Prince Exo3 Tour 16x18 Review

[Pure Babs]

First of all, this racquet is one which needs to be extensively demoed. I always thought that I could tell if I liked a new racquet from the first couple hits, but the Exo3 Tour changed that for me. Take my experience: The first couple times I demoed this racquet I hated it. I couldn't hit a serve to save my life, and I just couldn't get used to the unique feel this racquet has. However, the last part of the week I have throughly enjoyed this racquet and while I won't switch, I will be keeping my eye out for used ones at a good deal. All in all, if at first you don't like it... try it again and again because eventually it's going to pay off.

Feel: I think its important to start with feel because the Exo3 Tour definitely has a unique feel from many racquets these days. First of all, it is extremely flexible (and this is noticeable) and secondly it has the prince "muted" feel although not so that it feels like other prince frames. I would compare this racquet to the Yonex RQIS 1 Tour or even the Wilson nblade 98 in terms of comfort.

Serve/Serve Return: Serves you have to let the racquet do its job. As long as I had a fluid motion with good acceleration I was hitting bombs with this frame. Serve returns were my least favorite part, because the racquet is not stiff, so you cannot simply push back the return like I can do with my Pure Drive.

Groundstrokes: Groundies were my favorite part of the new Tour. Great access to spin, depth, everything. At first the frame seemed inconsistent off the forehand but after demoing more I found my range.

Volleys: I hit very clean, precise volleys with this racquet. It is loaded with feel, and really benefits you if you have good form on the volley.

Overall, a great addition to the Prince line. It has an outstanding paintjob and really performs well if you give it time.

 

[lefty10spro]

I am a 51 yr old teaching pro with a surgically repaired shoulder. I never thought I would stop feeding and hittimg with my beloved EXO3 Graphite 100s. Recently switched to this buttery frame and it amazes me on a daily basis. Yesterday afternoon, after a long week of feeding and hitting lessons (I'm a solid 4.5 still) a friend who is nationally ranked in the 40s (6.0) wanted to work out for 90 minutes. This stick absorbed the shock of his heavy, heavy ball like no other. Mine are leaded up to 12.1 ou and 9pts HL and strung with Beast XL 16g @ 50 lbs.

 

[vasquez90]

Pure Babs, this is almost the identical report that Spencer from TW had in his review too. pretty interesting and maybe a fact that you really need to spend a few sessions with an exo3 racket before making a decision - good review.

 

[morandi]

This was good to read. Because I really want to love this frame, it feels so good on the arm, and the ball pocketing is awesome. On serves it worked extremely well for me, on my 2 handed backhand it felt great, slice backhand was just too much fun, but my forehand was just bananas with this racquet. I could not find my timing to save my life on my forehand side, I felt like a rank amateur on the forehand side. Hitting against a wall was not a problem, but on the court in real time, I could not get it going.
So, maybe some more time is in order, because I do think it has a lot of qualities that I'm looking for.

 

[Fuzzy]

any string tension opinions?? The range seems low for a 100, just curious what people are stringing these at

 

[tennis_enthusiast]

I have mine strung at 55 lbs with ALU Power, but I'm probably going to be switching to a different string. I'm going to try BHBR at about 48 next time I restring.

 

[scotus]

Sounds just like how it was with me and the O3 Tour Mid ... except I never gave it another chance after the initial test-play.

I absolutely hated O3 Tour. Need I even demo the EXO3 Tour?

 

[pheonix6579]

I had similar thoughts when I playtested the 18x20 version. At first I hated the frame, but towards the end of the week I wanted to keep it around for a little while longer.