Head Microgel Extreme/Extreme Pro Review

[snoflewis]

I had the opportunity to demo both the microgel extreme and extreme pro rackets, and seeing that there weren't too many posts on that, I took up on the offer and just came back from my first hit with them.

a little background on myself: I've used/owned the majority of the tweeners/player's racket on the market. currently, im loving my 6.0 95s.

initial impression: both rackets out of the cover have beautiful cosmetics. they're nearly identical except that one is white in some areas while the other is black. As this being Head's version of the Pure Drive, i must admit, cosmetic-wise, that the microgel had a way better paintjob than the PD. the beam shape is pretty unique. It's got a flat beam at the throat, yet the shaft of the throat is round...so it's more like a () shape. the head looks very similar too the PD except for the fact that the PD is more aerodynamic, but the microgel definitely looks sturdier. also, gripsize was pretty surprising. the microgel 3/8 feels bigger than the LM or FP 3/8...so that's always good for me at least. The rackets were strung with what looked/felt like a poly (will find out what strings are on teh racket soon) at i assume...59 lbs (2 lbs over mid tension)

Initial hitting: My expeirence with the babolat PD and wilson npro surge wasn't a pleasant one. the PD had absolutely not control and the npro surge was jarring. after my initial hitting with both rackets...neither was really impressive either.

Extreme - This racket when compared with the extreme pro is noticeably lighter and swings much lighter...which i liked. Compared to the extreme pro, it felt much more crisp and had a less muted feel. Spin capacity was very good, as was the PD and nPro Surge.

Extreme Pro - This was the heavier/bulkier one of the two. However, it also had less feel. Like its lighter version, it had very good spin capacity.

I know this initial review is short, and i will post a lot more as we go on, but due to the poly/stiff racket setup, my arm was feeling a bit weak/sore. I had a case of tennis elbow a year ago...and my hit with this racket was cut short due to the stiffness.

VERDICT: This racket was not impressive at all. Even with all its hype with it being "Ljubicic's racket" and the new "technology" i must say that this racket is very similar to its competition PD (without the woofer) and the nPro Surge.

 

[AJK1]

What did you think of the Head shape handle on the new Extreme's?

 

[BigServer1]

Thanks for the thoughts. It's nice to see a review that doesn't start with : "Took the K Factor out of the bag today..."

Sorry that it wasn't a nice hit for you. The bright side of this is that maybe you won't buy it (unlike all other frames on the market today ).

 

[Viper]

LONG LIVE PRO STAFF 6.0!!!

Anyways, I find your findings fairly disappointing. I was looking forward to this one.

 

[snoflewis]

What did you think of the Head shape handle on the new Extreme's?

they're still pretty rectangular, but a little bigger...i'd say 1/2 a size? or at least it feels that way.

 

[snoflewis]

Thanks for the thoughts. It's nice to see a review that doesn't start with : "Took the K Factor out of the bag today..."

Sorry that it wasn't a nice hit for you. The bright side of this is that maybe you won't buy it (unlike all other frames on the market today ).

i was thinking about starting it like that...but..haha. jp

even if it was a great racket...i wouldnt swithc to it...the specs just dont fit me...and i found the best racket on the market for me already ProStaff 6.0 95

 

[snoflewis]

LONG LIVE PRO STAFF 6.0!!!

Anyways, I find your findings fairly disappointing. I was looking forward to this one.

yeah...i was quite disappointed as well...but coming from the 6.0 95...i dont see how it cant be disappointing

haha...im getting too caught up with my PS 6.0 95, but seriously, this racket was initially very diasppointing.

i'll post pics soon

 

[BigServer1]

i was thinking about starting it like that...but..haha. jp

even if it was a great racket...i wouldnt swithc to it...the specs just dont fit me...and i found the best racket on the market for me already ProStaff 6.0 95

I'm really glad that you found your stick of choice, haha. No more buying and selling for you. I do wonder if this will be indicative of the Head Microgels to come (Radical, Prestige etc)...

 

[Bottle Rocket]

Your usual racket is a 6.0 95 and you can't control the PD.

Now you're dissapointed with some PD clones?

Well I'll be ......

 

[snoflewis]

Your usual racket is a 6.0 95 and you can't control the PD.

Now you're dissapointed with some PD clones?

Well I'll be ......

just because they are "clones" of the PD doesnt mean that they play like PDs. the redondo is a "clone" of a prestige...and i dont like any of the midplus prestiges but did i hate the redondo too? no...

 

[WhiteSox05CA]

I think your right. I was initially hyped to try these, but now bad reviews have turned me off.

 

[jcstennis]

sno: ... here was a small write up i did also... same stuff...

