*Head Youtek IG Instinct MP Review*

Pure Babs

Pure Babs

Rookie
Hi all- recently got my hands on the above racquet to demo. I'm going to hit with it tonight and post my findings about this new racquet. Quick background: I'm between 4.0-4.5 on the NTRP scale, with a big serve and groundstrokes (2 handed backhand, one hand backhand slice). I hit fairly flat, and like to move forward when possible. My normal hitting racquet has been the Babolat Pure Drive GT, however I've been looking for racquets to replace it because it is too stiff thus hurting my arm, and feels clunky at times. Thought this would be a fun demo- never tried any version of the Instinct before. For now, enjoy some pictures I took of this frame.

dmcz81.jpg


18ljiq.jpg


n4z1wy.jpg
 
Pure Babs

Pure Babs

Rookie
I wish I could tell you for sure, but I don't know if it is; It's strung with the demo string my shop has, at mid tension.
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
instinct.jpg


I have this racquet and strung with MSV Co Focus 18 on the Mains@48lbs and Prince Attack 17@52lbs

I put a leather grip with a few grahms of lead at 3 and 9.

If you like the blade 98.. you will love this racquet.

Volley's were sharp and crisp.
The ground strokes shot out like missles, all without over hitting..

This racquet is plush.. maybe it is the strings, not sure but felt very smooth and responsive.

I have found my new racquet of choice.. :)
 
Last edited:
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
Yes, i hit with it also. It felt really good. Controlled power. Serving was very NICE. it was shorter than my usualy 27.5 inch racket so my % went down but when i got it in, it was BIG and accurate. and NICE SPin production on serves. It was strung with Multi string the Demos are strung with but i was still getting BIG spin on serves.
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
On a technical note..Interestingly, it is one of the few racquets that I have seen that use shared holes.
In fact, I haven't seen that since the woodies.
 
P

parasailing

Legend
I just checked TW and the stiffness specs say it's rated at 69 but based your reviews, this plays softer than the rating?

I usually don't go past 63 on the stiffness index, otherwise my arm starts to feel a bit sore.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
lwto said:
On a technical note..Interestingly, it is one of the few racquets that I have seen that use shared holes.
In fact, I haven't seen that since the woodies.
Click to expand...

Just noticed that.. . very strange. Should be interesting, looking forward to a hit with this in the coming weeks.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
parasailing said:
I just checked TW and the stiffness specs say it's rated at 69 but based your reviews, this plays softer than the rating?

I usually don't go past 63 on the stiffness index, otherwise my arm starts to feel a bit sore.
Click to expand...

Definitely agree. It plays more like SI rating of 65. but it gives you the power or SI 69. so best of both worlds, i guess..
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
lwto said:
On a technical note..Interestingly, it is one of the few racquets that I have seen that use shared holes.
In fact, I haven't seen that since the woodies.
Click to expand...

What does that do for you ?? does shared holes mean more power or more spin ??????????:confused:
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
On another note,,, this racket is BEST ever i used for slice Backhands. INCREDIBLE slices... i was able to slice as hard as Federer or Rafter...................wow
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
I want to turn this into 27.3 inch racket but i am little afraid that it might Kill the Manuverability. What do you guys think ??????????????
 
Pure Babs

Pure Babs

Rookie
Had the first hit with it tonight. I'll report only on groundstrokes for now. First of all, it plays A LOT softer than the stiffness rating indicates. Someone mentioned "plush," and I would agree with that word choice. Impressively, I can hit the same or more amounts of spin as with my pure drive. My slices were biting the court. It has a lot of pop on groundstrokes as well, however because of the feel of the frame, it never feels out of control. My one concern was on harder hitting rallies, it seemed to wobble and lose stability. But, the racquet itself has a ton of maneuverability off the ground. I am excited to continue my demo of the IG Instinct! May add some lead to increase stability. To sum groundstrokes up...

Pros: soft response, sharp paintjob, spin friendly, good ball pocketing, very maneuverable.

Con(s): stability issues in harder intensity rallies
 
mrtrinh

mrtrinh

Professional
hows the plowthrough? with its lightweight was the racket pushed around against hard hitters?

EDIT: Just read your above post, question answered
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
Pure Babs said:
Had the first hit with it tonight. I'll report only on groundstrokes for now. First of all, it plays A LOT softer than the stiffness rating indicates. Someone mentioned "plush," and I would agree with that word choice. Impressively, I can hit the same or more amounts of spin as with my pure drive. My slices were biting the court. It has a lot of pop on groundstrokes as well, however because of the feel of the frame, it never feels out of control. My one concern was on harder hitting rallies, it seemed to wobble and lose stability. But, the racquet itself has a ton of maneuverability off the ground. I am excited to continue my demo of the IG Instinct! May add some lead to increase stability. To sum groundstrokes up...

Pros: soft response, sharp paintjob, spin friendly, good ball pocketing, very maneuverable.

Con(s): stability issues in harder intensity rallies
Click to expand...

Stability issue easily fixed. Add 1 strip of lead on each side of racket at 3 and 9 oclock position. Like where Wilson PWS is located.
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
Fedace said:
On another note,,, this racket is BEST ever i used for slice Backhands. INCREDIBLE slices... i was able to slice as hard as Federer or Rafter...................wow
Click to expand...

funny you mentioned that.. I played today and hit several slice backhands.. you know the off angle slices that are low and slice away and when it bounces.. shoots off to the side?

