OT- fastpitch bats

[sambo73]

Any of you dads that have daughters playing using the louisville slugger lxt? My daughters 10, 4'8" 100#. Its the bat that Heath recommended . Thx

[meathunter]

Love it

[meathunter]

Daughter loves it that is

[CBHunter]

What length and weight is she using. Looking for a new bat for my 8yo.

[Buck assasin]

My sisters team has them here she likes it.. But she wasnt a fan of the two peice design and dosent really like the 3 peice either.. She is a solid hiter and has really quick hand speed and with the 2-3 peice bats they are ment for a slower swing hitter to give them a lil more whip through the zone... That being said she loves her miken.

[sambo73]

What length and weight is she using. Looking for a new bat for my 8yo.

Wanna say 29/17?

[sambo73]

Thx so far. Also been told to cl out demarini cf6.

[meathunter]

My daughter has quick hands and swings a 33/23. In the last two tournaments she has gone 16 for 20 with two walks and a strike out. Bottom line it is not the bat, it is the swinger. You can get better pop out of some bats, but a bat will not make you a better hitter.

[chancito1]

Lousville still has issues with the lxt and the xeno. Still having breaking problems breaking and coming apart inside. Probably 75% of the kids we see playing travel ball all over the country are swinging xenos although Easton's new mako is selling #2 behind xeno from most stores I've checked. We have had more xenos than I can count and my daughter has broke every one. She just broke a 6 month old 2014 model and we did look at the lxt but my daughter didn't think it had the pop that her xeno did. I did look at reviews for lxt and they were not real good. I can't get the xeno out of my daughters hands but I would look at the de marini cf6 or Easton Mako. The two piece bats were not made for kids with slow hands.

[sambo73]

Lousville still has issues with the lxt and the xeno. Still having breaking problems breaking and coming apart inside. Probably 75% of the kids we see playing travel ball all over the country are swinging xenos although Easton's new mako is selling #2 behind xeno from most stores I've checked. We have had more xenos than I can count and my daughter has broke every one. She just broke a 6 month old 2014 model and we did look at the lxt but my daughter didn't think it had the pop that her xeno did. I did look at reviews for lxt and they were not real good. I can't get the xeno out of my daughters hands but I would look at the de marini cf6 or Easton Mako. The two piece bats were not made for kids with slow hands.

Thx for info

[sambo73]

Anymore thoughts?

[stryker93]

My daughter is 9 and is swinging a demarini vendetta. It is an older bat that I got on clearance about 6 months ago. Paid 149 for it. Very good pop and she really likes it. She is taller so she uses a 30in 18oz. There is a break in period and the bat has gotten hotter the more it is used.

[Heath]

Lousville still has issues with the lxt and the xeno. Still having breaking problems breaking and coming apart inside. Probably 75% of the kids we see playing travel ball all over the country are swinging xenos although Easton's new mako is selling #2 behind xeno from most stores I've checked. We have had more xenos than I can count and my daughter has broke every one. She just broke a 6 month old 2014 model and we did look at the lxt but my daughter didn't think it had the pop that her xeno did. I did look at reviews for lxt and they were not real good. I can't get the xeno out of my daughters hands but I would look at the de marini cf6 or Easton Mako. The two piece bats were not made for kids with slow hands.

We are experiencing a return rate of about 3% on the 2014 Xeno and LXT so far. We have beefed up the 2014 version to help with the durability issue while maintaining the elite performance. The Xeno and LXT are dominating the market and there is nothing even close to it. We can make a bat that didn't break, but it wouldn't perform so there is always a delicate balance of producing a bat that the girls want. All of our bats have a one year warranty so if a bat breaks, we will give you a new one. The bottom line is if you are playing competitive fast pitch you will break bats. It doesn't matter if they are LS, Easton, DeMarini, etc. I heard the CF5 and CF6 are snapping like crazy so its not an isolated to LS. My recommendations is to not use the bat in a batting cage (with heavy balls), don't let other girls swing your bat in the game or BP, and don't use the bats in cold weather.

