Grow the Game®

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on reddit
Share on whatsapp

Gear Review: Torque Head by Gait Lacrosse

[rwp-review id=”1″]

Company: Gait LacrosseProduct: Torque HeadPrice: $49.99

The Gait Torque is really a classic by now. It’s been out for years, it’s tried, tested, and true, and those that swear by it, love it to death. It’s the bigger, better, younger brother of the Triton, and it’s been a popular head, for a long time, for good reason. It’s just the first of many reviews coming up for the product Gait sent our way to test out:

Appearance… +7.5

The fully offset Torque is pretty smooth looking. Rounded, semi-square stringing holes dot the entire sidewall, and three big openings present themselves on the sidewall. It’s sleek and streamlined, and is as cut down and minimalist as possible. It looks light, and it is.

Stringing… +7.5

The Gait Torque is wonderful to string. There are inside and outside sidewall wings towards the top of the head, which means you can create a wide or narrow channel. The sidewall holes themselves are large and there are a ton of them. Even the scoop is laden with stringing holes, creating as many options for customization as possible. The head naturally creates a good pocket with even a basic mesh string job. Overall, the design is a winner!

So why does it get a 2.0 deduction? One reason, plain and simple: the sharper edges of the plastic sidewall holes create a point of wear and tear for your strings, and this means that the sidewalls can wear out faster than they might otherwise. It is the only knock on this head’s stringability, and if you use thicker sidewall, you can avoid it for the most part.

Stiffness… +8.0

Stiffness is a tough category to really gauge because sometimes a lot of stiffness is good (say, for a defenseman), and sometimes it’s bad (say, for a FoGo). So since the Torque is really an all-around head for the high school player, I’ll gauge it as that: all around. For defenseman, it might be a little thin. However, for the defender looking for a light head, the Torque could be a nice choice. For middies and attack, it’s right up your alley and will get the job done. Overall, I’d say that’s about a 8 in stiffness, wouldn’t you? Moving right along.

Durability… +8.0

Once again, due to the thin nature of the head and minimalist approach to plastic, the Torque can get a little tweaked over time. It might warp just a shade or pinch in or out, but from my experience, it won’t break. I just dyed the first Torque I ever got and gave it away to a kid. It’s still in great shape, and totally playable… six years later.

If you’re worried about the head making it through a season, you probably shouldn’t be. These heads should definitely be able to stand up to a good year’s worth of abuse. Everyone breaks a head every once in a while, but the Torque is pretty tough.

Value… +10

At a penny under $50 this is one of the best values I’ve seen in a while. If this head had been $50 when it came out I would have bought 6 of them… and then only needed the first one. It’s a fantastic value and since these are HS legal, I expect a lot of guys to snap them up. They’re also great for box lacrosse and can be pinched pretty easily, so that’s nice.

Overall… 8.4/10

Overall the knocks on the Gait Torque are really quite small. It’s a light head that provides a ton of stringing options and can work for almost any position on the field. At $50 it’s a steal and while it might not be brand new, it’s a classic, and more importantly, it works.