So RHs,
A few weeks I embarked on a little side-experiment designed potentially to see if the PD 2012 might just provide one or two things I feel are missing with my APDOs. But what I did was I got an old PD Team (the one before the Cortex version - see the young Andy pic below) just to reacquaint myself with generally how these things play, thinking being if I really liked it, I could then maybe get hold of the way more pricey Black Drive (name copyright of Power Player
) with some degree of assurance. Anyhow, freshly strung with Toalson Cyberblade and Xcel @ 50/54 lbs, with my usual weight in the b/cap and up at 12, this is how it went...
Slightly odd to report this but if anything it lacked a bit of oomph off the b-line. Shots I'm used to blasting out to the b-line, to my consternation, were coughing short too often. Worse, the feel off the string-bed was what I'd call stiff/dead. For some reason, I found more acute pop playing off the angles (nailed a couple of beauties on the BH side.) And I certainly found it on serve (get to that later). But for my staple b-line spinny thing, the PD wasn't doing it for me. Now whilst the relative (relative to the APD) spin and arching trajectory was anticipated in advance to be less, I was surprised by the lack of consistent deep heavy b-line peppering capacity or whatever.
A lot of which I have a strong suspicion is to do with the strings set up... Cyberblade I remembered as being a decent softer Lux impersonation, and Xcel I was eager to try as an esteemed string (I normally use Nvy as a cross string.) Well, all I can say is I wasn't a fan... no grip and purchase, so-so feel/spin, in and out power, limp... TBH, I kept wondering about my old fave - TB, and thinking how nice this might be in the PD. Maybe performance will change significantly? Maybe I went in with the wrong tensions and should have gone lower?
Re how it swings, again I was surprised. I thought it would be very like the APD, but I found it swung more nimbly and got to the ball quicker. Generally I found it a tad more maneuverable. Could the Aero beam have something to do with that perception? As I say though, seems to me the PD is faster to the ball. Okay, it's no C10 Pro or Prestige mid, but I felt I was teeing off into the ball with good fluency and rhythm.
In the solidness stakes, APD/O wins hands down.
Ditto in terms of feel, APD noticeably softer and richer (though strings need to be factored in). Worth saying the PD didn't feel horribly stiff and harsh, but I wouldn't want to go too much at all over the 70 RA level.
RE serve though (and here's a major reason I checked it out to begin with), this thing just dishes up bullets... bullets and body shots... hard, flat bullets, and kickers that fly off into the body. For someone who lacks in serve pop naturally a bit, I have to come clean, the PD is just a wonderful serve frame.
Plenty for me to think about there then as what I anticipate as being a busy racketaholicing winter for me starts - LOL.
