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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
We hesitated for several months to even review the Easton S500 (and S500C) as we generally leave this blog to review bats in the performance realm. But we’ve been asked a dozen times and our site is searched often for our 2016 Easton S500 review—which we’ve yet to have until now. It is a wildly popular bat due to its price and brand name and a lot of parents, we are guessing, search to see if the bat has at least marginal enough reviews to pull the trigger.
In reality, our review of any 7050 Aluminum alloy budget bat could have sounded exactly the same. The bats are mass-produced with a budget in mind and there is no particular benefit to the S500 over any of the other dozen or so 7050 single-piece alloy bats. You are simply buying a brand name and a paint job.
We do like the Easton S500C and would suggest, for those in the budget range of the youth 2 1/4 little league bat market, to give it a whirl—the two piece design is a worthwhile addition to a budget bat.
In putting together data points on the 2016 Easton S500 and S500c we spent 2 hours in the cage with the BBCOR and Senior League Versions. The bats were hit among a half dozen different players and feedback was assembled.
We also read a number of reviews online from sites we trust and consulted trusty YouTube for any additional information. Easton’s site about the bat was also somewhat helpful in putting together our 2016 Easton S500 Review
We’ve spent a good two hours in the cage with Easton’s 2016 Easton S500 and can readily report the bat performed to expectations—which weren’t very high to begin with. The S500 is an inexpensive bat in the one-piece aluminum alloy range (7050 aircraft alloy) that a number of Walmart brand competitors imitate. The bat’s play in the market is a name brand and sharp paint job with a cheap price point—that we can definitely confirm. It’s hard to claim it’s much different than any of the other 7050 budget single-piece aluminum on the market.
We had a number of hand ringing experiences that were less than pleasant but expected from the traditional 7050 alloys. The barrel size, for that type of bat, wasn’t terrible.
Nothing in particular blew us out of the water when considering the bat’s performance although we can say, for the price point, it is definitely a bat with brand recognition, a nice paint job and some good durability in a traditional 7050 aluminum aircraft alloy. The bat is hardly on anyone’s best bat list—but the name brand and paint job make it one of the best selling bats in America.
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| 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
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| 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
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Similar bats can be found at any Wal-Mart or target across the country. 7050 Aircraft Aluminum alloy bats are a dime a dozen. The S500, however, is closer to $100 for one. One similar bat we’ve reviewed before, but believe we like more, is Boombah’s XPLODE.
We found Easton’s 2016 S500C an interesting bat for sure. It’s a light swinging hybrid bat (a composite handle and an aluminum barrel) made for the budget space. The bat uses the same aluminum alloy as the S500 which, at least compared to performance-based bats, lacks in performance through the entire length of the barrel. It also struggles to get to peak performance on lower impacts.
However, on the bright side, the connection piece of the bat is the same CXN Easton uses on the MAKO brand of bats. And the composite handle is nothing to be disappointing in either. From a pure budget standpoint, we’d be very willing to recommend the Easton S500C for the youth barrel league in the drop 12. Brand new, last we checked, the bat was less than $80. And getting some hand sting dampening in a light swinging hybrid bat—despite it’s barrels’ lack of performance—for that price point makes it an interesting choice for sure.
The S500 is a simple single-piece aluminum bat made from 7050 aircraft aluminum. This is the same aluminum alloy used in several lower-end model bats that can be found for cheap prices just about anywhere. The handle feels thin compared to most other bats—a sort of softball bat quality to the stick which, we thought, added to the hand sting in a bad way.
The barrel size is below average when compared to aluminum performance bats. But the paint job is nice.
The overall rating uses seven different weighted metrics to determine our overall score. Half of total rating comes from the player and our exit speed tests (Player Rating: 25%, Performance: 25%).The other categories are Relevance (20%), Demand (10%), Durability (10%), Resell Score (5%), and Tech Specs (5%).
*: When a bat is denoted by a star (*) it is a preliminary rating. Expect it to be updated as we learn more about the bat and gather more data.
(PlaRa) Player Rating: We measure player rating from user reviews. Those users include our own hitters that we test at the lab as well as reviews we find online.
(ExVe) Performance: Performance measures the exit speeds and distances we capture in our hitting lab with HitTrax using these bats.
(Relv) Relevance: We measure the number of sizes and the MOI of the bat. Bats with a wider range of options get a better score.
(Dmnd) Demand: Demand is measured by consumer sentiment and the buzz around the bat.
(Drb) Durability: A bat’s durability is measured by user reviews as well as feedback from manufacturers.
(ReSl) Resell Score: Based on the price the bats go for used. Higher prices mean greater user demand which means, generally, a better bat. A resell value closer to its original price means a higher score.
(Tech) Tech Specs: We rate the bat on its technological advancements from previous years and compared to the industry at large. This is our chance to reward companies who are trying to innovate.
MOI
MOI or Mass Moment of Inertia is a measurement of bat swing weight. This quantifies how difficult it is to swing a bat. The industry often refers to this as things like End Load or Balanced but those words have been overused to the point of meaninglessness. We measure the actual swing weights of each bat we test using the industry-standard pendulum period, balance point, and scale weight. You can read more about that here.
Price
The price is the original MSRP price of the bat.
Type
The types of bats are single-piece alloy (SPA), two-piece composite (TPC), single-piece composite (SPC), hybrid (Hyb.), and wood (Wood). Hybrid bats are made of composite handles and alloy barrles.
Date
The estimated date the bat began distribution.
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