ECD Hero 2.0 Review

There has been a ton of different types of mesh that have come out within the last few years, but the most popular one on the market seems to be Hero Mesh from ECD Lacrosse.  I reviewed the original Hero Mesh last year (read it here if you missed it) and liked it a lot, but it wasn't perfect.  I loved the feel of Hero Mesh, as it gave a nice grip on the ball and was very responsive to where the ball was in your pocket, giving you nice feel on the ball in your stick. My favorite thing about the original Hero Mesh was how the mesh would have a spongy feel as it stretched when you caught the ball. The LTH Fibers were more elastic than most other meshes that I've tried and although I loved how it felt when catching and with the ball in your stick, over time I noticed slightly more inconsistency as well as the mesh bagging out a bit.



With Hero 2.0, ECD introduced a new technology, that they're calling ZoneTech, making the center channel of the mesh and the sides of the mesh different materials, which has never been done in an individual piece of mesh before.  In the center channel are the same LTH Fibers, which gives the same feel and elasticity as the original Hero Mesh, but on the outside are new Innegra Fibers which are more rigid and less elastic. The guys at ECD sent me over a piece to try out, which I strung up in a STX Surgeon 500 using Hero Strings with my usual type of shifty mid pocket. Stringing it up, it felt pretty much the same as stringing a piece of regular Hero Mesh, although the outsides seemed to not stretch as much as when stringing the original Hero.



I was a bit skeptical on if the change on the type of fibers on the outside would actually change much performance once it was all strung up, but I noticed a difference almost immediately.  With the ball in the stick, it still felt the same as the original Hero Mesh did with a lot of hold and the mesh really gripping the ball, but it seemed to hold the ball more in the center of the pocket where the LTH Fibers were instead of it rolling around as much horizontally through the pocket, which was nice.  Where I really noticed a difference was when I started throwing with it.  Every pass and every shot had fantastic accuracy, coming right out of the channel of the pocket exactly the same way, every time, something I felt was lacking a little bit with the original Hero Mesh.  It still felt pretty much the same as the original Hero Mesh when catching, with the bit of stretch to the mesh, which I liked a lot.  The outside Innegra Fibers being more rigid will also prevent the pocket from bagging out less than the old Hero Mesh did, letting you keep the same pocket performing the same way longer.



Hero 2.0 will be available in white and black as well as a ton of striker colors including a few new ones (like the kelly green piece that I strung up) for the semi-soft and in white for the semi-hard, for the same price as the original Hero Mesh was of $19.99.  I love the new Hero 2.0 and a piece will definitely be going into my next gamer. I'd recommend this mesh to anyone looking for more accuracy and consistency in their pocket.