A In-Between Racquet?

D

Dasol

Rookie
I play tested Yonex Ezone Xi 98 the other day and my impression is this frame is a sort of in between a players racquet and a tweener. It is definitely a control-oriented frame compared to other Ezones, but pretty powerful too. It is not so heavy but not so light (11.5 oz strung), and is demanding, yet by no means unforgiving. Hard to define to which category this frame indeed belongs to. :)

Any other racquets which seem to be in between an absolute players frame and a tweener? Maybe pure storm gt?
 
A

acura9927

Semi-Pro
Dunlop Bio 200 ( non Tour). Can crush the ball and pretty easy to handle for its 11.9 weight. I dont agree with the TW review saying its too low powered.
 
D

Dasol

Rookie
acura9927 said:
Dunlop Bio 200 ( non Tour). Can crush the ball and pretty easy to handle for its 11.9 weight. I dont agree with the TW review saying its too low powered.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, but 11.9 sounds quite heavy to me as an in-between racquet. :)
 
L

LeeD

Bionic Poster
DunlopBio200Plus.... 100 sq's, 11.5 oz, 317 SW, 65 flex.
DunlopF3T's, almost the same thing, different packege.
 
Relinquis

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
i second the dunlopbio200 plus... buttery on the arm, feels plush compared to other tweeners and has a nice 18x20 pattern.
 
S

spinovic

Hall of Fame
Hasn't 'tweener' already emerged as a racquet classification? Some sites list their tweener racquets. On TW, it might be comparable to the 'Modern Players' option.

Or are you specifically targeting racquets under 100 in head size and 11.5ish oz (or lower) weight?
 
Last edited:
D

Dasol

Rookie
spinovic said:
Hasn't 'tweener' already emerged as a racquet classification? Some sites list their tweener racquets. On TW, it might be comparable to the 'Modern Players' option.

Or are you specifically targeting racquets under 100 in head size and 11.5ish oz (or lower) weight?
Click to expand...

What I meant "in-between" here is a racquet which might be in between the two worlds, a completely players frame and an absolute tweener. Maybe you are right that under 100 in head size and under 11.5 oz frames might be what I am thinking about.
 
S

spinovic

Hall of Fame
Dasol said:
What I meant "in-between" here is a racquet which might be in between the two worlds, a completely players frame and an absolute tweener. Maybe you are right that under 100 in head size and under 11.5 oz frames might be what I am thinking about.
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That's fine. I was just trying to clarify what you had in mind. I wasn't trying to be argumentative.

In that case, I would say that the Donnay X-Dual Gold and Silver racquets are some of the most unique available with regards to specs and fit right in the "in between" you have in mind. The Gold comes in 94 and 99 in versions, weight 11.5 oz, HL balance, low stiffness and 16/18/18 mm beam width. The Silver 99 is the same, only 0.3 oz lighter. I don't believe you can find any other racquets that offer a head size around 100 in with that narrow of a beam width.

Babolat - Pure Storm GT and Aero Storm GT
Dunlop - 300 or 3.0 Series
Gamma - RZR 95 & 98
HEAD - Radical Pro & MP, Prestige S
Mantis Tour 305
Pacific X Force
Prince EXO3 Rebel 98
Slazenger Pro Braided, V98
Solinco Pro 8
Tecnifibre TFight 305, TRebound 295, TFlash 300 SpeedFlex
Volkl Organix 9 or 10 (295)
Wilson Steam 96 or 99, Blade 98 (either version)

There's a list of racquets that range between 95 to 99 in head size, weight between 11 and 11.5 oz and have even to HL balance. String densities vary. More of them that I thought actually.
 
D

Dasol

Rookie
spinovic said:
That's fine. I was just trying to clarify what you had in mind. I wasn't trying to be argumentative.

In that case, I would say that the Donnay X-Dual Gold and Silver racquets are some of the most unique available with regards to specs and fit right in the "in between" you have in mind. The Gold comes in 94 and 99 in versions, weight 11.5 oz, HL balance, low stiffness and 16/18/18 mm beam width. The Silver 99 is the same, only 0.3 oz lighter. I don't believe you can find any other racquets that offer a head size around 100 in with that narrow of a beam width.

