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Nozza
Forum Genius
Australia
8284 Posts |
 Posted - 01/01/2009 : 01:02:47
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My Nanna and Grandad generously bought me a Skyer for Christmas. I will give a short review.
Service: We phoned up and asked Nanna and Grandad to order it, as they live in England. The price was 58 pounds and whilst a bit steep for a training item, I thought it would be a good item to have after all the rave reviews. The next day I went online and was shocked to see an incredible mark up in price to 140 quid, nearly a 200% increase. We phone my Grandparents that night to tell them not to order it, but Nanna already had, saying the company would send the bat direct to us in Australia to save them doing it. There was no way we would have gone ahead with the purchase at that price, but the deal was done.
Weeks and weeks later it turned up on my grandparents doorstep in England! A call to Fusion had them saying to send it back to them and they would reimburse postage costs and get one off to us in Oz without delay. We missed the delivery on the Friday from the Courier and the Skyer arrived 2 days before Xmas. Phew!
Presentation: I unwrapped it on Xmas day straight out of the courier box. It is very, very orange and weighed more than I thought it would. It came in its own zippered cover with a small sheet of do’s and don’ts. I did not use it until Boxing Day, when I was surprised to the see the Fusion stickers on the back of the bat had begun to peel off and the lower one was literally half off the bat! Not overly impressed, seeing as the weather was reasonably mild on Christmas Day and even I thought the stickers would last more than 24 hours. I stuck the stickers back down and hit a few balls in the back garden to my brother.
Performance: The ball comes off accurately and quickly for short catches at good speed. Ideal for slips practice and wicket keeping. This is unfortunately the only positive I can currently find with the 140 quid Skyer. When I took it down to my local cricket oval, I was shocked to find that the ball did not even go as far or as accurately as my Laver. I stood in the exact same spot where i hit my first six in 2nd division cricket against an opening bowler a few weeks previously - I could not hit the ball for six, no matter how hard I swung. The best i could do was get it one bounce for 4. Admittedly Mum only underarmed it gently to me and I thought I would be able to hit the boundary with all my effort going into hitting the ball as hard as I could. Perhaps I am using the wrong technique, but as there were no precise instructions with the bat, I was on the trial and error road. I tried hitting in the air to get hang time, longest was three seconds.
Overall: I have to admit I was a little disappointed after all the hype and reviews about this bat, which left me feeling my Laver was better . After all a training bat with a price of more than 300 dollars should not leave me feeling this way. Perhaps it is physiological and if the price was still 58 quid the disappointment would not be as much, either way, I think the Skyer is over priced for what it is. The only purpose it serves is short sharp catches. I have a katchet which cost me 75 aussie bucks (around 30 quid) and I think it is better!
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