The Mako is selling just because of the marketing behind it. Girls are realizing the bat is nowhere near a Xeno and LXT. I have done several demo events head to head with the Easton rep and I have not had a SINGLE girl buy a Mako over a Xeno and LXT when they have had a chance to hit all three back to back. There is no question the Xeno and LXT are head and shoulders above the Mako.

The LXT takes about 200-300 swings to break in while the Xeno is out right out of the box. A lot of people thought the LXT would be like the Xeno out of the wrapper, so the only bad reviews I have had is the LXT didn't have as much "pop" out of the wrapper but that is due to not allowing swings to break in. Also keep in mind that reviews are not truly accurate. Some of those are done by competitor companies in attempts to make their product look better and/or dis somebody elses product. We don't particate in the online review wars. We don't Most of my teams are starting to swing the LXT over the Xeno now that they broken in. The LXT has a more solid connection piece so it doesn't have as much flex as a Xeno. It really comes down to personal performance if you like the Xeno or LXT. The LXT has a 30 day "love it or return policy" so you can make sure its the bat for you and if no we will give you a full refund.

The technology (S1iD) in the Xeno and LXT allow a girl with a slower bat speed to get the maximum performance out of a bat. So no matter if your daughter has the fastest bat speed or the slowest, she is going to get the most out of her bat. This is why the Xeno and now LXT are dominating the fast pitch market for the last 4 years.

[chancito1]

@Heath
We are having 100% return on our xenos, one girls has been replace 4 times in 7 months. The othe 4 girls have all had theirs replaced at least once since purchased. The 1 LXT that we have has also been replaced once. Keep in mind that the girl that has had hers replaced 4 times is a freshman in high school who is committed to UT and hits 24/7 while 2 of the other 3 are Jr's and are also committed to play D1 ball. My daughter is a sophomore and has not decided where to go as of now but will likely end up D1. All these girls hit a lot more than average so these bats take a beating. I was fortunate to spend some time with one of Louiville's head reps in Colorado last summer and he was very honest about what was going on but felt they had fixed the problem with the xeno. We have not had a 2014 model snap in half but they will start to rattle inside. I spoke with a rep a few weeks back and he said they were having issues with that but were already on the way to fixing it. We haven't had problems with the De Marinis ever breaking, maybe one or two over the years but it is not a xeno. The bat doesn't make a hitter but it's hard to argue the explosion of a xeno compared to any other bat on the market. Yes they are going to break, yes they are expensive but I don't believe there's anything like them. So since my kid or the other kids she plays with don't like the cf6, the worth or anything else you put in their hand we keep using them because in the end they perform. We have 2 now in case one breaks during game. UT started using the Easton Mako this season and from what I hear they are very happy with them but they are still pretty new not sure how they will be in the long run

[Heath]

I completely understand and I hope my post didn't come off as defensive, but this is what I do for a living and my livelihood depends on it so I want to voice my opinion. I deal with rumors, half-truths, online reviews, truths, misconceptions, etc. every day so I have the chance to take all information in and make an education opinion on it. I have sold around 2000 fast pitch bats in the last 6 months to my stores / teams and I have personally be involved in less than 20 total returns. Now I expect that number to grow as the season goes on, but so far I have been very satisfied with the 2014 in terms of durability so far. I have done over 60 different demos (mostly college programs) and have not had a single failure in my demo bats.

There is question we have had some issues with the bats the last couple of years, but to me I don't care that a bat breaks, I care about the service after the fact. We are making the best feeling / performing bats on the market for the elite players and we will continue to push the envelope even if that means breaking a few bats along the way.

Schools like Texas get paid by companies to use their product. So Texas has a contract with Easton so they use their product because they have to and not cause its the best on the market. We do the same with schools such as A&M, Arizona State, etc. Most of the schools I have seen that have Easton contracts are not swinging the Mako this year as they are swinging last years FS1. I have not had a chance to see Texas play this year.