My Quick Review:
Reader's Notes: Session was (good) ball machine, bad balls, and me tired as eff after an 80 hr week first thing on a Sunday Morning. Ball machine was used for groundies and volleys. Serves were also practiced. Rackets intertwined to baseline: Demo Head 360 Speed Pro, and my Prince PP100P.
Serves: Was overall impressed. Being slightly more headlight, the head sailed through the swing and it was easy for power. Surprisingly good spin and cut on the serve, especially slice serves. If one could handle the weight (which I didn't notice, nor have the time to really) serving is fun.
Groundies: Like they say, the pin-point nature is really good. I hit relatively flat with a low trajectory in general, and these were definitely some flat shots. Decent off of both wings. Sweet spot seemed generous enough. It rewarded good strokes with power, but nothing to write home about - similar to the phantom line. In fact, I would say the weight balance was a bigger differentiating factor (in my mind) than the string pattern. Due to this, I didn't notice the extra weight. Side by side with my PP100P, which is close to 11.7 oz, the latter felt heavier due to swing weight.
Volleys: I can't say I really jelled here, but I don't think that was the racket at all, I was tired as eff, and I set the ball machine to a fast speed. happy when I connected, drop shots were good; the mass in contact was good.
Overall: My thoughts are decent/good, not blown away. But I'd like to demo in a match again, and it was good enough that, if I went to a different racket, I'd both probably stay in the Phantom line, and I'd probably go between this and the regular Phantom 100.
Areas not addressed: Lobs, and returns. I spent the most of my time between groundies and serves. Volley's were less. However, if I played a match (which I would have preferred) I'd feel just fine with it at net. In an ideal world, I'd prefer my grip set up (have some personal special sauce), and I'd love to get a 17 gauge multi in it, Prince Premier Control, Head Vel. or Technifiber multifeel. As alluded to above the weight didn't bother me; I had a go to Prince Tour 100 18x20 back in the day that was on the heavy side as well. I appreciated the flex but didn't feel it was noodle-ish. I think the strings were a little tight, and the pattern also makes it feel a little firm on contact.
By big however is this, although in an ideal world, I probably still lean towards a tighter string pattern, I really like my PP100P. To me, of the Phantoms at 100 size, it still stands out to me with noticeable additional controllable power. And although a slightly open pattern it's easy to hit flat, and with spin on the PP100P. Going between the two I preferred mine (granted it has my grip, and a string set up I like.)
I plan to re-demo. I want a better experience. At the end of the day, it's still good - Of course, it's a phantom.
