Tour of Combat facilities

I had the distinct pleasure of touring the Combat factory last weekend as I was in Ottawa for business and what a great experience it turned out to be!
The factory was originally 7500 ft in 2005  and has grown to around 20000 sq ft in today as well as adding a huge expansion to the US in Seattle with another 20000 sq ft.
Two of the greatest things I learned from Fred St Laurent who is in charge of R&D and who personally took me around through the manufacturing side was 1- there is a real passion for their products , both diamond sports and hockey and 2- they can go from a design idea to creation to mold to testing in less than 24 hours!
This has given them a huge advantage over the larger competitiors as most of them do all their sourcing overseas which can take months to get to where Combat is in a day...
also dealing with a canadian company gives us all a bit of pride, buying a quality product from a good Canadian company makes us all proud!
With the changes to the rules upcoming and no one entity knowing exactly where the business is going to fall, Combat has positioned themselves for a great year in 2012 moving forward as they are ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and product knowledge.
The testing facility they have is fantatsic and as well the actual tech they use which is composite in a sleeve or sock shape allows for them to have no seams which is quite common with other manfacturers  and usually creates a point of weakness that is where the cracking begins.
More reviews of bats to come....
Stay warm and happy holidays

Combat Pure Review and other tidbits

Sorry for the delay in posting but it's a busy season right now for all.
Finally had a chance to get out to the cages with some of the batmen last night and we hit some of the new offerings form Combat and Louisville.
Will review the new Combat Pure USSSA 1.20-2012

This bat looks great, slick and has a carbon fibre look to it that the JK Reloaded had.
With the abiilty to see the Helix technology of the carbon fibre through the clear coat, it has a cool, mean look.
With the gear technology that is consistent with past models such as the Jason Kendrick Reloaded,Afflicted, the vibration dampening technology helps with mishits and adds to the crisp feel.
The 5 of us put about 150 hits on the test model (27 oz) and were impressed how crisp and clean the ball came off the PURE, we hit it against the Avarace and the Avarace 98 and while we were in a cage which doesn't show the true flight, we all agreed that the PURE has some skills.

 This is going to be a good addition to the Combat line as is legal for play in all 3 big ones.
Put it on the Xmas list, you'll like it!

http://youtu.be/v2qynXEI_y8