Ok,
****Disclaimer****
The review below is from my point of view, and is compared to my Ncode 90s that I have been using for 2 years. The 90s are NOT powerful racquets by themselves, and these are especially heavy. I do not reccomend this frame to anyone who does not posess good coordination, and sufficient racquethead speed to consistiently hit the ball deep with the frame. I am an open tournament player, with hellish batspeed, I can break ALU Rough in under 2 hours. I hit HARD with heavy heavy topspin. Not trying to convince anyone to like or dislike this frame, just giving my point of view.
****Disclaimer****
As promised I have hit this weekend with my leaded K90s.
The setup is the same as my Ncodes. 380g 5phl.
Weight at 12, and just above the grip. (Going to put the weight inside the handle, silly me didn't realize it had a trapdoor.)
Strung with ALU Rough at 58lb.
First thought. "Man this thing comes around quick"
Second thought. "I am definately going to have to get the handles done."
Third thought. "Wow, you can really feel this thing bend."
I am very very impressed with how the leaded version plays. It swings like a whip, and hits like a freight train.
The stringbed was very 'hot' with the ball really jumping off of it on blocked shots, going to take some time to dial that in.
Angles and such were lovely, huge improvement on BH slice compared to the N. BH slice I felt that I really had to hit it perfectly with the Ncode, while with the K it seemed like I really had to botch the shot to get the ball to sit up, and when I really laid into one it seemed almost unfair how good it was.
The short pallet really bothered me on the two hander, and rubbed uncomfortably, but the shots were still pretty good.
Forehands, pace, spin, all that good stuff. ISO was very stout with the K, CC needs a bit more dialing in. Angles were great, actually found myself hitting a bit more angle than I wanted sometimes.
Serves, I can't blame the racquet. I have been doing minimal serving do to back problems for the last little while, and being locked up/in pain jived with my motion aswell. But I squared a few up and all I can say is "Yee Ha". They were making the right sound they just weren't going the right place. Like a few other areas, once I get it dialed in, look out. Gonna be putting up some gaudy numbers on the gun first and 2nd serves.
I actually thought the N would be better at net because of the denser pattern in the middle of the racquet, but the K was the one I liked better. (Maybe I am not hitting the middle of the racquet) Probably because of the better feel.
The thing that really impressed was how the K bailed me out when I was in trouble. I could come up with some offensive shots on the run, or from a defensive position.
The thing that didn't impress was how the ball flew on me, but once again, just an adjustment in getting used to the frame. I am really surprised with how much hotter the stringbed was.
My FH return is the weakest part of my game, and I really put some good swings on my opponent's serves, serves that I would have had to block back recently. (I am not sure if it is how quickly the racquet comes around, or just that my wrist keeps getting stronger by the week and my FH return of serve, and high flat FH are the last two things to come back.)
BH return is one of my best shots, and as usuall was pretty impressive.
All in all, I love this thing. Definitely gonna have to have the pallets done, and it is for sure gonna take me a month to get used to the frame, but I am planning to get myself enough to last a long long time.
It is EXTREMELY tempting to jack up the tension on this racquet, but I am gonna give it some more time. Tight strings are like a safety blanket for me, but I am convinced that looser is the way to go. When I am wailing away, it is great, but when I take pace off, I was hitting long, and when I was just blocking the ball flew a bit. I am convinced that it will just take some getting used to.
Preparing to switch in Jan/08
J
