My Take on LiquidMetal Prestige Mid

[Deuce]

Had two hits with a demo LiquidMetal Prestige Mid.

One of the worst racquets I've ever hit with.

The feeling - if one could call it that - was like hitting a ball with an aluminum cooking pot. Tinny, hollow, and felt cheap and fragile to the point that I swore if I dropped it, it would shatter into a million pieces. It felt much more like a toy racquet than even the Wilson ROK, which I had described as feeling like a toy.

I was looking forward to trying the LM Prestige Mid, as some here had written that it was in some ways similar to the Prestige Classic Mid. After hitting with the LM Prestige Mid, and knowing the Prestige Classic Mid quite well, I can honestly say that the only things the LM has in common with the Classic are the size and the Prestige name. Other than that, they are as different as are a pig and an eagle.

I could not believe that anyone would deliberately make a racquet this bad. There was nothing good about this racquet. Restringing it didn't help at all. After my initial hit, I felt that the terrible feeling must be due to the incredibly tight string tension (it was strung one-piece at about 65 pounds). I know it's not the best idea in the world to restring a demo racquet, but I had to find out if the racquet was truly as terrible as it seemed. So I cut the strings out and strung it at 53 pounds with a soft syn gut. Not much difference. This is a terrible frame, no matter how you string it. To call this racquet a Prestige is sacrilege.

I hit with an iPrestige in both hitting sessions, as well - and the iPrestige is 100% more solid and 100% more stable than the LM. Not even close. Night and day. The more intelligent Prestige blows the LM out of the water. I can see why they called the new Prestige 'LiquidMetal' - because of its uncanny resemblance to runny diarrhea. This is one terrible tennis racquet.

I place the LiquidMetal Prestige Mid in the same 'garbage' category as the Head Premier Tour and Ti Pro Tour. I cannot help but wonder what in hell the designers were thinking when they came up with these racquets.

 

[galain]

Deuce

Thanks for write up. Have you come across the mid plus? Supposedly it's very similar to the PT 280. I'd be keen to know if this was the case or not.

As for the mid - was it mushy, unstable or just plain flimsy?

Thanks again.

 

[SteveI]

Hi Deuce,

"I cannot help but wonder what in hell the designers were thinking when they came up with these racquets." Hummmm maybe the designers.. are just the guys in the marketing/sales department? I am guessing they are thinking sales and not quality racket design and testing. One great example..while stringing frames many times.. I think.. man it is clear that no one thought.. or tested just how hard it will be to get strings thur this darn "blocked hole" I am currently fighting with. Or.. of course they have done the testing and decided that making a design change to help overall frame quality or ease of stringing would effect the bottom line for that product line.

Have a good one... Off the soapbox now...

Steve

 

[Marius_Hancu]

As I have a PC600 (which I like very much) but haven't yet played with the LM (god, these are expensive racquets, talk about value), I find this thread v. interesting.

Instead of an LM, I've invested recently in an M-fil 200. Much less pricier. Still need to play with it.

 

[Bolt]

Thanks for the candid review.

 

[scez]

Marius, if you want to get the liquid metal prestige mid/mp I know a place in toronto that sells it for $162 Canadian, not sure how much the shipping would be.

 

[Ronaldo]

galain, the LM Prestige mp takes Deuce' comments about the mid to another level of tinny, harsh feel. Demoed the mid and owned 4 of the mp. All stink, stank, and stunked. At least the mid is flexible. Compared the mid to a PC and iPrestige mid same day. Btw, FP Radical Tour is far more playable. If you have a chance to use a PT 630, omg, nirfreakingvana. Just sick, buttery smooth, vibration-free, flexible.

 

[BLiND]

I find it very hard to believe you deuce... tinny?... the LM Prestige Mid is one of the most solid frames around... high SW, high flex, 18x20, it just plows through the ball.

Sounds to me like you got a duff one, because nothing in your post I could relate to the LM Prestige Mid I had.

 

[shsman2091]

Marius, if you want to get the liquid metal prestige mid/mp I know a place in toronto that sells it for $162 Canadian, not sure how much the shipping would be.

