Völkl Powerarm playtest

haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
Today I recieved the Völkl DNX1 Powerarm racquet. Tomorrow I'll take it for a spin against a player that I normally beat, but I normally beat him by being consistent as this guy doesnt give me many free points. Will be interesting to see if I can play consistent with this racquet. Some time later this week I'll try it against a guy who is better than me and who normally dictates play against me.
I cant say that I am all that familiar with the US rating system but if I were to rate myself I would say I am 5.0+. My style of play is mostly baseline with forehand and serve being my best shots.
I read the reviews of this racquet and felt I just had to try it. I have got a big collection of racquets at home and pretty similar seems to be the Prokennex ki 30 which I found to be a pretty good racquet that I felt comfortable with in stock form dispite it being very different from my normal prokennex type R. The ki 30 hits a pretty good flat ball with some roll on it for control but it was harder to hit a powerful shot with heavy spin. Same with serves, a good flat serve but I lost alot of speed on serve when going for more spin. This is an area where I am very curious how the powerarm will perform.
I strung the racquet with a set of pro supex premier ace that I had lying around and it was a very easy racquet to string with its open 16*17 pattern. I strung it at 54 lbs. The racquet weighed 268 grams strung with the volkl worm dampener in place. It measured 70.3 cm long with a balance of 36.4 cm. (4 points HH I believe).
I'll post more tomorrow when I have played with it.
Would be nice to hear from others who have played with this monster of a racquet.
 
N

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
haerdalis said:
Today I recieved the Völkl DNX1 Powerarm racquet. Tomorrow I'll take it for a spin against a player that I normally beat, but I normally beat him by being consistent as this guy doesnt give me many free points. Will be interesting to see if I can play consistent with this racquet. Some time later this week I'll try it against a guy who is better than me and who normally dictates play against me.
I cant say that I am all that familiar with the US rating system but if I were to rate myself I would say I am 5.0+. My style of play is mostly baseline with forehand and serve being my best shots.
I read the reviews of this racquet and felt I just had to try it. I have got a big collection of racquets at home and pretty similar seems to be the Prokennex ki 30 which I found to be a pretty good racquet that I felt comfortable with in stock form dispite it being very different from my normal prokennex type R. The ki 30 hits a pretty good flat ball with some roll on it for control but it was harder to hit a powerful shot with heavy spin. Same with serves, a good flat serve but I lost alot of speed on serve when going for more spin. This is an area where I am very curious how the powerarm will perform.
I strung the racquet with a set of pro supex premier ace that I had lying around and it was a very easy racquet to string with its open 16*17 pattern. I strung it at 54 lbs. The racquet weighed 268 grams strung with the volkl worm dampener in place. It measured 70.3 cm long with a balance of 36.4 cm. (4 points HH I believe).
I'll post more tomorrow when I have played with it.
Would be nice to hear from others who have played with this monster of a racquet.
Click to expand...

the fun factor is very high with this frame..i think you'll have a blast with it (pun intended) ;)

one word of advice....dont let the ball get behind you....................
 
bagung

bagung

Hall of Fame
my cousin has the dnx-1 power-arm strung with tonic gut at 58 lbs.
i tried it once just to know how it feel....
it has alot of power for me, i have to put extra spin to keep it on the court....
it is just too powerful and too light for me.....
otherwise, it is a good and fun racquet.....
 
haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
Ok I am back from a 2 hour hitting session with the Powerarm. I ended up playing with my brother who is about the same level as me.
The first thing I noticed with the racquet was the sound it made when hitting the ball with spin. It sounded as if playing with broken strings on strings. It felt as if I was putting massive spin on the ball but the ball didnt behave as impressively as the sound and feeling would have me believe. Still I could hit a pretty heavy ball with this racquet. Much heavier than with other racquets with similar specs.
Control on top spin shots was pretty good. But I had problems keeping flatter shots inside the baseline. Just blocking back serves was also a bit difficult. So it is a bit of an odd racquet in that playing short compact swings was harder than playing with my normal swings. With the ki 30 shorter compact swings are well rewarded but full swings will typically put the ball long.

Now the negative thing about this racquet seems to be the way it kills the strings. Not only were they severly notched after 1 ½ hours but they also seemed to go dead. It felt like the powerarm stretched the life out of the strings. So at the end of our hitting session the racquet didnt feel so good and thats when I was hitting some serves and I wasnt very happy with the result. I believe it had to do with the strings so I will try again with fresh strings. But only getting 1 ½ hours of play out of a poly isnt so good for me.
NBMJ, can you recommend any strings for this racquet?

