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[vibrate]

Hey guys gonna buy a new gm soon to go with my collection. Tossing up between a mana or paragon. Mainly a front foot player love driving but also dont mind cutting the ball aswell.

Now my next question is there any significant difference between the 808's and originals? Apart from the looks is there really any significant performance differences? Ive had three 606's that went like guns just wanna know before i put a order in from the uk since i live in Aus

[jonazax1717]

Got a mate who has the Mana Really nice Pick up and quite big spines on them , he had a 606 goes just aswell as any other  grade 1 on the market , quite thick handles also , i would recommend the mana.

[Alvaro]

I have a Neon 808, and I love it. Great pickup, performance and looks, offset edge means middle is long.

[Alvaro]

[vibrate]

Was there much adjusting for you to get use to the handle/blade length? Im still having trouble adjusting for my kaha i purchased

[Alvaro]

None at all.

[bk]

GM take their grading very, very seriously and typically will downgrade a blade compared to competitors. This is why they don't allow retailers to hand pick. I've seen lots of 808s and 606s that were superb, just with minor blemishes. I don't think there's a huge difference between the top 3 grades once they're knocked in properly.


Interestingly, GM don't subscribe to the idea that butterfly marks are a good thing. "Why would you want to have an area of the bat that takes a lot longer to start performing?". My son's had a few bats from GM and all have been absolute guns backed up by a great after sales service.

[Northern monkey]

I'd agree regarding butterfly marks, I'm not a fan in the playing area of a bat
But there's lots would disagree with this

[sanredrose]

@vibrate - You will always find 606, 808 and 909 from GM very very compelling in terms of looks, ping and performance but nothing beats a GM original. Original model's willow quality is much much higher than any 808 or other models you see. Given the price point and level of cricket you can always choose between original and original LE. I prefer original, since its a good value for money for my level of cricket gameplay.

For front foot game play GM kaha might be a good option. Check out GM chrome - my personal take is that it falls right between Mana and Paragon model shapes. It might offer you the best of both worlds.

[vibrate]

So i decided to go with a mana to add to my collection. A lot lighter then my flare and Kaha but it picks up super nice keen to take it to the nets for a hit. The response with the mallet is super responsive super happy with my purchase. Here is a few shots of my three gm's together. I still want a paragon but that will have to wait.

[jamesisapayne]

Some great bats there @vibrate - can't go wrong with 606/707 or 808 GM's in my opinion. Great performing bats at sensible prices.

I still have loads of love for the original Flare shape, but the newer one looks great too, plenty of coverage.

How do they play compared to each other?

[vibrate]

Im still having troubles getting use to the kaha. The handle throws me off and being from australia it's very hard to play short stuff with it i have found. The flare started off kinda hard but it's getting a lot better the more i use it in the nets. The kaha and Flare are both around 2.11-2.12 and the mana is 2.7-2.8 So hopefully it isn't to hard to get adjusted to the weight of the mana.

[potzy248]

GM seem to make smaller bats than other makers, definitely in edge size. I haven't seen a huge light GM before when perusing the stands or looking at photos. Id be keen to proved wrong and see a huge light GM as per some Kookaburra and GN's.

[ppccopener]

The flare is a wonderfully shaped bat from the GM range....
Yes perhaps not the massive edges of other brands but is that a negative?

Everyone I know who has a GM is happy with it, I think myself the new range and the older icon, halo, etc were excellent.

Customer service also found to be excellent and that's a big plus in my book. 

[vibrate]

Ive never been fussed about huge edges on my bats. One of the main reasons i like gm so much is that they usually focus on distributing the weight on the edges which in return give the bats bigger shoulders which is a big plus in my books.