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showpost.php?p=1238568&postcount=841

 

[snoflewis]

Update

after hitting a couple more times with the racket, i've found that this was definitely not the racket for me. even when hitting the sweetspot, the feel was quite jarring for both frames and i've developed a minor case of TE.... it's defnitely not my choice for comfort

 

[WhiteSox05CA]

I demoed both yesterday, and I'm leaving soon to try 'em again. I thought that the grip shape was much smaller. I like Babolat 4 1/2, and this Head Microgel 4 1/2 seemed very small.

The stock grip is very thin, soft, and tacky. (if you push you can feel the pallet below)

 

[Fedace]

I had the opportunity to demo both the microgel extreme and extreme pro rackets, and seeing that there weren't too many posts on that, I took up on the offer and just came back from my first hit with them.

a little background on myself: I've used/owned the majority of the tweeners/player's racket on the market. currently, im loving my 6.0 95s.

initial impression: both rackets out of the cover have beautiful cosmetics. they're nearly identical except that one is white in some areas while the other is black. As this being Head's version of the Pure Drive, i must admit, cosmetic-wise, that the microgel had a way better paintjob than the PD. the beam shape is pretty unique. It's got a flat beam at the throat, yet the shaft of the throat is round...so it's more like a () shape. the head looks very similar too the PD except for the fact that the PD is more aerodynamic, but the microgel definitely looks sturdier. also, gripsize was pretty surprising. the microgel 3/8 feels bigger than the LM or FP 3/8...so that's always good for me at least. The rackets were strung with what looked/felt like a poly (will find out what strings are on teh racket soon) at i assume...59 lbs (2 lbs over mid tension)

Initial hitting: My expeirence with the babolat PD and wilson npro surge wasn't a pleasant one. the PD had absolutely not control and the npro surge was jarring. after my initial hitting with both rackets...neither was really impressive either.

Extreme - This racket when compared with the extreme pro is noticeably lighter and swings much lighter...which i liked. Compared to the extreme pro, it felt much more crisp and had a less muted feel. Spin capacity was very good, as was the PD and nPro Surge.

Extreme Pro - This was the heavier/bulkier one of the two. However, it also had less feel. Like its lighter version, it had very good spin capacity.

I know this initial review is short, and i will post a lot more as we go on, but due to the poly/stiff racket setup, my arm was feeling a bit weak/sore. I had a case of tennis elbow a year ago...and my hit with this racket was cut short due to the stiffness.

VERDICT: This racket was not impressive at all. Even with all its hype with it being "Ljubicic's racket" and the new "technology" i must say that this racket is very similar to its competition PD (without the woofer) and the nPro Surge.

I am very much interested in Extreme. and i currently use babolat pure drive plus. How does this compare in swingweight, or power dept ? Does micro extreme swing easier than PD plus ? and which has more power ? and which do you thing is better for serve and volleys ?

 

[rosenstar]

I am very much interested in Extreme. and i currently use babolat pure drive plus. How does this compare in swingweight, or power dept? Does micro extreme swing easier than PD plus ? and which has more power? and which do you thing is better for serve and volleys?

I have a friend who is in EXACTLY the same situation as this guy up here^.

 

[armand]

I really want to try a 6.0 95; been hearing how underrated it is here ever since I can remember...

 

[WhiteSox05CA]

after hitting a couple more times with the racket, i've found that this was definitely not the racket for me. even when hitting the sweetspot, the feel was quite jarring for both frames and i've developed a minor case of TE.... it's defnitely not my choice for comfort

Wow. That's EXACTLY how I felt and what happened to me!

 

[dave108]

My .2 cents. I had a chance to play doubles last night with the microgel extreme pro. Probably 4.5 level doubles for 2 solid hours. Regular racquest is a LM prestige MP or nBlade98 made more head light. The microgel racquet feels pretty light when you swing it, but it does weigh in a ~11.5 onces or so. I don't know what it was strung with (maybe the new head string @57). My first impressions were - wow what a lot of spin, and I can't control my forehand!!! That seemed to be the theme throughout the night. Tons of spin on kick serves, pretty good on flat/hard serves. Volleys felt very solid and crisp, with good power and placement. My 1hbh was very good with this frame, lots of spin and pretty good control with very nice slice. My forehand was all over the place. I found the racquet to be very stable on serve returns and on hard hit volleys. It is MUCH stiffer than my regular racquets, which probably explains the power level (that and the beam width). Touch/feel wasn't as good with the prestige or nBlade, and I thought it was OK comfort wise and I didn't experience any twinges in the elbow. OK on off center hits, but you definitely know you haven't hit the sweet spot.

Would I buy one??? Probably not. Too much power for my liking. While it is addictive, I did find it hard to control on occasion. I have a personal preference for flexy racquets, and this one seems way too stiff for my liking. A very different Head experience, and unlike many other head frames I've tried.

