HEAD –– 2019|2020 –– Radical & Prestige rackets.

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Well, it is so sad that being so loyal fan of Prestige MP (okay, Mid too) and Radical MP rackets – these are one of the most stiff frames on the market right now.
That's unbelievable how HEAD ended up – at the same time still offering flexy frames to proplayers.

Wilson Blade v7, Prince Phantoms, Prince Tours, Yonex VCore, Tecnifibre T-Thight 315 Ltd., ProKennex Q Tour – and even Srixon, sorry – Dunlop CX 2.0 Tour
are superior feel-wise to most of recent years Prestige and Radical line. What a shame!

On the other hand the company has such great prostocks as PT57A, TGT260 (all of them!) or TGT293. I do expect they can still bring some new life to their
best rackets line. I don't want to buy any 100" Gravity line rackets. I didn't buy YouTek–IG Speed rackets – why should I do it now?
 
DustinW

DustinW

Professional
I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer the Graphene Radicals to the pre-Graphene radicals. I know Head has changed a lot over the years, but they seem to be making a good push recently toward making lower RA frames. Right now, the Radical is the only Head line with RA above 65, which I agree is strange based on the Radical history. But... Prestiges are 61-65, Extremes are 63-64, Instinct is 65, Speed is 62-63, and Gravity is 61-62.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
DustinW said:
I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer the Graphene Radicals to the pre-Graphene radicals.
Click to expand...

To all Radicals? I really love Liquidmetal, Microgel, YouTek and IG. Even Ti and i.Radical were fine.

DustinW said:
Right now, the Radical is the only Head line with RA above 65, which I agree is strange based on the Radical history. But... Prestiges are 61-65, Extremes are 63-64, Instinct is 65, Speed is 62-63, and Gravity is 61-62.
Click to expand...

RA68 for most recent Radical MP and Pro isn't a good move at all. Two last Prestige MP's are very stiff as well. The 61RA of new Mid isn't that bad, but the stick replaced such a great sticks (IG Prestige Mid and classic Mids) – and I don't know anyone using the current Mid honestly.
 
DustinW

DustinW

Professional
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
To all Radicals? I really love Liquidmetal, Microgel, YouTek and IG. Even Ti and i.Radical were fine.
Click to expand...

I've hit the Microgel, YouTek, and IG... and yes, I prefer the Graphenes. For me, they are just easier to play with (bigger sweetspot, more forgiving, more responsive, easier defense-to-offense, easier power when I want it but not too much power) and still plenty comfortable. I wasn't a huge fan of the Graphene XT, but I really like the original Graphene. And then I thought the Touch was like the original Graphene with a bit more plow (which was good) and less vibrations (also good). I haven't tried the 360 yet.

I agree though about the 68 RA. I'd like to see them get that back down around 64-65.
 
Tmano

Tmano

Hall of Fame
I played with the IG radical pro, the Graphene radical pro, and now I use the Speed touch MP, but I have in my bag a Graphene radical MP. I honestly have to agree with DustinW that the original Graphene pro/mp were pretty good. I have not tried any other radical yet due too a bit pricy, however I believe I found in the Speed touch MP something that is very similar to the radical specs and playability that everybody is hoping to find. To me the Speed touch Mp is actually a radical.
 
P

ProRadTour

Semi-Pro
@DustinW I agree the new Radicals are a good modern frame, but they shouldn't have called it a Radical. They should have preserved the Prestige and Radical lines, and created a new line for the "modern radical". This way they could have appealed to people who want a stiffer response while also catering to players who prefer the "classic" feel.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Tmano said:
To me the Speed touch Mp is actually a radical.
Click to expand...

I think Prestige S is modern Radical rather than Speed MP.

Also if modern means played by actual top ATP players – then it means rather older Radical and Prestiges.
Modern means arm-friendly right now (what in general means more flexy)!
And in the end modern means stable, powerful and precise racket along with good feel.

Stiff rackets are simply cheap and old-school way to powerful frames.
 
