Babolat Propulse 4 Shoe Playtest

[davedomart]

Just got mine, black and yellow as well. Glad I ordered a size up, as these 11s are tighter than my 11 2k11s(which are too big). Very comfortable, but had to use the heel strap because the heel is wide. I'll post my review in a couple of weeks. Thanks TW & Babolat!

[hcb0804]

Originally Posted by hcb0804

Great! Hope mine are black/yellow too!

Mine arrived today, black & yellow!

[Chace]

Mine arrived today as well, black & yellow.

[frunk]

Look out for the kid on TV when this commercial airs

[hcb0804]

Wearing mine around today. The 4 feels stiffer and in need of break in, not as out of the box comfortable as the 3. Not quite as wide as the 3, but still roomy; I have Elite socks on with them and they are still roomy. Strangely, the right shoe of my pair feels bigger.
Just some first impressions....

[rdis10093]

black and yellow as well gents

[hcb0804]

Up to Level 3 Thorlo socks now....better.
I was worried the 11.5 I ordered was just too big, but I think an 11 would be too short in length. Thick or double socks needed with these.

[djNEiGht]

Originally Posted by hcb0804

Not quite as wide as the 3, but still roomy; I have Elite socks on with them and they are still roomy.
Just some first impressions....

Originally Posted by hcb0804

Up to Level 3 Thorlo socks now....better.
I was worried the 11.5 I ordered was just too big, but I think an 11 would be too short in length. Thick or double socks needed with these.

I found the 3s to be really roomy and sometimes too much while also wearing level 3s. Did you order true to size?

[hcb0804]

Originally Posted by djNEiGht

I found the 3s to be really roomy and sometimes too much while also wearing level 3s. Did you order true to size?

My 4s are the same size as my 3s, both 11.5

[mad dog1]

I just got back from the Babolat Faster To The Ball event held at the beautiful Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis & Swim Club in the nice upscale city of Laguna Hills. The weather was perfect. Beautiful blue skies, sunny and warm. Babolat and Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis put on a first rate event. I arrived at 12:20 and the event started at 12:30. Registration was a breeze. I stepped up to the sign in table and was handed a name tag holder on a necklace with my nametag and a raffle ticket in the holder as well as a pair of Black/Yellow Propulse 4s w/ my name on the box. More details on the raffle later. I had to quickly slip on the new Propulse 4s as the event was starting.

We were split up into a 6 groups which were based on USTA ratings. I joined the 4.0-4.5 group and we headed off to begin the tennis clinic portion of the day. There were 6 different doubles drills being run on 6 courts. We'd spend ~10 minutes performing a drill and then rotate to the next court for another drill. The final court had some footwork drills involved as well. We started off with the ladder and then moved into a hitting drill where we tried to hit a hand feed through a tire. Then we zigzagged around a slalom course of Michelin tires to test out the outersole traction of the new Propulse 4s exploding from one gate to the next and got back in line to repeat. After the conclusion of the clinic session, we went inside to relax and enjoy some food and libation. They had prepared a bountiful spread of veggies and dip, egg rolls, beef and satay chicken on skewers, chips and salsa and fresh fruit. Beer and water was provided to quench our thirst. Yummy stuff indeed! But the fun wasn't over yet. Remember the raffle ticket I had mentioned earlier? Yeah, the raffle was next and boy, were there some really awesome giveaways!

Raffle Prizes:

1. Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year
2. 2 Baseline Box seat tickets for both day and night Friday Semifinal matches at the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tournament
3. Three 2013 Babolat AeroPro Drive Racquets
4. Three Babolat Aero Line 12 Pack bags with the Intelligent Strap System.

I usually don't win anything, however I was fortunate enough to win the Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year! WOOHOO!!!

On our way out, each participant was given a Babolat goodie bag that included a nice nylon mesh Babolat cap, sunscreen, lipbalm, Michelin CA road guide, and a canned soft drink cooler.

I did meet the 3 other TW members, Frunk, samprasbackhand and embot. Nice guys. Good to put a face to the usernames! I also met Daniel Becker and Steve Strecker of Babolat. Wonderful folks!

Anyways, this wraps up the play by play recap of today's Babolat Faster To The Ball Propulse 4 Event. It was alot of fun, indeed!

