Prince EXO3 Graphite 93 (Green)

[themachinestl]

I have two of these sitting around from a few years back. I know very little about strings but recently learned that poly is not a good fit for my 58 year old body/game. So I had the poly cut out and replaced with a cheap (Wilson synthetic gut, 17 ga.) string today at 48 pounds, just to try it out again. Played tonight and loved nearly everything about it. I have been looking to transition to a heavier control oriented racket, because my Aero Pro Team is just not doing it for me anymore and it is bothering my elbow. I have been playing USTA doubles since 1998, at 4.0 the whole time, until early start came out. I expect to be rerated back to 4.0 from 4.5 at year end due to a loss at 55+ Nationals (although maybe not as I was 2-0 at sectionals.) Any comments about the Graphite Green and what strings to use?

 

[robbo1970]

I occasionally use one of these and just have it strung with POSG 16 at about 50. Really comfortable racquet to use and really good to swing out.

I've always thought it was a great racquet. The roundish head shape actually makes it feel larger than its 93 sq inches.

I have nothing negative to say about this racquet. It has a 330 swingweight but it always feels very headlight and manoeuvrable.

 

[TobyTopspin]

The 93 was received much better than the 100 for those. The 100 was a club and hard to handle for a lot of people, but the 93 was liked by a lot of players.

I had 5 of the 100s sitting in the closet because no one would buy them and they got down to a super cheap price. I went to buy one for an extended demo and the guy game me all of them. I played well with them, but when the racquet was much better for me with the string hole grommet verses the port grommet.

An intersting side note is that those same grommets fit the EXO3 Tour 100 16X18. I had put the green grommets from that racquet into one of my EXO3 tours to try out the string hole grommets in that strick. It was definately weird looking with black/copper/green, but effective!

 

[smirker]

I occasionally use one of these and just have it strung with POSG 16 at about 50. Really comfortable racquet to use and really good to swing out.

I've always thought it was a great racquet. The roundish head shape actually makes it feel larger than its 93 sq inches.

I have nothing negative to say about this racquet. It has a 330 swingweight but it always feels very headlight and manoeuvrable.

I should have got one when they were on closeout at Sports Direct. £45 was a bit of a bargain.

 

[robbo1970]

I should have got one when they were on closeout at Sports Direct. £45 was a bit of a bargain.

I bought two at once. Couldn't resist the bargain and one of the best £90 I've spent.

 

[smirker]

I bought two at once. Couldn't resist the bargain and one of the best £90 I've spent.

93" put me off and the static weight. Should have got one anyway

 

[boramiNYC]

I had a few of those along with the classic POG mid. Preferred POG mid. But good racquets nonetheless.

 

[robbo1970]

93" put me off and the static weight. Should have got one anyway

It feels lighter than the 345 static weight and 330 swing weight would suggest. Even better with the leather replaced by a Bab Skin Feel.

 

[Captain Karma]

Just saw this post and i have just one piece of this stick among an assortment of sticks (different brands). I'm a 43 year old , NTRP 4.0. This stick is a real joy to play with when i'm fit for it. However , i would suggest NOT using a poly in any string set up for this stick. It is really really stiff. I played with a 5.0 dude who uses all of Wilson's Pro Staff 90's ( the whole RF range) and he said when i use this POG Exo3 93 , he has trouble handling my shots. He also said that he could literally hear the wind go through the racquet while i swung from the other end of the court. Anybody have this experience ? Love everything about this stick , however i doubt if i can last with serves during a match.

 

[robbo1970]

Just saw this post and i have just one piece of this stick among an assortment of sticks (different brands). I'm a 43 year old , NTRP 4.0. This stick is a real joy to play with when i'm fit for it. However , i would suggest NOT using a poly in any string set up for this stick. It is really really stiff. I played with a 5.0 dude who uses all of Wilson's Pro Staff 90's ( the whole RF range) and he said when i use this POG Exo3 93 , he has trouble handling my shots. He also said that he could literally hear the wind go through the racquet while i swung from the other end of the court. Anybody have this experience ? Love everything about this stick , however i doubt if i can last with serves during a match.

