Cobra Bio Cell Irons Review Thread

Cobra and THP have sent out Cobra Bio Cell irons to a group of THP Forum members for a forum review. Equipment has arrived, and this thread will be for the testers long term thoughts and reviews.

I deleted the posts in this thread. Please remember guys, that hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to this thread for advice and info on the club. FWIW, I dont think any of them care about shipping notifications. When you are ready to write the review, please jump in with pics or words or how you would like to review the product. Thank you.

Well, my tester iron arrived just in the nick of time today. I was on my way to go hit some balls anyway and I got to take it with me! I only snapped a few initial unboxing shots with my phone because I was running a few minutes late already, but here's a few:

still in the plastic!






I did swing this club today and it felt really good to me. The sound and impact vibrations were what I expect from a GI/SGI iron, but without the harsh feelings on mishits that I get with my speedblades. Because the grip is a standard grip, I was not able to really lay into it for a full swing. On about a 3/4 swing I was getting the same yardage numbers with this 6i that I get with my Speedblade 7i, with a little less height. I don't trust my 3/4 swing as much as my full for dialing in yardages though, so I'm going to spend a lot more time with it after this weekend. I will leave this grip on it for a few more days and let a few of my smaller-handed fellow DFW THPers hit it before I put on an oversize Winn Dri-Tac this weekend. Then this club will really give the launch monitor a workout!

My dad was at the PGA store practice bays with me today and I let him spend some time with the Bio Cell. He wanted to keep it . He is a beginner even more than I am, but he was able to get the ball up in the air easily and down the virtual range very well. He was hitting it about 135y, and his swing speed averages in the high 70s to low 80s.

I'll definitely be giving my full review once I've been able to fit the club more properly to my swing and my hands, and I have had it in the bag for at least a few rounds. I know that many THPers are chomping at the bit for in-hand info about this thing so please let this serve as my first impression post. I'll add some better pics later tonight once I fire up the DSLR. I can say for sure that I am much more a fan of the looks now that I've seen it in person. This really is the best looking Cobra GI iron in recent memory, IMO.

Thanks again Cobra and THP for this opportunity! Much much more to come as the club and I get to know each other a little better

Just wanted to say thank you to THP and Cobra golf for this opportunity.

As the previous posts show most of the specs I wont repeat most of what has been said. You know what they say paralysis by analysis.

I have read a lot about these irons. For the most part I will say that the pictures on the Cobra website do not due these clubs justice. Reading pre reviews from others, Most have said that these iron are obnoxiously huge and the ugliest things cobra has ever made.

Laying Flat.

At Address.

As you can see these clubs from different angles look solid. The topline of the club is nowhere too thick. All that technology packed in there doesn't protrude out. These clubs are far more impressive in hand then any picture on the internet. When thinking about these irons and the style of them a few other irons come to mind. Clubs that revolutionized golf for the weekend golfer. As I was watching t.v the other night, Gary Player said that making golf easier for the weekend golfer is what its about. I have a feeling these might be in that category, maybe even end up at the top. Due to weather I will not be able to put club to ball until Sunday. I am excited because these clubs just give the impression of something that is going to keep a smile on my face..

You guys are starting this off great! Well done.

The pic at address looks great, not nearly as big as I thought they would be. This is a good looking iron.

Excellent start here all, this is one I'm watching EXTREMELY close.

Glad to see these getting in everyones hands, great start with the pics and initial thoughts guys. Looking forward to following along.

Trout Bum said:

The pic at address looks great, not nearly as big as I thought they would be. This is a good looking iron.

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Smaller than I thought as well, reminds me of the sizing of the 2.0s from a few years back. I like that, a lot.

War Eagle said:

Smaller than I thought as well, reminds me of the sizing of the 2.0s from a few years back. I like that, a lot.

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You're always in my head.

Thats how I felt about them in hand, the bio cell structure on the back just makes them seem larger than they are in pictures.

MAN, I can't wait to eventually hit these. I'm hanging on the edge of every thought in this one.

Jman said:

You're always in my head.

Thats how I felt about them in hand, the bio cell structure on the back just makes them seem larger than they are in pictures.

MAN, I can't wait to eventually hit these. I'm hanging on the edge of every thought in this one.

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Thats just judging off photos, dude. I cant wait to put some cuts on the ball with this one.

I was out of the office today but got a phone call that I had a package waiting for me. Let's just say Dallas PD ain't got nothing on a Fusion Hybrid.