A big thank you goes out to TW and Babolat for selecting me to attend the event and to playtest the new shoes!

[nyc]

Well done, and congrats! Saw the pics on the Babolat Twitter feed - it looked like a perfect and fun day out there!

[Chace]

Originally Posted by mad dog1

I just got back from the Babolat Faster To The Ball event held at the beautiful Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis & Swim Club in the nice upscale city of Laguna Hills. The weather was perfect. Beautiful blue skies, sunny and warm. Babolat and Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis put on a first rate event. I arrived at 12:20 and the event started at 12:30. Registration was a breeze. I stepped up to the sign in table and was handed a name tag holder on a necklace with my nametag and a raffle ticket in the holder as well as a pair of Black/Yellow Propulse 4s w/ my name on the box. More details on the raffle later. I had to quickly slip on the new Propulse 4s as the event was starting.

We were split up into a 6 groups which were based on USTA ratings. I joined the 4.0-4.5 group and we headed off to begin the tennis clinic portion of the day. There were 6 different doubles drills being run on 6 courts. We'd spend ~10 minutes performing a drill and then rotate to the next court for another drill. The final court had some footwork drills involved as well. We started off with the ladder and then moved into a hitting drill where we tried to hit a hand feed through a tire. Then we zigzagged around a slalom course of Michelin tires to test out the outersole traction of the new Propulse 4s exploding from one gate to the next and got back in line to repeat. After the conclusion of the clinic session, we went inside to relax and enjoy some food and libation. They had prepared a bountiful spread of veggies and dip, egg rolls, beef and satay chicken on skewers, chips and salsa and fresh fruit. Beer and water was provided to quench our thirst. Yummy stuff indeed! But the fun wasn't over yet. Remember the raffle ticket I had mentioned earlier? Yeah, the raffle was next and boy, were there some really awesome giveaways!

Raffle Prizes:

1. Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year
2. 2 Baseline Box seat tickets for both day and night Friday Semifinal matches at the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tournament
3. Three 2013 Babolat AeroPro Drive Racquets
4. Three Babolat Aero Line 12 Pack bags with the Intelligent Strap System.

I usually don't win anything, however I was fortunate enough to win the Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year! WOOHOO!!!

On our way out, each participant was given a Babolat goodie bag that included a nice nylon mesh Babolat cap, sunscreen, lipbalm, Michelin CA road guide, and a canned soft drink cooler.

I did meet the 3 other TW members, Frunk, samprasbackhand and embot. Nice guys. Good to put a face to the usernames! I also met Daniel Becker and Steve Stricker of Babolat. Wonderful folks!

Anyways, this wraps up the play by play recap of today's Babolat Faster To The Ball Propulse 4 Event. It was alot of fun, indeed!

A big thank you goes out to TW and Babolat for selecting me to attend the event and to playtest the new shoes!

Thanks for sharing MD, sounds like a great time.

[frunk]

Wow. What a day. I too was a playtester at Nellie Gail. First and foremost, congrats to mad_dog who won the Babolat shoes! I know I was really jealous and I thought it was cool that one of us from TW managed to win something.

Anyways. Onward to the experience, and then the shoes.

I arrived at Nellie Gail at about 11, early, and managed to strike up conversation with Wes and Daniel from Babolat. They're my new best friends from Babolat - very personable guys, very kind, funny, and of course, good tennis players. I also managed to snag an exclusive babolat hoodie and t shirt from Wes! Towards noon we started getting our name badges/raffle tickets and shoes. I got a pair of black/yellow ones. I read on here earlier that it was better to double sock and I spied that each of the babolat pros was double-socking/thorlo-ing it, so I decided to double sock.

With the double sock, the shoe felt really nice. This is my second Babolat shoe, the first being the All-Court 4 - which i wore twice and then threw away. The ProPulse 4 felt nicer. A little plush and wide around the heel, but thats what the strap is for!

The group was split up based on their performance tennis-wise. I was placed on the highest level, 5.0+ court. The first of the 7 clinic courts was also the most physically demanding one. Kevin Jackson, a well known local trainer, was leading the court and of course had us do an obstacle course and hitting drill. I was very surprised at the Propulse's lateral movement capabilities. I got low to the ground on side steps but never slipped. Sliding on command, also, as I found out later, was also very possible and easy.

