RDS002 light Initial Take

[drak]

Got my hands one one so I'll follow up with Rabbits thread.

First, and I think this is very key is what the stock weight and balance is with "original" horrible Yonex grip. Weighted 11zz strung with 16 gauge syn and vib. dampener.

I hate the Yonex grip they put on - its cheesy and is so THIN its amazing. Anyway, took it off and put a Gamma Hi-Tech grip on, wow, that added like 6-8 grams weight, so now racket weighs 11.3 oz and 7 pts HL - this is just by adding an "average" grip.


Next added 2/10 of an oz of lead tape - 2/3 to 3&9, 1.3 to top (a rather small mod actually). So with a very slight mod racket now weighs 11.5 oz and 6 pts HL, very similar to my Pure Storms, so I can compare.

Went out to his some serves, felt great for pace/spin/accuracy. I could really take a hard swing on a kicker and have confidence it would go in, and it kicked well. Reminded me of my old 1500 Yonex I used for a few years.

I'll play some this weekend and follow up.

P.S. for Rabbit - first I would suggest you weigh and balance the demo you have. If you still have them for the weekend I would strongly suggest you do what I did, just replace the Yonex grip with something mormal and weight the head up a bit - not too much like I did. Be interested if there is a big difference.

[Rabbit]

Well dang. My time was up, I had to send them back to TW today. That makes sense though. I'm looking forward to the RDS002 Tour and how it plays. Although, I'm really thinking I'm stupid. I play about as well as I can with the C10. Now, I am thinking of picking up some Tour 10s from TW....I played even better with them.

[Bottle Rocket]

Am I the only one that can't understand why people put lead on demo's or new rackets, before even playing them in stock form? Then they recommend the mods to others before even playing their modified frame?

Does a review really mean anything when the racket isn't being played as it was meant to be (in stock form)?

This is almost like TW and magazine reviews... "With some added ____ here and there, this thing is as good as anything else."

Either way, these are interesting reviews... I'm sorry to ruin this thread.

[Rabbit]

Well now hang on. I think Drak has played the frame. He is responding to a couple or three posts that I made about the RDS002L. My reviews were completely stock. If anything, maybe I should have added a little lead to the frame once I figured it wasn't kosher for me. But, work has gotten in the way of tennis which is becoming more and more of a problem. I ran out of time with the frame and had to ship it back to TW.

[drak]

Am I the only one that can't understand why people put lead on demo's or new rackets, before even playing them in stock form? Then they recommend the mods to others before even playing their modified frame?

Does a review really mean anything when the racket isn't being played as it was meant to be (in stock form)?

This is almost like TW and magazine reviews... "With some added ____ here and there, this thing is as good as anything else."

Either way, these are interesting reviews... I'm sorry to ruin this thread.


Review was "serves only" before and after. Liked it better after. I will do both (stock and modified) for any further review I post.

Drak

[Django]

Bottle Rocket, I share your pain. More than a few times on these boards, we're treated to reviews that qualify things by saying: "I added lead tape at 3 and 9 o'clock, a bit more at the Y, replaced the grip with leather, strung it w/ 16-gauge poly at 3 pounds higher than the recommended range, stuck in three dampeners and a rubber band -- and it played like crap!"