"2015" 4TF first impressions

[web gem]

My mostly useless first impressions of the 26 oz 2015 4TF I just received;

Scale weight was exactly 26 ounces. Thats probably the first bat I've ever had that measured exactly the sticker weight, props to Miken. Please share your secret with Combat and TPS.

Knob is wayyyyy too big (duh). The stock grip sucks (easy fix, so non-issue).

<start of insignificant petty art rant>

The graphics are seriously embarrassingly terrible. Who cares what a bat looks like right? Most border between roadside graffiti and MS Word clipart, but this is a whole new level of barf. The red stars in the background are actually severely pixelated, how does a production product hit the market with pixelated graphics? A lot of bats look like they were made with MS Paint, but I really think this one probably was.

They're stars. If you would have asked, I could have drawn you a whole constellation of vector stars in Illustrator that you could've used on this bat and not embarrassed yourself with. So could the 12 year old kid at the local elementary school, look him up next time. He'll probably do your bat graphics in exchange for Miken Mafia sweatbands.

I really hope the 7 year old nephew of the president of the 4 The Fallen organization supplied the graphics for the bat on this one.

</end of insignificant petty art rant>


The bat feels good, swings nice for a balanced bat. I think I'll love it. Even if I have to put a bag over my head to be in the same room with it with the lights on.

 

[Tictac020]

I think the 4TF is a good looking bat! I like the color scheme! My DC41 isn't a looker! It's white and chips very easily! But it is a good bat! So I am not worried! I think u will get more people who like the 4TF bat and color then the people who don't like it....and why buy it if u are so appalled with it? U can easily see what it looks like in pictures and I think it looks better in person? Just my .02!!! Enjoy the performance!!! They are good bats!

 

[web gem]

I think the 4TF is a good looking bat! I like the color scheme! My DC41 isn't a looker! It's white and chips very easily! But it is a good bat! So I am not worried! I think u will get more people who like the 4TF bat and color then the people who don't like it....and why buy it if u are so appalled with it? U can easily see what it looks like in pictures and I think it looks better in person? Just my .02!!! Enjoy the performance!!! They are good bats!

The way a bat looks has never affected my decision to buy it. And you can't tell it looks like a child made it with MS Paint from the photos online.

And...I do graphics, so I'm just being petty. I've just never bought anything before that was so poorly presented. Look at yours, you'll see what I'm talking about. I'm just curious how a product makes it to production with a careless error like that. It'd be like they misspelled Miken. Or if you bought a car and they forgot to paint one of the doors.

 

[ALo4]

with the crazy dating that goes on with these - are you talking about the red bat with black type that was made and used this year?

 

[B-radical]

with the crazy dating that goes on with these - are you talking about the red bat with black type that was made and used this year?

Yes, the one that typically breaks in less than 3 swings




Sorry, had to

 

[Fuzz]

My mostly useless first impressions of the 26 oz 2015 4TF I just received;

Scale weight was exactly 26 ounces. Thats probably the first bat I've ever had that measured exactly the sticker weight, props to Miken. Please share your secret with Combat and TPS.

Knob is wayyyyy too big (duh). The stock grip sucks (easy fix, so non-issue).

<start of insignificant petty art rant>

The graphics are seriously embarrassingly terrible. Who cares what a bat looks like right? Most border between roadside graffiti and MS Word clipart, but this is a whole new level of barf. The red stars in the background are actually severely pixelated, how does a production product hit the market with pixelated graphics? A lot of bats look like they were made with MS Paint, but I really think this one probably was.

They're stars. If you would have asked, I could have drawn you a whole constellation of vector stars in Illustrator that you could've used on this bat and not embarrassed yourself with. So could the 12 year old kid at the local elementary school, look him up next time. He'll probably do your bat graphics in exchange for Miken Mafia sweatbands.

I really hope the 7 year old nephew of the president of the 4 The Fallen organization supplied the graphics for the bat on this one.

</end of insignificant petty art rant>


The bat feels good, swings nice for a balanced bat. I think I'll love it. Even if I have to put a bag over my head to be in the same room with it with the lights on.

Have you been drinking?

 

[Tictac020]

Exactly^^^^

 

[DStandridge]

I ended up pre-ordering a ("2015", 2014 release year) 4TF from a Miken Rep. It took a while for it to open up. Maybe a good 175 hits. But honestly, that's the only issue I've ever had with it. It was a stubborn stick, but man it sounds like a shot gun going off.

 

[web gem]

Going to start swinging the DC and 4TF tomorrow and see if I can get rid of the ping sound by Saturday. Then I'll have a real first impression of these bats. Both have the same exact balance point, which is weird. They seem to swing similar also. So in 26 oz models, almost appears they're one and the same. Can't feel the end load in the DC at all.

 

[Dupe19]

Pixelated like this?

Just saying. Not all graphics are meant to be perfectly smooth.

 

[web gem]

Pixelated like this?

Just saying. Not all graphics are meant to be perfectly smooth.

LMAO nice try, no. That's digi camo. The graphics on the 4TF are a careless and lazy mistake.

