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Warrior M80 X

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New for 2012! The M80 has a double-X sidewall design, which provides stiffness and durability at key flex points at the top and bottom of the head. The face shape naturally creates a channel in the pocket for superior accuracy and consistent release. The reinforced scoop helps on ground balls and to throw mean poke checks. Currently, the M80 will only be available in (X) universal specs as it hits vendors just in time for the 2012 season.

Scroll down to customize and order

Choose How Your M80 X is Strung

View Stringing Options:
Rock-it Pocket (90 grams): $120
Pookie Pocket (90 grams): $125
Davis Dog Pocket (85 grams): $125
George Pocket (80 grams): $125
Bam Pocket (80 grams): $125
Spider Pocket (70 grams): $125

NEW: Wax Mesh (70 grams): $105
Hard Mesh (70 grams): $105
6 Diamond Mesh (70 grams): $105
Soft Mesh (70 grams): $105
Unstrung (no pocket): $85

Our pocket maintenance guide is now online >>

Pocket Placement
(MESH ORDERS ONLY!)

Click on the links above to see pocket pages.

Customize Your M80 X with Colors

Head Dye Options:

Choose a dyed head with 1 or 2 colors on white. Be sure to specify the dye color(s) and style you want!

View Head Dye Options Details

Color 1 = Top or Left Portion

Color 2 = Bottom or Right Portion

Solid All Over	Solid Vertical Split	Solid Horizontal Split	Solid Top Fade	Solid Bottom Fade
Solid Horizontal Combo	Solid Vertical Combo	Speckled All Over	Speckled Top Fade	Speckled Bottom Fade
Speckled w/Horizontal Split	Speckled w/2 Colors	Speckled Fade Combo	Stars & Stripes	Stars & Speckle
Canadian Flag	Rasta Style	Tiger Print	Fire Top Burn	Fire Bottom Burn
Arctic Camo	Forest Camo	Urban Camo	Blaze Camo	Desert Camo
NEW: Black Ninja	NEW: Neon Cross Speckle	NEW: Neon Half/Half	NEW: Neon Side Speckles	NEW: Neon Solid
NEW: Neon Top Speckle

String Color Options: Please choose carefully to avoid delays!

ROCK-IT POCKET LEATHER: - Our leathers are 100% real hide, which is durable and resistant to water. These leathers are strong and do not sag in humid conditions.

ROCK-IT POCKET & MESH MATERIALS: - We use a high quality nylon string for the middle part of our Rock-it Pockets and the sidewall/trim of our mesh pockets.

LACES: - Jima Lax supplies us with colored hockey laces we use on our mesh pockets. These laces can be used on Rock-it Pockets, but we recomend our high quality (default) laces that come only in white.

MESH MATERIAL: - We carry a variaty of hard, soft, 6 diamond, goalie hard and goalie 12 diamond mesh. These are the most common types of mesh used in the game.

String Color Options: Please choose carefully to avoid delays!

Color Option

Rock-it Pocket

Mesh Pocket

Color 1

Middle Strings

Mesh Piece

Color 2

Shooting Strings

Sidewall/Trim & Shooting Laces

**Note: We keep the side strings that connect to the middle of our Rock-it Pockets white to avoid confusion**
**Note we use high quality hockey laces (white only) for our Rock-it Pockets. State on the special instructions if you want different color laces for Mesh Pockets**

Leather Color Options:

For ROCK-IT POCKETS ONLY!! Leathers are white by default. No leathers in mesh pockets!

Extra Hockey Laces:

Extra laces will be enclosed with your order for you to string later. These can be used if you have another head/pocket that needs new shooting laces.

NFHS or NCAA:

By default, our pockets are all strung to meet all regulation for the NFHS (high school and bellow). If you play in NCAA (college) please state so in the special instructions box below and we will make the small adjustment to make it legal for your regulations.

Special Instructions:

Let us know if you would like us to focus on anything in particular.
We do our best to make each pocket to our customers' specifications.

SHIPPING AND RETURN POLICIES

Staff Review: Warrior M80 X

UPON FURTHER REVIEW � MORE ON M80X AND MORE

The M80X is new for 2012. This one from Warrior is in the 'high performance' category of lax head. The M80X conforms to specifications that allow it to be universally legal. Warrior lights the marketing candle for the M80 by proclaiming the head to be a strong and durable one. The M80 molded design incorporates a double X sidewall structure that offers stiffness at key flex points at the top and bottom of the head.

I'm pretty sure Warrior also hopes the strength features will then lead to a bigger round of fire and a full on market assault resulting in an M80 popularity explosion.

RAM TOUGH? EWE BET! SIZING UP A SIDEWALL

For this Double X sidewall technology Warrior uses four bridge-like 'trusses' that connect the top rail of the sidewall to the bottom and they are crossed as pairs, each in the form of an X, one near the scoop and one close to the throat.

