Prince vortex today strung one up!

[teachingprotx]

Ok I know what you’re thinking and yes it was a bit weird to string but that wasn’t what was interesting .
Before I strung it I did a bend test like I sometimes do
To check the stiffness . A easy slight over the knee pressure to see if it’s stiff or meduim stiff . I’m not hurting it in any way just a easy pressure . Anyway I was floored to see how much it bent with the slight of pressure . So I went on and strung it .. 40 minutes later ! Normally it takes me 20.. but I digress . Pulled it off the rack and smacked a ball 10 times on the shop
Floor and was amazed how soft and wonderful it felt .what seemed to be a dunlop
Max 200 g feel ?’!!! No way !
WAY!!
I was shocked . Come to find out this stick has a rubber Element ! So the frame is made of RUBBER!
Well not exactly the stick is made of regular ole boring graphite but instead of glue resin to bond it uses elastic visco material think Tempurpedic ! As it’s the same thin I sleep on at night . It’s using that material to bond the graphite instead of glue !
Neat man!
And I was playing back when this I came out but thought it was just another gramma stick . So shoved it off as crap tweener non sense .
This one imparticlar was an oversize
I’m dying to know what the true RA is as it felt like it was in the low 40’s.
Does anyone know the RA?
Second has anyone ever played with one seriously ?
I’m thinking about hunting one down ! As it could make for a super fun hit !

 

[coachrick]

It was such a great technology that every manufacturer incorporated it into their own lines. Oh, no...wait....

Many Atlanta teaching pros gave them a try...and went back to their own old sticks

 

[retrowagen]

I like the midplus version. Fun racquet, nice muted feel but good power too.

 

[teachingprotx]

Yeah I was wondering if the mid pmts was as soft as the oversize . I feel the oversize was 50 maybe lower flex Ra..

 

[bcart1991]

I have a couple that the wife used back in HS. I need to string one up. They have a very soft, shock-less feel to them.

 

[joe sch]

Yeah I was wondering if the mid pmts was as soft as the oversize . I feel the oversize was 50 maybe lower flex Ra..

I have a mid and it plays very flexy and soft like a 200g. I loved the spin that these rackets enabled. I never tied the OS as I have always been a mid guy since the woody era. I do now have one mid strungup that is close to mint condition so may have to put in the hitting bag to remember the Vortex effect. I do remember that because of the string stagering, they seem to snap prematurely so I stopped playing them since I did not like waisting string jobs.

 

[Ronaldo]

Ok I know what you’re thinking and yes it was a bit weird to string but that wasn’t what was interesting .
Before I strung it I did a bend test like I sometimes do
To check the stiffness . A easy slight over the knee pressure to see if it’s stiff or meduim stiff . I’m not hurting it in any way just a easy pressure . Anyway I was floored to see how much it bent with the slight of pressure . So I went on and strung it .. 40 minutes later ! Normally it takes me 20.. but I digress . Pulled it off the rack and smacked a ball 10 times on the shop
Floor and was amazed how soft and wonderful it felt .what seemed to be a dunlop
Max 200 g feel ?’!!! No way !
WAY!!
I was shocked . Come to find out this stick has a rubber Element ! So the frame is made of RUBBER!
Well not exactly the stick is made of regular ole boring graphite but instead of glue resin to bond it uses elastic visco material think Tempurpedic ! As it’s the same thin I sleep on at night . It’s using that material to bond the graphite instead of glue !
Neat man!
And I was playing back when this I came out but thought it was just another gramma stick . So shoved it off as crap tweener non sense .
This one imparticlar was an oversize
I’m dying to know what the true RA is as it felt like it was in the low 40’s.
Does anyone know the RA?
Second has anyone ever played with one seriously ?
I’m thinking about hunting one down ! As it could make for a super fun hit !

Other than the staggering string pattern, why a 40 minute stringing?

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

Other than the staggering string pattern, why a 40 minute stringing?

20 minutes for the mains and 17 of the crosses; 20 minutes for the top and bottom crosses!

(The staggered stringing pattern made the first and last crosses a hassle.)

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

I have a bunch of MPs and OSs, accumulated during an extended period of elbow tendonosis. The Vortex and Vortex SB were like Novocaine for your epicondyl tendon. They make the Pro Kennex rattlers feel like Wilson Hammers strung with steel wire. They're also nice if you hate the feel of poly strings but crave the spin — 'cause you can't feel NUTHIN' with a Vortex.

I remember their popularity much as Coach Rick does: tournament players found them too damped and wanted more feedback, and rec players wanted ultralight, much cheaper Hammers. The difficult engineering, high manufacturing cost, and $400 retail price (in 1992, so the equivalent of at least $731 today) didn't help sales, either.

Like the similar Max 200G, the Vortex had a different stiffness depending on how fast you were swinging; i.e., the thermoplastic resin reacted differently depending on the force of the impact with the ball. (Supposedly. I've never been able to feel that, either.) The only Babolat RA measurements I've seen were for the original Vortex OS: RA 68, from TT poster Dino Lagaff, and RA 62, from some source that I did not write down and have forgotten. It would not be surprising for both to be correct. At any rate, you can't feel the stiffness with a Vortex any better than you can feel anything else. I would also have guessed somewhere in the 50s.

