Bonjour from Babolat

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

I don't really care about Babolat racquets, though I have only tried the Aeropro drive, the older one, earlier version of this 2013 one and the pure drive 2012, after I demoed I pretty much erased Babolat racquets off my list.

Strings are very good, I used Pro Hurricane Tour, then Babolat RPM Blast for a good time, had always used VS Touch in hybrids, this winter I'm going to Wilson, since most don't like the new BT7, and say the Wilson is the older VS, so obviously I have experienced Babolat products before, but I can admit after I joined this forum I learned and heard many things, that also lead me to dislike Babolat more, apart of me not liking the racquets first and foremost, I don't care what people use, but to me it's low quality, at least compared to the ones I use, so good luck to you and the thread.


As far as playing, in my opinion here is what i found:

- with the same stiffness as my current racquet it is a hell lot stiffer than mine.

- having the same weight as my current racquet, it is very unstable, vibrates a lot, unlike the racquet I use.

- It feels hollow and lacks accuracy when compared to my racquet.

- grip is horrible (but this is personal preference), so i'd never play with racquet because of the grip shape nor the throat design, it just feels really weird too.

As far as quality, Drakulie can give you an entire list of problems.

Anyway, I was actually defending Babolat towards the ones who complain about it, obviously I'm not complaining about it because Babolat makes no difference to me, I don't spend anything on their products anymore.

I have bought and used Yonex Rdis 100, 200, 300, vcore 100, 98 and 97. I have used Pure Drive Roddick 2007 version, APD Cortex and 2010 GT. So, I have a reference to compare Yonex and Babolat. RDIS 100 mp is a good racket, the other Yonex models I did not like too much for different reasons.
Yonex has less vibrations and feels more solid. That is why I have insisted so much on them. They build nice, solid rackets. But, and this is a big but, the APD with its ocassional vibrations and smaller sweetspot, is a racket that molds better to my strokes and topspin style of play. I can hit my strokes more comfortably with the APD than with Yonex. And, you can enhance feel by using gut or any soft copoly or hybrid.
So maybe Yonex has better quality and looks meaner in my hand, but when I hit my forehand the APD is better for me. Serves, Yonex is better. But, I rely alot on loopy, agressive topspin, racket speed and power and APD is better for me. So, its all relative, what's junk for you is a diamond for me. And, I admit that at times I have been a bit mad at the APD for not having the solidness of the Yonex.
So, one weighs the pros and cons and decide what racket to use. For now, for me, its the 2013 APD and will also get a Volkl V1 Classic to get a softer backup racket in case I want to rest my arm for a few days.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by Babolat Official

Our master stinger in the office did a test where he strung two Pure Storm Limiteds, one with RPM Blast and one with RPM Dual. He let them sit for a week and using his "Beers ERT" he found the DT (dynamic tension?) dropped 4.5% on Dual and 9.1% on Blast. The caveat is this was one test and not part of the official Babolat lab...but we're tennis junkies so we wanted to see what would happen.

Hope that helps.

No offense, but RPM loses that amount of tension in the first 30 minutes. No need to wait a week. I've done the same test numerous times, with a ERT and Babolat RDC, including doing it at the shop I work at in front of a customer who didn't believe me when I said the string can't hold tension, and could drop up to 10 lbs in that time.

Anyways, welcome to the boards. Nice to have a rep being active.

Edit: Could you give us any information on the new babolat stringing machine being worked on? Thanks in advance.

[Migelowsky]

Originally Posted by Babolat Official

3. Rafa doesn't like his right hand (fingers?) rubbing on the plastic "cortex" piece on the throat of the racquet on backhands, so we customize the racquet making it flush.

What do you mean by "mean making it flush " ? it´s just a sticker or that part of the frame or is suposed to be a continuous smooth surface without tangency break .

