Big Brand QC

[guardian2002]

Spent a few hours in the local store sorting through sticks (weight, BP and SW, with grip plastic wrap intact) for the owner who is a friend - we wrote the specs down on a sticker on each racquet so it would be easier for the buyers to select sticks. Some observations which may only be interesting to the OCD types:

1. Wilson
Worst QC. Biggest culprits surprisingly were the Pro Staff series. For example, RF97A ranged from 333g to 345g. PS97 that we're at Best within 10 grams of one another. Best QC was of all things Blade SW104 - 6 pieces all within 3 grams and similar SW and BP - the tight tolerances would be wasted on the typical buyer of this frame (according to the store owner).

2. Yonex
By far the best. Very tight tolerances for weight (+/- 1g) and correspondingly SW and BP were very close.

3. Head
Not as good as Yonex but pretty decent all in all. Owner said these were not selling well save for the Speeds.

4. Babolat
Surprisingly decent. There was a sample PA2019 as well, doesn't look too bad in person, kinda mellow yellow. While the weights were consistent, the BP and SW varied more than in the case of Yonex.

Conclusion-Yonex QC the best by far and if you don't at least sort through a pile to get matched sticks or at least do some customization to match your sticks, you are putting your game at risk. Wilson is disappointing to say the least.

 

[KG32]

Spent a few hours in the local store sorting through sticks (weight, BP and SW, with grip plastic wrap intact) for the owner who is a friend - we wrote the specs down on a sticker on each racquet so it would be easier for the buyers to select sticks. Some observations which may only be interesting to the OCD types:

1. Wilson
Worst QC. Biggest culprits surprisingly were the Pro Staff series. For example, RF97A ranged from 333g to 345g. PS97 that we're at Best within 10 grams of one another. Best QC was of all things Blade SW104 - 6 pieces all within 3 grams and similar SW and BP - the tight tolerances would be wasted on the typical buyer of this frame (according to the store owner).

2. Yonex
By far the best. Very tight tolerances for weight (+/- 1g) and correspondingly SW and BP were very close.

3. Head
Not as good as Yonex but pretty decent all in all. Owner said these were not selling well save for the Speeds.

4. Babolat
Surprisingly decent. There was a sample PA2019 as well, doesn't look too bad in person, kinda mellow yellow. While the weights were consistent, the BP and SW varied more than in the case of Yonex.

Conclusion-Yonex QC the best by far and if you don't at least sort through a pile to get matched sticks or at least do some customization to match your sticks, you are putting your game at risk. Wilson is disappointing to say the least.

Nice, thanks for taking time to measure it and report. In my experience, it can vary depending on the batch the shop received and also how many racquets were sold (we can imagine a lot of people sorted through them and cherry-picked some).

It'd be cool if more people measured it, posted results and we could put together a list that would allow some results with statistical significance.

 

[prjacobs]

It's no secret that if you really want frames to match your preferred specs, you have to buy at a place that will measure them and give you what you want. If you really want to be precise, go to a place that can make sure the flex matches. The first time I had frames professionally matched, the flex on one of the five we measured was different. Back in the day, it cost me $40. The frames were exact matches. I used them for over ten years... Money well spent.

 

[Deleted member 746200]

Babolat next year will lunch some rackets coming in with a pack/two rackets and it’s guaranteed same weight for each racket. Not sure about the balance and swingweight though.


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[Automatix]

Babolat next year will lunch some rackets coming in with a pack/two rackets and it’s guaranteed same weight for each racket. Not sure about the balance and swingweight though.


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Problem is out of these 3 swingweight is the most important parameter. Even more so in certain scenerios the differences in weight allows you to tweek the frames so they have very close swingweight, balance and weight to each other.

 

[Deleted member 746200]

Problem is out of these 3 swingweight is the most important parameter. Even more so in certain scenerios the differences in weight allows you to tweek the frames so they have very close swingweight, balance and weight to each other.

Yeah thats why I see a lot of pro using lighter frame and weight them up to reach the same specs for each racket. But I think for the same model racquets, if the weight and balance point are same or close enough, the swingweight is gonna be similar as well


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[Automatix]

Yeah thats why I see a lot of pro using lighter frame and weight them up to reach the same specs for each racket. But I think for the same model racquets, if the weight and balance point are same or close enough, the swingweight is gonna be similar as well

It should be, but believe me it doesn't have to be the case. It will depend how they are brought up to the advertised weight and balance.

 

[Vlad_C]

Considering how a racquet is manufactured, I think it would be practically impossible to have them all come out at the exact specs. There will always be variations of at least a few grams.

My most recent experience is with Wilson racquets:
The ProStaff 6.1 90's I had a few years ago were all over the place in terms of weight and balance.
The RF97A is a different story. I checked 8 of them and I chose 2 that were identical, but the rest were not that far off - within 3g of specs, and well balanced too.