I think you can get it at a same price or cheaper if you buy it from TW by phone.

 

[ace of spades]

I loved the racket. Extemely powerful, great on serves, and so stable this i didnt need any lead. It was a litle too demanding so i went with a leaded up leather gripped mp which i also. I dint think anyone hated this racket as much as you did. Although i respect your opinion i have found that it is a great racket and know many higher level players who love it.

 

[ace of spades]

I loved the racket. Extemely powerful, great on serves, and so stable this i didnt need any lead. It was a litle too demanding so i went with a leaded up leather gripped mp which i also. I dint think anyone hated this racket as much as you did. Although i respect your opinion i have found that it is a great racket and know many higher level players who love it.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Marius, if you want to get the liquid metal prestige mid/mp I know a place in toronto that sells it for $162 Canadian, not sure how much the shipping would be.

Thanks, but 14 racquets is enough for the time being

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Demoed the mid and owned 4 of the mp. All stink, stank, and stunked.

I like this grammar play

I guess in the LMs, Head went a bit after the Wilson slightly "harsher" feel in the last years, instead of continuing what they had with the Classics.

 

[Wimbledon2004]

R u sure that the LM prestige MID is that horrible??? I was just about to purchase one.

do u think the LM prestige MID is suitable for a 3.5- 4.0 player?
how about the MP version?

 

[Marius_Hancu]

R u sure that the LM prestige MID is that horrible??? I was just about to purchase one.

do u think the LM prestige MID is suitable for a 3.5- 4.0 player?
how about the MP version?

These are matters of taste. I'd say demo it. The MP might be more appropriate, but ...

 

[bee]

Yikes!

Prestige LM Mid is my all time favorite. Prefer it over the Head Classic Mid and Midplus. However, I will add that I've played only with natural gut in it and with synthetic strings I can see how it might feel somewhat stiff and hollow. But with the gut it's just awesome!

 

[tandayu]

If the Lm Prestige is the first prestige you ever hit with, then you might like it.

If you have hit with other versions of the Prestige, then you will know how the high cost of material has diminish the quality of the frame, paint, leather grip, etc.

I know a place that has very good price on the LM prestige, but TW can match the price

 

[shsman2091]

Thanks, but 14 racquets is enough for the time being

14?? OMG!!! Which one is your favorite one?

 

[emerckx53]

Had two hits with a demo LiquidMetal Prestige Mid.

One of the worst racquets I've ever hit with.

The feeling - if one could call it that - was like hitting a ball with an aluminum cooking pot. Tinny, hollow, and felt cheap and fragile to the point that I swore if I dropped it, it would shatter into a million pieces. It felt much more like a toy racquet than even the Wilson ROK, which I had described as feeling like a toy.

I was looking forward to trying the LM Prestige Mid, as some here had written that it was in some ways similar to the Prestige Classic Mid. After hitting with the LM Prestige Mid, and knowing the Prestige Classic Mid quite well, I can honestly say that the only things the LM has in common with the Classic are the size and the Prestige name. Other than that, they are as different as are a pig and an eagle.

I could not believe that anyone would deliberately make a racquet this bad. There was nothing good about this racquet. Restringing it didn't help at all. After my initial hit, I felt that the terrible feeling must be due to the incredibly tight string tension (it was strung one-piece at about 65 pounds). I know it's not the best idea in the world to restring a demo racquet, but I had to find out if the racquet was truly as terrible as it seemed. So I cut the strings out and strung it at 53 pounds with a soft syn gut. Not much difference. This is a terrible frame, no matter how you string it. To call this racquet a Prestige is sacrilege.

I hit with an iPrestige in both hitting sessions, as well - and the iPrestige is 100% more solid and 100% more stable than the LM. Not even close. Night and day. The more intelligent Prestige blows the LM out of the water. I can see why they called the new Prestige 'LiquidMetal' - because of its uncanny resemblance to runny diarrhea. This is one terrible tennis racquet.

I place the LiquidMetal Prestige Mid in the same 'garbage' category as the Head Premier Tour and Ti Pro Tour. I cannot help but wonder what in hell the designers were thinking when they came up with these racquets.

