Alright Gentlemen,
As promised I am going to post a brief review of the Slazenger PowerBlade Ultimate that I received today; if you want to know the history of the saga please refer to this thread:
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?t=138684
I would like to apologize upfront as my Rebel has been hijacked by a friend for the time being; so I had to get my not so good but still quite old Powershot involved in the action for this review; do not expect any big sixes from this one, specially at night and hence the quality of the picture will leave a lot to be desired.
As you will see I have uploaded some pictures not only of the Slaz but also a few other of my bats to help us compare and contrast the models.
The first few pictures show some close snaps of the blade, edges and profile.
I have then inserted a couple of snaps of the Slaz with a few of my other bats.
In the next set I have specially contrasted the PB with my GM Hero 707.
Here are the reasons for this comparison:
Hero 707: midrange, low sweet spot, thinner edges, 2.9
PB: Ultimate range, low sweet spot, thicker edges, 2.10
What do you make of this contrast? Please let me know.
Now, here are my observations about the Slaz:
Looks: Decent enough; 9 straight grains and the face is more or less clear enough; then again it is an "Ultimate" so we should expect something equal and in my frank opinion, a little better.
Edges: 34-35mm
Profile: Big and impressive for the weight. Once knocked it, I am sure people will get a lot of value for their shots. Unfortunately, I have not yet taken it out of its cellophane wrapper and I explain the reason in the next point.
Ping: No real chance to test it thus far; initial impression on tapping an old ball on the face is that it will require some knocking to judge the ping; but when I do the same on my Nitro Carbo for example, the response is much better and I have not knocked it in either.
Sweetspot: Low but is quite extended; this is interesting to note as when people talk about extended sweet spot they usually refer to one which extends from the mid blade to the lower portion; but my feel of the bat leads me to believe that in this one while the majority of the wood is near the bottom, it does have some mojo in the mid and upper blade region; the toe as you can see is quite thick as well.
Pick up: Now the distribution of the wood would lead us to believe that it will have a better pick up than the Hero, right? Wrong. It is in the pick up that I am extremely disappointed. I gave my Slaz and my CA 10000 (mentioned elsewhere in this forum) which I got from former international star Asif Mujtaba, to my wife who has no idea about cricket bats. I asked her to swing both the bats and she inferred that the Slaz was heavier. Funny enough, I would keep this one away from her lest she decides to use it on me. Sometimes the novices give you inputs that one tends to overthink too much. I then picked up both the bats and found the Slaz to be much heavier not only in the pick up but also in the swing. I then compared the Hero with the Slaz and though the Hero is just one ounce lighter, it felt much more comfortable in the swing motion for just this little difference in weight. The major concern is not that the Slaz is bottom heavy, it just feels heavy overall.
Inference: Because of the pick up, I will not give this Slaz PB Ultimate the points one might think it might be deserving of. The main point of reservation is the price---in the US, this one sells for $399; is it worth it? Again it comes down to personal choice but left to me I will not spend more than $250 on this one; then why did I buy it? Well, because, I got it for $120; for $120 it is the best ever buy someone can have. So it ultimately comes down to the question of value. In my case, it is worth it. I will not take it out of the wrapper as I know a few Slaz enthusiasts who would gladly exchange one their bats with this one.
Again, apologies for the elongated ramblings and the poor quality of the pictures. Like I have said in the past, this kind of a review is really not complete without using the bat in the middle. One should also carefully comprehend the fact that it is my own feel of the bat that leads me to draw my own inferences and it might not match what you have in your own mind. That is why we are here to share our experiences so please, please, and again please, feel free to share your views and inputs in this thread.
As promised I am going to post a brief review of the Slazenger PowerBlade Ultimate that I received today; if you want to know the history of the saga please refer to this thread:
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?t=138684
I would like to apologize upfront as my Rebel has been hijacked by a friend for the time being; so I had to get my not so good but still quite old Powershot involved in the action for this review; do not expect any big sixes from this one, specially at night and hence the quality of the picture will leave a lot to be desired.
As you will see I have uploaded some pictures not only of the Slaz but also a few other of my bats to help us compare and contrast the models.
The first few pictures show some close snaps of the blade, edges and profile.
I have then inserted a couple of snaps of the Slaz with a few of my other bats.
In the next set I have specially contrasted the PB with my GM Hero 707.
Here are the reasons for this comparison:
Hero 707: midrange, low sweet spot, thinner edges, 2.9
PB: Ultimate range, low sweet spot, thicker edges, 2.10
What do you make of this contrast? Please let me know.
Now, here are my observations about the Slaz:
Looks: Decent enough; 9 straight grains and the face is more or less clear enough; then again it is an "Ultimate" so we should expect something equal and in my frank opinion, a little better.
Edges: 34-35mm
Profile: Big and impressive for the weight. Once knocked it, I am sure people will get a lot of value for their shots. Unfortunately, I have not yet taken it out of its cellophane wrapper and I explain the reason in the next point.
Ping: No real chance to test it thus far; initial impression on tapping an old ball on the face is that it will require some knocking to judge the ping; but when I do the same on my Nitro Carbo for example, the response is much better and I have not knocked it in either.
Sweetspot: Low but is quite extended; this is interesting to note as when people talk about extended sweet spot they usually refer to one which extends from the mid blade to the lower portion; but my feel of the bat leads me to believe that in this one while the majority of the wood is near the bottom, it does have some mojo in the mid and upper blade region; the toe as you can see is quite thick as well.
Pick up: Now the distribution of the wood would lead us to believe that it will have a better pick up than the Hero, right? Wrong. It is in the pick up that I am extremely disappointed. I gave my Slaz and my CA 10000 (mentioned elsewhere in this forum) which I got from former international star Asif Mujtaba, to my wife who has no idea about cricket bats. I asked her to swing both the bats and she inferred that the Slaz was heavier. Funny enough, I would keep this one away from her lest she decides to use it on me. Sometimes the novices give you inputs that one tends to overthink too much. I then picked up both the bats and found the Slaz to be much heavier not only in the pick up but also in the swing. I then compared the Hero with the Slaz and though the Hero is just one ounce lighter, it felt much more comfortable in the swing motion for just this little difference in weight. The major concern is not that the Slaz is bottom heavy, it just feels heavy overall.
Inference: Because of the pick up, I will not give this Slaz PB Ultimate the points one might think it might be deserving of. The main point of reservation is the price---in the US, this one sells for $399; is it worth it? Again it comes down to personal choice but left to me I will not spend more than $250 on this one; then why did I buy it? Well, because, I got it for $120; for $120 it is the best ever buy someone can have. So it ultimately comes down to the question of value. In my case, it is worth it. I will not take it out of the wrapper as I know a few Slaz enthusiasts who would gladly exchange one their bats with this one.
Again, apologies for the elongated ramblings and the poor quality of the pictures. Like I have said in the past, this kind of a review is really not complete without using the bat in the middle. One should also carefully comprehend the fact that it is my own feel of the bat that leads me to draw my own inferences and it might not match what you have in your own mind. That is why we are here to share our experiences so please, please, and again please, feel free to share your views and inputs in this thread.
Last edited:
)