First thoughts. The 6I looks aggressive but easy to hit, confidence impressing to be honest. The grip feels very nice without a glove, easy on the hand and eye.
I took a few swings when I got home and must say that the stiff flex Dynalite shaft has a nice solid feel to it. I think I'll get along great with it as I play the Dynalites in my Nike irons.
I'm currently gaming Nike VR_S irons and laid side by side, the Cobra is a 1/2" shorter. It does have a slightly narrower sole which I think will help with turf interaction.

Now, on to some pics.

















I'll get this out to the range hopefully tomorrow but have it in the bag for this weekend. I'll update with some results after my round.

Thanks again Cobra & THP.

War Eagle said:

Thats just judging off photos, dude. I cant wait to put some cuts on the ball with this one.

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Me and you both. Tomorrow can't get here quick enough.

After some talk about the look at address. I snapped a quick picture to compare the BioCell to my 2.0's



The Biocell is on the right.

Saturday cannot come soon enough!
I've contacted my pro, and HE can't wait to see the BioCell either!

I know I didn't say this in my previous post, but if there is ANYTHING you want to know, please post it here, I will try to answer to the best of my ability, or one of the other great testers I'm sure will chime in!



*edit* looking at this, I'm not sure I got the best camera angle here. The BioCell looks to be both thinner at the face and sole during address.

I've opted not to post more pics tonight. I took some, but none are better than what is already "developing" (see what I did there? I'm funny, I promise) in this thread. Looking forward to what other testers think about the swing and feel of the club. For me it's a good feeling. It's hard to describe exactly, but it's a bit less "thunky" sounding than many GI/SGI irons. Still moreso than a typical players iron. It kind of reminded me of the Callaway Apex today with regards to feel, with the Apex having a bit of an advantage. I'm not a structural engineer by any means, but my uneducated guess is that they've used that Cell technology to work some magic that delivers the GI technology without sacrificing feel and sound.

It's going to be very tough for me to not extend and regrip this club for the next two days. I've promised WardF and mworsham a chance to hit it in stock form before I do. I think we all benefit from as many perspectives as possible (I borrowed that thought from THP, obviously) and will get their opinions this weekend to include in my own review. The rest of the DFW crew can hit my tester in "tall guy" form and/or Matthew's in stock form very soon. I'm very happy to be able to share the love with my group, thanks to THP and Cobra!

edit: in an effort to conserve threadspace, I wanted to add that ironcondor has managed to capture nicely in his photos below an aspect of these irons that I find particularly attractive - the hosel. That touch really sets the rest of the club off, IMO.

Well, I just got home from work. Finally. I got a text from my 11yr old with a picture of her holding my Cobra testing club. I wanted to get home immediately and head out to the range. Alas, I had to finish work, take her to dance class, and then feed everyone. So I have not had a chance to hit mine yet. I will try to post some pics tomorrow afternoon once I get the time to really take some good pics.

My initial thoughts are the Bio Cell 6 iron definitely looks much better in hand compared to the pictures. I'm currently playing TaylorMade R11 irons and the look comparison is strikingly similar. Which I wasn't too surprised after reading some of the earlier posts that were compared to the 2.0's. It feels just a bit heavier to me than my R11.

I will get more on here once I get some in hand time on the range or the course. Looking forward to how this club feels at impact and to see some comparisons to my current clubs.

Thanks again to THP and Cobra for this incredible testing opportunity!



The first thing I noticed about this iron after unwrapping all of the packaging was naturally the bright, multi colored grip cap on the Lamkin grip. Definitely a break from my norm but I honestly like it and think it looks kind of cool. Also the grip, a Lamkin R.E.L. 3GEN, feels really nice. It is not a grip I have any experience with but if it holds up to the summer heat and humidity of south GA, it may it may something I may be exploring in the future.

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I also almost immediately notice how aesthetically pleasing the iron head was. To be honest, that was a very pleasant surprise to me. I was fully expecting it to have a bigger / clunkier look to it. I took pictures which are posted below (Bio Cell on left, JPX on right in both pics) to compare show how the top line and sole compare to my Mizuno JPX-800 Pro 6 iron. The top line is not much different. The sole of the Bio Cell is a little wider than that of my current club but not to the point where you can see the cavity or sole when setting the club down in the address position. The iron head is also slightly longer and higher than the JPX. I honestly do not view any of these points as negatives as I feel these three areas being slightly expanded over my current iron will likely offer me a little more forgiveness. Although I have not been able to make a full swing yet with the club, I did take some half swings in the house (to the dismay of my wife) and the club feels slightly lighter than my current iron but not to the point where I cannot keep a sense of where the club head is. This is likely due to the shaft (TT Dynalite 85) being 10 grams lighter than my current shaft but once again I don't view this as a negative point because I will like pick up a very slight increase in club head speed. I also hit some short bump and run shots off my den carpet into a large pillow (once again to the dismay of my wife) just to get a sense oh how the ball feel coming off of the club face and it does feel quite solid and hot. I was honestly also expecting these irons to have much more offset than they appear to have. I really do not see any difference when comparing it to my Mizuno 6 iron. As with the other initial impressions of the Bio Cell, I am quite pleased about this.