I hit the same racquet earlier today...I will start a new post comparing it to 3 others....

 

[#123#]

i.prestige mid is a very good stick, and LM prestige mid is even better. It's my favorite.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

i.prestige mid is a very good stick, and LM prestige mid is even better. It's my favorite.

things are contradictory here.

talked today to a Futures player, he prefers the I.Prestige to the LM (as it has more feel, which I guess is Deuce's point too here) , and regrets that Head doesn't keep old models ... which I do too, as I had to pay serious money to get my PC600.

 

[str33t]

i like my LM radical. it has good control, moderate power, and is very good on consistency.

 

[ace of spades]

I guess in the LMs, Head went a bit after the Wilson slightly "harsher" feel in the last years, instead of continuing what they had with the Classics.

I had an i.prestige mp briefly and i have to say that the lm version is much softer than it. The i.prestige may have more feel, but it is stiffer an a bit harsher. my friend who is a prestige fanatic says that the harshness of the prestige line goes like this,

(softer)> - Classics (pc600 ect.) - LM Prestige mid (mp is slightly harsher because it is a little stiffer) - i.prestige - <(harsher)

 

[ChicagoJack]

The LM Prestige takes lots of flak here. I feel compelled to speak in defense at least once.

The LM Prestige Mid is a fantastic frame in my book. Dont care if any pros use it or not. Dont care about the PJ controversy either. Both the Mid and MP versions are used in noticable abundance with both unsponsored and sponsored players at the elite junior level, the challenger/satelight level, and quite common at USTA Open Level Tournaments, at least in this neck of the woods.

I played with both the Mid and MP versions for 2 years. I am also a die hard Volkl fan, and have been playing up and down that line since 99. I know for certain, that if you really enjoy a noticebly flexy feel, there is nothing currently available from Volkl that has that same Prestige really flexy feel to it. The C10 and some earlier now discontinued models come closest.

If you like a heavy, flexy frame with a very consistent 93 in stringbed, the LM Prestige Mid will do you right. A bit lighter and 98, the MP feels very similar, and is one of the more user freindly players frames around. Lots of folks Demo the Prestige thinking that its going to be very demanding, and are very pleasantly suprised. IMO the Volkl feel has less residual impact shock, feels a little cleaner, and the entire Volkl 10 line has a slighty more forgiving sweetspot than the entire Prestige line. They are both good lines, just different flavors.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=79826
Just my two cents, personal opinion
-Jack

 

[Deuce]

Deuce

Thanks for write up. Have you come across the mid plus? Supposedly it's very similar to the PT 280. I'd be keen to know if this was the case or not.

As for the mid - was it mushy, unstable or just plain flimsy?

Thanks again.

Flimsy first, unstable second. Not mushy.

I've got no interest in the MidPlus, galain, as I can get my Pro Tours back from my friend if I want them. MidPlus and Mid versions of the same model traditionally are very different - to the point that it seems wrong that they share the same name. I can only hope that such is the case for the LM Prestige, as well.

ChicagoJack wrote:
"If you like a heavy, flexy frame with a very consistent 93 in stringbed, the LM Prestige Mid will do you right."
Sorry, Jack, but I'm proof that that's untrue. I've been playing with - and enjoying - heavy, flexible frames for 25 years, and the LM Prestige Mid was not even close to the many others I've enjoyed over the years. It's a different animal.

In fact, with all due respect to those who, for some reason, like this frame, I can't understand why this racquet was not universally trashed. I could not find one good thing about it. Even the paint quality is poor, with minuscule chips here & there - which never happened on the original Prestige. It felt cheap, unstable, flimsy, and a host of other unmentionable adjectives. While, as someone mentioned, it might play slightly better with gut, there's no way that gut would save this frame on its own. Nothing could save this frame for me - it's hopeless. I've hit with other frames that I didn't enjoy before - but only a few (3, exactly - the Premier Tour, Ti Pro Tour, and now the LM Prestige Mid) were so bad that I felt compelled to write my perspective on it here. With other racquets I didn't like, I could certainly understand how others with a different taste might like those racquets. But I confess to being unable to fathom how anyone could like any of the 3 racquets I mentioned above.