D

dnguyen

Hall of Fame
well, well, well, it's obviously that Head thinks you guys want more power so they make stiffer racquets :(

that's why i hunt vintage racquets all over the world.
 
DustinW

DustinW

Professional
ProRadTour said:
I agree the new Radicals are a good modern frame, but they shouldn't have called it a Radical. They should have preserved the Prestige and Radical lines, and created a new line for the "modern radical".
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I can't disagree with that. (y)
 
B

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
dnguyen said:
well, well, well, it's obviously that Head thinks you guys want more power so they make stiffer racquets :(

that's why i hunt vintage racquets all over the world.
Click to expand...

I wonder if there is any connection between the sales of stiffer rackets in the real world out there, where Head operates, for example Babolat, and Head decision to produce stiffer rackets.
 
D

dnguyen

Hall of Fame
blablavla said:
I wonder if there is any connection between the sales of stiffer rackets in the real world out there, where Head operates, for example Babolat, and Head decision to produce stiffer rackets.
Click to expand...

For those who love tennis and for those who watch their favourite players but they have no knowledge about what tennis is. The old generation has been taken over by the next generation. Vintage racquets sh*t all over the modern racquet technology... just gimmicky.
 
Tmano

Tmano

Hall of Fame
DustinW said:
@Tmano If you like the original Graphene Rad MP, definitely try the Spiderman (Touch MP) now that they have dropped in price.
Click to expand...
I was intrigue about the touch pro, but for now I want to stick with the Speeds, although I hate stringing them with the shared holes...so dumb!
 
n8dawg6

n8dawg6

Legend
DustinW said:
I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer the Graphene Radicals to the pre-Graphene radicals. I know Head has changed a lot over the years, but they seem to be making a good push recently toward making lower RA frames. Right now, the Radical is the only Head line with RA above 65, which I agree is strange based on the Radical history. But... Prestiges are 61-65, Extremes are 63-64, Instinct is 65, Speed is 62-63, and Gravity is 61-62.
Click to expand...
agree. the graphene radical mp is 1000x easier to play with than the IG radical mp.
 
rjp1977

rjp1977

Rookie
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
I don't want to buy any 100" Gravity line rackets. I didn't buy YouTek–IG Speed rackets – why should I do it now?
Click to expand...

There is no reason to not try new frames. I didn’t think I would like a racket like the Extreme until injury forced me to try other types and I love them now. Yes they have a higher RA, but are still comfortable on the arm with a bit of added pep.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Jster said:
If PT57 mold is that good, Gasquet, Sharapova and N number of wta and atp pros in the top 50 would have asked for it.
Click to expand...

That's not only mold of Pro Tour 630 (Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Hubert Hurkacz, Tommy Haas, etc.) – but molds of earlier Radicals. Djokovic – Liquidmetal/iRadical, Berdych – YouTek Radical, Cilic – MicroGel Radical, Diego Schwartzman – IG Radical, etc. Also H18/H22 are copies of Head Radical/Prestige molds – Borna Coric, Gael Monfils and who knows how many others. Anderson's racket seems also to be replica of PT57 mold. There's many threads on this forum that include long lists of users of different Prestige/Radical molds.

Also – I guess if Djokovic would have asked for the same racket as Sharapova – there is a small chance that he could get one ;)
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
My new frames for early Christmas this year ––

Not sure if HEAD has any idea about what people do expect from modern frame – but at least Wilson does. 1)

But in case HEAD has no idea how to manufacture such modern frames – free advise from former loyal customer – you
can still sale some of their older frames (PT630, Classic Mid, YouTek/IG Radical, Liquidmetal Radical, IG Prestige Mid) with
new paintjobs (Prestige Graphene, Prestige G XT and Prestige G Touch were great!). This is also fine with me!

1) Other companies know that too – VCore Pro HD, Q Tour, Tec 315 Ltd., etc.

