Easton Hybrid Lami

[Lester8 11]

Easton Hybrid Lami

Stickhandling: The stiff paddle gives it a crisp feel on the puck. The lami hozel provides a closely-matching stiffness and all around the blade gives a decent feel for the puck. 7/10.

Passing: The stiffness doesn’t make passes hard to receive, but it does make sending passes harder to feel and aim. I couldn’t focus on much else when making passes in a game. 4/10.

Shooting: I didn’t notice an improvement to my shooting with this blade over wood or composites. It shoots rather poorly. Shots were softer and off target. It maybe that it snaps back too quickly for me and loses all the power before I release the puck. 5/10.

Weight and Balance: It’s a fairly light blade at around 200 grams. Not noticeably lighter than all-wood blades. It makes for a slightly higher balance point than its competing models. It’s light, but nothing outstanding. 7/10.

Durability: Poor durability. The hozel cracked on the face side. On the whole, it’s too stiff and it doesn’t bend or stretch enough. I blame the thick glue layers of the laminations. 3/10.

Intangibles: The blade is not as consistently constructed as I expect molded blades to be. The shape of the heel, forehand to backhand, is not symmetrical. The hozel length was 1/2 inch longer than, and the toe shape does not match, more consistent Modano models. The lie was a bit lower also. Gaps can be seen between the paddle and hozel joint. There are some air pockets that appear to be from paddle and outer sock failing to adhere or melt to each other. All of this contributes to the blade’s performance.

Conclusion: Unless it’s they pay you to take it, I wouldn’t recommend this blade to anybody for any reason.

[echi24 1]

Easton Hybrid Synthesis

Background: 5'7" 135 lbs, Bantam AA hockey

stickhandling: this blade felt great for me when i stickhandled, its thin like a composite blade, yet it provides a little bit for of a wood feel without sacraficing durability. I felt alot quicker stickhandling with this blade and the puck seemed to always respond crisply to the blade. 9/10

shooting: this is were the blade weakens a bit. This blade isnt amazing for slapshots, in fact i felt i lost a bit of power on my slapshot (or maybe it could have been the broken OPS shaft). Wrist shots were crisp and just as accurate yet a bit weaker, but i really enjoyed taking snapshots with this blade. The puck almost flies off it when you take a snapshot, nice and crisp and not fluttery. 7/10

Weight + Balance: this blade was a bit on the heavy end, yet i picked it over the r2 woodie due to my past success with hybrid blades, and the r2 looks poorly made. The weight made my shaft end heavy, adn that might have affected its overall preformance. 6/10

Durability: i have only used this for a week so far, but the blade looks perfect, the durability is real good, but like with all teh hybrid blades, once a crack appears, it will be less than a week before it goes to hell. 7/10

Intangibles: I personally liked the blade, and i feel maybe i didnt use the right shaft for it. I really enjoy the optimized stickhandling nad crisp snap shots, as i can get alot more quick release shots. I am a bit dissappointed wiht the slapshot preformance, since past hybrids have allowed me to fire rockets. I feel its a great blade for a crafty player that isnt too worried about a booming slapper from the point.

[mickz 107]

Easton Hybrid Lami Blade, Yzerman Curve

STICK TESTED:

Blade: Easton Hybrid Lami, Yzerman

Shaft/Flex: 85 Flex Synergy shaft cut to accept standard senoir blades

Stickhandling/receiving passes: The blade makes the Synergy shaft feel like a one piece stick. Normally someone would expect a blade that isn't fully composite to be very bulky and heavy. This hybrid blade is an exception. The blade is very thin, just the way I like it. I get a really good feel of the puck and I like the Yzerman pattern because the curve on this thing is HUGE!

Shooting: Wrist shots with this blade is pretty good due to the huge curve on it. However my slapshot has suffered a but because I like a straighter blade like my Linden (PL106) Tri Flex. However if I used the same blade with a straighter pattern like the Lidstrom then it would be fine.

Weight and balance Surprisingly light for something that isn't 100% composite. The blade isn't so heavy that makes the stick feel very lop-sided.

Durability I have the Easton Z-Carbon wood stick which uses the same blade. I know some guys on this forum say that the stick hasn't been durable for them, but I've had it for 9 months and it hasn't broken yet. Cracked... yes, broken... no. This blade still gets the thumbs up from me.