As for the possibility that the particular frame I tested was a 'lemon' - no. It belongs to a large, frequently visited store, who have had it as a demo for over a year. If it was a dud, it would have been replaced by now.

For any who may think that my lack of embracing 'new technology' influenced my perspective - no, it certainly did not. I very much enjoy the feel of the iPrestige Mid, for instance. If anything, I went into the LM demo expecting good things - and was simply extremely disappointed. The racquet, to me, is an absolute piece of garbage. If, for some reason, this was the only racquet available for me to play with, I would prefer to quit the game, quite honestly.

Marius - I have an M-Fil 200, as well, that I'm trying out more out of curiosity than anything else. It is a very comfortable frame - nice soft feel to it. Head and shoulders above the LM Prestige Mid.

 

[thejerk]

The LM doesn't feel at all like the pc600. It is way more powerful and does feel kind of harsh. I had one or 2 and got rid of them after just 2 days. I didn't think they were terrible but they did have a tinny feel.

 

[djones]

Flimsy first, unstable second. Not mushy.

I've got no interest in the MidPlus, galain, as I can get my Pro Tours back from my friend if I want them. MidPlus and Mid versions of the same model traditionally are very different - to the point that it seems wrong that they share the same name. I can only hope that such is the case for the LM Prestige, as well.

ChicagoJack wrote:
"If you like a heavy, flexy frame with a very consistent 93 in stringbed, the LM Prestige Mid will do you right."
Sorry, Jack, but I'm proof that that's untrue. I've been playing with - and enjoying - heavy, flexible frames for 25 years, and the LM Prestige Mid was not even close to the many others I've enjoyed over the years. It's a different animal.

In fact, with all due respect to those who, for some reason, like this frame, I can't understand why this racquet was not universally trashed. I could not find one good thing about it. Even the paint quality is poor, with minuscule chips here & there - which never happened on the original Prestige. It felt cheap, unstable, flimsy, and a host of other unmentionable adjectives. While, as someone mentioned, it might play slightly better with gut, there's no way that gut would save this frame on its own. Nothing could save this frame for me - it's hopeless. I've hit with other frames that I didn't enjoy before - but only a few (3, exactly - the Premier Tour, Ti Pro Tour, and now the LM Prestige Mid) were so bad that I felt compelled to write my perspective on it here. With other racquets I didn't like, I could certainly understand how others with a different taste might like those racquets. But I confess to being unable to fathom how anyone could like any of the 3 racquets I mentioned above.

As for the possibility that the particular frame I tested was a 'lemon' - no. It belongs to a large, frequently visited store, who have had it as a demo for over a year. If it was a dud, it would have been replaced by now.

For any who may think that my lack of embracing 'new technology' influenced my perspective - no, it certainly did not. I very much enjoy the feel of the iPrestige Mid, for instance. If anything, I went into the LM demo expecting good things - and was simply extremely disappointed. The racquet, to me, is an absolute piece of garbage. If, for some reason, this was the only racquet available for me to play with, I would prefer to quit the game, quite honestly.

Marius - I have an M-Fil 200, as well, that I'm trying out more out of curiosity than anything else. It is a very comfortable frame - nice soft feel to it. Head and shoulders above the LM Prestige Mid.

Maybe you accidentaly obtained a "lunchbreak" version of the LM Prestige mid

 

[Marius_Hancu]

playability and feel aside, I have to say that most of the Prestiges (including Classics and LM) are good for the arm, if properly strung, and that's an important consideration

 

[tarheelbornjohn]

I am a constant experimenter with strings and racquets. For me the LM Prestige is the best stick I have used for everything but the big booming serve. I have just tried the Instinct (too unstable), used the HPS 6.1 stretch before that. Demoed a few babs (did not like any of them) and several of the players Vokls. I played with the POG in the past. I love the LM prestige MP and while I will try out new sticks every two years (after I have strung each racquet over 20 times I start looking). I am at that two year point and still have not found anything to bet it. Will look at the FP Prestige. I did not like any of the New Wilsons (just too stiff).