NewRackets2019_A.jpg
 
P

PistolPete23

Hall of Fame
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
My new frames for early Christmas this year ––

Not sure if HEAD has any idea about what people do expect from modern frame – but at least Wilson does. 1)

But in case HEAD has no idea how to manufacture such modern frames – free advise from former loyal customer – you
can still sale some of their older frames (PT630, Classic Mid, YouTek/IG Radical, Liquidmetal Radical, IG Prestige Mid) with
new paintjobs (Prestige Graphene, Prestige G XT and Prestige G Touch were great!). This is also fine with me!

1) Other companies know that too – VCore Pro HD, Q Tour, Tec 315 Ltd., etc.

NewRackets2019_A.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm salivating over those gray and green Prestige 600s you've got there. The IG mid is nice too. My stance may be extreme, but as long as Head keeps marketing the graphene junk on their new sticks, I won't use them no matter how they actually play. To me it's like putting fake air intakes on cars, but worse.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
vsbabolat said:
They didn’t go bankrupt. Sports Direct sold Dunlop Sports to SRI Sports Limited
Click to expand...

In oversize and midsize business ;) – you never go bankrupt. Just somebody is buying you for almost nothing or your distributor is bigger than you.
Still it is sad company with such heritage (and really nice paint jobs) almost disappeared. Good thing – Srixon released CX2.0/CX200 (not that bad)
and NTour 97 which is really a stick I need to try out again (demo'ed from TWE but couldn't play tennis at that week).
 
Last edited:
P

PistolPete23

Hall of Fame
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
In oversize and midsize business ;) – you never go bankrupt. Just somebody is buying you for almost nothing or your distributor is bigger than you.
Still it is sad company with such heritage (and really nice paint jobs) almost disappeared. Good thing – Srixon released CX2.0/CX200 (not that bad)
and NTour 97 which is really a stick I need to try out again (demo'ed from TWE but couldn't play tennis at that week).
Click to expand...

From my observations, bankruptcy seems to almost be correlated with lack of high-profile pros sponsoring the company's products. Donnay is a perfect example; when Borg retired, the company was already behind the curve in the graphite revolution. And because Borg was really their only superstar and insisted on playing with wood, after he left the game, the company couldn't maintain enough revenue flow to survive. Even the graphite racquets they produced in his namesake never sold well because he didn't actually play with them. In the case of Wilson, they sell a lot more than just tennis racquets. Their product range is so successfully diversified across multiple sports that even when their tennis line doesn't do as well (has it ever not done well?), the loss is cushioned by other profitable products. The diversified product range also allows Wilson Tennis to provide more lucrative sponsorships than their competitors, and it doesn't hurt that Sir Roger plays Wilson. Babolat is another example of sponsorship leading to success; their strings were already a well-known product before they decided to produce racquets, but the real secret of their success was Moya, Nadal, and Roddick. As much as racquet devotees such as us would like to think a company's success is mainly a result of racquet characteristics, the actuality is that racquets sell mainly because of the Pros who endorse them. TTers do not represent the bulk of the consumer population, most of whom play tennis recreationally and believe that the pros are actually using retail versions of the sticks they endorse.
 
Tmano

Tmano

Hall of Fame
what_army said:
Exactly, the prestige S is a capped radical mp. I played well with the graphene XT version for 6 months but it felt awful and lacked plowthrough so I ended up switching to the TC95.
Click to expand...
I'm not seeing the Prestige s on TW. i could only find a graphene touch prestige tour.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Tmano said:
I'm not seeing the Prestige s on TW. i could only find a graphene touch prestige tour.
Click to expand...

It is available only in TW Europe. Have no idea why. But please keep in mind that this one is stiff (Graphene Touch).
The best option for this mold is UNFORTUNATELY prostock TGT291.2 –– really flexy, great feel, but needs a lot of weight to be stable.
But HEAD still can make Prestige S more stable and with better feel.

It's shame they resigned from 260 mold – Thomas Berdych and others racket of choice – here are some of mine 260.5 – they feel very close to the newest Blade v7.
More precise and more unstable at the same time. The power is the same.

Not sure if HEAD can make 307 mold of current Radical plush - but that's what people would love I guess. Clash is best selling rakcet this year – and I hope HEAD make some use of this knowledge.

