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A few months ago Eighthinch sent my team and I a set of their new mallet heads. Zach was the first to build his up. He just said it was too heavy to use. And this was after he cut it down to the shorter length, removed the protruding sleeve and drilled it out with many lightning holes. I know he did give it a couple weeks of play at The Pit but I have not seen him use it in a while.
I built mine up after just trimming it down to the shorter length. I did not have the matching mallet because they were not ready yet so I found a ski pole that fit the opening. Not all ski poles are the same outer diameter but finding one to fit is not that difficult. Making a hole that is aligned with the holes in the head is not that easy. I had a bit of a headache getting the bolt to run through correctly because the hole I made in my ski pole was off just a slight bit. This made it very difficult to make the nut thread onto the included bolt. After I did get it to thread on, it deformed the plastic meant to hold the nut in place. I’m guessing if you were to do this with the pre-drilled Eighthinch mallet shaft these troubles would not be so bad.
After building it I also felt like it was heavy. After just two games one if the caps flew off. There is one big problem with the design. There is a seam caused by the mold having two sides and on a very slim section there is a hole for the screws that keeps the cap attached. Those holes are on the seam and the seam cracked and did not hold the screw. All that equals the caps don’t stay attached.
I ended up not attaching the cap again. It would not be that hard to make my own holes in a thicker section so the screws could hold the cap in place. I just didn’t feel like investing the time.
Also mine cracked in the side near the crest shaped cut out. So the un-capped end was cracked in three places. The top seam, bottom seam, and on the side. This caused the open end to lose it’s shape after a few games. While still playable, definitely not standing strong.
And on my third or fourth week of games it cracked in an unexpected place. Along the sleeve. From the top and almost all the way to the bolt hole. I’m not sure why that happened. I’ve not seen HDPE act like this so I’m really confused.
And as for the wear. I think it wears a fair amount. Not too fast and not something that could last forever. I have no complaints about the wear.

I can’t give this product a good review. I kind of think Eighthinch wants to make things to put their name on. I don’t feel like this was made for the abuse polo puts on the equipment. I think this is an attempt to make way into a growing market.

There have been a number of other players who have expressed their thoughts about this mallet and the company that made it. Not much of that has been positive.

But, on a positive side, Eighthinch has made efforts after the fact to get closer to the bike polo community. They have sponsored a good number of tournaments with product. And have left responses to the feedback on the forum.

In some of those responses, they have said they are making revisions to the design. But those are somewhat limited because of the mold. I think the best thing to do is wait and see if the second version is any better.

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Previously:
EighthInch Mallet Head Video

EighthInch Polo Mallet Head and End Caps