Hey guys, here's what came through today from Paul.
Very happy with them.
Couple of dinks in them, but nothing overly serious, which is good! Will post up more about them later, but here are pictures!
And some of the beauty alone.
The best thing about taking pictures of convex bats, you don't really need to tilt the camera as they sit perfectly when you put them on their back.
Right, so more about the purchase! So, a little while back, I asked Paul out of curiosity whether he was going to stock any Tours. He said he was most likely not going to, as he didn't really like the price point of it, which is fair enough, they are expensive! I did joke that he should get one to do a review, and if it didn't sell, then not to worry as I'm always one for buying gear, so would most likely snap it up if it didn't sell for a while. Of course, I didn't actually expect Paul to pick any, but to my surprise, he emailed me telling me to keep an eye out for a Tour he had picked up from Newbery, which I would love. Of course, hearing those words brought out the bat buying instinct I told myself I would suppress my bat buying instinct for a while, and a fat load of good that did me! After seeing pictures, and hearing that the Tour was the best of the bunch, I decided that it was time to make use of my £15 voucher and 10% discount! Of course, due to people owing me funds (Still none of that paid back yet...), I dropped off a deposit for the bat, and told Paul to keep the bat until my friend's Masuri had arrived, and I would make sure I had the balance paid up by then. So, after a long 3 weeks of wait, the Tour turned up yesterday, and it actually feels quite substantial in the hands. It really looks quite thin, the edges are big, but without a spine, it does look small in pictures, but when you pick it up, you definitely don't feel like you are holding a small bat. The response and sound off of the bat is really quite something as well, and there is that little bit of bottom heaviness which I quite like as well. The finishing on it is stunning, and I have put on a coat of oil where the stickers and scuff sheet haven't covered. I didn't do this with my Laver PB, which is starting to 'splinter' slightly. Going to have to give it a little drink I think! All in all, extremely impressed with this bat, and have to score it really very highly. It will be interesting to see which one out of my Helios and this Tour will win the fight to be my main match bat this season.
A good dilemma to have!
Newbery Tour SPS
Specs:
Weight - 2lb 11.11oz with Hammer Edge sheet and toe guard (Don't like the Hammer edge sheet...)
Handle - Oval
Middle position - mid (Around the 8 inch/20cm mark off the toe)
Pick up - pretty nice, feels around 2.11, so picks up like its weight
Concaving - None, convex profile
Edge size - 38mm at the maximum
Ping/resonance/response (Whatever you want to call it!) - Taps beautifully, and sounds amazing off the mallet. It isn't quite as good as the Helios, but still scores a 10/10. Really fantastic.
Finishing - Very well finished, as is expected of all Newbery bats.
Secondly, the Mongoose ToRQ Premium. I know many of you guys will be like, what, why a Mongoose ToRQ?! Seems a little bit of a random purchase! Well, I actually spotted this on Ebay, and I emailed Paul about it, and turned out there were 13 watchers and myself. There was only around 2 hours to go on the auction, and I wasn't actually expecting or wanting to win, so I decided just to throw in a bid of £80 and a reserve of £86.01, fully expecting the stick to go for around £100. I shouldn't have even bothered with the reserve, as I managed to get it for £80... A bargain if you ask me! It sounds pretty good off the mallet, and the ball does bounce off it pretty nicely. Not quite nearly as impressive as the Tour, but I am really just buying it as it is a bargain. Maybe one of the two younger brothers will take a liking to it.
It has the unique smaller splice technology, but I'm not sure whether this has some use or is a gimmick. I suppose if you tried to fend off a ball at the ribs to the leg side, you might get a run for it since there is less chance of it connecting with the splice.
Specs:
Weight - 2lb 8oz
Handle - Oval (on the thin side)
Middle position - mid (Around the 7.5 inch/19cm mark off the toe)
Pick up - picks up around 2.8, maybe even a little bit of extra weight at the bottom, probably because of the thinner handle
Concaving - Minimal, a big bat for the weight!
Edge size - 35mm at the max
Ping/resonance/response (Whatever you want to call it!) - Taps up pretty nicely, so I have to give it a 7.5-8 in terms of that, but the sound off the mallet is better, an 8.5 for that!
Finishing - Not bad, not in the most immaculate condition though since it had been in stock for a while. I suppose it would have been similar to the Tour when brand new.
As usual, Paul was amazing with his service, packaged the items pretty well, even though there were a couple of dinks, but nothing serious. Always kept me on the loop in terms of the arrival of the Masuri Elite lid (Which actually looks pretty neat), the only complaint being that I think he forgot to put IJC stickers in my package!
At least I think he didn't, although I may have missed it due to my excitement of receiving the bats.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading, and if you want more pictures, let me know! I have only really taken pictures of the Tour alone, but was in a bit of a rush, so felt that I should only snap what deserved to be snapped the most!
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Topic: A purchase... again! (Read 3689 times)