question about reviews

[adso1973]

Hi All,

Recently I purchased a BLX blade 98 and been playing with it during the last 4 weeks. I previously owned some yonexes (RQIS1T, RDIS100mid and RDIS100mp) and was looking for an easy to play, arm friendly racquet for an advanced, 38ys olds player who used to play with heavy, HL frames.

I found the Blade to be and excelent frame, but its a kind of even balanced compared to my previous ones and I prefer HL racquets. As it has a high SW I'm not thinking on adding weight in the handle to it as it will increase overal SW and might make it hard play with.

My other choices are PSTGT, BIO200, EXO Tour 18x20 and Head YPMP (in that order). So my first question is what do you thinkg about them as you playtested most of them?

According to your review, the BIO200 seems Spencer complained about the low powered it has but when I check TW Univ, power level is hight than the Princes EXO tours, YPMP and the PSTLtdGT that he playtested.. Can you please give me your comparative thougths about this?

Thanks!
ADSO

 

[TW Staff]

I've always loved the 200 series of racquets from Dunlop. They have a nice, solid feel, and as much as I like hitting with them, I've never had a whole lot of success with them. Reason being, is the lack of consistent depth and putaway power.

The Prestige MP is a great stick. I really liked it from all areas of the court. Though I didn't think it offers a noticeable increase in power when serving, I felt very comfortable with it. Though I felt that racquet's handle shape was less "rectangular" than its previous version, I still don't prefer it. Handle shape aside, it's definitely a racquet I like playing with.

Probably my favorite "feeling" racquet is the Babolat PS Ltd. But like the Dunlop 200, it lacks power. Most notably on serve. It's wonderful when hitting the sweetspot, but like many player's racquets, if hit off center, the result is glaringly obvious. Again, this was not beneficial to my less than perfect game.

I currently play with the Prince EXO3 Tour 16/18 as I can get enough consistent power. In all honesty, at the beginning, I really didn't like the feel. It's a far cry from the 200 and PSLtd, feel-wise. However, I couldn't ignore the consistent play and better results. A larger, more consistent stringbed makes a big difference. Also, with some mild elbow issues, I find the EXO3 Tour (with its low flex), to be arm friendly, even with a co-poly.

BTW, I loved the BLX Blade 98. If it was easier on my arm, I'd probably play with it. I found it to offer a solid feel with a nice combination of power, spin and control.

Hope that helps!

Spencer, TW.