The remainder of the courts were mainly net drills for the older folks in the club. Since I'm more of a baseline monster, there were several older ladies who wanted to be my partner for the games involving the baseline.

After almost two hours, they served food and drinks. Food was phenomenal. Egg Rolls and Chicken and Beef Kebobs, fruit and chips and this delicious salsa. The day was only getting better and better. Again, there was the raffle, but I didn't win anything.

Wes and Daniel both wanted to hit with me, but they had to tear down the stuff so I watched and waited.

At about 3:30, we started hitting. Two on Ones. I was alone on one side, them on the other. I had to win 7 points in the doubles court, while they had to win 11 points with only the singles court. Each time was pretty close at times, although they are the superior tennis players. A fourth guy joined us - forgot his name! - and we played two up two back, loser does 30 pushups. Wes and I didn't lose at all . Our fourth friend had to leave, so we played out serve points. After winning five, we switched to the winner's side and returned. I was very pleased with making it to the winner's side. I'm by no means a bad player, but both Daniel and Wes are simply great. Wes played for UNLV, and I am not sure were Daniel went but he is also very good.

Sweaty and tired, we finished at 5:30. I examined the shoes after a day's work. Not much wear on the sole or toe, as I am a toe dragger. On my slides, I tend to drag by back left foot on the inside face of that foot, if that makes sense. This was the only real damage to the shoe, as there was noticeable wear on the sides from it.

Overall, incredible day. I don't care if I make it to the commercial or not, as I had such a blast. I met tons of cool new people and played some solid solid tennis. Thanks to Tennis-Warehouse, Babolat, Nellie Gail Club, and the other TW playtesters for being so friendly!

I will post my full shoe review in a couple weeks.

[mad dog1]

^^ man, i wish i could've stayed later to hit w/ you guys. i'm sure it would've been fun.

[Babolat Official]

Originally Posted by frunk

Wow. What a day. I too was a playtester at Nellie Gail. First and foremost, congrats to mad_dog who won the Babolat shoes! I know I was really jealous and I thought it was cool that one of us from TW managed to win something.

Anyways. Onward to the experience, and then the shoes.

I arrived at Nellie Gail at about 11, early, and managed to strike up conversation with Wes and Daniel from Babolat. They're my new best friends from Babolat - very personable guys, very kind, funny, and of course, good tennis players. I also managed to snag an exclusive babolat hoodie and t shirt from Wes! Towards noon we started getting our name badges/raffle tickets and shoes. I got a pair of black/yellow ones. I read on here earlier that it was better to double sock and I spied that each of the babolat pros was double-socking/thorlo-ing it, so I decided to double sock.

With the double sock, the shoe felt really nice. This is my second Babolat shoe, the first being the All-Court 4 - which i wore twice and then threw away. The ProPulse 4 felt nicer. A little plush and wide around the heel, but thats what the strap is for!

The group was split up based on their performance tennis-wise. I was placed on the highest level, 5.0+ court. The first of the 7 clinic courts was also the most physically demanding one. Kevin Jackson, a well known local trainer, was leading the court and of course had us do an obstacle course and hitting drill. I was very surprised at the Propulse's lateral movement capabilities. I got low to the ground on side steps but never slipped. Sliding on command, also, as I found out later, was also very possible and easy.

The remainder of the courts were mainly net drills for the older folks in the club. Since I'm more of a baseline monster, there were several older ladies who wanted to be my partner for the games involving the baseline.

After almost two hours, they served food and drinks. Food was phenomenal. Egg Rolls and Chicken and Beef Kebobs, fruit and chips and this delicious salsa. The day was only getting better and better. Again, there was the raffle, but I didn't win anything.

Wes and Daniel both wanted to hit with me, but they had to tear down the stuff so I watched and waited.

At about 3:30, we started hitting. Two on Ones. I was alone on one side, them on the other. I had to win 7 points in the doubles court, while they had to win 11 points with only the singles court. Each time was pretty close at times, although they are the superior tennis players. A fourth guy joined us - forgot his name! - and we played two up two back, loser does 30 pushups. Wes and I didn't lose at all . Our fourth friend had to leave, so we played out serve points. After winning five, we switched to the winner's side and returned. I was very pleased with making it to the winner's side. I'm by no means a bad player, but both Daniel and Wes are simply great. Wes played for UNLV, and I am not sure were Daniel went but he is also very good.

