So picked up my Ayrtek gloves from Tom yesterday and received my BlankBat gloves a while ago as you may know. Tomorrow I'll do a review of both gloves as well as pictures hopefully giving you as much info as you desire....
THE REVIEW! BlankBats Split glovesRRP £45.00
Size: Mens Right Hand
First of all I'd like to start talking about the service from Mike. After saying to him numerous times on Facebook that I'd like to get a pair when I could afford them, when I finally could it was just a case of letting him know my size, dexterity and address and he sent them out next day. They arrived a couple of days later and as soon as I put them on I was very pleased. I have fairly large hands and the fit was perfect, as if they had been worn in already. As for protection, I would say that they offer more coverage than the Ayrtek gloves as the padding goes further toward the wrist leaving nothing exposed. The quality of the protection is equal to the Ayrtek gloves which as many of you may know is superb.
Aesthetically I like the design a lot, if I were to design a pair of gloves it would be very much like these. However as previously stated I don't like the WR100x Pittard palm visually, the feel is very nice though, similar to the "Indian" Pittard. The gloves are also very light for their size, I say for their size as the whole glove is slightly larger than normal. They're very comfortable when holding a bat, no annoying excess palm which creates ridges etc, however because they seem to be quite snug my hand do get warm fairly quickly and as I haven't worn them for more than 8 overs I suspect my hands may sweat more than normal (I'm not a sweaty person as it is).
They have been put together very well as well. At a price of £45 I guess these will be against most top/mid-range gloves from the 'big brands' and the quality for the price is very good. The stitching is faultless on inspection as well as being flexible in use. Only downside is the shiny, plastic logo which lets it down in comparison to the Ayrtek which looks more expensive with the matte embossed logo, but that's only being picky.
If you like your Ayrtek gloves (I know a lot of you do), and looking for another brand to accompany them then look no further than BlankBats. For the price you're getting an awful lot of glove and you will not be disappointed.
Ayrtek Elite glovesRRP £54.99
Size: Mens Right Hand
Bought these whilst ordering a helmet respray from Tom and picked them up from him yesterday. Most of you have dealt with Tom before so know the customer service he provides. If you haven't dealt with him then it couldn't be easier and he goes to great lengths to help.
I tried on a couple of pairs at Ayrtek HQ and picked these as they were slightly larger than the others. As previously stated I have large hands so these feel not as large as the BlankBats gloves, however for most I should imagine they'd be perfectly adequate. Having had the previous Ayrtek Elite gloves with the "Indian" (I hate that term) Pittard palm I was surprised how nice the new proper Pittard palm is having not got on with some previous Puma gloves with the same palm. The protection is very good which you'd expect from a £55 glove, however in comparison to the BlankBats the protection doesn't go all the way to the wristband. They are as flexible as the previous model, as you'd expect from the same design and if you don't have these gloves they're the most flexible gloves I've used (and I've used a few).
Aesthetically I think they're very nice, prefer them to the white/green previous model and the black vents was an improvement the Indian suppliers decided to make, however it may be subtle, I like it. I also like the black and silver embossed logo on the glove as it looks classy. Something the Ayrtek gloves have that the BlankBats gloves don't have is small vents on the thumb (indicated in pictures) which is a good addition in my opinion without detracting from comfort. Both these gloves have towelling inside the gloves on the back of the hand which I have tried to take pictures of. Although this is nice I previously had a pair of sample Canterbury gloves from Tom which I think had memory foam backs and that was sooooooo nice.
Ayrtek Elite gloves have a large fanbase so many will adore these too and in comparison to the £60+ league of gloves these will definitely be my choice over them. The only problem with these gloves are the BlankBats gloves which are £10 cheaper. I think what gloves you choose is all down to your preferences and budget. You will
not be disappointed with either of these gloves, if you like split gloves you will struggle to find better gloves than these for their respective prices.
Hope this was helpful, if you have any questions then fire away.
Joe