I keep reading great things about the head pro tour 280

I looking for a flexible players racquet for control and elbow comfort. I keep reading great things about pro tour 280 here so how good is the stick? I found one online place selling for $69!

What the stick like compared to modern flexible racquets like the ROK, Yonnie Ti50 and Volkl Tour 10.

Your advices are needed. The prices is sooo good for the pro tour 280 I really want to buy it if it's a good stick.

P.S It's a really old racquet. Do you think a new unstrung one will be like 'new' or will it have gotten 'old' over time even if it was unstrung ?

[Brent Pederson]

The 280 is truly a gem of a racket, compares favorably with anything out there today. Think of it as a slightly more powerful prestige, or slightly less powerful radical. It has buttery smooth feel, wonderful touch and control. It was used by Kuerten and Muster on tour. Also has one of the most beautiful paint jobs ever, IMO. For $69, it's a steal. I've got one in my bag, I'll never let it go.

[Bhagi Katbamna]

You can routinely get it brand new on **** for $49(excluding shipping).

[Grimjack]

I've moved to it, most recently by way of the Pure Drive, then the Tour 10. Blows them both away.

The one you're getting now is the mass-produced Chinese version, which by many accounts doesn't hold a candle to the original Austrian. But the Chinese is all I play with, and I chose it over the modern sticks. It's still an awfully good bat.

As a baseline basher, its response is so pure and so predictable, that I can take any swing from anywhere with complete confidence, and know exactly the reaction I'll get. Just the perfect flex/power combo to allow me to take the biggest swing humanly possible and have the ball land with some degree of consistency right near, but inside the baseline.

I love mine.

I've ordered a couple of the pre-strung ones. Haven't had any problems with premature deadening of the frames.

I can't recommend these highly enough. Best quality-to-cost ratio I've found for the serious baseliner.

[Rabbit]

I owned a couple. This is a great frame. The only problem I had with it was I could never get used to the grip. Meaning that I could never guarantee that I'd square the racket face when hitting groundies. The thing served great and volleyed well, just never could get any confidence in my groundstrokes with it. Moved back to the ProStaff and then to the C-9, C-10.

[steve d]

I have got to go along with Grimjack and Mr. Pederson. The guys on this board recommended the PT 280 when I asked for something similar to my old MW 200g. I have been very happy with the PT 280 for the last 2 years.
The flexibility and the tight string pattern POSSIBLY cost me a little serve power and spin potential. But the feel, touch and control more than offset those potential limitations. And the weight allows you to sometimes just bully guys using the 8-10 oz. rackets, especially on wide balls.
I sometimes play around with my RD-7, C-10 extended, Topspin CL628 and 200g's. And I can have a good time with all of those rackets. But when I go back to the PT 280 it just FEELS better. I never feel like my mistakes are related to the racket. I have read posts that said it is not a good S&V stick but I use it for that. And while there are probably racquets that would be better suited, I never feel like my volley errors are the fault of the racket.
I admit I would like to try some other rackets such as the Prestige Classic, 6.1, POG and a few others. But I would be a little surprised if I found anything I liked better.
At the price you can get them it is not a bad gamble if you like flexible rackets.

Originally Posted by steve d

The guys on this board recommended the PT 280 when I asked for something similar to my old MW 200g.

Whoa! My alarm bells are ringing. I found the grey and black MW 200g sluggish. Please say the PT 280 is much easier to swing, I really want to buy a piece of tennis history

[kreative]

feel the same as brent, and it's a great baseliner's stick. i only felt it was a little slow on the volley, and i couldn't hit flat serves well w/ it. i did love the kick on it thou. feels comfortable and flexy, and great for groundies. i've played w/ the mw200g also, and they're pretty similar. to me thou, the mw200g didn't feel as good at the baseline, but i could hit flat serves, and volley well. pt280 had slightly more power imo. both are great racquets.

[Grimjack]

Originally Posted by Rabbit

I owned a couple. This is a great frame. The only problem I had with it was I could never get used to the grip. Meaning that I could never guarantee that I'd square the racket face when hitting groundies. The thing served great and volleyed well, just never could get any confidence in my groundstrokes with it. Moved back to the ProStaff and then to the C-9, C-10.

This is probably worth another mention.

You won't find a bigger proponent of the thing than me, but even I had to perform massive reconstructive surgery on the grip to get it where I want it.

I don't know how well that would have worked out for me, if I hadn't wanted to add quite a bit of weight anyway. But since I did, I was able to build up the side bevels, add lead to the top to keep the balance right, and end up with a beauty of a 13 oz stick. If you wanted it closer to 12, and didn't care for the grip, you might be donkeyed.

[@wright]

Rabbit, don't Volkls and Heads have similar grip shape? I found them both to be pretty rectangular.

[jayserinos99]

IMO, head racquets have more of a pronounced rectangular shape than volkls. I have 3 PT 280s and they're sweet hitting as everyone said they were. I painted them matte black and added CAP grommets to them so the weight has been upped a bit. By the way, is New Tech Tennis the only place to get grip pallets for Head racquets? I e-mailed New Tech and they said they didn't have them.

[spam]

Superb sticks,I have 3 which I string Hybrid poly/syn multi@60lbs.I like the grip shape-usually replace with Head Intelligrip.Flexi,great from baseline,not good for volleying as lack maneuverability,ok for serving ,good spin for tight pattern.Recently I have started using Volkl tour 10 midplus which I find slightly better on serve and at net also slightly more power but I may go back to pro tour as it hurts my shoulder more if I play at my limit.

[Brent Pederson]

Boom boom,

If you don't like the 200g, you may not like the 280, they're pretty similar in feel, power and weight imo.

[Deuce]

I'm with Kreative - the 280 is maybe the second best baseline racquet I've ever hit with. Wonderful feel. Since I first hit with one, I've always said that an 85 sq. in Pro Tour would be the perfect frame, as it would likely be more maneuverable, and so better at net.

I used the 280 for a few years. Went to it from the Pro Staff 85.

[Rabbit]

@wright - I agree with Jay. My 280s had a seriously rectangular shape, so much so that I never could get used to it. Now, I might not have a problem with it since I've been VOLKLized!!!!

[Ronaldo]

Deuce, the Wilson Ultra/FPK 85 may be just what you want.

[@wright]

Everyone is mentioning the maneuverability problems with the pro tour 280, does anyone know what the swing weight is?

[kreative]

weight: 12

swingweight: 327

stiffness: 58

not sure of the balance thou

[stevewcosta]

Horrible grip shape.

[Deuce]

Hey - if I could get used to the grip shape, anyone can.

And it's not that it's unmaneuverable - there are plenty of frames that are less maneuverable than the Pro Tour 280. It's simply not a serve & volleyer's racquet. But if the majority of your time is spent at the baseline, with only 4 or 5 visits to the net per hour, then the Pro Tour is a beautiful racquet.