Louisville Slugger Xeno or Lxt??

[Northmont_Dad]

I see that on the "coach reviews" website, only 72% recommend the LXT. The sample size is pretty small (25 reviews), but still that's a pretty disappointing number. By way of comparison, the Easton Mako has 41 reviews, and 95% are favorable.

Edit to add that the other night I took my DD to a local D2 hitting clinic and saw a bunch of 13 year old girs using the LXT. I know these girls very well as my DD helped coach them last Winter and Spring, and I just couldn't believe how well (and how hard) they were hitting the ball with the LXT. The improvement over last year was incredible. I'm not saying that that's due to the LXT, but the ball was screaming off their bats.

I like the The Coaches Review website for durability issues but not for subjective opinions such as "pop" or "looks prettier than." Of the 7 negative reviewers, two from Oct 2013 are obviously the same person

This Louisville Slugger LXT bat is not a good bat. Y’all need to lower the price.

and three other reviewers saying the Xeno and the much heavier Rocketech were just better does not really make the LXT bad. I would worry more about the folks saying something broke or got loose. Only 2 of 25 actually found something wrong or a possible 92% positive.

Anyway, My DD has a 2013 Xeno 31/21 and a 2014 LXT 32/22. She hits with more power using the LXT, ie. the ball appears to launches off the bat quicker in soft toss. I wish I had the money to buy that Zepp Swing Tool to measure bat speed. She prefers using the Xeno right now because it is lighter and I won't let her use the LXT with machine pitch.

She plans to use the LXT for her school games. When she does, I'll give a more detailed opinion.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

She prefers using the Xeno right now because it is lighter

I bet the LXT is within 0.4oz of the weight of the smaller Xeno. Maybe even less. We have one 32/22 LXT that weighs 21.6oz and the other two weigh 21.8oz. All the 31/21 Xenos we've weighed come in 21.4 - 21.6oz.

 

[The Coach]

Both bats are good performing bats (i.e., they have good pop) but the LXT is Louisville Slugger's newest and most expensive bat. The Xeno is a two-piece, balanced bat while the LXT is a three-piece, balanced bat. The -10 drop is typically used by smaller players, contact hitters and slappers. If you are truly a power hitter, you should look at the Xeno & LXT's -8 or -9 bats or an end-loaded bat like the Anderson RockeTech or the DeMarini CF6 Insane.

 

[29dad]

Both bats have had good performance ("pop") but the LXT is Louisville Slugger's newest and most expensive bat. However, both of these fastpitch softball bats are two-piece, balanced bats - typically used by smaller players, contact hitters and slappers. !

Wow. I've seen a lot of college power hitters who use the Xeno and would disagree with you. Vehemently.

And by the way, the LXT is a 3 piece bat.

 

[ms244]

Very true. The LXT is a 3 piece bat and I have seen several power hitters use both the Xeno and LXT bats. 4 players (3 power, one contact) just switched to the LXT on our 18u team. 2 of them switched from Rocketech and the other two switched from Demarini. 2 more will be moving to the LXT on our 16u team before HS season starts.

 

[Westwind]

MS, are any of those players going -9/-8 or pretty much buying the -10?

 

[Westwind]

Both bats have had good performance ("pop") but the LXT is Louisville Slugger's newest and most expensive bat. However, both of these fastpitch softball bats are two-piece, balanced bats - typically used by smaller players, contact hitters and slappers. If you are truly a power hitter, you should look at an end-loaded bat like the Anderson RockeTech or the DeMarini CF6 Insane. Also, you should consider a -9 or -8 bat, depending on how strong you are. The website below ranks the best bats for power hitters. Good Luck!

I find vague generalities like this to be unhelpful, maybe even insulting, on a site like this where a whole bunch of educated softball parents/people hang out.

Everyone here can go look at the reviews from justbats and closeoutbats that you repost on your site and find out what bats low information buyers think either "rock" or "suck".

You may want to recalculate what you think this audience is before posting a link to your site in every post that mentions a bat.

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I find vague generalities like this to be unhelpful, maybe even insulting, on a site like this where a whole bunch of educated softball parents/people hang out.

Everyone here can go look at the reviews from justbats and closeoutbats that you repost on your site and find out what bats low information buyers think either "rock" or "suck".

You may want to recalculate what you think this audience is before posting a link to your site in every post that mentions a bat.

Hahaha, thank god somebody else did this. I didn't want to be the mean guy

To build a "ratings" or "database" of relatively useless reviews makes the ratings useless. People just saying "this bat is great, my daughter hit well" or "this bat sucks, my daughter hit terrible" doesn't lead to any credible ratings system.

And I'm sorry, but the "coaches" review is just a mix of the manufacturers description of the bat and mass generalities that he heard and read. I really don't think he tests any bats to really know much of anything.

I could say more but will hold back. I just couldn't take the terrible info anymore and the constant advice to check out that site

 

[cuzmail]

koracatcher15 - You should hook up with CoreSoftball20 for whichever you end up getting. Fast, reliable service from a member of this board.

My girls have ordered three LXTs from him recently and the service was top-notch.

Ditto, we purchased our '14 Xeno from him. Good price and quick ship. DD loves it !

BTW, the local LS rep and the LS company tech guy said that the -9 is the better bat choice. They didn't say why and I didn't ask because DD isn't ready for a -9.

 

[cuzmail]

both of these fastpitch softball bats are two-piece, balanced bats - typically used by smaller players, contact hitters and slappers.

Hmmm.... not what I see in my observations. LXT is a 3 piece bat. I see a lot of power hitters use LS products. Watched a few go over the fence at the high school tournament yesterday. I don't see how you can say they are for slappers only.