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[FattusCattus]

TK / Newbery are the most consistent I've ever used.

[Calzehbhoy]

Hunts County do decent pressing too. If ever I feel a bat is under pressed I usually take it there.

[Neon Cricket]

Hunts County do decent pressing too. If ever I feel a bat is under pressed I usually take it there.

Agreed, I've never used a bad one!

[procricket]

I have but I have also had very good ones and I agree hunts home made is better than hunts imported

[mattw]

Roger at Solitaire presses bats superbly, no need to knock them in and they perform better than the majority of bats I've owned.

[procricket]

I'd agree with that half my team have them does he still have the issue of sending out all bats around 2-12 though. Mine was a very good bat got to agree with you there

[Neon Cricket]

I have but I have also had very good ones and I agree hunts home made is better than hunts imported

No comparison really. The imported lower end stuff is always likely to be lesser compared to the bats made in the workshop, same with most brands I guess

Also have to agree with @mattw - never seen a bad Solitaire either, plenty in the Worcs league (not surprising for 150 notes!)

[procricket]

No comparison really. The imported lower end stuff is always likely to be lesser compared to the bats made in the workshop, same with most brands I guess

Also have to agree with @mattw - never seen a bad Solitaire either, plenty in the Worcs league (not surprising for 150 notes!)

I was on about the higher end important like the old clipper from a few years ago but had one which tiny was doing there and then both top grade bats and the one done by tony had done was far superior.

[sarg]

I have been impressed with pressing of the Aussie made GN range of bats. B3 have improved in the past 18 momths and are very consistent now. Sareen have been consistent. Newbery are also consistent. .

[mp07]

you brought up a good point Sarg, I really think that GN pressing in UK is different than AUS GN Pressing.  From what I have seen and heard, GN AUS perform much better than GN UK.  Maybe all the good quality willows are exported?

[Shortpitch]

Used 3 Lavers till now and a Aldred butterfly, I found Laver much more consistent in pressing. Couldn't get myself to use Aldred in Matches so far (not getting the confidence).  Used RNS for 3 years, beautifully pressed, but recent RNS purchase for team didn't seem to quite good enough. Also ordered a Laver butterfly, waiting to see how it turns out.

[Red Ink Cricket]

I press all clefts individually to maximise performance and would say I get pretty consistent results from it. Pressing is very subjective though so difficult to get a diffinitive answer

[jd163]

Used 3 Lavers till now and a Aldred butterfly, I found Laver much more consistent in pressing. Couldn't get myself to use Aldred in Matches so far (not getting the confidence).  Used RNS for 3 years, beautifully pressed, but recent RNS purchase for team didn't seem to quite good enough. Also ordered a Laver butterfly, waiting to see how it turns out.

I have the same situation with Aldred butterfly but i think its more due to nature of Butterfly cleft than the pressing itself.. They tend to take a lot of time to open up plus the hard sound Butterfly makes compared to a normal sap wood bat does not give me confidence either.. Pings nicely and the ball goes really well but i think its the hard sound of butterfly cleft.

[mp07]

I bought a butterfly from B3, but gave up after 2-3 matches..couldn't get going with it.

[InternalTraining]

 I don't like hard pressed (or ready to play) bats. I don't like how the bat sounds and I don't like how ball feels when rebounds from the bat face. I prefer soft pressed bats where balls leave balls marks on the face. I look at such bats as having "potential" and I go to town on them with my mallet and old pillows (for base). I have had  excellent results with this approach. Surprisingly my last two Lavers started performing early even though the bats didn't require much mallet work. M&H Amplus (circa 2013) was the same - amazing ping and rebound out of the box and virtually no mallet. My first CA was soft pressed and required a lot of mallet but it is by far the best performing bat I own. I liked it so much, I bought two more! I am looking into another CA or HS custom replica of my big Warner.