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[dudeduke]

I am planning to buy a bat, and after talking to online stockist, he has suggested me to look into SF bats, as it suits my requirements. I have never used SF brand before. Has anyone used their bats before. How do they compare with Sareen sports? I have basically three options in SF.

1) SF platinum
2) SF Sapphire
3) SF power bow 20-20

price wise SF Platinum fits just perfectly in my budget, other two are slightly higher(both the same price), but still doable. Here are the pictures of the bats. Can someone suggest me which one should i get? Also online stockist is suggesting me SF platinum as he thinks it has really good profile, ping and price. I am concerned as you can see in the pictures that it has dark uneven grains in the middle. I am not sure what it means and does it affect anything.

The person at online stockist said that it is due to uneven bleach.

Please help me out here...  Thanks a lot

[dudeduke]

was not able to add picture... trying again

[mattw]

Wow, those stickers on the back of the bats are a complete rip off of the GN Oblivion(which I assume came first).

[Vic Nicholas]

SF are made in the SAME factory as SS.

The managing director is the brother of the managing director of SS.

You can see a video review here:

Massive SF Cricket Bats New in Stock!

[dudeduke]

thanks a lot Vic,,,, that was very informative... can you tell me which one of the ones in pictures you would go for.. and why?

[alee]

I think Mahela Jayawardene is using SF bats currently. So must be good bats i assume.

Also i read an article about a SF Platinum Bat which apparently had great reviews about it.

The bat test was done in England. Cannot find the article anymore but they had high regards for the SF Platinum.

hope that helps,

[VKS]

SF are made in the SAME factory as SS.

The managing director is the brother of the managing director of SS.

You can see a video review here:

Massive SF Cricket Bats New in Stock!

They are most definitely not made in the same factory. SF (Stanford) and SS (Sareen) are two independent companies with no shared production facilities.

[dudeduke]

Yes, i think the owners both the companies are brothers . thats all..

I am still waiting for some advice on the bats that i posted... I am more interested in comments about the SF Platinum in the pictures. Does anyone know what are there darker uneven grains in middle? I am still newbie when it comes at knowledge about willow..

Any advice will be helpful...

[alee]

Can you get another SF Platinum Bat? I am sure the dark line is nothing to worry about. Just a discolouration of willow. nothing major,

[petehosk]

The sapphire looks the nicest and cleanest willow!!
The others don't look impressive at all!! 
But the only way to tell is to visit and actually have a feel of the bats and see how they feel in your hands!
Also tap them up as the quality of pressing accounts for a large proportion of the performance!
If you but from OS then you can't do this, plus some have good experience whilst others have some bad experiences from them! So you take the risk fella! If you are buying blind then the sapphire looks the cleanest which us all you can really go on!

[trypewriter]

The sapphire looks the nicest and cleanest willow!!
The others don't look impressive at all!! 
But the only way to tell is to visit and actually have a feel of the bats and see how they feel in your hands!
Also tap them up as the quality of pressing accounts for a large proportion of the performance!
If you but from OS then you can't do this, plus some have good experience whilst others have some bad experiences from them! So you take the risk fella! If you are buying blind then the sapphire looks the cleanest which us all you can really go on!

I agree. - The brown line on the Platinum could have been caused by root damage - see JS Wright's site under products - imperfections in willow - they reckon it won't affect performance.

[petehosk]

I agree. - The brown line on the Platinum could have been caused by root damage - see JS Wright's site under products - imperfections in willow - they reckon it won't affect performance.

Yes - this is the problem with going to an unproven retailer like OS!
You can ONLY go on looks! So with only that to go on, and looking at the photos, I would plum for the sapphire.

[The Palmist]

Have you checked IJC thread about SF bats. Will certainly be a safer option than OS unless you are getting super good deal.

[smilley792]

That sapphire looks a lovely shape and size for a 2.9

[abdulwq]

bought SF in last season so only had 6matches with it scoring 200+ runs....Wood is 2nd grade but the ping is nice as well as balance.