Sweaty and tired, we finished at 5:30. I examined the shoes after a day's work. Not much wear on the sole or toe, as I am a toe dragger. On my slides, I tend to drag by back left foot on the inside face of that foot, if that makes sense. This was the only real damage to the shoe, as there was noticeable wear on the sides from it.

Overall, incredible day. I don't care if I make it to the commercial or not, as I had such a blast. I met tons of cool new people and played some solid solid tennis. Thanks to Tennis-Warehouse, Babolat, Nellie Gail Club, and the other TW playtesters for being so friendly!

I will post my full shoe review in a couple weeks.

Thanks for coming! I'm still steaming over losing those dubs games to you and Wes. Keep in touch.

[embot]

Fun day yesterday at Nellie Gail Ranch. Great meeting mad dog1, frunk, and samprasbackhand1. Great guys! Wish we could have hit, even for a little bit. Thanks again to Babolat and Tennis Warehouse!

[rdis10093]

first day wearing the new shoes around the house. fit seems pretty normal to me. full review to follow in the upcoming weeks. my only question is, does anyone know what the straps on the heel and front of the shoe are for?

[frunk]

Originally Posted by rdis10093

first day wearing the new shoes around the house. fit seems pretty normal to me. full review to follow in the upcoming weeks. my only question is, does anyone know what the straps on the heel and front of the shoe are for?

I use the top one to hold laces down and make the shoe tighter, and the back one is if you have narrow heels or want to be locked in more.

[samprasbackhand]

Nice meeting everyone as well, great event by Babolat and Nellie Gail.

The shoes are great as well, I've never worn any Babolat shoes but the Propulse 4 is a great shoe. The shoe did not require any break-in and felt nice and snug without being too tight. I look forward to wearing them again.

[mad dog1]

Initial Propulse 4 impressions:

I've put about 4 hours on mine playtest shoes so far.

Break in: Per the TW product description, slight break in required and I agree. VERY quick break in period. Took about 10-15 mins. After a few hard cuts on the court, i had to tighten the laces and VOILA! the Propulse 4s were broken in.

Fit: Per the TW product description, length is true to size; width is medium. I agree on the length. I am finding the width to be a bit wider than medium. I describe it as a generous medium fit in the forefoot/toebox. These are a bit roomier than the Propulse 2s. The fit of the heel is medium. Can't really comment on the arch support as I have flat feet and need to use prescription orthotics. However, orthotic wearers rejoice! the heel cup accomodates orthotics nicely. My orthotics seated perfectly whereas it took a few months before my orthotics finally settled into the heel box of the Addidas Barricade Vs and the Nike CB 3.3s.

Comfort: AWESOME! Super comfy. This is the 1st tennis shoe of the more durable offerings that is just so comfortable after the brief break in period that i would wear these around on the weekend. There are no tight spots causing any pinching; no hard plastic materials that dig into the ankle or the outer part of the forefoot and toes, etc. The Cell Shield upper molded nicely around my feet. The cushioning is first rate! I really liked the low to the ground feel of the Propulse 2s but my only complaint was that the forefoot cushioning seemed a bit thin. The Propulse 4s aren't quite as low profile as the 2s, but they are still feel closer to the ground that than the CB 3.3s and the Barricade Vs both of which had really thick cushioning under the heel. While the Propulse 4 heel cushioning isn't as thick as the CB3.3 or B5s, the heel Kompressor cushioning system offers comparable levels of shock absorption while still allowing me to feel connected to the court. The forefoot cushioning is the best i've felt in any tennis shoe. it's not overly rigid like the CBs and Barricades but it's more cushioned. When i bounce on the balls of my feet, i can feel the Side 2 Side technology with the 3D Dynamic Fishbone providing the cushioned feel and then springing back like a shock absorber. While I'm not sure it helps get me to the ball quicker, it sure does an excellent job at providing effective cushioning.

Stability/Support: Because of the Propulse 4s low profile design, stability is excellent as is support. Additionally, like the prior generations of Propulses, the FootBelt straps do a great job of securing the foot.

More to come as I continue to spend more time in these fantastic shoes...Good thing I really love these shoes as I get free Propulse 4s for the next 12 months!