All,
Today we visited H4L, and got a very good look at their 2016 range, fulfilled some pre-orders, took some stunning bats for our stock, and had a generally great time chatting cricket bats with a very knowledgeable bat maker! The plan on this post is to give the ordinary customer the opportunity to experience the day, and to be as close as some may get to visiting the manufacturers! If you want any information about the range, send us an email or a PM, if not, our YouTube channel will be very busy on Saturday, so check in there...
I have a few observations about the 2016 range, and have detailed them below, with the pictures below this...
Softs Only very limited numbers of the softs are available now, more will be available in December. The thumb on the Pro glove was my only slight criticism, I feel they dig in slightly too much, a bit like the old GN Legends, but again that is incredibly niche! They do look absolutely stunning though! Having two gloves in the range which are Pittards palms is also very impressive - not a lot of companies do that. Further, I absolutely loved the Grade 1 gloves, they are possibly the most flexible sausage finger gloves I've ever seen! The Custom pads and gloves are worth all the hype they've been generating on here - I can't wait to give them to Chris to review, I think he's absolutely going to love them!
BatsThe major change is obviously the addition of the
Warbird. I found it to be incredibly well balanced, with a feather light pick-up (the counterbalanced handle helped a lot here I think). Check the photo below to see the stunner we picked in Pro grade! The blade is a tiny bit shorter, with a marginally longer handle, very similar to something like the Newbery Kudos.
The
NV and
Hellfire remain the same bats but with slightly updated decals. The
Hattori has a slightly rounded face, and updated decals, but remains the same distinctive, lower middle. The
Tempo has been dropped from the range completely - whilst the decals across the range are now all fully embossed.
The
Custom Bat is going to be listed on our website, and will be entirely made to order for the customer. This really is a good showcase for Matt's batmaking skills, and I'd encourage anyone to utilise H4L for their custom made bats. They will all be the absolute pinnacle of the willow!
I think all that remains is to have a look at the pictures!
Paul
Matt really has an impressive, (if somewhat untidy) set up - Great British manufacturing at it's finest!
Here you can see the press, where he tests out each bat individually to make sure they are at their optimum performance levels!
The new range in all it's glory. All of your favourite colours are catered for!
An up close of the stunning new Warbird decals!
The beautiful Custom gloves, including a detailed shot of the stunning white on white H4L branding! So subtle you can barely see it is there - art in it's best form!
This Warbird Pro is one we have taken for our stock. We will be reviewing it on Saturday, and remember - if it is ordered during October, it will qualify for free knocking in! It plays as well as it looks! 2'10 but with the counterbalance it picks up more like a 2'8.5!
A bit more info on some of the profiles
H4L do everything themselves, and that starts with the raw clefts
And finally, where the magic happens. The craftsman's bench is a sacred place, and I myself, using a Hellfire, have a lot to thank the man who does his work here for!
Hopefully that post has been informative, stay tuned later in the week for our Newbery visit...
Paul
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Topic: IJC Visit to H4L! (Photos inside...) (Read 6311 times)