I've been trying to sell a pair of Wilson BLX Blade 98s on here for about a week and have had almost zero interest in them. I bought them on a whim and decided that I like my Speeds better but what is up with the lack of love for these? Normally new(er) frames are usually easy to sell and people are all of them but not these. Why don't people like the BLX Blade 98s? What did Wilson do wrong with them?
The thing about blade 98s are that they aren't tweeners, but they also aren't quite a "players" frame. I personally love the compromise, but most don't.
I had an extended demo with it and I was actually ready to by a pair, until I tried the Aero Storm. If it had a box beam like the Storm does in the head...unspeakable wonder would be had. I'll post the link to a thread I made on the Blade in just one moment. Here it is! It has a review of the frame and comparisons to other racquets I have tried. I believe I mentioned it in the review, but the demo was strung with a hybrid of RPM and Sensation at around mid-tension. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=377358
I actually thought overall it was a pretty nice stick when I demo'd it. Very solid hit for a lightweight stick. No doubt due in part to the mass in the head of the stick. My friend loved it (although he stuck to his old racquet). I think one thing that may turn off some people looking at the stick is the hefty swingweight because of the mass in the head/balance of the racquet. Usually, people who're looking at 11 oz or so sticks do so because they want something a bit easier to swing. The BLX Blade 98 swings as hefty (or perhaps heftier) than some of my 12 oz sticks. I also wasn't that fond of the feel of the stick, but that's more personal preference.
Which Radical? The midplus or the tour? The Tour swings hefty, but it's a pretty weighty stick with (like the BLX Blade) quite a bit of balance towards the head. I guess in that sense the Blade swings more like the Tour, but I don't think the two racquets play that similar to each other. The midplus swings and plays much lighter to me than the Blade 98. The Blade felt more solid and had much more plow, although I prefer the flex and feel of the Radical MP more than the Blade. I didn't care much for the Bio 300 Tour (and prefer prior versions), but that's just me. The Blade swings and plays much heavier than the 300 Tour. The 300 Tour is much whippier in my opinion, and while there are advantages to that, the downside is that it doesn't plow through the ball like the Blade for me. I also thought the sweetspot on the Blade was much more generous than the 300 Tour, and I got more pop without losing any control with the Blade. Haven't tried the Blade Tour.
Definitely swings more like an 11.6 oz racquet than your typical 11.2 oz racquet. It swings heavier than my 12 oz PS Ltd. Not surprising given how headlight the Ltd is with a low swingweight, which allows me to get some serious racquet head speed. The good thing about the higher swingweight though with the Blade is that it feels solid/stable and has good plow for an 11 oz stick, which is often an issue for many with sticks around this weight. I believe TW re-did their (video) review for the Blade 98 because it played too heavy for the initial group of testers (I believe it was mostly the female playtesters like Kana and Brittany), so they got another group of testers who TW felt the swingweight of the stick was more suited towards like Spencer, Chris, and Troy. Edit: Here's the (updated) TW review if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBcBZDOO-fM
