I've bought two bats via the forum, one from Paul at IJC which I went to view as it was a substantial investment. It turned out to be a bat of real character and very heavily discounted. The other was purchased on photographs only, but I had an inkling (since confirmed) of the provenance, which at the price made it a huge bargain. It had been used in a bat off on here and had been marked well if unspectacularly (perhaps due to comparison with some of the other bats?). Anyway, I can't speak for the performance yet, but in respect of pick up, handle, etc. it exceeded all expectations, in fact, it felt 'right'. So I think I dropped very lucky. Obviously I'm also hoping for great performance too, but so far there's nothing to make me feel that it will be lacking in that department.