First of all, an apology to Vitas for not posting this earlier! I got in touch with Jake after feeling left out for not being available for the forum meet up, and he showed me this, which was a left over from their sale! (Also had my eye on a gorgeous TON Legacy Elite, but decided that was too heavy) I was surprised it wasn't snapped up for £150!
Specs:
Weight - 2lb 8.98oz (With Scuff)
Edge - 35mm
Spine - Approx 60mm (Unsure)
Shoulder - 14mm
Toe Edge - 19mm
Toe - 28mm
Handle - Oval
Concaving - Minimal
An odd one this one, the spine seems to be misaligned slightly, by about 2mm, so 1mm off really. (Goes to show it's a handmade product!) The dimensions aren't incredible, but it's hard to say as the spine height was difficult to measure with the slightly off centre spine. The shallow concave just helps keep the weight down and enhance pick up without sacrificing the 'guts' of the sweetspot. The one thing I dislike about the shaping though is the peak of the edges. It just feels too rigid, and is purely cosmetic, but they were also slightly misaligned too! (Again, another thing about handmade bats) It's just a tiny issue though, and I don't mind edges being slightly off, it is probably more the sharp peak. A smoother curved edge would have given me the cosmetic 'wow' factor on this bat, as I love the spine profile. (Maybe there's some underlying reason for the odd edge profile) The pick up is awesome on this particular one, as the shape would suggest. It's almost like an Amplus made in England!
Despite all my nitpicking about the shaping, this doesn't seem to affect the performance of the bat, as it pings ridiculously. It's a touch softer than I expected, as it dented quite readily upon knocking in, which means that either Matt's pressing has changed, or the bat has just settled due to being in the store for over a year. It's a great size for the weight and definitely meets my expectations for H4L performance. This will probably used on slightly quicker and bouncier wickets against quicker bowlers, although will have a lot of convincing to do to make me use it instead of my Warbird!
Looks wise, hard to comment on the finishing as it had been in a store for a while, but it seemed to be good. The grains are beautiful, 9 of them, all straight and evenly spaced. Had there not been watermarking, this would have been a Pro I reckon!
All in all, happy about this purchase, and as always, a huge thanks to Jake at Vitas for his usual top service!
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Topic: H4L Tempo MkII G1 from Vitas (Read 5931 times)