Ghost vs Xeno

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Jul 3, 2014
49
8
Inland Empire
Both of my daughters just jumped on the Ghost train... both coming from LS. DD1 is coming from an '18 LXT and DD2 came from a '16 Xeno. Both of them love their LS bats, but had some success swinging their teammates Ghosts. Came across a smoking deal on the '18 (Blue) Ghost a few weeks ago so jumped on a couple of them. Haven't used in games yet since we've been on vacation, but hitting lessons and practices have shown that the ball just rockets off the bat compared to their LS bats....but hey that just may be me?!?1
 
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
Both of my daughters just jumped on the Ghost train... both coming from LS. DD1 is coming from an '18 LXT and DD2 came from a '16 Xeno. Both of them love their LS bats, but had some success swinging their teammates Ghosts. Came across a smoking deal on the '18 (Blue) Ghost a few weeks ago so jumped on a couple of them. Haven't used in games yet since we've been on vacation, but hitting lessons and practices have shown that the ball just rockets off the bat compared to their LS bats....but hey that just may be me?!?1
No it’s not you when you square-up the blue Ghost the sound and exit Velo are top notch. Looking forward to the evenly balanced 2020 drop 11 version myself.
My issue has been the consistency of the blue Ghost. Maybe because it’s end loaded and harder to square-up than the Sluggers.
Hard to pass up with the big price drops since the release of the 2020 Ghost.
 
Feb 9, 2015
10
3
The 20 Ghost may be the best choice if you go with balanced drop 10 or soon to be released drop 11.
The 20 Ghost is getting better reviews than the 18/19 Ghosts from what I have seen. Close to 5 Stars where the 18/19 were 4 Stars. Worth a demo if possible.
I'm curious why the new one is getting better reviews. I would think the '18/'19 would be better since they are league specific and push the upper limit in each league. Since the '20s are dual stamp I would think it would be weaker for ASA league than the '18. Also curious if you take away the negatives on the '18s because they're league specific AND take away the negatives talking about people being heavy hitters but using a -11 (when they shouldn't be) and breaking it what are you left with? I would think the '18 would be able to out hit the '20 though all else being equal?
 
Apr 28, 2019
1,423
83
I'm curious why the new one is getting better reviews. I would think the '18/'19 would be better since they are league specific and push the upper limit in each league. Since the '20s are dual stamp I would think it would be weaker for ASA league than the '18. Also curious if you take away the negatives on the '18s because they're league specific AND take away the negatives talking about people being heavy hitters but using a -11 (when they shouldn't be) and breaking it what are you left with? I would think the '18 would be able to out hit the '20 though all else being equal?
Fair questions but I can only speak to my experiences and the numerous reviews I read before purchasing the 2020 Ghost.
The 18 ASA & 19 U Trip Ghosts scored an average of 4 stars from the reviews I checked on numerous sites and also word of mouth from players & coaches. Durability was an issue with the previous Ghost models.
The 2020 Ghost seems to have a bigger sweet spot and is more consistent.
One of my daughters uses the 2020 Ghost and a 18 Xeno. She likes them both and does equally well with them. Having said that she prefers the 18 Xeno over her 19 Xeno. The 18 feels heavier and she just gets more umph in her hits. The 19 Xeno is more of a line-drive base knock bat for her. Nothing wrong with that but the 20 Ghost & 18 Xeno just send more balls over the fence consistently.
So even with the same manufacturer and supposedly the same weight from year to year th bats vary.
I also like the dual stamp factor. It sucked when we had to take the 18 Ghost out of her bag for Utrip tournies.
The 18 Ghost was more hit or miss. It was either a rocket or a dud. I attribute that to a smaller sweet spot due to no issue with other bats she uses.
Another poster recently mentioned a smaller sweet spot on the 18 Ghost.
I was not a huge fan of the 18 Ghost. I felt it was a solid bat but I had it rated behind the LXT & Xeno for overall performance.
I have the 2020 Ghost and Xeno in a dead heat for best power hitter bat. You really can’t go wrong with either bat.
 

CoreSoftball20

Wilson = Evil Empire
DFP Vendor
Dec 27, 2012
6,215
113
Kunkletown, PA
I'm curious why the new one is getting better reviews. I would think the '18/'19 would be better since they are league specific and push the upper limit in each league. Since the '20s are dual stamp I would think it would be weaker for ASA league than the '18. Also curious if you take away the negatives on the '18s because they're league specific AND take away the negatives talking about people being heavy hitters but using a -11 (when they shouldn't be) and breaking it what are you left with? I would think the '18 would be able to out hit the '20 though all else being equal?

I told folks from the get go...USSSA allowed ASA standards for bats...so the 2020 was gonna be just as good
as the 2018 with just a few tweaks. So no, on paper the 2018 wasn't going to be able to outhit the 2020 and it doesnt.
The 2019 USSSA bat I thought was the lesser of the three because of the diff usssa standard at the time. But it did
take some time to "heat" up.

Think you hit the nail on the head with reviews...you have to think about what people review and how people
react when reviewing a product. People react differently to things. Many of the lesser reviews probably deal with
people that broke their blue ones...some folks are gonna give bad reviews just for that...or lesser ones.
So that alone can skew a whole review table. Heck, the Blue ghost prob even suffered some bad reviews for it being
ASA only...even though people knew that buying it but just wanted to convey their displeasure in a review :)
 
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CoreSoftball20

Wilson = Evil Empire
DFP Vendor
Dec 27, 2012
6,215
113
Kunkletown, PA
So even with the same manufacturer and supposedly the same weight from year to year th bats vary.

That is def true...bats can def vary year to year as they adjust things. And bats can def
be better or worse than prior years. Sometimes a tweak doesn't go the right way or sometimes
the next year and "new tech" doesn't work out as well as previous models. Then the next year
they jump back in the R&D dept and quick get a completely new one out.

That's whats fun about hitting bats.
 
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