Great to hear you're having fun with this racquet. I do think this is a very underrated racquet.

It does hit a heavy ball and spin is very easy to generate. I like the fact I can really swing out with it. I do agree that a bit of shoulder fatigue can set in, but that's more a fitness issue.

If you like this racquet but would like something that you can play for a longer period of time with, see if you can try a PCG100. I was after a racquet that gave me a similar feel but just a slight touch lighter so I could last longer and the PCG fits the bill. Ideally I'll get myself fitter but it's having the time.

 

[dman72]

I have the 100 and It just seems like you get less out of if than you put in. It feels good, it's comfortable, it has a big sweet spot..but results just were never there. I hated the feel of my NXG MP's (100s) but I was more successful playing with them then the EX03 100.

 

[robbo1970]

I think that has been noted before about the 100. I don't think it had the headlight balance and the control that the 93 offered, so it may have appeared slightly underpowered and quite muted with its feel.

Definitely a love 'em or hate 'em racquet I think.

 

[Doaner]

Thought to revive this thread. I think that this racquet is a great frame with the string ports. I can make do with the regular ports but love it with the string ports. I have it leaded with a strip from 11 to 1, 20 grams in the butt, and gut/poly 52/45. I don't know the balance of it right now but I kept adding till it just felt right. I also have the pog 4 stripe for comparison and I think they did very well with the exo3 graphite. I know I'm in the minority with this thought though but it goes where I want it to go, good plow through, plenty of spin and speed to rip baseline winners and serve and volley is a breeze even though its static weight is 12.4oz. I will be trying the phantom 93 though. It was peaked my interest.

 

[Razrfish]

Thought to revive this thread. I think that this racquet is a great frame with the string ports. I can make do with the regular ports but love it with the string ports. I have it leaded with a strip from 11 to 1, 20 grams in the butt, and gut/poly 52/45. I don't know the balance of it right now but I kept adding till it just felt right. I also have the pog 4 stripe for comparison and I think they did very well with the exo3 graphite. I know I'm in the minority with this thought though but it goes where I want it to go, good plow through, plenty of spin and speed to rip baseline winners and serve and volley is a breeze even though its static weight is 12.4oz. I will be trying the phantom 93 though. It was peaked my interest.

Love to know if you got around to trying the Phantom 93? Have a comparison to your EXO3?

Thanks!

 

[Doaner]

Love to know if you got around to trying the Phantom 93? Have a comparison to your EXO3?

Thanks!

I did go ahead and buy the 93p. Here is my review I did in the big 93p thread:
So my 93p came in on Thursday afternoon and I strung it with 17g toubite mains and origin cross at 52. Played two singles matches Friday and two doubles matches today. I was previously playing both an exo3 graphite 93 with string grommets and a youtek radical mp. I’m gonna compare the 93p to the exo3 because I have been playing with it for so long and only recently have been hitting the radical.
Ground Strokes- like others have noted I did not struggle to find spin with the 93p only adjustment was launch angle. I seriously was spinning crazy balls at all angles which surpassed my hitting with the exo3. The exo3 for me was excellent at spin but sometimes the angle I wanted to hit didn’t have the control I wanted. Also to note was I had a lot of power with this racquet compared to the exo3. For me the put away power was there and I unleashed it upon my opponents with school girl glee.

Serves- I served bombs with this racquet but I never struggle with serving. The 93p did give me excellent control of slice serves and it was so easy to generate. With the exo3 I always had to exaggerate my swing motion to get slice.With the 93p it felt effortless.

Return of serve- same for me with both racquets. Never felt that I didn’t have enough to keep it deep or get pushed around.

Volleys- it’s weird. I felt more connected with the 93p when volleying but didn’t feel that the 93p topped the outcome compared to the exo 3. Just that with the 93p the way it felt I wanted to volley more than usual.

So far I really love the 93p. It’s sweetspot is generous and I actually do very well with it hitting on the run. I’m attributing that to the headlightness.

