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Online now: 2 members: TABLE SETTER 11, timster49er; 116 anonymousDiscussion: Tuff Shield
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| April 1, 2013 sliplayer Men's 60 70 posts | Tuff Shield After reading a couple of threads on the life of bats I decided to post something, I have been successful using. I have been using the Tuff Shield and I'm really impressed with it. It’s not very expensive I believe under $12 on Kelly’s Ultimate Sports site and I’m sure it available from other sites. Mike Kelly is the one that suggested the Tuff Shield. Steve Stone in Vegas was using them many years ago but for some reason I didn't care for the product when I first tried it. However, I have hit with new bats and even bats that I was ready to throw away because of serious cracks and have been amazed with the results. According to Mike it will increase the life of your bat by 40% (new bats) and you should be able to see only about a decrease in ball coming off the bat around 10% (although I haven’t noticed that). I have several bats with a severe cracks and decided to throw the bats away because of the cracks and not being able to hit on opposite side with good results (bad was dead). I just pulled a couple of old white centenarians and a red Miken out of the dead pile and tried them with the sleeve and the ball was jumping off the bats. It’s easy to put the sleeve on and off. Just put the seam over the crack and hit with opposite side. Utilizing the sleeve on the new bats especially senior bats is to extend the life of the bat and help break them in and get them game ready. It also gives a chance to swing the bat you will be using in your games. I will mentioned that it does add a little extra weight on the end of the bat so it will swing slightly heavier. I will include a video clip of my using the sleeve with a severely broken bat (just copy and paste): http://youtu.be/R31qGHV9Fmc I do not sell these sleeves nor am I promoting them except for the fact that I believe they really work well and they are inexpensive. I watched a video by Mike Adair today and he was hitting a new bat utilizing the sleeve and it was going a long ways. Now Mike hits a softball long ways but this demonstrates that the sleeve does not deteriorate much if any from bat performance. Hopefully he will post that video. Mario even as big and strong as you are I believe this will help you with extending the life of your bats. It looks like Stoney was correct about the Tuff Shield! Please don’t ask for research data because all I have is my personally hitting the ball with the sleeve and if you want to try it great if you don’t that works too. SLi Steven Imlay |
| April 1, 2013 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Tuff Sleeve is 11.95. I used this in a couple of videos. Worth the investment if it saves the life of your game bat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFUV6lGGyLc |
| April 1, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Seems to be holding the cracked bat together but doubt it's legal to use in a game. Be good to use a cracked one in BP like the videos on here, so you can get all you can before it totally goes. For the 12 bucks it would be worth it. |
| April 2, 2013 sliplayer Men's 60 70 posts | Tait I'm not sure how or why it works but it does help get more swings out of a broken bat. I believe that it's main use is with new bats to extend the life of the bat. I prefer to use USAAA bats and broken bats for BP and save my good bats for game use, however it is great to get the opportunity to swing your gamer occasionally without worries about it breaking. SLi |
| April 2, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | I agree on that. Perhaps there is just enough protection from the material used that it dampers the hit enough to keep from further damage for a short time. Good videos on that though in any case. |
| April 3, 2013 SCRAPPY 44 posts | Tuff Sleeves are a good product and versitle. They also protect your bat in the cages and also in cold weather. I have represented this company for over 20 years and use it myself. If your local stores don't carry it have them order it. Tuff Sleeves and Tuff Toe which is the pitchers toe protector is used by most major league players. For more info go to www.tufftoe.com I will discuss with Corky about carrying it on the truck. Good to see Steve Imlay out swinging the bat. I have played against you many time with our Scrap Iron teams. Scrappy6, Mike Massong |
| April 3, 2013 Dbax Men's 65 2100 posts | 5.99 on EBay with 2.00 shipping. New. |
| April 3, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | That would be a good deal I think. But I gave up my acct there in '07. oh well. |
| April 3, 2013 the wood Men's 65 1123 posts | Taits: Before you call the suicide hotline, walk into a big box sporting goods store and buy one off the rack. I did so 5-6 years ago. The reason that I use it is to protect game bats on colder mornings (pre-game BP). Make sure that it is made for a softball bat though. Big box = chain stores such as Sports Authority, Sports Chalet, Dick's, Big 5, etc. Or... if you don't want to leave the friendly confines of your home/office go on Mike Kelly's web site. 'Perhaps there is just enough protection from the material used that it dampers the hit enough to keep from further damage for a short time'... I believe that this statement qualifies you for the 'keen eye for the obvious' category. BW |
| April 3, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | BW, That wouldn't be in the cards, but I thought of the box store also since we have about 6 of them locally. Short term fix yes, but other options for use could be thought of. Thanks though. Stay Healthy. |
| April 3, 2013 Bomber23 58 posts | If the sleeve doesn't add additional distance or pop, why is it only used in BP. Is it actually banned in games? |
| April 4, 2013 4x4 Men's 65 601 posts | Knowing Steve's swing & seeing the condition of that Miken & how fragile the Reds are this thing obviously works. A lot bats die in BP so it has a very practical application. Especially for those that take BP often with a lot of reps. For those that have used it for awhile how long does the Tuff Sleeve typically last? |
| April 4, 2013 the wood Men's 65 1123 posts | It's a thin rubber sleeve that costs less than $15. Assuming you don't tear the seam, it should last a real long time but I can only bear witness for the past 5-6 years... it did not come with an extended warranty. I just felt that it was financial risk worth taking. BW |