TestingA01.png
 
B

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
PistolPete23 said:
The diversified product range also allows Wilson Tennis to provide more lucrative sponsorships than their competitors, and it doesn't hurt that Sir Roger plays Wilson.
Click to expand...

That is such a common mistake in pretty much every "analysis" of a situation.
Unless they have some "cash-cow" where there is no competition, other product lines also very likely needs investments.
Which for most companies boils down to: every product range shall be profitable.
Yes, for short periods of time, the "bigger" brand or company structure might provide "the umbrella" to survive the rain / bad day, but in the medium and long term, every product line must be profitable. Otherwise management kills it.
 
Tmano

Tmano

Hall of Fame
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
It is available only in TW Europe. Have no idea why. But please keep in mind that this one is stiff (Graphene Touch).
The best option for this mold is UNFORTUNATELY prostock TGT291.2 –– really flexy, great feel, but needs a lot of weight to be stable.
But HEAD still can make Prestige S more stable and with better feel.

It's shame they resigned from 260 mold – Thomas Berdych and others racket of choice – here are some of mine 260.5 – they feel very close to the newest Blade v7.
More precise and more unstable at the same time. The power is the same.

Not sure if HEAD can make 307 mold of current Radical plush - but that's what people would love I guess. Clash is best selling rakcet this year – and I hope HEAD make some use of this knowledge.

TestingA01.png
Click to expand...
Nice collection there!
However, I'm not very knowledgeable about all this head racquets codes. What heads are the 260 and the 307? Thanks!
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Tmano said:
Nice collection there!
However, I'm not very knowledgeable about all this head racquets codes. What heads are the 260 and the 307? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Simple, easy to find on this forum. All below share the same mold and they are pretty close in feel to retail rackets.

Here you go:
260.1 – YouTek Radical MP (18x20)
260.2 – YouTek Radical MP (16x19) – Thomas Berdych racket of choice
260.3 – IG Radical MP (18x20)
260.4 – IG Radical MP (16x19)
260.5 – I guess this one is flexier IG Radical MP (16x19)

307 – this is the current code for Graphene family Radicals MP (16x19).
 
Tmano

Tmano

Hall of Fame
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
Simple, easy to find on this forum. All below share the same mold and they are pretty close in feel to retail rackets.

Here you go:
260.1 – YouTek Radical MP (18x20)
260.2 – YouTek Radical MP (16x19) – Thomas Berdych racket of choice
260.3 – IG Radical MP (18x20)
260.4 – IG Radical MP (16x19)
260.5 – I guess this one is flexier IG Radical MP (16x19)

307 – this is the current code for Graphene family Radicals MP (16x19).
Click to expand...

Nice...thanks a lot!!!
 
rafa_prestige89

rafa_prestige89

Professional
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
Simple, easy to find on this forum. All below share the same mold and they are pretty close in feel to retail rackets.

Here you go:
260.1 – YouTek Radical MP (18x20)
260.2 – YouTek Radical MP (16x19) – Thomas Berdych racket of choice
260.3 – IG Radical MP (18x20)
260.4 – IG Radical MP (16x19)
260.5 – I guess this one is flexier IG Radical MP (16x19)

307 – this is the current code for Graphene family Radicals MP (16x19).
Click to expand...
Is 260.4 the same as IG Radical Pro?
 
P

PistolPete23

Hall of Fame
blablavla said:
That is such a common mistake in pretty much every "analysis" of a situation.
Unless they have some "cash-cow" where there is no competition, other product lines also very likely needs investments.
Which for most companies boils down to: every product range shall be profitable.
Yes, for short periods of time, the "bigger" brand or company structure might provide "the umbrella" to survive the rain / bad day, but in the medium and long term, every product line must be profitable. Otherwise management kills it.
Click to expand...

You might be right. I'm not an expert in business/finance. I just go with my intuition and logic, which is prone to being too simplistic sometimes.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
edelp said:
It is the code for the IG Radical Pro. The 260.5 is the 260.3 but in open pattern. All of the frames SFaDP mentions are awesome... can understand that he likes them jeje
Click to expand...
I guess the layup of 260.3 and 260.5 needs to be different. They feel really different to me. Stiffness is quite different – however never checked it. I will do it on RDC soon.
 