 

[Razrfish]

I'm curious then what the balance pts HL? Also, do you have a 1HBH or 2HBH? Do you have a good slice. My favored Wilson Pro Staff 97 RFa's were to me a feeling like autopilot when hitting slices, they just carve through the ball, and like point and shoot, they're butter. I have the idea that maybe the 93p will have that sort of experience with the dense string pattern and the good plow thru weight? Did you notice off center hits especially when hitting topspin and contacting the ball just below the center line a couple to a few mains trailing. Did you find the racquet naturally rotating/twisting ie turning over producing a heavy ball, or did it feel like you didn't have much frame left to miss without framing the ball with the trailing edge. Does that question make sense? LOL!

I did go ahead and buy the 93p. Here is my review I did in the big 93p thread:
So my 93p came in on Thursday afternoon and I strung it with 17g toubite mains and origin cross at 52. Played two singles matches Friday and two doubles matches today. I was previously playing both an exo3 graphite 93 with string grommets and a youtek radical mp. I’m gonna compare the 93p to the exo3 because I have been playing with it for so long and only recently have been hitting the radical.
Ground Strokes- like others have noted I did not struggle to find spin with the 93p only adjustment was launch angle. I seriously was spinning crazy balls at all angles which surpassed my hitting with the exo3. The exo3 for me was excellent at spin but sometimes the angle I wanted to hit didn’t have the control I wanted. Also to note was I had a lot of power with this racquet compared to the exo3. For me the put away power was there and I unleashed it upon my opponents with school girl glee.

Serves- I served bombs with this racquet but I never struggle with serving. The 93p did give me excellent control of slice serves and it was so easy to generate. With the exo3 I always had to exaggerate my swing motion to get slice.With the 93p it felt effortless.

Return of serve- same for me with both racquets. Never felt that I didn’t have enough to keep it deep or get pushed around.

Volleys- it’s weird. I felt more connected with the 93p when volleying but didn’t feel that the 93p topped the outcome compared to the exo 3. Just that with the 93p the way it felt I wanted to volley more than usual.

So far I really love the 93p. It’s sweetspot is generous and I actually do very well with it hitting on the run. I’m attributing that to the headlightness.

 

[Doaner]

I'm not exactly sure about how headlight mine is but i'm guessing 10-12 points. Since childhood, I hit mainly with a 2hbh but I do utilize a 1hbh. Since switching to the 93p though i've actually used the 1hbh more. It's just so much more comfortable hitting the 1hbh with the 93p then the exo3 for some reason. I have a very good backhand slice and serve. In my opinion the 93p is point in shoot to where I still shock my hitting partners. With the 93p, I feel placement the ball a lot more controlled and yes you get that automatic turn over like in a good golf swing with that feel of just solid boom. What is an off center hit? JK haha. When you mean notice do you mean when you hit off center does it sit up and you get pounded? If so, this is where the 93p shines compared to the graphite 93. on my mishits, I still get a good enough plowthrough and depth that i'm still in the point. I haven't felt that I needed any extra room. but don't get me wrong you have to move your feet. As others have said it is pretty solid on the squash shot when you are just placed out of reach. it is actually so fun to do sometimes that I hesitate in prep just to hit it when playing lower level players. hopefully I answered your questions.

 

[shamaho]

It feels lighter than the 345 static weight and 330 swing weight would suggest. Even better with the leather replaced by a Bab Skin Feel.

Getting back to play with POG Mid, I just bought two of these Exo3 93 and did just that, replaced leather grip with a synth one (I only gained 5 grams) but placed the static weight much much closer to the old POG Mids, so that I can more easily interchange between them...

 

[hurworld]

Just picked up one of these in mint condition for £10 from someone who presumably bought it during the Sports Direct clear out sale. The plastic cover is still in tact over the leather grip. Feels good when I shadow-swing it. It doesn't come with string grommet, so I'll just play with it as is.

What's a good string set-up for this for an all-court player?