Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Reviews => Topic started by: Komdotkom on February 26, 2020, 08:46:37 PM
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After seeing a video from our very own Sarg on YouTube about discounted bats from GN with no apparent defects, I thought I'd look up the Ebay seller mentioned and have a look at what was available.
It appears that this ebay account is the clearance section for Gray Nicolls and their associated brands and they were selling off bats with 'cosmetic defects' for A$150, so I thought it was worth the gamble. One of our young stars at the club has one of these and it's a weapon in his hands so that swayed me toward the Ultra instead of the Atomic at the same price.
This one has a 39mm edge one side and 40mm the other, heavily concaved with a spine down into the toe which peaks around 63mm. Toe is ok (didn't measure) not as thin as some of the GN's from 2018/19 which were a bit fragile. This isn't Australian made but the finishing is ok, it's no Laver&Wood and certainly wouldn't meet the standards of Northern Monkey but it's not as bad as some of the other low end bats from SS and the like. A couple of visible sanding marks, slight wobble in the spine and not the best job of handle binding but for a wet weather/net bat it's fine. There's a couple of blemishes/knots on the face but nothing that really bothers me, the weight is 2 9 pickup is ok and feels much like all my other 2 9 bats really. The handle is actually quite nice, round on the top hand and a nice medium oval on the bottom hand; a bit GM really. Not as thick as an Aldred but much nicer than the GN noodles of recent years.
Ping with the mallet is ok, but a bit sluggish with a ball and sounds a bit dead. I've got some oil on it at the moment and will give it some time on the mallet over the weekend which I'm sure will improve things.
I'm not sold on it at the moment but it's early days, they retail at $350 here so I won't lose money if I sell it on.
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Looks pretty good for $150! In regard to the 'minor defects', they do look pretty minor in the pictures.
From the clues you given, is that Sports direct online? If so, I got some bowling machine balls from them, and they feel and behave like ones that are twice the price.
Those Atomics look tempting too, especially at that price. Interesting that your Ultra is branded 800, but those SH atomics don't have a model number.
Thanks for the review
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I think that's the name of the seller, the PayPal account is actually called Gray Nicolls.
I don't like the 'more is better ' approach to stickers that GN are adopting though it lacks class.
I'll take it for a hack at training tonight.
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At least they add them as separate stickers so it’s usually easily sorted. Those 4 go fast stripes would be coming off if it was mines.
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@Komdotkom looks very nice bat mate. Do you have a link to website as assume this bid the Aus version of the Gray Nicolls clearance site?
Chris
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They won't post to the UK
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They won't post to the UK
Oh really, that’s a shame as like a lot of the Aus GN bats
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https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?sid=sportsonlinedirect_45&isRefine=true&_pgn=1 (https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?sid=sportsonlinedirect_45&isRefine=true&_pgn=1)
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If you really want one I can post it to you, but then you would have to post me something from the UK.
Probably a Salix or Kippax.
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They won't post to the UK
yes i found that out also :)
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If anyone really wants one you can send me the money (PayPal) and I'll purchase on your behalf and then use Parcel Monkey (no import duty) to send it to the UK.
The only downside for you is that at some point I'll want to buy something from the UK which can't be shipped or has insane shipping rates, and I'll prevail upon you to be my shipping agent.
I didn't use this in the nets last night, the your tear aways are doing a fast bowling program and were all given brand new balls as part of the deal so I used my Blue Room instead.
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If anyone really wants one you can send me the money (PayPal) and I'll purchase on your behalf and then use Parcel Monkey (no import duty) to send it to the UK.
The only downside for you is that at some point I'll want to buy something from the UK which can't be shipped or has insane shipping rates, and I'll prevail upon you to be my shipping agent.
I didn't use this in the nets last night, the your tear aways are doing a fast bowling program and were all given brand new balls as part of the deal so I used my Blue Room instead.
You are a bad man. It’s becoming very hard not to buy 2-3 of them. Only to save on shipping costs you understand!
Only thing stopping me is that they’re Indian made and GN UK also have some mega reduced bats on eBay, yet I’ve managed to resist them.
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You are a bad man. It’s becoming very hard not to buy 2-3 of them. Only to save on shipping costs you understand!
Only thing stopping me is that they’re Indian made and GN UK also have some mega reduced bats on eBay, yet I’ve managed to resist them.
I think you will find that nearly all GN bats U.K. or Aus or Indian made.
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I think you will find that nearly all GN bats U.K. or Aus or Indian made.
I know, that’s what was putting me off. Questioning why a deal on an Indian made bat from Oz was tempting me but one likely made in the same place from the U.K. hadn’t!
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You are a bad man. It’s becoming very hard not to buy 2-3 of them. Only to save on shipping costs you understand!
Only thing stopping me is that they’re Indian made and GN UK also have some mega reduced bats on eBay, yet I’ve managed to resist them.
@Kulli - Do you have the ebay link? Will they post outside of UK?
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https://ebay.co.uk/usr/sports-bay-clearance
No idea about postage I’m afraid.
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Thanks for the link. No postage to US.
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Although this is stickered as 'ready play' a quick knock with the mallet suggests otherwise with some significant indentations evident which may be part of the reason it isn't the best performer at the moment.
I'll see if I can give it an hour or so during the week and review the performance after that.