The Intruder (26-panel, metal filler)
The Heat Mini Pro (32-panel, metal filler)
The Spark (14-panel, metal filler)
When I received these footbags, I did not feel that they represented what most freestylers would typically agree is a pro footbag. By that I mean, a footbag that would be used in competition.
All three bags were relatively large, coming in at around 2.25 inches each, and were about 40% full. This combination of size and fullness made for an EXTRA floppy and light experience.
With the size and fullness aside, I was also experiencing some leakage with the Heat Mini Pro. The threading was visible in many areas, and in some cases it was stretching the holes on the panels. Here is a piece of filler escaping, I caught it red-handed.
I deceided to contact Mike at BombFootbags.com to express my thoughts on these footbags, and he answered all of my e-mails promptly. He felt that I may have received a defective footbag, and he insisted on sending me a new footbag FREE OF CHARGE, in order to compensate for the Heat Mini Pro.
When I received the package from Mike, I discovered that he not only replaced my Heat Mini Pro, but he also sent me two other footbags to try out. I thought that was commendable, and good customer service is very important to me when I buy most things online.
The replacement Heat Mini Pro was a significant improvement on the original one that I received, and for the sake of brevity, I am only going to review The Heat Mini Pro because I felt that this model was the most relevant of the three. Here is the original (on the left) and the replacement (on the right). You can see the size difference.
This pleasant surprize comes in at 2 inches in diameter (so, not so mini really;) ), and is about 50% full of metal ball bearings. There is no indication of what kind of metal is used, so it may not be stainless. The material used for the panels is Japanese Amara, which is a synthetic suede that to me feels almost leathery or "waxy." While the stitching is mostly tight, there are a couple of panels that show small glimpses of the threading.
The panels are very consistent and symmetrical. To me, it feels like this footbag was created using medium/low bite and low gather. There has been no leakage with this model, which may be due to the fact that there are no bleed holes.
Out of the box, this footbag is easily "shreddable." That being said, like most other footbags, this Heat Mini Pro will likely be at it's prime once it is worked in. As it stands right now, I would say that this bag is about 30% broken in, and you can see from the splatter test, that it does allow for easy delays.
The thing that bugs me is that once this bag does stall, it feels unstable. I believe this is because the suede is not pliable enough to allow the bag to "pancake" when it impacts a surface. This may change over time as the bag is broken in. However, when compared to the Abshire 55 (or any other player-made bag), the stiffness of the Heat Mini Pro seems to come from the material itself. Where as the stiffness of an Abshire bag seems to come from the threading bite as opposed to the material it is made of. The japanese amara feels "cheaper", and more durable than traditional facile, ultrasuede light, microsuede, and amaretta.
This bag sets fairly consistently for me, which is surprising for a footbag that comes in at $12. It keeps it's round shape nicely when in the air, and is almost completely free of "wobble."
The Heat Mini Pro is a perfect candidate for a "beginner" footbag. I say that mainly because of the price-point ($12.00 USD), and the fact that it is a well-balanced freestyle footbag once it is broken in.
Although my experience with imported footbags is somewhat limited, this footbag lends itself to freestyling more effectively than say the Juice Elite Pro, which is a comparable footbag.
Another perfect application for this footbag would be a circle bag. This bag plays great, but is affordable enough that it can easily be replaced if it gets damaged or lost while being used by players of different skill levels in a circle. The last application I can think of is in a club setting, as it is affordable enough to buy in bulk.
Summary:
-this bag is faux pro, but some may not be able to tell the difference....
-somewhat supple feel, somewhat stiff material, overall not so tender
-stalls good
-sets good
-fantastic value for your money, as long as you get a good one
