Interesting Findings regarding Twisteight of PA 98 vs PA VS!

[TysonMcMuffin]

I wanted to see the difference between the Pure Aero 98 TW and the Pure Aero VS TW since according to TWU, the twistweight of the racquet went up drastically. Since I work at a Babolat sponsored pro shop, I picked a pure aero 98 that matched the SW of my current VS. They both had an unstrung SW of around 294. After stinging them and using the briffidi tw machine, their swingweights and twistweights were exactly the same between models, 325 sw and 13.73 tw respectively. However, my second Pure Aero VS came in with a lower SW of 307 STRUNG and a TW of 13.04

My Question is, does TWU report a higher Twistweight for the PA 98 beacuse they generally come in heavier? I know a lot of people on this forum said their PA VS models came in at a lighter spec. Even the lower end spec PA 98 at my shop came in at 316, a lot higher than 307 strung VS. It seems like twistweight goes up relative to a racquets swingweight. Also, if this theory holds true then Babolat did not alter the twistweight at all of the new aero 98 racquets coming out.

Can anyone else confirm this? Also, is the head shape or drill pattern of the PA 98 different than the VS. If not, that means all they changed was the flexibility.

I also found that this trend is common across other racquet brands such as with the new ezone 98 racquets, I have 3 and the heavier swingweights all have higher twistweights.

 

[Fed Kennedy]

I find twistweight to be an utterly meaningless number

 

[dr. godmode]

We don’t really know anything about the variance on twistweight. Manufacturers don’t necessarily QC for it.

 

[Irvin]

@TW Staff @TW Professor are there any plans to update the TWU Twistweights table. Or do you think the values in the table are correct and the manufacturers just have poor QC of TW.

 

[Yamin]

Interesting. I find twist weights to be tied in to manueverability, and the table while not exact shows good comparable datapoints in most cases.

I doubt TW measures multiple rackets for twist weight. Probably just one frame regardless of its QC.

 

[HeavyHitter]

I've owend 5 Aero VS frames and now have 4 PA98 frames. Also measured and modded over a dozen VS and PA98 for friends and juniors I play with. So far from what I've measured, PA98 is heavier and has higher swing weight. There are some juniors that I sold my VS frames to because it wasn't possible to get PA98 to their VS specs. I measured the string spacing with a caliper and they're exactly same. Despite what people say, once the specs are matched, there isn't measurable difference in feel or playability between the 2 models.

 

[TysonMcMuffin]

I've owend 5 Aero VS frames and now have 4 PA98 frames. Also measured and modded over a dozen VS and PA98 for friends and juniors I play with. So far from what I've measured, PA98 is heavier and has higher swing weight. There are some juniors that I sold my VS frames to because it wasn't possible to get PA98 to their VS specs. I measured the string spacing with a caliper and they're exactly same. Despite what people say, once the specs are matched, there isn't measurable difference in feel or playability between the 2 models.

Thank you! According to the specs across models with the same weight/sw, twistweight is the same making the racquet virtually the same but a little softer possibly. I think you’re correct saying that generally the PA 98 just comes in heavier.

 

[HeavyHitter]

Even the heaviest of the VS I've measured is still lighter than the lightest of the PA98 I've measured. The nice thing is that PA98 plays very good in stock form but the bad thing is that the swingweight can be a bit too heavy for younger juniors or recreational players. You can counter weigh it by adding some weight to the grip to increase maneuverability but the overall swingweight doesn't change too much without adding a significant amount. But for the most players that this frame is catering to will find it very playable as it swings very fast despite its higher swingweight.

 

[2ndServe]

Interesting. I find twist weights to be tied in to manueverability, and the table while not exact shows good comparable datapoints in most cases.

I doubt TW measures multiple rackets for twist weight. Probably just one frame regardless of its QC.

So the lower twistweight the higher manueverability? I heard the TWU and biffridi TW don’t coincide and are about 1 off so you can’t compare the 2.

 

[Yamin]

So the lower twistweight the higher manueverability?

For a same weight racket, usually.

 

[abarth20]

Pure Areo VS & PA 98 are basically the same thing right? Same RA, Same string Spacing...

 

[codonnell]

Pure Areo VS & PA 98 are basically the same thing right? Same RA, Same string Spacing...

The PA 98 has an RA of 65 while the Aero VS Is 67. The 98 also has a higher weight distribution in the hoop making it feel more solid vs the more holo feeling of the 67. But besides that pretty much the same mold minus some minor grommet changes. If you weight the vs up to the 98 I’m sure it would play extremely similar.

 

[brentzki]

https://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/cgi-bin/twistweight.cgi

Looks like the twistweight for the PA98 2023 model has been uploaded to TWU.

Looks to boast a very impressive 15.4 vs the 14.6 of the PAVS.

Swings extremely quick for the twistweight value it has IMO.