Babolat - Pure Storm GT and Aero Storm GT
Dunlop - 300 or 3.0 Series
Gamma - RZR 95 & 98
HEAD - Radical Pro & MP, Prestige S
Mantis Tour 305
Pacific X Force
Prince EXO3 Rebel 98
Slazenger Pro Braided, V98
Solinco Pro 8
Tecnifibre TFight 305, TRebound 295, TFlash 300 SpeedFlex
Volkl Organix 9 or 10 (295)
Wilson Steam 96 or 99, Blade 98 (either version)

There's a list of racquets that range between 95 to 99 in head size, weight between 11 and 11.5 oz and have even to HL balance. String densities vary. More of them that I thought actually.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this info! And I was not argumentative neither! :)
 
T

Tilde of Destruction

New User
spinovic said:
That's fine. I was just trying to clarify what you had in mind. I wasn't trying to be argumentative.

In that case, I would say that the Donnay X-Dual Gold and Silver racquets are some of the most unique available with regards to specs and fit right in the "in between" you have in mind. The Gold comes in 94 and 99 in versions, weight 11.5 oz, HL balance, low stiffness and 16/18/18 mm beam width. The Silver 99 is the same, only 0.3 oz lighter. I don't believe you can find any other racquets that offer a head size around 100 in with that narrow of a beam width.

Babolat - Pure Storm GT and Aero Storm GT
Dunlop - 300 or 3.0 Series
Gamma - RZR 95 & 98
HEAD - Radical Pro & MP, Prestige S
Mantis Tour 305
Pacific X Force
Prince EXO3 Rebel 98
Slazenger Pro Braided, V98
Solinco Pro 8
Tecnifibre TFight 305, TRebound 295, TFlash 300 SpeedFlex
Volkl Organix 9 or 10 (295)
Wilson Steam 96 or 99, Blade 98 (either version)

There's a list of racquets that range between 95 to 99 in head size, weight between 11 and 11.5 oz and have even to HL balance. String densities vary. More of them that I thought actually.
Click to expand...

I might also add the Mantis 295 Pro. I currently own one and it's great.

I just checked today though and apparently TW no longer has the Pro 295 or Tour 305. Hopefully they're just awaiting another shipment because Mantis produces some great racquets.
 
S

spinovic

Hall of Fame
I would also add that all, or almost all, of the racquets I listed are in the 11 to 11.5 weight range.

If you want to go lower, there are some sub-11 oz racquets that would be in this category and there are probably a few that might be possibilities in the 11.6 or 11.7 range (the new TFight 315 Ltd comes to mind there).

Definitely some excellent racquets to choose from. I own a few Donnay X-Dual Silver 99s myself and I think they're great. I play with an Extreme Pro 2.0 primarily, but I enjoy switching it up sometimes. My wife likes the Silver.

I chose the Silver because it weighed less than the Gold. I figured with the Donnay Customization kits it would be easy to up the weight if I needed it, but there's no way to drop any.
 
bjk

bjk

Hall of Fame
I made the mistake of getting both the PS GT and PS GT Tour and they are indistinguishable. In fact I've played with both without looking at which and I can't tell the difference, they are the same racket.
 
BC1

BC1

Professional
bjk said:
I made the mistake of getting both the PS GT and PS GT Tour and they are indistinguishable. In fact I've played with both without looking at which and I can't tell the difference, they are the same racket.
Click to expand...

^^^ something is off then, those are two very different racquets. The PS Tour is an ounce heavier then the standard PS and much more HL. You should definitely be able to feel the difference. I would be curious what the actual specs are - maybe you got an extremely heavy PSGT and an extremely light PSTour
 
S

spinovic

Hall of Fame
BC1 said:
^^^ something is off then, those are two very different racquets. The PS Tour is an ounce heavier then the standard PS and much more HL. You should definitely be able to feel the difference. I would be curious what the actual specs are - maybe you got an extremely heavy PSGT and an extremely light PSTour
Click to expand...

Yeah...I thought one was supposed be a lot heavier.

Pure Storm GT - 11 oz, 1 pt HL
Pure Storm Tour GT - 12.1 oz, 6 pts HL


The SW's and stiffness are roughly the same, along with everything else. Still, the static weight and balance should feel noticeably different. I'd be curious to know the weights of the two racquets as well.
 
R

Ross K

Legend
I've been on a bit of a similar quest myself looking for a racket that just nudges out of the tweener realm and starts to enter the player's frames territory. The two that fit this bill for me are the Blade 98 (gold/black as well as latest all black version) and Steam 99s.

If it's something a tad more APD-ish, I'd point to the 99s. Some ppl have stated this plays like an APD but with better feel, better solidness, better way of swinging, and better on serve. I'd agree with most of that.

If it's a bit lower powered, more control orientated, with real solidness and some plow and lush impact feel, and yet is also relatively light, Blade is the one.
 
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