 

[ddoubler]

Someone post a pic of the bad graphics or gtfo

 

[Dupe19]

Was changing the pic cause the jets weren't showing up on my phone. I guess they worked for you haha.

 

[web gem]

Ok get your notepad out, here is a rasterized graphic of some stars and stripes in its original (small) format

Here is what happens when you blow up that same image, like you would to print it on a bat

And then here is the background image of the 4TF graphics

This is a common mistake, as graphics on a screen are displayed mostly in 72 dots per inch. Dots make up the image, and there are only 72 of them in an inch. Things that are printed are usually a minimum of 300 DPI with 600 DPI being preferred in most cases. So if you took an image on a computer screen that was 3 inches long (all screens are relative anyways, but trying to put it in the simplest terms), and then printed it out so it ended up being 3 inches, going from 72 DPI to 300 DPI would make each dot over 4 times bigger than its intended size. Which makes it pixelated.

Probably one of the first things you would learn in any sort of beginners graphic art class. So obviously whoever made the graphics on this bat was not a professional, or not even a novice graphic artist. Either that, or they were just being lazy and didn't care that it would look like crap.

 

[Redman]

LOL just be glad the font isnt like that

 

[DStandridge]

I understand that's your field of work and such ... But really? You're going to have a piss and moan rant over this? LMAO

 

[Hiltz]

Pros:
-Still made in USA by American workers, not sourced overseas
-Top-tier performing bat
-Cheaper than a lot of competitors' equivalent models
-Made by one of the best companies to deal with re: warranty issues
-Portion of proceeds go to 4 The Fallen organization

Cons:
-Stars are pixelly


I can see how anyone would be upset with this bat.

 

[Dupe19]

He did say it was a petty rant and other than the graphics he likes the bat.

 

[DStandridge]

He did say it was a petty rant and other than the graphics he likes the bat.

Kinda like Allen Iverson with practice.

 

[Crush23]

Just picked one up. Won't be able to swing it until April. What is the performance like on these?

 

[DStandridge]

They take a bit longer than the Dc-41 to break in, I believe this is due to not having a Supermax endload. But not by much. Maybe a good 75-100 cuts on it, where as the Dc-41 may only take 50-75.

But once broken in, the bat will become a resident of Stupidville.

 

[web gem]

I understand that's your field of work and such ... But really? You're going to have a piss and moan rant over this? LMAO

I said I don't care what the bat looks like. Very few bats look good in my opinion, and I've never bought a bat because of looks.

That said, I would never expect graphics on any consumer product to make it to production looking like this. You don't even see mistakes like this on gum wrappers. So yes, extremely amusing to me to see it on a product with a $300 price tag.

In the end, doesn't matter and won't change my opinion of the bat. But Miken should be embarrassed to have made such a careless, stupid, lazy mistake. That is all.

 

[Hiltz]

Is it possible that they made the stars pixelly/grainy on purpose? The rest of the graphics (text, 4 the fallen logo, etc.) look fine.

 

[louconn]

why are these much more expensive than the dc41?

 

[DStandridge]

I said I don't care what the bat looks like.

But apparently do you since you made this thread on how bad, and pixelated the stars are on the bat.

 

[DStandridge]

why are these much more expensive than the dc41?

Proceeds go to the 4 The Fallen organization.

4-thefallen.org for more info Lou

 

[Tictac020]

why are these much more expensive than the dc41?

They aren't! Some stores have them for just 10 bucks more....and they may be more expensive because they came out like first quarter of 2014 where dc41 and triad came out end of 2013...? Wild guess!!

Also, i am not gonna buy this bat because obviously u need to wear a brown bag over your head from the shame of owning such an ugly stick...hard to hit with brown bag sweat....

 

[DStandridge]

Also, i am not gonna buy this bat because obviously u need to wear a brown bag over your head from the shame of owning such an ugly stick...hard to hit with brown bag sweat....

I'm starting to think I should sell mine now, since the stars are all pixelated. Hell, I know it's hot and hits great. But having such horrid, low quality graphics on it really grinds my gears.

 

[web gem]

I hit it today, right alongside the DC-41, both right out of the wrapper. Both in a 26, I think they're exactly the same bat. The balance points are EXACTLY the same, feel is the same, sound is the same, distance is the same.

They're both hot, the ping sound went away on both in like 25 swings. But I did hit a couple that were a little more toward the endcap, and those made the ping sound still. I put about 125 swings on both of them. Great bats. They outhit my 500 swing Easton 100W pretty easily, but they weren't near on the same level as my buddy's 2000+ swing Blackout. So not really like "OMG HOW ARE THESE BATS LEGAL?!?!" hot like some people say, but for only having 125 hits, they're pretty awesome.

I think obviously if you went to a 27 or up, I bet they would feel a whole lot different. I just don't think they were able to squeeze much of an end load on the 26 DC.

DC-41 definitely looks better

 

[DRock88]

I think the endload is more pronounced as you go up in weight for the DC41. I don't know that to be fact, but I've swung 26s, 27s, & 28s and that's what it feels like to me.