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Due to some upper left arm soreness, I am going to have to resist the temptation to put this iron through it's full paces until a week from Saturday. At that time though, I will certainly give it a full workout and report back with a detailed assessment of the performance of the Cobra Bio Cell iron.

Thank you to Cobra and THP for the opportunity to test and review - this is my first one, so I'm super excited.

As a quick background, I started playing less than 2 years ago and play to a GHIN 18 handicap. As my signature details, I currently use JPX 825 irons with KBS Tour FST R-flex shafts. I was sent a Bio Cell 6i with the TT Dynalite 85 R-flex.

That said, I'll get right to it. Of course, this is all my personal opinion: I will honestly say that upon initial viewing of stock online photos, I was concerned that the design would be too "chunky". It STILL may be for some tastes; however, photos cannot articulate exactly how - to my pleasant surprise - this is actually NOT the case. Upon unwrapping the club, the chunkiness - or lack thereof relative to what I was expecting - was the first thing I noticed! The sole is surprisingly narrow, and the top-line is much thinner than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, it's not like a pure blade, but it's far from being a sore point in my view.

The club is actually rather attractive and there are a lot of small details that I didn't notice in the pictures. There are subtle black horizontal lines in the outer "boxes" (for lack of better terms) of the back of the head, with small polished outlines. The inner "boxes" are deep cavities finished in a striking textured grey finish that naturally draws the eyes. My concern is that cleaning in there properly will require a q-tip to get any inadvertent stubborn dirt/etc out, but this is the case with many cavity back clubs.

The finish and quality appear to be very high and it doesn't look cheaply made at all - I don't see anything in the back of the club-head design that would be considered an "afterthought". One of my favorite features is the engraved "Cobra" text on the hosel. The matte and polished areas flow cleanly around the sole, back, and all the way up the hosel, which looks simply fantastic!

The grip is great for a stock club, better than the stock Mizuno Golf Prides that were on my JPX irons. I love my Winn Dritacs that I've since put on the JPX's though, and would still swap the Bio Cell's grips for the Dritacs in a second.

When compared to my 6i JPX 825, the JPX sole is very clearly wider. You can't see the back of the club-head at address in either line, but if you start moving your hands forward at address, the JPX will show the cavity back first compared with the Bio Cell. The Bio Cell has the sole width closer to a JPX 825 Pro. That said, the top line is exactly the same for both the 825 and Bio Cell when looking down at address.

When swinging indoors at home (I have plenty of ceiling room), I find the Bio Cell to be very pleasantly weighted and balanced. Additionally, I'm a big fan of the white paintfill in the bottom-most groove on the face. My irons don't have this, and I liked it right away.

I will have more to expand on tomorrow, as I will be hitting the range as well as playing a round with one of my golfing buddies, asahrts. The Bio Cell will of course be joining us on the course and will get a lot of use so I will have more to write on that later.

In the meantime, here are some pics as well. Enjoy!

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baldguy said:

edit: in an effort to conserve threadspace, I wanted to add that ironcondor has managed to capture nicely in his photos below an aspect of these irons that I find particularly attractive - the hosel. That touch really sets the rest of the club off, IMO.

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It's quickly becoming my favorite visual point on this club, the more I sit here looking at it. It's an awesome touch by Cobra!

I would like to thank THP and Cobra Golf for the fantastic opportunity to test and report on the Bio Cell irons.

I currently play Burner 2.0s in regular flex (purchased this spring) after playing 80's Spalding CBs for almost 20 years. The best part of this to me is that my 6 iron is the most consistent iron in my bag. I generally hit it about 155 yds with a fade.

The first thing I noticed upon opening the shipping box was how similar the Bio Cell's look to my Burners from the back and front.



They both have prominent heel and toe weighting display which I like, although I like the 'cell' design a bit more. The ports shows exactly where that weighting is. I also like that the Cobra logo displays the sweet spot, much like the Burner 'disc' type design. When I take this out tomorrow to play some sim golf, it is comforting to know exactly where I need to strike the ball on the face which is slightly more streamlined at the toe than Burners.