 

[Return_Ace]

kk, well... deuce, please tell me that when you say "i had two hits with this racket" you don't actually mean two hits, yes, i know it could be a figure of speech, but with you, anything's possible.

anyways, my take on my LM Prestige Mid. Quite frankly, i love it, it's stable solid, comfy, quite good heft, maybe even too much. Yes, there are rackets that i have not liked, the one that instantly comes to mind is the TT Rebel, stupid pingy little thing, and this is the complete opposite, very smooth and good dwell time. But like i said, there are drawbacks, such as the insanely huge swingweight that leaves my arm dead after playing a match, but then, it's something i can get used to. It's pretty manouverable around the net, and it's weight gives it a solidness on volleys as well as some pop...

 

[Fatmike]

Marius, if you want to get the liquid metal prestige mid/mp I know a place in toronto that sells it for $162 Canadian, not sure how much the shipping would be.

racquet guy?

 

[tandayu]

Deuce has extensive exposures to various frames since the 80s especially on the Head models such as XRC, graphite edge, edge 2, txe, PC600, etc. He knows how much better the older head models and the Prestiges in comparison to the LM prestige.

It seems all the people who likes the LM prestige only has exposure to the
i prestige and the later model PC600/classic mid as comparison. As I mentioned on my previous post, the Lm is a fine frame if you never know or try the original PC600 and prestige pro600.

For those who prefer the Lm prestige over the PC600 or Prestige pro 600, let me know, I will buy your PC600/Prestige pro600 Austrian frames (many people are looking and asking me for these cult frames).

 

[bee]

A few comments: I prefer the Prestige LM Mid over any other racquet and it is not because it's the only Prestige line racquet I've played with. I played with a Classic mid for a couple of years and then the Classic midplus for several years more recently. I don't know all of the models and terminology but they're the cherry red ones. I prefer the LM Mid.

And the "new technology" stuff...what new technology about it? There's no springs or beads or magnets. It's just made out of.....hmm, what is it made out of? Doesn't matter. Something that has something in so they can call it liquid metal, whatever that is. Doesn't matter to me. That's marketing hype and such, but that's the way the world works.

Really, I do think that whether a player has played with this racquet with natural gut or not can have a lot to do with the perception of it. Natural gut at a few pounds below the mid range is very nice. That's about 55# or so.

And, you can tell your buddy, when you're getting ready to play, "I'm gonna pour some hot liquid metal on..."

Enjoy, Bee

 

[Deuce]

kk, well... deuce, please tell me that when you say "i had two hits with this racket" you don't actually mean two hits, yes, i know it could be a figure of speech, but with you, anything's possible.

I hit with the LM Prestige Mid for about 90 minutes in total - both singles and doubles. In the only singles set I played with it, I beat a guy 6-1... and hated every second of it.

So, it's certainly not that I found it "too demanding", or that I was bothered by its swingweight. I've used an 81 sq. in. Head Graphite Edge for the past 3 years as my main racquet - and that's somewhat more demanding than the LM Prestige Mid, and with a higher swingweight than the LM, as well. My Graphite Edges weigh in the area of 385 grams, with the weight I've added to them.

I could play with the LM Prestige Mid - I could hit most of the shots with it... but it felt like it was going to shatter with every swing. I couldn't bring it back to the store fast enough. When I brought it back, I saw that they had just received the Flexpoint Prestige. Am I going to spend a cent to demo it? No way. If I see someone who's hitting with one, perhaps I'll ask to spend a few minutes with it out of curiosity - but that's all I'll do.

 

[BLiND]

Sounds like you got either a fake, or a junior frame by mistake Deuce

 

[scez]

racquet guy?

Lol, that is their **** name. They must make a ton of money, they have hardly any overhead fees because all they have is this patheticly small shop in some tennis center and they sell a ton off ****. Last time I was there to pick up my lm prestige mp they were shipping out 20 boxes of racquets and strings.