 

[kreative]

i had a short hit w/ the extreme pro and it was dissappointing. it felt tinny and jarring. less power & spin than the pure drive (my normal racquet)

 

[snoflewis]

I really want to try a 6.0 95; been hearing how underrated it is here ever since I can remember...

they're definitely worth a try

 

[WhiteSox05CA]

i had a short hit w/ the extreme pro and it was dissappointing. it felt tinny and jarring. less power & spin than the pure drive (my normal racquet)

I agree. I playtested the Pure Drive like the week before, and I definately liked it better than the Extreme Pro. The Pure Drive is a great racquet, it's gonna be hard to compete with (especially with that racquet, Head).

 

[rocket]

Your usual racket is a 6.0 95 and you can't control the PD.

The 6.0 95 doesn't play anything like the PD. The 6.0 95 plays easier, lighter & softer than the 6.0 85, but that's about it. It's still a low-powered frame that requires a full swing to get the ball going.

 

[wao]

I had the opportunity to demo both the microgel extreme and extreme pro rackets, and seeing that there weren't too many posts on that, I took up on the offer and just came back from my first hit with them.

a little background on myself: I've used/owned the majority of the tweeners/player's racket on the market. currently, im loving my 6.0 95s.

initial impression: both rackets out of the cover have beautiful cosmetics. they're nearly identical except that one is white in some areas while the other is black. As this being Head's version of the Pure Drive, i must admit, cosmetic-wise, that the microgel had a way better paintjob than the PD. the beam shape is pretty unique. It's got a flat beam at the throat, yet the shaft of the throat is round...so it's more like a () shape. the head looks very similar too the PD except for the fact that the PD is more aerodynamic, but the microgel definitely looks sturdier. also, gripsize was pretty surprising. the microgel 3/8 feels bigger than the LM or FP 3/8...so that's always good for me at least. The rackets were strung with what looked/felt like a poly (will find out what strings are on teh racket soon) at i assume...59 lbs (2 lbs over mid tension)

Initial hitting: My expeirence with the babolat PD and wilson npro surge wasn't a pleasant one. the PD had absolutely not control and the npro surge was jarring. after my initial hitting with both rackets...neither was really impressive either.

Extreme - This racket when compared with the extreme pro is noticeably lighter and swings much lighter...which i liked. Compared to the extreme pro, it felt much more crisp and had a less muted feel. Spin capacity was very good, as was the PD and nPro Surge.

Extreme Pro - This was the heavier/bulkier one of the two. However, it also had less feel. Like its lighter version, it had very good spin capacity.

I know this initial review is short, and i will post a lot more as we go on, but due to the poly/stiff racket setup, my arm was feeling a bit weak/sore. I had a case of tennis elbow a year ago...and my hit with this racket was cut short due to the stiffness.

VERDICT: This racket was not impressive at all. Even with all its hype with it being "Ljubicic's racket" and the new "technology" i must say that this racket is very similar to its competition PD (without the woofer) and the nPro Surge.

snoflewis:
Good write up. I found that both the extreme and Pro where stiff racquets and with the prestrung new head poly they played not as I expected. I did restring both with NRG in the mains and alu rough in the crosses and what a difference. I found then very comfortably ( no arm tenderness ) and found my touch shots and power/spin when I needed them.

 

[Fedace]

I had talked with several guys at TW today and they all agree that head microgel is much better racket than Babolat pure drive or pD plus. I think better comparison would be to compare this with PD or PD plus since that was the rackets this was adapted from.

 

[paulfreda]

It is not surprising that frames as stiff as these Extremes are jarring.
Clearly they need to be setup/customized with lead to play well.
Also, lower tensions might make them feel better.
If Fed can play at 48, maybe you can too.

IMO, the nBlade is similar. It has so much mass removed from the
throat that it needs lead to compensate to make it a good players frame.

I do want to try this frame .... the Pro version that is.
But I doubt I can play it stock.

 

[Fedace]

I have a friend who is in EXACTLY the same situation as this guy up here^.

Ok i got to hit with head microgel extreme today some more Not the pro version. and it is like the babolat PD, just lighter swingweight. the frame does swing easier and great on the serves and lots of spins as well. bit slow on the volleys or reaction volleys but you will get used to it cause once again the very light swingweight. my verdict
1. Serves --- 9.5
2. groundies --- 9
3. Volleys --- 8
4. Returs --- 8
5. Overhead --- 8.5
6. swing volleys --- 8.5
7. 2nd serves --- 9
8. Intangibles --- 8.5
I hope this helps. Intangibles means the racket's ability to improve your game and react on the mishits and on the racket's ability to adjust on late hits.:grin:

 

[saqdeez]

snoflewis:
Good write up. I found that both the extreme and Pro where stiff racquets and with the prestrung new head poly they played not as I expected. I did restring both with NRG in the mains and alu rough in the crosses and what a difference. I found then very comfortably ( no arm tenderness ) and found my touch shots and power/spin when I needed them.

