Barrier Lacrosse 6 Diamond Gear Review

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Barrier Lacrosse is a newer mesh company that we contacted to test their mesh after seeing some of their product and seeing that they are popular internationally and doing something pretty unique. Their 6 Diamond comes in a soft mesh variant that I personally had never seen before and was very interested in as 6 Diamond hard always seemed to take a long time to break in. After emailing Barrier we learned they make 3 kinds of 6 Diamond; a Wax, a Soft, and a Semi Hard. Their wax mesh is different from others in that it is a Bees Wax that they use in order to coat their mesh which was interesting but worked quite well. When their package arrived we saw their versatility and quickly started stringing up several players sticks as well as my own to give this a shot. From what we saw you will be impressed.

Break-In Time 6D SOFT 10 out of 10/ WAX 10 out of 10/ SEMI-HARD 8 out of 10

Soft mesh obviously has little to no break in time normally but the 6 Diamond Soft from Barrier was exceptional immediately after stringing I felt like I could play with this mesh so did my team of guys testing the mesh with me (our group of testers has grown from one to about 3 or 4 all players with a good amount of experience with different products on the market). The Soft was absolutely perfect out of the bag. Absolutely 10 for 10

The 6 Diamond Wax similar to the soft was immediately playable not having any added stiffness like many other wax meshes. The mesh didn’t leave residue on your fingers or the ball either during the stringing and breaking in phase of the test. Overall the mesh felt game ready as soon as the bottom string was placed. Definitely 10 for 10

Semi-Hard is the outlier here as it did require some breaking in. Every semi-hard company to company is a little different and with 6 Diamond we did expect some break in being a thicker tighter weave. The break in time to game ready was right around an hour of play and that’s pretty easy, half of a high school practice isn’t bad. Great break in but longer than their other forms so 8 out of 10.

Hold and Release 6D SOFT 10 out of 10/ WAX 10 out of 10/ SEMI-HARD 9 out of 10

Hold is important and man does the soft 6D deliver. Soft mesh typically does have more hold than a hard mesh but this is just insane the level of hold on the ball with the Barrier Lacrosse Soft 6D. You feel like you could never lose the ball when playing with it. Even with that immense hold the release is smooth and handles well on a shot. Very little change like what you would see going from 10D hard to 10D soft. Impressive 10 out of 10

The WAX 6D was the huge surprise in this category for me. I have done wax 6D before but nothing like Barrier WAX 6d. Their diamonds are big like they should be not shrunken by the dying process. The ball feels like it is a black hole when cradling and releases like a cannon when passing. On the shot I did notice a little more buckle providing great bouncers with a long pole but when my natural long pole tester took shots he was drilling corners. Combined opinion of the WAX 6D Hold and Release a confident 10 out of 10.

So the Semi-Hard 6D had a hard day. It was strung and compared right next to the Soft and WAX counterparts which are expected to have more hold. It does hold great for a semi hard mesh which typically will have a little less hold and it did however we still threw great fakes with this head rarely having the ball fall out. The release bumps this mesh back into a 9 though as shooting off a pole with this mesh was easy and felt natural for all 3 of us. Several new holes in our net are attributed just to the 6 Diamond Semi-Hard by Barrier. Strong 9 out of 10

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Durability 6D Soft 9 out of 10/ WAX 8.5 out of 10/ Semi-Hard 10 out of 10

Durability with a soft mesh is hard to obtain. No coating leads eventually with hard play to some fraying and soft spots. The soft mesh held up to a couple days of hard play so far and it is hard to test for a full season but it looks like it would hold up for a complete season but probably not a full year. 9 out of 10

WAX gets hit a little harder here. We live in Florida we test for heat and cold (North Florida might not of snowed last week but it was below 40 crazy right). Cold has no effect on this mesh but heat looks like it will. When left out in the heat, my black car in 80 degree weather, the wax gets a little runny. Even with that factored in without doing so a few times you should be able to make it through a season on this mesh. Going to be a 8.5 out of 10 here.

Semi-Hard lives strong here, over a year with this mesh should never be a problem. The coating doesn’t flake, it isn’t effected by heat or hard play, if anything it feels like it gets better with time. This mesh could easily last you a year and not need to be changed maybe even more. Easily 10 out of 10

Water Play 6D Soft 9 out of 10/ WAX 9 out of 10/ Semi-Hard 10 out of 10

The Soft and WAX both had the same strengths and weakness here. They didn’t bag much but they did bag a little. They still shot very well but they had just a bit more whip, easily adjusted to but noticeable. Despite how crazy this sounds the 6 Diamond Soft did perform just as well as the 6 Diamond wax here I really see no major downfalls to either when wet 9 out of 10.

Semi Hard is the consistency king here. No bag, no release change, EVEN BETTER HOLD ON THE BALL. If anything we all joked we would carry a bottle of water just to wet the 6D Semi hard. The mesh performed so well in wet conditions it felt like a well done traditional. Semi-Hard Takes the cake at 10 out of 10.

Looks 10 out of 10

This isn’t a category based on style of mesh Barrier does a great job making their colors vibrant. They sent us several colors all were very clear and bright and don’t show signs of fading. The color variety is there for younger guys and solid colors look great for the older guys. Great job Barrier 10 out of 10.

Customer Service 10 out of 10

I’m starting to think Lacrosse may have some of the best customer service out there. I email Barrier about the review and the opportunity to try this with the kids at Blue Skies, I got an immediate response and a super quick shipment of the package. The guys over at Barrier made sure everything came out perfect and were super helpful. THEY HAVE PROVIDED A DISCOUNT CODE FOR ALL PLAYERS YOUTH20 ON THEIR WEBSITE 20% OFF EVERYTHING FOR ANYONE (Excludes Prestrung heads). That’s a massive discount with no strings attached. Definitely hit them up support a good company you wont be disappointed.

Overall 6D Soft 9.5 out of 10/ WAX 9.3 out of 10/ Semi-Hard 9.1 out of 10

Barrier Lacrosse does not disappoint with their mesh. Everything is personal preference and these reviews came from 3 players opinions who all play different positions so we felt it was pretty well rounded. However we each have out 10 out of 10 product, James our attackman backed the Soft in a strong way, I face off and playing middie and LSM and loved the 6 WAX, and Mumper is a natural close D who believes he’s never played with better than the Semi-Hard. So even among our testers it is personal opinion but ours is try out Barrier Lacrosse they’ll hook you up and you will not be disappointed.

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