Well I hit some today and the 5.5 guy watching just had to make some comments, commenting on how wicked the slices were.. Both times my opponent flung at them hitting them to the fence..
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
I also noticed. the specs on TW site were different than what is on the racquet.. for instance.. beam width, on mine it says 23.25.21mm on TW it states 23.25.24
Weight on mine says 10.6 tw 10.9
Balance pt.. 1pt on tw..5pts hl.

When I weighed it.. it comes out at 11.4 ozs. at about 4.5 HL.
None of these stats are consistant.. strung or not.

Finally, appears that my racquet was actually made in Chin

OH.. NO stability issues.. solid as a rock.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
lwto said:
I also noticed. the specs on TW site were different than what is on the racquet.. for instance.. beam width, on mine it says 23.25.21mm on TW it states 23.25.24
Weight on mine says 10.6 tw 10.9
Balance pt.. 1pt on tw..5pts hl.

When I weighed it.. it comes out at 11.4 ozs. at about 4.5 HL.
None of these stats are consistant.. strung or not.

Finally, appears that my racquet was actually made in Chin

OH.. NO stability issues.. solid as a rock.
Click to expand...

There is lots of variance on these frames. each frame is off by 0.2-0.3 oz
 
P

parasailing

Legend
That's not a good sign with such variance. I guess when I purchase one from TW, I am going to have to request they get me the lightest one with the highest HL balance.
 
movdqa

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
> On a technical note..Interestingly, it is one of the few racquets
> that I have seen that use shared holes. In fact, I haven't seen
> that since the woodies.

Shared holes were needed on the 65 square inch frames due to space
issues. You can see the shared holes in the Head Pro (Aluminum) on the
left and the Dunlop Maxply, Spaulding Natural and Bancrof Players
Special on the right in the picture below.

> I just checked TW and the stiffness specs say it's rated at 69 but
> based your reviews, this plays softer than the rating?

The TW video review has Jason stating that it feels soft but you feel
the stiffness effect on your arm after playing. I know what he means
by that - you use a light, stiff frame and it feels great and then
your arm complains a few hours later.

(picture reused from the "Post Pictures of your Racquets and Tennis
Gear" therad)

frames.jpg
 
Pure Babs

Pure Babs

Rookie
lwto said:
Heck, I have no idea..
I know of no benifits.. possible good thread in itself to find out I suppose.
Click to expand...

I don't believe shared holes have any impact on how the frame feels... Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong. It just means that normally, when you string the mains in a racquet, you have to skip a hole because it will be used for a cross string later. However with this frame, there are 8 holes with 2 strings in each. They "share" the grommet holes.

Anyways, today I'm going back to hit with the Instinct. I've added some lead at 3 and 9 to hopefully fix the stability issue I had playing against a hard hitter. I don't want to mess with it too much though because the frame does feel very nice stock weight. Also, today I'm going to watch out for the "stiff aftershock" that Jason mentioned in his review. I didn't feel anything in my arm yesterday... even after playing. Hoping it's a continuing trend. Stay tuned for a review on serves and volleys.
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
2nd day of use..

I have messed around quite abit with the weighting and have found that 11.6 with a 4.5 HL point gives me a very sold stick.

I really like this racquet and think I will stick with it.
Of course, Strings have a lot to do with it.
I originally used Weiss Cannon Black5edge on the mains and I did not like it. I knew it was the string, the racquet feeling was great. Those edges make me hit to high for me which then I lose pace. I tend to hit on a frozen rope type shots inches above the net.
I then used MSV Focus(non hex) and now the shots are not dropping or hitting short.. but withen feet of the baseline.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
lwto said:
2nd day of use..

I have messed around quite abit with the weighting and have found that 11.6 with a 4.5 HL point gives me a very sold stick.

I really like this racquet and think I will stick with it.
Of course, Strings have a lot to do with it.
I originally used Weiss Cannon Black5edge on the mains and I did not like it. I knew it was the string, the racquet feeling was great. Those edges make me hit to high for me which then I lose pace. I tend to hit on a frozen rope type shots inches above the net.
I then used MSV Focus(non hex) and now the shots are not dropping or hitting short.. but withen feet of the baseline.
Click to expand...

how does this racket work with Pro hurr tour or RPM blast string ?? :confused:
 
movdqa

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
> What does shared holes do ?? Anything good or fun ??

I think that it makes the stringer's job a bit harder and it may be a possible friction point.
 
lwto

lwto

Hall of Fame
I normally use Pro Hurricane, NOT the tour which I find a bit too stiff for me so, I don't know.

Stringing the racquet was a breeze, possibly the easiest racquet I've strung. The shared holes have plenty of wiggle room and in fact if you look through the shared grommet hole, you can see space between the strings...albeit not much.
 
Pure Babs

Pure Babs

Rookie
A little disappointed after my hit with the Instinct tonight... In my experience tonight, serving was difficult with this racquet. The spin potential was there, but I was muscling the ball in. There wasn't any plow through; I was doing all the work. I felt it in my arm for sure on the serve. Also, on serve returns I had no stability. Against 90-100 mph serves I had no chance to put a solid return back in play. On a positive note, the Instinct preformed excellently at the net. Very quick through the air and it gives enough pop to put away sharp angles. I'm going to experiment with more lead like others in this thread have done before my next hit.
 
movdqa

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
I think that the PaintJob is quite nice. It makes an understated statement - nowhere near as loud as the Extremes.
 
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