Anyway, to the people who complains about babolat´s hollow, stiff and powerful rackets reputation I advice them to check the Pure Storm line.
The Pure Drives and Aero Pro are the most recognizable and emblematic products but the Pure Storms are really nice traditional feeling rackets.

[Mick]

perhaps some people are unhappy with Babolat racquets because they were unlucky and received the fake ones. I have the APD and AST and they play great.

[Migelowsky]

Originally Posted by Mick

perhaps some people are unhappy with Babolat racquets because they were unlucky and received the fake ones. I have the APD and AST and they play great.

Hey Mick, I got another classic , I´ll post a picture later on my thread and then you can show me 10 NOS of your collection

[Mick]

Originally Posted by Migelowsky

Hey Mick, I got another classic , I´ll post a picture later on my thread and then you can show me 10 NOS of your collection

Okey dokey but I have slowed down a lot in racquet purchasing the past few years

[Roger Wawrinka]

Welcome to the thread babolat official! I have two questions for you 1. On rafa's racquets it says his name on the throat, Jo Tsonga has a symbol on the same location but what is it and what does the symbol mean?

2. I am a fan of Tecnifibre racquets (sorry) but a fan of both babolat and tecnifibre strings, so I get the best of both french tennis worlds! Anyways, I was wondering which is more popular in France and in Europe? I was also wondering if there is a big rivalry between the two company's?


R.W

[julian]

Originally Posted by drakulie

No offense, but RPM loses that amount of tension in the first 30 minutes. No need to wait a week. I've done the same test numerous times, with a ERT and Babolat RDC, including doing it at the shop I work at in front of a customer who didn't believe me when I said the string can't hold tension, and could drop up to 10 lbs in that time.

Anyways, welcome to the boards. Nice to have a rep being active.

Edit: Could you give us any information on the new babolat stringing machine being worked on? Thanks in advance.

Is it OK to ask whether your test was done for 16 gauge?

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by Rock Strongo

Daniel, since I can't sleep anyway and I'm reading this thread, how did the doubles go yesterday?

Not my best performance. Served well and had a decent day at the net...but my return game was abysmal at best. If they find my backhand and I'm not confident stepping in and coming over it (which is usually the case), things go downhill quickly.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by Migelowsky

What do you mean by "mean making it flush " ? it´s just a sticker or that part of the frame or is suposed to be a continuous smooth surface without tangency break .

Anyway, to the people who complains about babolat´s hollow, stiff and powerful rackets reputation I advice them to check the Pure Storm line.
The Pure Drives and Aero Pro are the most recognizable and emblematic products but the Pure Storms are really nice traditional feeling rackets.

You say "Continuous smooth surface without tangency break," I say flush.

[TimothyO]

Originally Posted by Migelowsky

Anyway, to the people who complains about babolat´s hollow, stiff and powerful rackets reputation I advice them to check the Pure Storm line.
The Pure Drives and Aero Pro are the most recognizable and emblematic products but the Pure Storms are really nice traditional feeling rackets.

I would second that!

On a happy note my three Pure Storm GTs (2009 colors) that I just purchased from TW came in within 1g of each other (two were precisely the same!!!) and within fractions of a point in balance. I was shocked, shoCKED, SHOCKED given my previous experience with Babolat specifically and racquets in general. Those numbers are better than I've had with Dunlop.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by Roger Wawrinka

Welcome to the thread babolat official! I have two questions for you 1. On rafa's racquets it says his name on the throat, Jo Tsonga has a symbol on the same location but what is it and what does the symbol mean?

2. I am a fan of Tecnifibre racquets (sorry) but a fan of both babolat and tecnifibre strings, so I get the best of both french tennis worlds! Anyways, I was wondering which is more popular in France and in Europe? I was also wondering if there is a big rivalry between the two company's?