The top of the M80 sidewall, when looking at it from the side, draws a visual line that curves down fairly quickly. It does not rise, as some do, while moving away from the handle and before turning down to work the offset affect. Continuing the view of the 'top' of the side, the line curves gradually and stretches out as it moves toward the scoop area.

The bottom sidewall rail curve is a little more extreme than the more gradual top one. The M80 has what I might call a very 'short sidewall bottom'.

With a large part of the sidewall open on the M80, and less structure/material in the actual middle section of the head, this ground zero place in the head will 'organically' be the lightest part of the stick as well. This can aid a player in having a better feel for the ball as it is cradled and rocked in the stick.

We don't have much of a performance index to grade the durability of the M80X just yet, because here in the late Fall of 2011, they are just beginning to get out there long enough to measure how they do over time.

SAVING FACE, EH?

The M80 walls flirt with the 3" minimum cross measurement at the throat, keeping the actual face opening as narrow as possible. The Right 'cheek' and the Left 'cheek' run parallel for a good 4-5" up from the throat which gives the head a bit of an overall narrow or pinched look, even though it is an NCAA legal 3.0" where it needs to be near the bottom. The 6.5" measurement across the back of the open scoop pushes that measurement rule down to the minimum allowed in NFHS as well, as in it is as 'tight' as it can possibly be, adding (subtracting) up to high marks for the M80X in the overall high performance characteristics category.

The M80X sides do eventually flare open like an angry nostril as they travel to the top of the head. This curve is, besides high, also fairly dramatic, and just a little reminiscent of the old style heads that were locally crafted by Canadian Gunners back in the day. Maybe they still do. Those early plastic head 'pinchings' were really something, though. The face opening was so small on some Canadian sticks that you literally could not check the ball out of them with a point blank whack from a giant medieval catapult. The openings were so skinny that the player had to catch the ball high in the head, just below the scoop because the ball literally would not have enough room to squeeze in and get down into the chimney to the pocket anywhere else. I digress.

Warrior says the M80 face shape is "perfect for creating a channel in the pocket" for superior accuracy on your release. ?I'm not sure about all that 'perfect' stuff, but I do think that having the walls the same distance apart over a greater distance does work to channel ball-in-the-pocket travel.

IT'S NO CHOKE

The throat of the M80 plunges more than two inches onto the shaft for a good connection and a sturdy feel. The plastic in the throat portion where the head attaches to the shaft is quite thin, a little like some other Warrior heads from their Evolution series.

WHAT'S THE SCOOP?

The top of the M80 scoop is fairly curved, but the scoop blade is wide and measures almost an inch. The good scooping angle on the M80 is optimum with the shaft tilted a little higher than some, good for scooping at a gallop and for one-handed pick-ups, too.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

At about 144 grams the M80X is very light for a model that puts emphasis on durability, but not as light as some of the new super light heads directed more exclusively to the Attack men, like the Warrior Evolyte, which is just off the charts light. Keep in mind that the lightest possible is not always the best. Really think about what kind of player you are when you choose the head you want to play with. This is true for the shaft selection as well. For some a little extra weight is a good thing when put in the right places.

STIFFNESS RATING

The M80X is a surprisingly stiff when you fool around with it, but simply because of how open the sidewalls in fact are it is hard to rate it unconditionally as having the highest "stiffness rating" when compared with others in the same class. The M80X is by no means toy like or flimsy, however. Stiffness and flexibility are also individual tastes. There is no one right answer.

POCKET PLACEMENT

The open sidewall, coupled with the placement of the lowest part of the bottom rail suggest that a middle pocket will fit most easily and likely work best in the M80's.

The bottom of the scoop rises only about 5/8" above a tabletop when the head is at rest face up, and without a pocket. This is significantly lower or less than some of the high scoop, high pocket models that are out there and sitting on the table, making the M80 also a good candidate for a low mesh or a Pookie Rock-it Pocket for those that like to play more with the stick in a vertical cradling position and close to the body.

STRINGS ATTACHED

There are more than enough sidewall string holes for various stringing options on the M80X, but the holes are all sized about the same, and that would put them all on the small side. Even the holes for throw strings up top near the scoop are not larger like they sometimes are in other heads in order to accommodate fatter stringing materials or more than one string.

The back of the scoop plastic is not recessed on the M80 at all for any kind of scoop action string abrasion relief, so get out the old Bic lighter and 'melt' the strings so they won't fray as quickly or dab a little Shoe Goo on the backside of your leathers.

WHO DO YOU LOVE?

If you like X6 NCAA only model characteristics but need a universally legal head model, this might be a good choice for you.

The M80 head in general really uses the dimensional rules of the game or universally legal maxi's and mini's to their greatest possible advantage. We like the M80X for attack and middies who like to shoot, but it really could fit any position player's game.

