Thursday, 13 December 2012

Cobra X lacrosse head from Warrior reviewed

By Linda Robles


Focusing on stiffness and ball control, the Warrior Cobra X lacrosse head boasts a molded throat design. Its ultra-lightweight sidewall structure increases the firmness in the bottom section of the lacrosse head ensuring sturdiness. For better ball retention and handling, the head has been built with a raised ball stop.

This head features a 2-tone color design for a completely unique look. This lacrosse head has been constructed with goal scorers in mind. This lacrosse head is approved for all leagues, it's NCAA and NFHS compliant.

The good points

Very accurate

The top of the scoop is pointy enough that I was able to string up a really good channel. The scoop is rather flexible that might be as a result of the weight reduction changes. When shooting, you might even sense some flex. I didn't feel it at first but wound up a big crank and eventually felt it.

This lacrosse head is rigid

This lacrosse head is definitely stiff and that is a positive thing. I fitted it on Brine, Warrior and STX handles and it was stable and sturdy on each of them. At times heads can become wobbly when fitted to shafts from other manufacturers but it's nice that this head does not. Hats off for being spot on on this Warrior. Warrior have made a concerted effort to further improve the rigidity of the whole lax head. The strengthened neck flows through to the sidewalls for added stability as well as concurrently reinforcing the throat.

Reverse flared sidewalls

One thing you will find about the Warrior Cobra x lacrosse head is that it doesn't have a lot of pinch. But it's of no concern. The reverse flared sidewalls perform as a superb substitute for pinching. I strung up a mid pocket out of habit, but the reverse flared side walls scream out for a high pocket. This, combined with the tip of the scoop and the offset, makes for a precise and hard shot. Attackers, you might want to take note of this.

Built for forwards

The Warrior Cobra X is built for forwards. All the major benefits work to enable you to score more goals. The flex, sidewall flare, scoop and lightweight structure all combine well. This lax head will almost certainly provide you with the best chance to score more goals. Or at the very least remove your lacrosse head as a factor for why you're not scoring goals!

Things for Warrior to work on

A universal head, so some potential for warping

The all-play lax heads, those that comply to both requirements, are distinctive in that the side-walls extend up from the throat and distinctly curve out to the 6.5in . scoop. You will be able to recognize these type of lax heads once you become conscious of this variation. Nevertheless, complying to each set of size specifications results in a few limitations. The distinct contour from the side-walls to the scoop produces more of a chance of the head hour-glassing. This isn't a dig at the Cobra X lacrosse head from Warrior specifically, but instead the category.

Raised ballstop, what's with that?

I've got no idea exactly what the raised ball stop is for. STX have the identical structure in several of their heads and maybe Warrior are attempting to compete on this. Warrior claims "it's to help prevent the ball from being knocked from the head". Huh? It makes no sense! For the ball-stop to help with retention, the ball would need to go behind it and to do that you would need to string an ultra low pocket. Additionally, to sit the ball at the back of the ball stop, you would have to totally loosen up the bottom strings. In any case, as soon as you try this the ball won't freely fall out if angled forward and your head will be illegal. The ball-stop would also play no part because once you cradle the ball it will probably sit higher in the pocket. That's with any type of stringing. But the ball-stop has at least one thing going for it, it looks nice.

Ground balls are difficult

Your angle of approach to a ground ball with this particular head has to be somewhat higher because of the lip behind the head. I like to get down and over the ball, but as you get down low the ridge behind gently raises the top of the lax head off the surface. If you get low and off line, you can't scoop the ball up. Ground balls, especially on grass, were unfortunately difficult to pick up with this lax head.

Straight line ground balls were fine. But picking up ground-balls going across my path I had a bit of difficulty with. I noticed a couple of times it took two or three tries to scoop it up. Turf really generated the most difficulties. With the variability in the turf I found I had to get lower down so I would not dig in much, nevertheless the lower angle raised the top off the turf. I had virtually no difficulties on the artificial surfaces. My old Evo had the identical sort of top and results.

Summary

The Warrior Cobra X lacrosse head really delighted me. This lacrosse head has been constructed for a solitary position and I really like that Warrior were uncompromising about that. That position being goal scoring attackers. Aside from the queries I have with ground balls and the ball-stop, it fits the bill wonderfully as an attacking head.




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