It sure is a fun racquet to hit with.
 
K

keithchircop

Professional
Please define "fun".

I thought you were talking about a 9oz 115sq XL like the Head TiS6.

70701_990_53.jpg


And since when you have to be "good" to play with a racquet designed for NTRP 2.5s ?

Something is amiss.
 
haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
You dont have to be good to play with any racquet. But if you want to use the true potential of this racquet you need to be able to control the ball with spin.
So I agree with NBMJ that this racquet lends itself well to those who need help to get to the baseline but it is not going to help those who likes to hit hard but cant consistently put spin on the ball for control. But can be put to good use by players with full strokes who can consistently spin the ball. So basically there is probably a gap in skill level where this racquet is a bad fit.
 
K

keithchircop

Professional
haerdalis said:
You dont have to be good to play with any racquet. But if you want to use the true potential of this racquet you need to be able to control the ball with spin.
So I agree with NBMJ that this racquet lends itself well to those who need help to get to the baseline but it is not going to help those who likes to hit hard but cant consistently put spin on the ball for control. But can be put to good use by players with full strokes who can consistently spin the ball. So basically there is probably a gap in skill level where this racquet is a bad fit.
Click to expand...

Well, indeed, granny sticks are made for those with short/soft strokes who can't hit balls to the baseline. But they can be weapons if used by someone with medium length strokes + massive topspin on every single solitary shot. When I hit with my girlfriend's TiS6 I find it annoying to hit with heavy topspin ALL the time. Just not my style. It turns me into a baseline-camping one-dimensional player.
 
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A

ACK4wd

Rookie
haerdalis said:
You dont have to be good to play with any racquet. But if you want to use the true potential of this racquet you need to be able to control the ball with spin.
So I agree with NBMJ that this racquet lends itself well to those who need help to get to the baseline but it is not going to help those who likes to hit hard but cant consistently put spin on the ball for control. But can be put to good use by players with full strokes who can consistently spin the ball. So basically there is probably a gap in skill level where this racquet is a bad fit.
Click to expand...

Found NBM's advice to be an accurate assessment. With poly and lead, it was fun when I hit baseline with proper technique and it was difficult to use for short shots. Serves and volleys were good too. Objectively, I could see how someone else with better skills could take advantage of it (modified by a pro) on a higher level of play and also how a beginner would also enjoy using it as a stock racquet.

I personally found the stock becker v1 to be more of what I was looking for and what was a better fit for my humble game among the powerarm "experiment", the Prince speedportblack, and O3 Red.
 
N

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
haerdalis said:
Ok I am back from a 2 hour hitting session with the Powerarm. I ended up playing with my brother who is about the same level as me.
The first thing I noticed with the racquet was the sound it made when hitting the ball with spin. It sounded as if playing with broken strings on strings. It felt as if I was putting massive spin on the ball but the ball didnt behave as impressively as the sound and feeling would have me believe. Still I could hit a pretty heavy ball with this racquet. Much heavier than with other racquets with similar specs.
Control on top spin shots was pretty good. But I had problems keeping flatter shots inside the baseline. Just blocking back serves was also a bit difficult. So it is a bit of an odd racquet in that playing short compact swings was harder than playing with my normal swings. With the ki 30 shorter compact swings are well rewarded but full swings will typically put the ball long.

Now the negative thing about this racquet seems to be the way it kills the strings. Not only were they severly notched after 1 ½ hours but they also seemed to go dead. It felt like the powerarm stretched the life out of the strings. So at the end of our hitting session the racquet didnt feel so good and thats when I was hitting some serves and I wasnt very happy with the result. I believe it had to do with the strings so I will try again with fresh strings. But only getting 1 ½ hours of play out of a poly isnt so good for me.
NBMJ, can you recommend any strings for this racquet?

It sure is a fun racquet to hit with.
Click to expand...

that racquet would be a string eater for someone who hits hard with spin. for me, i would try a thicker gauge string..something like Prince Duraflex in 15 gauge as I am not a poly person. not familair with the poly you used, but it isnt uncommon for a poly to lose it's playability in any racquet in 1.5 hours
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Though we like to make fun of the "blasting" properties of this racquet, sticks like this one, the K1, and the Head Metallix Monster are not that bad, IMO. The days when oversized, HH, light and stiff racquets had to be avoided at all costs may have come to an end. These racquets have lots of comfort technologies and their "stability" is probably not an issue any more. I have not played with them, but something tells me that if someone plays a moderate amount of tennis and has moderately good technique, they could in fact find that they give him a lot of extra pop and reach with very little effort, and he could also keep his arm from falling off. I know a 60-yr old tennis pro, probably a solid 4.0, with cunning technique, who plays tournaments and wins, despite using a HH NForce N5. He has 2 bum knees and a bum elbow, after a career as an airport baggage handler and then 20 years as a teaching pro. He will not play with heavy and head-light sticks.
 