Intangibles I like this blade regardless of what other people say. I'd rather spend $30 canadian on something like this rather than a $85 focus flex. I know some people that have broken several focus flex blades. I don't see people bashing the focus flex as much as the Z-Carbon. Why? I don't know.

Conclusion I would buy this blade for future shafts I might buy. $30 canadian is an excellent price for this blade compared to all the other blades out there for $30. A really thin blade is always a plus. 9/10 overall.

[tokes 0]

6'0, 195 Pounds

Blade: Easton Hybrid Lami, Yzerman

Shaft: Easton Z-Bubble Grip, 110 Flex

Stickhandling/Receiving Passes

I found this blade to be great on both accounts. It is quite light for a non-composite blade, and very thin, making for buttery-smooth stickhandling. Even when the tape got soggy and I peeled it off and tried it without tape it was very easy to take a pass.. Good feel for stickhandling, good feel for passes.

9/10

Weight/Balance

As I said before, it is very light for a non-composite, and by far the lightest blade in it's price range. Good balance on the Z-bubble.

9/10

Shooting/Passing

I noticed a slight reduction in slap shot velocity compared to a wood or composite blade, but nothing to write home about. I found shot accuracy to be excellent. Wrist shots and snap shots are crisp and easy to control. Passes are accurate, but I found it hard to make a good saucer pass without the puck wobbling through the air. I attribute this more to the large Yzerman curve than the blade.

8/10

Durability

To be honest, I have not had this long enough to give a total idea of durability (2.5 months) but in the time I have had it, it is flawless. The bottom of the blade looks perfect. It is still very stiff, and doesn't show any heavy wear. After having a composite blade for this long they are normally starting to lose a bit of their stiffness.

9/10

Intangibles

A Focus Flex Z-Carbon blade at my LHS rings up a nasty $74.99. A SiCore Z-Carbon checks in at a mind blowing $109.99. The Easton Hybrid Lami is a good deal at $34.99. A very reasonable price for a durable blade that gives you 90% of the performance of a composite blade.

10/10

Conclusion

A great blade, made even sweeter by the low price. I really could not ask for anything more out of a low priced blade. If you are like me and on a tight budget for hockey equipment, and are looking for a excellent performing, long lasting blade to fit your standard shaft, I would highly recommend this blade. It is completely worth an extra 10-15 dollars over a regular wooden blade, but I find it very hard to justify an additional 40 dollars on top of this blade to move up to a composite. This is my new staple blade, I will continue to use and buy more of them.

9/10

[the_sock 1]

Easton Hybrid Lami Blade

Easton Z-Bubble Shaft 85 Flex

Stick Handling/Receiving Passes

Love the blade on both fronts. Coming from a whole wood blade, I wanted to have the best of both worlds. With the composite blade, found stick handling easier with the lighter blade, had to learn a bit with receiving passes, but with the lami hosel, it wasn't that much of a change. Still have a bit of give.

10/10

Weight/Balance

Being lighter than a whole wood blade, but heavier than composite which is good on two fronts: easier control than whole wood AND doesn't make a shaft too blade heavy. Found that my Z-Bubble was better now it wasn't too blade heavy, but not too light that it was hard to adjust.

9/10

Shooting/Passing

Wow. Just wow. Just the great increase in shooting ability is worth the price of admission. More velocity with the composite blade, and even better passing without the over flexing of the blade. Can't believe how much change from a total wood blade.

10/10

Durability

I've used two generations of the Hybrid, and the first generation had a huge split (read shattered) where the blade meets the hosel. Since then, Easton introduced a new interlocking feature, and since then, never had a problem. Old problem however, the composite blade at the toe splits...quite easily and often, there is no reinforcement there (Easton shaves all the fiberglass off when doing the toe shape) and I've gone through many blades because of the splitting. Too often that I've recently moved to the ST full composite blade. Very, very disappointed because of my love of this blade.

4/10

Intangibles - ...loved this blade because of the construction, use of both materials for a good blend of performance and because they were ALMOST indestructible. The actual blade rarely wore down before splitting at the toe, and it actually improved my performance from a full wood blade. Price was good. Availability was good. Just durability was an issue.

Conclusion - if you want to upgrade to a composite blade, but not a full composite, it's a great transition blade. Just the one durability issue with the toe, but if you apply Toe Pro to it, you can protect it from splitting.

7.5/10

Cheers