LOBBING THE LAST M80

In synopsis, the thing I like about the M80 is the way the open sidewall points all focus to that center and the middle of the head. This head has a nice feel for the ball while being fairly easy to string up.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY � POCKET TALK

I have always thought that the center of the pocket should be located in the center and also in the middle of the head. For the majority of sticks that I have ever held in my hands, the ones I like the most usually balance best with the ball most comfortable sitting in the center of the head and the middle of the pocket. The feeling of balance I'm looking for is the one I get when my top hand is on the top of the shaft and just below the plastic of the head.

In recent lacrosse times the plastic head technology has led to trends of change and movement of the pocket placement. Some players like to have the ball sit up high in the head. Some others, especially those who like to carry the stick straight up and down prefer a pocket that is built lower in the stick, down near the throat of the head. Things have always pretty much been this way.

HIGH POCKETS

Many heads, especially some of the current STX models are designed to have the pocket sit very high in the head. There are a few potentially great advantages to having a high pocket. The ball stays in the stick longer during the throwing and shooting motions. That makes for a longer stroke, so the potential for speed is greater. This high pocket dynamic not only allows the player to shoot generally harder, but to also use optimum wrist control to get the right touch on his passes, long or short. When you can make little changes late into the throwing motion and or throw fakes you are more versatile as a player. When tweaked just right the top pocket makes the stick feel like a gun and all you gotta' do is pull the trigger.

With a high pocket in the widest part of the head it is possible to create a really deep pocket with great hold, as in hard to knock the ball out. The ball can sometimes move side to side and for the most part it always stays tucked in just under the throw/shooting strings.

The possible 'down' side to the up pocket is the same reality that the ball stays in the stick longer. This means that the pocket might take a little more maintenance with the string tension and adjustments because the pocket will tend to be a little more temperamental in its release action. Players who use high pocket placement for the game plan can often shoot harder than the other guy, but sometimes they have to wind up just to make a pass, and that can slow down the whole offensive machine.

Having the deepest part of the pocket in the widest part of the opening makes it (pocket) more prone to being or playing 'sloppy'. It is easier for the ball to move around and away from its nest or its channel. It also puts the ball in the most open place so a well-placed check is logically going to have a higher degree of probability for dislodging the ball.

The Rock-it Pocket style that fits this category is the DOG.

LOW POCKET

The other way pockets have traveled over time is down, as in the biggest part of the pocket is placed near the lowest or narrowest opening at the throat on any given head, a little more standard old school style. With more pocket where there is less opening, the ability to hide the ball while in the pocket is increased, and as in it is hard to knock the ball out of the stick. A bonus feature with ball retention in the low pocket is that the player can keep the cradling motion down to the minimum. He can protect his the ball well with the body and not expose too much of the stick to checks.

The low pocket, particularly the Rock-it Pocket version known as "POOKIE" makes for pockets that have a lightning quick release. With the POOKIE and other low pockets the ball will leave the stick well before it reaches the top of the head. This can be great for the feeder Attack man who wants to fire off a feed quickly and with little motion while he has the ball and it is sitting very near his ear-hole as he works. When he sees the open lane to pass through it can be almost just a flick with the perfect POOKIE styled pocket. This low pocket placement also makes the pocket easier to maintain and very reliable and a little more weatherproof.

The low pocket has its "drawback" in the fact that you can't get that big windup going as effortlessly because ball delivery might take place before you want it to, and we all know how ugly that can be.

Many head models work well with this low ball concept, but I would also say that no head designs are out there that really play to the low pocket, but models with the foam stop raised like the Warrior Cobra and many others are suited well for low pockets.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

What I like about having the pocket in the middle of the face opening of most heads out there remains a fairly simple concept for me after all these years. As stated earlier in this M80X review, the natural balance of any stick tends to lend itself to the ball being at rest in the center of the head. Better balance can only help with cradling or stick handling, as well as for passing and shooting. By not having the ball sit up quite as high it has a chance to get rolling and ready for its release. The more the ball rolls the easier it can be lifted out of the stick. On the same throwing thought track, the more spin put on the ball, the faster the speed it is likely to travel.

When the pocket is in the middle you can get a versatile stick that can easily wind up and shoot hard while maintaining the ability to make short, quick passes.

STICK RELIGION

When the stick feels balanced and the ball feels centered, the cradling motion can be more powerful, too, thus empowering the player. The better you cradle the ball in the pocket, the better you are as a player.

When the ball sticks in the pocket in any way, or when it slides rather than rolling, release consistency will suffer.

Ultimately what any player really wants to do is to just follow his stick around when he is playing the game. If the brain thinks right the stick will take the proper action. Trust your stick and you can just follow it.

Rock-it Pocket Factory:
5609 Bighorn Crossing
Fort Collins, CO 80526

Order by Phone:
  800-374-7468 (toll-free)
  970-377-1390 (local)
  970-377-1391 (fax)

Order Processing:
The current approximate wait time (+shipping) for a custom work:
String Jobs: 2-3 Days
Dye Jobs: Add 2-3 Days