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Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Own the Powerarm DNX 1 which replaced the Catapult 1. Powerarm design really seems to kill all feel on the strings IMHO. Lots of power but cannot tell where the ball strikes the stringbed. Preferred the CAT
 
jackcrawford

jackcrawford

Professional
The O3 technology works really well with a 3rd generation poly (MSV among others) so the Prince O3 Silver is a much better bet as a "granny stick" for a string breaker who wants to fool around than the twin, harsh gimmicks named catapult and power arm.
 
N

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
jackcrawford said:
The O3 technology works really well with a 3rd generation poly (MSV among others) so the Prince O3 Silver is a much better bet as a "granny stick" for a string breaker who wants to fool around than the twin, harsh gimmicks named catapult and power arm.
Click to expand...

the reality is that the catapults soften the hit not make it harsh..that's one of the design benefits. people who have spent time with the Volkl Catapults would agree...in fact many didnt like frames like the catv1 and cat8VE because they felt too soft, partly due to the catapults. the design of the power arm creates a seperation of the arm from the frame which allows the arm to flex upon contact making for a more comfortable hit..this also works as designed and most people would say the Power Arm frame is not a harsh hit given it's light weight and stiffness

lots of reports of 03 frames being string beaters
 
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haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
I think it speaks for itself. The strings are dead after an hour and a half. So thats where the energy has gone, not to my body but to the strings.
The racquet is very comfortable no doubt. I mean a stiff lightweight headheavy frame with a full poly stringjob that is still comfortable, that says something about the powerarm.
 
haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
This racquet is a real string eater. It killed forten thin blend in about 2 hours. It is a shame really because I think it is a really good racquet. It probably needs a little more weight to really hit a heavy ball but that can be fixed, the string problem however is another matter.
I'll try a thicker synthetic with string savers next.
 
A

ACK4wd

Rookie
Not sure of the physical science involved but isn't there a relationship between tension loss and a string’s resilience? - I would bet that someone on this board who knows strings very well could recommend some options based on tension loss and stiffness.
 
haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
Well I dont dare use natural gut in this frame. It would be too expensive in the long run even though it might be a good fit playwise.
 
A

ACK4wd

Rookie
haerdalis said:
Well I dont dare use natural gut in this frame. It would be too expensive in the long run even though it might be a good fit playwise.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that too. Maybe a hybrid with zyex mains and kevlar crosses but that's not based on professional knowledge.

It would be interesting to see what some of the expert stringers may recommend.

Good luck!
 
haerdalis

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
Today I restrung the racquet with SPPP 1.18 mains at 52 lbs with SPP pure 1.23 crosses also at 52 lbs. Practiced and played a set against a guy who is better than me and who hits a pretty heavy ball. I played quite well and I felt the racquet held its own very well during heavy hitting. Stability is excellent given the low weight and the best part is that power is reasonably similar with all shots. The main problem I have noticed with lighter racquets is that flat shots fly and spinny shots dont have enough energy. this was still noticeable here but not so much, besides there is easily enough power available all the time.
I am starting to like this racquet more and more. So like someone in the feedback said. "This racquet aint pretty, but neither is losing" hehe
 
Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Used this racquet yesterday for doubles. Strings never seem to stop moving but maybe poly cures that. Better than I remembered, lots of power, huge sweetspot, no deadspots. Needs a bit more weight.
 
S

Sov13t

New User
Hello guys,

Dug up this thread via search to avoid making a new thread. Based on what I have read so far I know that Haerdalis and NoBadMojo (pardon if i misspell your nicknames) have tried this racquet (the Volkl DNX1 Powerarm).

I am looking to acquire one and would like to know what are your guys recommendations as far as stringing, I saw what haerdalis is using in this thread but his posts were back in 2007 so was wondering if there is anything new you would recommend. I have a friend who has one and I played with it and enjoyed it a lot. My playing style is mostly baseline, and I do enjoy having a lightweight and powerful racquet, and even though some have criticized this racquet for lack of feel/control, I had no such complaint. I play two to three times a week... on a semi-competetive basis.

Thank you in advance,
-Sov13t.
 
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