The Stringking Complete was a great offering of a full stick at a phenomenal deal at only $99. On the regular complete, Stringking include the Mark 1 head, their M pocket with Stringking Type r2s and the A7150 shaft. The Complete Plus upgraded each part to Stringking’s top of the line offerings, changing the mesh from 2s to 3x and the shaft from the A7150 to Metal Plus. We saw the Complete Plus in the hands of several of the world’s best in this past MLL season, for good reason.
Head: Mark 1
Stringking’s first head offering, the Mark 1 was a phenomenal head. Stringking went with simplicity on the Mark 1 and it paid off. The Mark 1 is a very stiff head, with a bit wider X spec face shape, making it great for any position on the field. It also has one of the best scoops that I have every used on a head. Ground balls are extremely easy to scoop up at any angle with this head, it really is a vacuum for loosies. The stringability of the Mark 1 is fantastic, which is expected in a head coming from a company that got there name in mesh. With a ton of stringing holes, nicely spaced topstring holes, and bottom string holes nice enough to fit leathers, the Mark 1 is easy to string with any pocket placement. I strung up a nice, shifty mid pocket with a smooth release and plenty of hold pretty easily. The one small complaint I had on the Mark 1 is that it felt a bit loose on the Stringking shaft, giving a little rattle. This isn’t too big of an issue though as its easily fixed with a bit of tape on the shaft.
Mesh: Type 3x/M Pocket
Stringking Type 3x is my favorite mesh that Stringking has made so far. It is a softer semi-hard, which holds its shape nicely and has a smooth release and feel throwing, while still being soft enough and having a bit of stretch to give a good amount of hold and feel on the ball. Rightfully so, I usually hate the factory strung pockets that come on most heads. With the Complete and Complete Plus, Stringking completely changed this. The M (mid) pocket that comes strung on the Mark 1 is actually quite good immediately. It gives a good, consistent release and decent enough hold. For any beginner, the pre-strung M pocket is a very good pocket to start with and performs quite well. Although, it isn’t how I personally would string the stick (I used a more complex pattern that I tailored to my game style), the M pocket is definitely the best factory strung pocket that I have seen. It also allows players to buy 2 sticks and without having to worry about re-stringing, they know they will both perform similarly.
Shaft: Metal Plus
In my review of the regular Stringking Metal, I noted that I really liked the shape and feel of the shaft, but the durability just didn’t cut it for a majority of players. With the Metal Plus, Stringking did make the shaft a bit heavier, which also increased the durability to a level that works great in pretty much any level of field lacrosse (I still wouldn’t be very confident using it in box). We saw as the Metal Plus held up for Stringking Pros in this last MLL season. The shaft still feels quite light (just not as featherlight as the regular Metal), has a great, light sandpaper feel and a nice slightly concave, standard octagonal shape.
Overall, I was really impressed by the Complete Plus from Stringking. It really is a very good complete stick setup and it performed to a level throughout that proved to me why so many MLL players trusted the Complete Plus this past season. I’d highly recommend the Complete Plus to any field lacrosse player using looking for a high performing complete stick at a pretty good price (now only $160), who like a stiff head that works well for any position. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Stringking has coming in their pipeline with the Mark 2 head and Metal 2 shaft line.
