:
I have practised at the same facility as the Canadian team last year, before they departed for the world cup, I have seen their bats (remember Zubin Sarkari and a few use SS bats that appear to be off the shelf)
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Exactly, I saw that guys BAS who smacked few sixes to Brett Lee in WOrld Cup, he is opener and his bat didn't look anything special really.
 
now more confused. There's a really nice GM Luna bat for $150 at another shop...tested it with a ball and the ping is really nice. Pickup is great too...

I can save some cash with this purchase, what do you guys think?
 
Which one is it? 808, 909, Original or Original LE etc?

Where was that? Qasra?

Holding both bats, which one felt better in your hands? Go with the one that feels the best not what we suggest :)

That is because feel differs from person to person, it is possible that the bat I like and one which feels good in my hands would feel horrible in your hands :)

Hope you get my point but yeah do tell me which model it is and who has it :)
 
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Cover Drive said:
Which one is it? 808, 909, Original or Original LE etc?

Where was that? Qasra?

Holding both bats, which one felt better in your hands? Go with the one that feels the best not what we suggest :)

That is because feel differs from person to person, it is possible that the bat I like and one which feels good in my hands would feel horrible in your hands :)

Hope you get my point but yeah do tell me which model it is and who has it :)
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Totally agree with CD here; even the great Tendulkar and KP in recent interviews have said they always go for bats which feel good; everything comes second; I remember a few years back I bought a Reebok Skipper---just took a chance as it just felt so good and comfortable in my hands and it was such a good decision as I really really used it a lot--so much so that when the handle broke I sent it for repairs to get it fixed.
 
zeusky said:
Totally agree with CD here; even the great Tendulkar and KP in recent interviews have said they always go for bats which feel good; everything comes second; I remember a few years back I bought a Reebok Skipper---just took a chance as it just felt so good and comfortable in my hands and it was such a good decision as I really really used it a lot--so much so that when the handle broke I sent it for repairs to get it fixed.
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Haha :)) I'm that is the first and last bat which got was used that much haha
 
No no: cumulatively my CA has yielded more than 1000 runs to me and my team-mates. It is a public property nowadays.
 
zeusky said:
No no: cumulatively my CA has yielded more than 1000 runs to me and my team-mates. It is a public property nowadays.
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Wow thats good!

And it is still going strong?

They say a bat has life of 1000 runs apparently.
 
Yep-still has a lot of life left (knock on wood); I normally take care to knock in my bat properly. But sometimes the English made ones take just too long a time.
 
both feel good yaar CD...I keep getting confused lol.

I'm not sure of the make,I'll confirm tonight. This is the new cricket place at Kimble Rd Mississauga, Indoor Cricket League. It has Shane Watson's signature on it, if that helps.
 
Shane Watson's signature? That is wired to be honest :S Luna is not associated with Watson in any way actually, is it by mark or its engraved by laser?

Do check the model and if possible snap a picture so I can see whether its genuinie bat or not
 
What happened to the picture mate?


Update on my Oblivion: played with it in the nets; still needs a bit of knocking in I feel. GNs just take too much time to get that sweet sound going!! Good bat though--no doubt about it.
 
zeusky said:
What happened to the picture mate?


Update on my Oblivion: played with it in the nets; still needs a bit of knocking in I feel. GNs just take too much time to get that sweet sound going!! Good bat though--no doubt about it.
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My Gray Nicolls Powerbow took one complete season and during that I played in every net and game, however, it had four grains too so add bit of time for that too.
 
very sorry guys, had a hectic couple of days.

Here we go:
 

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You mean he paid 150 dollars for this? OH no!! Tupac could you please confirm mate?
 
Tupac said:
both feel good yaar CD...I keep getting confused lol.

I'm not sure of the make,I'll confirm tonight. This is the new cricket place at Kimble Rd Mississauga, Indoor Cricket League. It has Shane Watson's signature on it, if that helps.
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Did you buy that from Khan Sports?
 
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