The MP is a fearsome beast, incidentally. One of mine is 372 g and 344 kg•cm^2, the other 364 g and 338 kg•cm^2, and no lead on either. Very cool paint job, too.

 

[joe sch]

Other than the staggering string pattern, why a 40 minute stringing?

40 mins not bad ... I always take my time when restringing so 40 would be good for me

 

[joe sch]

I have a bunch of MPs and OSs, accumulated during an extended period of elbow tendonosis. The Vortex and Vortex SB were like Novocaine for your epicondyl tendon. They make the Pro Kennex rattlers feel like Wilson Hammers strung with steel wire. They're also nice if you hate the feel of poly strings but crave the spin — 'cause you can't feel NUTHIN' with a Vortex.

I remember their popularity much as Coach Rick does: tournament players found them too damped and wanted more feedback, and rec players wanted ultralight, much cheaper Hammers. The difficult engineering, high manufacturing cost, and $400 retail price (in 1992, so the equivalent of at least $731 today) didn't help sales, either.

Like the similar Max 200G, the Vortex had a different stiffness depending on how fast you were swinging; i.e., the thermoplastic resin reacted differently depending on the force of the impact with the ball. (Supposedly. I've never been able to feel that, either.) The only Babolat RA measurements I've seen were for the original Vortex OS: RA 68, from TT poster Dino Lagaff, and RA 62, from some source that I did not write down and have forgotten. It would not be surprising for both to be correct. At any rate, you can't feel the stiffness with a Vortex any better than you can feel anything else. I would also have guessed somewhere in the 50s.

The MP is a fearsome beast, incidentally. One of mine is 372 g and 344 kg•cm^2, the other 364 g and 338 kg•cm^2, and no lead on either. Very cool paint job, too.

Agree and suspect the high RAs reported like 60+ are due to the thermoplastic or grafil as dunlop stated for the max 200gs thus soft and flexy but at higher swing speed the dynamic stiffness really kicks in. Way ahead of its time and a shame its too expensive for any of the modern manufactures to provide current racket. Many of us would love the pc600 pc to be released but thats also not happening

 

[teachingprotx]

Would love a vortex at 11oz ! Maybe a junior 26 ? Way to heavy for me unfortunately

 

[teachingprotx]

But love the feel that hit like a frame in the 40’s RA to me so soft . Mm mm mm

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

Would love a vortex at 11oz ! Maybe a junior 26 ? Way to heavy for me unfortunately

There were lighter ones. The Vortex Lite was purple, came in 97 and 107, and had a 25 mm straight beam like the blue Vortex SB. (The original Vortex had a 28-20 mm tapered beam.) My Vortex Lite MP weighed something like 280 g, if memory serves. (I shot it up with silicone, so memory is all I have to go on.)

There was also, a few years later, the Precision Vortex, the last of the breed. I think it was a light rec player's racket. (The racket, not the player, necessarily.)

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

I found some specs for the Vortex Lite 107: 301 g strung, 357 mm ( 4 pt HH) balance, stiffness "Medium to Stiff". (Babolat RDC measurements were not standard in 1993.)

Also in my Vortex folder was a 1991 ad for the Vortex OS, but nothing I try seems to display it in this post.... You can see it here, though, and even buy a printout of it for $20, if you are burdened with too much money and not enough vintage advertising.

 

[teachingprotx]

Now a vortex lite mid plus strung at 280 g could work man! Does anyone know what the SB STOULD for ?

 

[teachingprotx]

Thank you D l I b, great info

 

[retrowagen]

SB = Straight Beam

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

Now a vortex lite mid plus strung at 280 g could work man! Does anyone know what the SB STOULD for ?

I don't remember for sure if the 280g was strung or unstrung. I do remember being surprised that I'd added over 100g of silicone when I meant to add about 70g, and the thing does weigh 378g strung now, but it also seems unlikely the Vortex Lite MP would be that much lighter than the OS.

Another bit of info: the full-weight Vortexes (Vortices, maybe?) — the Vortex and the Vortex SB — had the rubbery Prince Cushion Grip that first appeared with the Prince CTS rackets (Prince's first widebodies, circa 1988), while the Lite (probably the later Precision Vortex, too, but I never owned one of those) saved weight by having the handle part of the frame itself, like a Kneissl.

 

[teachingprotx]

Great info thank you
I did get a Chance to hit with the oversized but I prefer kids way more , but it hit so soft I’ve never hit with this type of racket , if felt super muted and rubbery bit flexible but rubbery is the operative word . The frame felt like a firm rubber . And I liked it a lot . I’d love it if the vortex came in a 90 . I’d probably play with that forever . I’m a huge proponent of flex high out of this world flex ,Ike in the 30,s is what I play with and prefer but I could be persuaded to switch to visco elastic frame but in a 90 no question