Power racquet to recommend?

DeepBlue

New User
Hi,

I guess you guys must be swamped with questions like this one, but here it is one more :)

I am currently using Wilson's NBlade OS but it seems that this racquet is a bit too much for me. My balls are all over the court, mostly out of the court. If I'd have to guess, I'd say I'm a fraction above level 2 player so my guess is I need one of those power/play-building racquets. I'm currently considering Flexpoints and Metallixs but the questions is whether to go with 6s or 10s? Maybe Volkl PowerArm? I'm also open to any suggestions you may have. I'm basically looking for something to keep the ball in the game, not out of the court :)

Thanks!
 

haerdalis

Hall of Fame
Why do you want more power if you are already hitting long?
The best power racquets I have tried are the power arm and the head protector.
But before you change racquet you could try a different string or tension.
 
Well, at your level, 99% of the lack of control is due to your technique, not the racquet. That said, you could demo some of the O3 models from Prince. Very powerful and they offer more control than your current frame. Although I used to use the NBlade OS as well, it's not too bad, IMO. :)
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
I must also agree that the nBlade OS is a very nice racket. Fairly nice blend of power and control. Little bit more juice than a Rad OS, IMO...

Anyhow, if you're already spraying balls long, then you probably don't need a power racket. Stick with the racket you have, and bump up the string tension 2-3 pounds. Or, consider a change of strings.
 

DeepBlue

New User
Thanks all for the advices. I'm aware that my technique is the 'real' problem. Maybe I should mention one more thing. On one occasion my strings broke and I had to use a junior racquet, don't know the brand unfortunately, but that one felt absolutely perfect for me. It had that, in lack of a better word, numb feel. It felt like the strings were strung to the max and maybe even more than that and my balls went exactly where I wanted them to go and as far as I wanted them to go. I only remember from the specs that that racquet was suggested to be strung 22+/-2 kg, which is far less than my NBlade (which is now strung to 53lbs). I think I remembered the racquet was one very old Volkl junior.
 
Thanks all for the advices. I'm aware that my technique is the 'real' problem. Maybe I should mention one more thing. On one occasion my strings broke and I had to use a junior racquet, don't know the brand unfortunately, but that one felt absolutely perfect for me. It had that, in lack of a better word, numb feel. It felt like the strings were strung to the max and maybe even more than that and my balls went exactly where I wanted them to go and as far as I wanted them to go. I only remember from the specs that that racquet was suggested to be strung 22+/-2 kg, which is far less than my NBlade (which is now strung to 53lbs). I think I remembered the racquet was one very old Volkl junior.
If you were really hitting better with a junior racquet then I think you need to switch to a more control oriented frame. I think the lack of power in the junior racquet is what helped you so much.

Frames to check out:

Fischer M Pro no. 1 98 SL

Prince Graphite Classic

Head Microgel Prestige Mid or Mid Plus

Yonex RDS001 Mid

Boris Becker 11 Mid

Tecnifibre TFlash 315 VO2
 

DeepBlue

New User
Well...that came as a surprise. My chain of thought was that I didn't have enough technique to go for a control oriented frame so I planned to get a power one. You've got me thinking now. I'll check out the frames you mentioned. Are junior racquets really that control oriented???

By the way, I really like your nick. I'm from Serbia actually :)
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
In my experience, junior frames aren't so much control oriented as they are lighter. They're just more maneuverable and easier on the arm (as they're lighter). If you're looking for that "numb" feel, I'd recommend you take a look at strings, switch to one that's fairly "dead" and underpowered, and throw in a fairly big dampener. That may help you out.
 

DeepBlue

New User
Maybe Tight and Stiff would better explain than Numb what kind of a feel I'm actually looking for. The strings I'm currently using (NXT 17) are ringing all the time even though there is a dampener on the strings, at least that's the way I feel the racquet and the strings. With the junior I couldn't hear a thing other than that ping when I hit the ball. Everything felt so very tight and neat. Maybe a heavier tension would help. How much would you recommend? I was wrong in my previous post, my NBlade is in fact strung at 58lbs.
 
Well...that came as a surprise. My chain of thought was that I didn't have enough technique to go for a control oriented frame so I planned to get a power one. You've got me thinking now. I'll check out the frames you mentioned. Are junior racquets really that control oriented???

By the way, I really like your nick. I'm from Serbia actually :)

I wouldn't say that junior racquets are more control oriented at all. They're just less powerful, which is the only reason I can think of that you would play better with one.

Just pick 4 racquets and demo them from TW. Absolute worst case scenario, you hate them all and you're only out 20 bucks. :)

Are you a Djokovic fan as well? I was so happy to see him win the masters cup this year!
 

DeepBlue

New User
I guess that goes without saying! :D I must admit I didn't really expect him to win the Masters Cup. He's about to face a very difficult season, lots of points to defend.


Unfortunately, demo services are not available around here, that's why I need as much advice I can get :S

This NTour, at least judging from the specs, sounds like something for me, but I would really like to change brands, currently something from Head is what I would like to try. What are the main differences between these two brands?
 

DeepBlue

New User
OK, I need the final word of advice. I think I've summed up what I need to 3 choices:

1. Head Liquidmetal Prestige Mid
2. Head Flexpoint Prestige Mid
3. Ncode Ntour MP 95

I'd be grateful if somebody could tell me the difference between the two Heads and the Wilson. I know what the specs say, but what does it mean in real life? What's the difference between the liquidmetal and flexpoint, again in real life?

Thanks!
 
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