They have gotten a bad rep over the years for their durability and different feel. There's been a couple other threads that this horse got beat to death in. The softer barrel and sound can give the effect of making you think the bat is going to break upon contact if you're not used to it. With the exception of a few, they have a pretty quick break in. Even the older stuff (OGGS, JMac Plague, etc) was 300 swings with some hard stuff and then gamer only. They weren't made to last 2-3,000 swings. They were made to be hot fast. Some of the narrow minded gets one and puts 1,000 on it then is pissed when it ends up in 2 pieces. I lost count of how many times I read someone's post that said "One of the hottest bats I've ever swung, but I won't own another. Their durability sucks". That's where a lot of the negative light in that category came from. Then throw in people who can't own a bat without "sending it down a hill" and you have something you just sucked the life out of. Combat has significantly stepped up their durability these last few years as well. 800-1,000 swings out of one is almost the norm. And I will be unbiased and add that their ASA and dual stamp bats will give anything in the same category a run for it's money. Don't believe everything you read (hell, nobody is asking you to believe this either). Try one before you knock them. And don't use the "my buddy had one" bull crap either. Put one in your hands and give it a fair chance.
This isn't necessarily directed at anyone in general, just a rant I get on time to time about Combats.
/rant