I had the same exact experience!!! i will look to hit this again next time i am out. I hit with it for 10 minutes thought and it was BUTTER on the bh slice, BOOMING on the 2hbh, and fh was very nice. Serve was solid but tbd.

 

[wao]

I had the same exact experience!!! i will look to hit this again next time i am out. I hit with it for 10 minutes thought and it was BUTTER on the bh slice, BOOMING on the 2hbh, and fh was very nice. Serve was solid but tbd.

SAQDEEZ, an update:I just restrung mine with Klip Legend 16 in the mains at 60lbs and Lux ALU Fluoro in the X at 55. A great combination so far IMO.

 

[B-Line]

I'm from the future and enjoying the MP

 

[snoflewis]

OP...play better tennis

 

[n8dawg6]

OP...play better tennis

ha!

 

[cow_goes_meow]

Bringing this back from the dead... I decided to actually look up what people were saying about this racket (extreme mp) as I've used it for about 2 years now and love it.

Previously I used a head prestige for maybe 2-3 years. The old one, but ended up cracking it. Was previously using a liquid metal radical before that, and came back to it just because that's what I had. Not too long after, switched to this because I found myself swinging my racket faster and the heaviness and small head size (of the prestige) wasnt doing me any favors. I thoroughly enjoyed the spin this racket offered. But I think that's more attributed to the 16x19 pattern compared to the 18x20 I've been accustomed to.

I don't have the stiffness issue as I play with gut in the mains at 50lbs. Never had elbows issues using this racket, or ever, so maybe I'm just resilient, idk.

After about a year of use, I decided to add some lead tape. Just experimenting and reminiscent of when I first started playing tennis, and added a ton of lead tape. I remember getting a ton of power, took the tape off, and noticed I lost it all. This was many years ago and havent done any type of modifications of my racket since then. Anyway, I added 4 total strips of lead tape, 4" each, to 12 o'clock. Timing suffers a hair, but I do love setting up my partner at the net when I'm playing doubles by just hitting a very strong forehand if I get to play the deuce side.

I gotta ask, why isn't this a more popular racket? Spec wise, it's so similar to the pure drive, which i see so often on the courts. I tried another head extreme not too long ago. It may have been the graphene, cant recall, but it didn't play like this racket at all.

 

[Zoolander]

Bringing this back from the dead... I decided to actually look up what people were saying about this racket (extreme mp) as I've used it for about 2 years now and love it.

Previously I used a head prestige for maybe 2-3 years. The old one, but ended up cracking it. Was previously using a liquid metal radical before that, and came back to it just because that's what I had. Not too long after, switched to this because I found myself swinging my racket faster and the heaviness and small head size (of the prestige) wasnt doing me any favors. I thoroughly enjoyed the spin this racket offered. But I think that's more attributed to the 16x19 pattern compared to the 18x20 I've been accustomed to.

I don't have the stiffness issue as I play with gut in the mains at 50lbs. Never had elbows issues using this racket, or ever, so maybe I'm just resilient, idk.

After about a year of use, I decided to add some lead tape. Just experimenting and reminiscent of when I first started playing tennis, and added a ton of lead tape. I remember getting a ton of power, took the tape off, and noticed I lost it all. This was many years ago and havent done any type of modifications of my racket since then. Anyway, I added 4 total strips of lead tape, 4" each, to 12 o'clock. Timing suffers a hair, but I do love setting up my partner at the net when I'm playing doubles by just hitting a very strong forehand if I get to play the deuce side.

I gotta ask, why isn't this a more popular racket? Spec wise, it's so similar to the pure drive, which i see so often on the courts. I tried another head extreme not too long ago. It may have been the graphene, cant recall, but it didn't play like this racket at all.

I still have a couple of microgel extreme mp’s and an extreme pro. When i need a stiffer tweener racquet to play a harder hitter these are what i use. I love the shape of the head, the rounder frying pan shape is more forgiving when hitting with spin and these things hit spin very well. But i guess lots were put off by the shape and the yellow PJ so they went for the more popular PD.

The microgels and the later extremes were different. They changed the mold and throat shape after the youtek version and that changed how it felt, then the graphenes changed the weight distribution and that changed it even more unfortunately. I dont know how you can play with them with gut @50lbs but hey, if you can keep it in the court why not?!

I would love them to bring back the original microgel extreme mold with a 62RA flex. Instead of paying bazillions for a PT219.2. Are you listening, @Howard H ?!

 

[cow_goes_meow]

I would love them to bring back the original microgel extreme mold with a 62RA flex

Certainly an interesting idea; it would certainly attract a different set of players. I think partly what makes this racket attractive is its ease of power, which I think comes from the stiffness.

As for keeping the ball in play, I'm told I play with a lot of spin. My balls typically bounce around the service line and can still maintain some aggressiveness.