I don't, as of yet, have a good top line picture, but I found the Bio Cell to look slightly thinner. This is not a huge deal to me, although this in combination with a more 'covered' cavity gave this iron a tighter more streamlined feel in hand that photos do not do justice. In my pre-delivery web surfing I had convinced myself that it would almost be a hyron, but in-hand it couldn't be further from the truth.

Another difference I noticed between the clubs was the grips. My Burner's have hand placement guides while the Bio Cells do not.

It probably isn't a big deal for most and, although I use the alignment aids on my current grips, I am equally comfortable without. However, the Bio Cell grip was very comfortable with a good amount of grip without being too tacky/sticky.

The biggest difference between the Bio Cell and Burner 2.0 to me and the initial (prior to hitting) feeling that leads to me to believe that I will like this club is BALANCE. Although the Bio Cell felt heavier in than my current 6 iron, I definitely noticed and enjoyed the D2 vs the Burner's D3.5 swingweight. I am by no means an expert in swingweight but the Bio Cell (while swinging half swings in my living room) feels so much better balanced than my Burners. The Bio Cell feels like I am swinging a broomstick rather than a hammer (weight evenly distributed through the length vs a heavy feeling at the head). I am intrigued to see swing speed as a result of this.

As I mentioned earlier in the post I am playing sim golf tomorrow (hopefully some launch telemetry can be had) I fully intend to put this club through its paces, but upon initial review I am extremely excited and I may end up having to buy the rest of the set.:clap:

Once again thanks to THP and Cobra for the opportunity and I am looking forward to sharing my findings and answering all of your questions.

First off I want to thank THP for giving me this opportunity to review the new Cobra BIO Cell irons. I decided in order to give the best review I would break this into several mini reviews. They will be Initial Thoughts, Launch Monitor Comparison, Driving Range Comparison, & On Course Comparison. The BIO Cell with a TT Dynalite 85S will be compared against my current irons, Adams CB3 Black with a KBS Tour 90S.

Initial Thoughts-

Once I unboxed the iron the first thing I saw was the head. Like many have said before the pictures we have seen don't do this iron justice. Very clean lines & a sharp looking club. The biggest surprise to me was seeing the tungsten weighting & immediately noticed it doesn't make the back of the club head 'stick out' or take away from the design. For a GI/SGI club it really looks nice at address. Holding the club I immediately noticed it is lighter than the CB3. So much so that I went to the Adams website to see the difference. CB3 is 102g and the BIO is between 85g-90g. I also noticed the face is larger than my CB3, but personally I was not put off by it & could easily game this with confidence. There is some offset present, but nothing more than my current CB3. I would describe the face as long and lean. In fact I did notice that the sole of the CB3 was wider, but had a more compact head.

Some comparison specs
BIO Cell 6 iron - Loft- 26.5 ° Length- 37.75" lie-62° Swing Weight- D2
Adams CB3 Black - Loft-29° Length- 37.875" Lie-61.5° Swing Weight- D3





Side by side comparison pictures





In these next few pictures you can see the differences between the soles, hosels & toes of both clubs. (BIO Cell is on the left)





Here is a picture of the club at address



Overall it's a good looking iron. Again I can't say it enough that in person this club is drastically different than any of the pictures you have seen. At address the top line doesn't appear to be so big or thick that it screams game improvement. I am really anxious to get this on the LM to see what kind of numbers it will produce. Bottom line is visually this is a great looking club.

Up next will be a trip tomorrow afternoon to Golfsmith and get some comparison numbers off the launch monitor. Once I have those in hand I will post the next review. In the mean time if anyone has any questions or needs clarifications from anything in this post please do not hesitate to ask or PM me.

ironcondor said:

I will have more to expand on tomorrow, as I will be hitting the range as well as playing a round with one of my golfing buddies, asahrts. The Bio Cell will of course be joining us on the course and will get a lot of use so I will have more ...

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Wahoo!

I'll post a review after I get some time with it as well!

Trout Bum said:

The pic at address looks great, not nearly as big as I thought they would be. This is a good looking iron.

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I have yet to hit the club but at address it does not appear chunky at all. Unless you have a severe forward shaft lean you can't even see the back of the club.

War Eagle said:

Smaller than I thought as well, reminds me of the sizing of the 2.0s from a few years back. I like that, a lot.

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I immediately thought this too but as I am not well versed in how the irons all look across the vendor spectrum whether this a unique consideration or is this more indicative of the GI iron industry at large.

One thing I didn't mention in my initial thoughts because I was focusing on the 6 iron was that across the set I read Cobra moves the weights among the cell ports.