| April 5, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Went to Disk's yesterday to check them out and perhaps buy 2. But at 12.99 for one and as thin as they were, i decided not to do so. Had they been 7 or 8 I would have ventured into the item. Dicks does a price match so I'll shop the other box stores around and see if they carry them. As the Wood stated, it is THIN and has a stitched seam. Not sure which would wear out first. I was hoping for a 1\8 to 1\4 in thickness in it the seam looked stitched well. Once again, what you see or read isn't always at it appears. ??? |
| April 5, 2013 Dbax Men's 65 2100 posts | There is a video on Cheapbats.com that says not to hit on the seam to much or it will break. |
| April 5, 2013 the wood Men's 65 1123 posts | It says as much on the sleeve itself... but I thought that this meant that the bat could break. Either way, put the seam over the crack, as Steve suggested, or rotate it around the barrel (in the absence of a crack). It also has arrows that point toward the larger end (it isn't a rectangle, it's a trapezoid). Taits, like I said, mine has lasted 5-6 years. The force against it is the compression of the ball... the exception to this is when you put it on and take it off the bat. But I haven't torn mine. It's about as safe an investment in bat protection gear as you can make. BW |
| April 5, 2013 4x4 Men's 65 601 posts | Scott - for $12.99 (lasted Bob - 5 years $2.50 a year say) Figure you don't break a lot of bats and only break 3 a year - your $12.99 Tuff Sleeve will still be around supplying you with extra BP swings after you've gone through $3000.00 worth of bats during that time. It's also possible you'd go through less bats by prolonging the use of your bats for BP that you've previously discarded. Given the fact that factors even as simple as the cost of gasoline are cutting into the softball budget this seems like a bargain to me. |
| April 6, 2013 lewis 49 posts | Dbax, thank you for the information on the tuff Lewis, Steve Brown Deperados |
| April 6, 2013 swing for the fences Men's 50 1224 posts | With all these new bats coming out that last 1000s of swings, who needs Tuff shield????????????? (-; |
| April 7, 2013 4x4 Men's 65 601 posts | s4tf - you sure you're swinging from the right end of the bat? I guess they could last 1000's of swings if you never make contact! ( 8 |
| April 7, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Got one @ Big 5 for 9.99. About same distance form me as Dicks, 1.5 mi. |
| April 7, 2013 swing for the fences Men's 50 1224 posts | 4X4, look again about what I said...GSC and HB coming out with bats that last 1000s of swings along with others... who would need a Sleave... Just saying! |
| April 7, 2013 4x4 Men's 65 601 posts | Yeah I caught it Swing... First they have to get here and then be proven with consistant performance and durability. It would be nice to get away from the Miken-auto break technology. In the meantime there's 10,000's of thousands of $200 bats that could have a prolonged life with the use of the Tuff Sleeve. Seems like a good trade off. |
| April 7, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Swing... You get your average base or doubles hitter and yes you might get a bunch of hits but the feedback from a variety of players after some months of use will be more reliable than any sales guy trying to make a buck. I got it with the hope of getting a few more hits on my Freak DST that has 6 strange stress cracks in it. They curve downward on the side of the barrel rather than the length of the barrel. But the minimal cost for some prolonged use make it worth while. |
| April 7, 2013 swing for the fences Men's 50 1224 posts | The way they were talking about these new bats were a bunch of Gorillas were swinging them, hitting them 400 ft and 1800 plus swings on one bat... I'm down for a bat like that if it exist... ;-) |
| April 8, 2013 BruceinGa Men's 70 3233 posts | I've had mine for 8 or 10 years and still use it on occasion. The reason that it has lasted so long is that I'll only use it 3 or 4 times a year and have gone a few years without using it altogether. |
| April 8, 2013 ? 121 posts | NO INPUT FROM THE BAT SALES GUYS? |
| April 8, 2013 Tim Millette 615 posts | I am not a bat sales guy but I have been helping in testing then H&B senior bat. In testing it has a been comparable to the senior bats we all use at this time....but....the one they let me take home had over 800 swings on it when I gave it back. Over 600 of those swings were in 50 degree weather hitting stadium (rock hard) softballs. Over 95% of the exit speeds were over 95 mph...with some topping out at 110 MPH. I also tested the GSC bat in a round of BP....it was very good and I am told there is a GSC bat being used in a Modesto senior league that also has over 500 swings on it. I guess what I am saying is....don't know if its going to be tomorrow or a year from know but.....senior bats with durability are on the horizon. |
| April 8, 2013 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Well this tread got Hijacked.....Facts about the Tuff Sleeve...they weigh between 2.1 and 2.4 oz. If someone did not tell you that, I don't know if you could tell it weighed that much. We used it this weekend on some broken bats, unbelievably they remained broken. We got 36 swings from a partially cracked Ultra Red and 2 swings from a completely cracked 60% around Reebok. We probably have about 500 swings on this tuff sleeve. I don’t know if it truly adds to the life of the bats but what does it hurt. We old guys spend a heckuva lot more money that $12 on crap we don’t use. As I tell my boys, always use protection when you can and when you can’t…just walk away. |
| April 8, 2013 . 22 posts | softball4b The purpose of the Tough Shield is extend the life of a bat that is not broken. For bats that are already broken the shield will give you results similar to what you have described above. |
| April 8, 2013 softball4b Men's 70 1248 posts | Geez....obviously the tuff sleeve is not designed to fix or repair broken bats..a little humor apparently does not go a long way. :-) |
| April 8, 2013 Marv19 Men's 60 498 posts | In case anyone is interested The SCSSA will have these for sale at the next tournament. Colors: Red, Black or Royal $10.00 |
| April 8, 2013 swing for the fences Men's 50 1224 posts | LOL 4b! |
| April 9, 2013 DCPete 409 posts | Just think of it as a bat condom . . . |