Alexh22

Alexh22

Professional
I am unsure how head decided killed both the radical and prestige line some years ago and replace them with those new stocks. Every time I am in a tennis store they have a lot of head racquets from current line and they are the no sellers.

It is a shame head will never put out the PT113b or the old PT57s. they will make a decent amount of money if they do a Djoko signature PT113b but hey, what do I know.
 
Last edited:
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
In oversize and midsize business ;) – you never go bankrupt. Just somebody is buying you for almost nothing or your distributor is bigger than you.
Still it is sad company with such heritage (and really nice paint jobs) almost disappeared. Good thing – Srixon released CX2.0/CX200 (not that bad)
and NTour 97 which is really a stick I need to try out again (demo'ed from TWE but couldn't play tennis at that week).
Click to expand...
Sports Direct sold Dunlop Sports to Sri Industries for $137.5 million. It never almost disappeared.
 
R

Ryanblessed

Semi-Pro
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
In oversize and midsize business ;) – you never go bankrupt. Just somebody is buying you for almost nothing or your distributor is bigger than you.
Still it is sad company with such heritage (and really nice paint jobs) almost disappeared. Good thing – Srixon released CX2.0/CX200 (not that bad)
and NTour 97 which is really a stick I need to try out again (demo'ed from TWE but couldn't play tennis at that week).
Click to expand...
I have both CX200 Tour 16x19 and NT Tour 16x19, and I have to say both of them are really good. CX200 Tour needs to weight up.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Ryanblessed said:
I have both CX200 Tour 16x19 and NT Tour 16x19, and I have to say both of them are really good. CX200 Tour needs to weight up.
Click to expand...

I fully agree! I love CX200 Tour – has extra power and feel/precision/stability of older Dunlop 200 (I would say it has better dampening from most of them).
NT Tour 18x20 had really nice flexible feel – still thinking if I should buy one as they are on sale in TWE.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
Wilson Blade v7, Prince Phantoms, Prince Tours, Yonex VCore, Tecnifibre T-Thight 315 Ltd., ProKennex Q Tour – and even Srixon, sorry – Dunlop CX 2.0 Tour
are superior feel-wise to most of recent years Prestige and Radical line. What a shame!
Click to expand...
Two years later and HEAD Radical line still offer bad feel. Somehow the rackets offer good ball-pocketing, but I am not sure these can be even safe for arm.
 
Songs For A Dead Pilot

Songs For A Dead Pilot

Semi-Pro
dr325i said:
350+ Radical MP and Pro are excellent sticks. What are you talking about??
Click to expand...

I am sorry to say that but the feel is really awful. And this is the opinion of all my hitting partners - that's not only me.
I've seen also some pro-people testing it a while ago – and they still play the same frames as before.

I am a huge HEAD fan and I really wanted to like these rackets – but they are really bad feel-wise. Also while you can
nice flex within Blade, VCore, Tf40 line – HEAD is still offering withing Radical line stiff frames with bad feel/touch.
Not to mention the mixture of pink and orange as paint jobs which I would understand as offer to juniors.
 
dr325i

dr325i

G.O.A.T.
Songs For A Dead Pilot said:
I am sorry to say that but the feel is really awful. And this is the opinion of all my hitting partners - that's not only me.
I've seen also some pro-people testing it a while ago – and they still play the same frames as before.

I am a huge HEAD fan and I really wanted to like these rackets – but they are really bad feel-wise. Also while you can
nice flex within Blade, VCore, Tf40 line – HEAD is still offering withing Radical line stiff frames with bad feel/touch.
Not to mention the mixture of pink and orange as paint jobs which I would understand as offer to juniors.
Click to expand...
I disagree. I found the Radical MP to be plush and a great feel and Pro slightly crisper. Sloan S agrees with me ;)
She’s not the only one though.
 
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