i've never tried them on. note the word "read". But lekkasport was saying how he was talking to one of his sponsorship players asking him how they were: "well you give them to me so i wear them" was the response
And most probably with your vast experience of cricket you can also see that some bats are rubbish by simply looking at their pictures. Too much of this going on at the moment on several cricket forums. Pass comment on the look , but feel and performance can only be measured if you have actually used them ..