thanks Jack, how do they compare with your new baby, the extreme 2.0? And or the organix 8 300 grams?
Prince EXO3 Warrior 100 Review
- Thread starter JackB1
- Start date
thanks Jack, how do they compare with your new baby, the extreme 2.0? And or the organix 8 300 grams?
You really need an F100 Arjan. Better in a G4 too, plays better
Do you want to trade
?Pure Storm (165 tip weight!) is in, try that one 2night. Along the Warrior, we will see
Yesterday at Indian Wells I finally decided to take a Warrior out for a test drive. It was paired with Beast string. I've been a faithful (almost) user of the Speedport Black for the past 5 years. The only racquets to almost make me switch were the Juice and the Extreme Pro 2.
This is an interesting racquet. Somewhat similar to the black, but a nice balance. Very fun to hit with. Was really enjoying it from both sides. Granted, I only played for 5 minutes and had a couple of drinks beforehand, but I must give this racquet another shot. I think it could potentially be my new racquet. Plays a little heavier than the 11oz strung weight claim, but I actually like that.
I have not found a racquet yet that will produce as much kick on my groundies as my current Speedport Black/Polylon Polyquest 17 (61 lbs) combo. It drives people nuts. This racquet definitely has potential. Love the feel also.
This is an interesting racquet. Somewhat similar to the black, but a nice balance. Very fun to hit with. Was really enjoying it from both sides. Granted, I only played for 5 minutes and had a couple of drinks beforehand, but I must give this racquet another shot. I think it could potentially be my new racquet. Plays a little heavier than the 11oz strung weight claim, but I actually like that.
I have not found a racquet yet that will produce as much kick on my groundies as my current Speedport Black/Polylon Polyquest 17 (61 lbs) combo. It drives people nuts. This racquet definitely has potential. Love the feel also.
Hi Bmr, I would like to hear more thoughts how SP Black compare to Warrior if you will eventually spent more time with it. I played with SP Black a few seasons back and loved its forgivness, feel and spin production, but with swingweight around 330 it was too heavy for me. I think warrior may have similar qualities but with more manageable sw. Unfortunatelly i can't demo it.
I'm going to demo it further and do a more extensive review on it. I'll let you know what my findings are. It's really difficult for me to do a direct comparison when using different types of string. I like to keep the exact same string setup on different racquets to know what the differences are.
I'm surprised that you feel the Black is too heavy. I find it to be a very easy swinging racquet. It is pretty head light. The Juice (still have it) is actually heavier than the Black and I had to add weight to it because it felt too light. The one thing the Black gives me that no other racquet has is just an insane forward bite onto the court that will kick the ball high to my opponents. I think it's just the string combo along with the way I hit the ball. But I haven't been able to reproduce it in another combination. I do use a full poly job and string with the ports. Using the string holes is a bit harder on my arm.
The one thing about the Black that I think I can improve on with another racquet is the overall balance. Using the black, I will sometimes have a tendency to spray shots and lose the control I get with other racquets. However, the pace and spin coming off my groundies well makes up for that deficiency.
The jury is still out on that one..I want to spend some extensive time with it next week and put it through the paces. It felt great from the ground and at the net from the 5 minutes I spent with it. I'll have to see what serves feel like also. Hey, it could be that Beast string also. That stuff felt fantastic..I may have to try that string in my Black and see how it does. Too bad it's more expensive than my current stuff.
I'm also going to demo the Steam 99S, Wilson Blade 98 (16x19) and one other racquet that I have yet to determine.
I've played with both of those racquets. The Rebel wasn't even close to a racquet I would use. I just couldn't get into any kind of rhythm with it and my shots didn't have the power that i'm used to. The Tour wasn't bad, but in the end it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm typically drawn to the open-pattern racquets with high power. Always use a full poly job as well.
DustinW
Professional
Has anybody tried adding some weight to the EXO3 Warrior? I've been playing with the PDR+ for a while and recently bouncing around on demos like Donnay P1, Extreme Pro 2.0, and others. I hit with a Warrior tonight and really like it. I spent a lot of time with the O3 White and Ozone Pro Tour in the last... so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that I liked it. It was even strung with a multi (which I usually hate).
But... I tend to prefer frames closer to 12 oz, so I'm just wondering how this one responds to a little weight. I remember the O3 White being really solid feeling despite it's low weight, and I thought the EXO3 Warrior had that solid/hefty feel... so maybe it's fine in stock form.
But... I tend to prefer frames closer to 12 oz, so I'm just wondering how this one responds to a little weight. I remember the O3 White being really solid feeling despite it's low weight, and I thought the EXO3 Warrior had that solid/hefty feel... so maybe it's fine in stock form.
I prefer weights closer to 12 ounces as well but I actually enjoyed hitting with the Team version of the Warrior. I think the balance is what felt good to me. I even liked the multi in it as you did.
keithfival
Professional
I played with it for a couple weeks, wanted more mass in the head but whenever I added it it got too powerful, especially any weight in the top half. I would try weight in the throat or at 6 o clock if I were to try it again. Plays great stock, I just wanted the feel of more mass in the head.
DustinW
Professional
Thanks for the feedback. I was afraid that might be the case.