R.W

1. Jo has a custom logo. It is "J" "W" "T" (his initials) put together.

2. That's fine. They make some great products. I used Pro Red Code for a long time. The tennis industry in Europe does not publish the same sell through numbers (or at least they are not readily available to me). I know the Technifibre guys, they are cool. And they sponsor Denis Kudla, one of my favorite young American players.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by Bartelby

Is there any Babolat research on how the woofer system works when a racquet is strung at:

a) 35 pounds

b) 55 pounds

That is a really good question. I'll try to find out what tensions they perform tests at.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by drakulie

No offense, but RPM loses that amount of tension in the first 30 minutes. No need to wait a week. I've done the same test numerous times, with a ERT and Babolat RDC, including doing it at the shop I work at in front of a customer who didn't believe me when I said the string can't hold tension, and could drop up to 10 lbs in that time.

Anyways, welcome to the boards. Nice to have a rep being active.

Edit: Could you give us any information on the new babolat stringing machine being worked on? Thanks in advance.

1. I did not perform the test, but I will pass your comments on to our stringer. Thanks for your insight.

2. Still very early in the product phase, nothing new for 2013.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by Mick

perhaps some people are unhappy with Babolat racquets because they were unlucky and received the fake ones. I have the APD and AST and they play great.

We only sell through authorized retailers...if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

I don't really care about Babolat racquets, though I have only tried the Aeropro drive, the older one, earlier version of this 2013 one and the pure drive 2012, after I demoed I pretty much erased Babolat racquets off my list.

Strings are very good, I used Pro Hurricane Tour, then Babolat RPM Blast for a good time, had always used VS Touch in hybrids, this winter I'm going to Wilson, since most don't like the new BT7, and say the Wilson is the older VS, so obviously I have experienced Babolat products before, but I can admit after I joined this forum I learned and heard many things, that also lead me to dislike Babolat more, apart of me not liking the racquets first and foremost, I don't care what people use, but to me it's low quality, at least compared to the ones I use, so good luck to you and the thread.


As far as playing, in my opinion here is what i found:

- with the same stiffness as my current racquet it is a hell lot stiffer than mine.

- having the same weight as my current racquet, it is very unstable, vibrates a lot, unlike the racquet I use.

- It feels hollow and lacks accuracy when compared to my racquet.

- grip is horrible (but this is personal preference), so i'd never play with racquet because of the grip shape nor the throat design, it just feels really weird too.

As far as quality, Drakulie can give you an entire list of problems.

Anyway, I was actually defending Babolat towards the ones who complain about it, obviously I'm not complaining about it because Babolat makes no difference to me, I don't spend anything on their products anymore.

Freedom to choose your own products is a wonderful thing. Good luck.

[Bartelby]

Ever thought of partnering with a French designer brand and producing something radically different in ternnis clothing?

[Micky]

Originally Posted by Ross K

Babolat Official,

Please have a word with your colleagues and get them to forward my rather substantial royalty cheques, preferred package options and other pay-offs and benefits accrued from creating the below and helping to generate the buzz about Babs some years back.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=121480

Hola Commander Ross K !!!!

[zapvor]

Originally Posted by Babolat Official

1. Jo has a custom logo. It is "J" "W" "T" (his initials) put together.

2. That's fine. They make some great products. I used Pro Red Code for a long time. The tennis industry in Europe does not publish the same sell through numbers (or at least they are not readily available to me). I know the Technifibre guys, they are cool. And they sponsor Denis Kudla, one of my favorite young American players.

very cool! good to see a kudla fan here!

[zapvor]

Originally Posted by drakulie

No offense, but RPM loses that amount of tension in the first 30 minutes. No need to wait a week. I've done the same test numerous times, with a ERT and Babolat RDC, including doing it at the shop I work at in front of a customer who didn't believe me when I said the string can't hold tension, and could drop up to 10 lbs in that time.

Anyways, welcome to the boards. Nice to have a rep being active.

Edit: Could you give us any information on the new babolat stringing machine being worked on? Thanks in advance.

i agree with this. so many people have mentioned the loss of tension with RPM rather quickly.