DustinW
Professional
I picked up a Warrior, and it does play well stock, but I wanted to see how it felt with a little weight added. I added lead on the handle and also at 10/2 to bring it up to about 11.8 oz and 5.5 pts head light. I tried the new Volkl V-Torque strings and wasn't a huge fan, so I'm going to restring with my normal Tour Bite before reporting back.
BTW... does anybody's EXO3 Warrior actually weigh only 11 oz like TW says? My demo was around 11.3, and the used one I picked up is 11.4.
BTW... does anybody's EXO3 Warrior actually weigh only 11 oz like TW says? My demo was around 11.3, and the used one I picked up is 11.4.
GoudX
Professional
I actually just moved away from the Warrior, as I have improved and got stronger and I felt it no longer suited my game. I was playing with it modified, with 7g of lead at 12, 11g of lead under the grip and a tournagrip, which brought the static weight to ~335g and SW to ~345 and balance point about 6pt HL.
From my year or so of using it, I would recommend bringing up the swingweight nice and high, as that allows you to keep the ball deep in spite of the excessive spin the stringbed produces. My biggest problem from the baseline was hitting consistent put-aways as I felt that they either sit up too much from the spin, or they were too hard to control flattening out. If you play a grinding baseline game there are few better racquets though, as you can hit very deep shots very consistently.
On serve I found it very good for producing spin serves, however I found it limiting as I advanced in ability as I found it hard to hit through the ball for consistent fast serves.
From my year or so of using it, I would recommend bringing up the swingweight nice and high, as that allows you to keep the ball deep in spite of the excessive spin the stringbed produces. My biggest problem from the baseline was hitting consistent put-aways as I felt that they either sit up too much from the spin, or they were too hard to control flattening out. If you play a grinding baseline game there are few better racquets though, as you can hit very deep shots very consistently.
On serve I found it very good for producing spin serves, however I found it limiting as I advanced in ability as I found it hard to hit through the ball for consistent fast serves.
DustinW
Professional
I think my time with the Warrior is over. I actually played really well with it, but it just never felt good. I really like a crisp-feeling frame, but even with full poly and no dampener... it's just not crisp. The other thing for me is that it doesn't have that put-away power that I'm looking for on groundstrokes and serves, even when weighted up to 11.8 oz.
I'm at the same point with my Warriors. The feel is just too dampened for my taste. Comfort goes with it, but there are comfortable, arm-friendly racquets that don't make the ball feel lost on the stringbed as they do with the Warrior. Maybe the word I am looking for is "feedback," which is lacking with the Prince
DustinW
Professional
I've played with other Prince frames and enjoyed them, so I don't think it's a lack of feedback for me. Not sure what it was.
niktub
Professional
Really loving it
Hi, i really enjoy these frames.
Any advice in term of string set-up? :-|
I really liked the pre-strung string(Lightning XX or spin ???) and can't find a soft no movement stringbed i like as much.
I have tried SG Forten sweet + Silverstring but it moves too much...
Full poly hurts my arm...(except if i find one that doesn't)
Multi/poly? Lightning?
Hi, i really enjoy these frames.
Any advice in term of string set-up? :-|
I really liked the pre-strung string(Lightning XX or spin ???) and can't find a soft no movement stringbed i like as much.
I have tried SG Forten sweet + Silverstring but it moves too much...
Full poly hurts my arm...(except if i find one that doesn't)
Multi/poly? Lightning?
JackB1
G.O.A.T.
I really liked a hybrid of Prince Beast 17 / Prince Attack 17 at around 52/56
I've hit with a plethora of racquets over a good span of time in a quest for one that suits me best and have found the Prince EXO3 Warrior to be the one for me. In fact, it was this thread that caught my attention and lead to the demo of it. I demo'd it twice before I bought it. The first demo came with NXT Tour and I really liked it. The next demo came strung with an unknown prince string and I liked it, but not as much as with strung with the NXT. When I ordered my racquet, I went cheap and ordered it with the free string option, one of which was Duraflex. I had it strung at 58lbs and found it to be okay. I blew it out just last night and will be stringing it with Genisis razor at 58. About a month ago, I ordered another EXO3 Warrior and had it strung full bed with Hexonic at 61 lbs. I absolutely loved that string and tension. After I blew that out, I strung the raqcuet with Jack's above mentioned string at his suggested tension. Sorry Jack, but I hate it. In fact, I'll probably cut it out. I don't know whether it is the string, the tension, or both but this is not for me. Great call on the racquet Jack, but for me, I think there is a far better string combination for this racquet.
Same as you this thread lead me to demo/buy the racquet but i haven't had the opportunity to try as many string setups (still using the one it came with..some poly @56). I've been thinking of trying the Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power cause of the ooos n' aaaas but would like to know which string n tension u kept and would recommend.
ccmtennis
Semi-Pro
Has anyone tried it with the new prince tour XC strings? I am coming from the tour 100 T which I love on most things except the feel and serving flat was horrible with it. I'm hoping to demo this in the next few days. I found that the XC strings were very comfy, did not notch and provided great feel compared to other polys I tried. I probably get a warrior if it serves better but I would encourage you guys to try the XC in 15 g , awesome string.
