Racquet Similar to the Babolat Pure Strike Tour G1?

Starting to get a little wrist pain with this, but I love the stability and plow-through I get with this racquet. It makes it easy to aim and shoot sitters while still providing enough to hit heavy balls on the neutral and defense. Looking for a similar racquet without the amount of strain on my wrist. I've seen a lot of people getting arm problems with the Babolat Pure Strike line, especially with the G1. Any suggestions? I am around a NTRP 4.5 all around player.

A couple racquets I was looking at were the following. Any suggestions to decrease the amount to 4 (max for demoing) would be helpful! Thanks!
- Yonex VCore 95
- Yonex EZone 98 Tour
- Head Graphene 360+ Speed Pro
- Head Graphene 360+ Speed MP
- Head Graphene 360+ Gravity Pro
- Head Graphene 360+ Prestige Pro
- Head Graphene 360+ Radical Pro
- Wilson Prostaff RF97
 
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What is your string set-up? The strings might contribute to the wrist pain more so than the frame.

I agree with the Ezone Tour recommendation. I would also recommend the ProKennex KiQ+ Tour 315g (16x19) - priority with this frame being arm comfort. Good luck!
 
What is your string set-up? The strings might contribute to the wrist pain more so than the frame.

I agree with the Ezone Tour recommendation. I would also recommend the ProKennex KiQ+ Tour 315g (16x19) - priority with this frame being arm comfort. Good luck!
I have been using RPM, which I know is a stiff string. I haven't used any synthetic or multis in 3-4 years because they were just breaking every couple weeks even with hybrids.
 

Lorenn

Hall of Fame
I have been using RPM, which I know is a stiff string. I haven't used any synthetic or multis in 3-4 years because they were just breaking every couple weeks even with hybrids.

Stiff racquet stiff strings...desire not to replace strings too quickly are all risk factors. Some multis do hold up better than others...Might be a good first option. I do enjoy the Gravity Pro and Speed MP. Radicial Pro 360+ would be a great option if available to you as well. I went from early prince racquet to the Radical series. I recently upgraded to the Gravity Pro and Speed MP.
 

esm

Legend
Stiff racquet stiff strings...desire not to replace strings too quickly are all risk factors. Some multis do hold up better than others...Might be a good first option.
this.
from what the majority said - maybe give Head Velocity a try, especially in black colour if you like abit more crispness.
 
Choosing to use polys for durability is a wrong reason to use polys. The damage to the arm is done when you continue to play with poly after it had gone dead - which is usually within 10hrs, and less so for RPM. So you should be restringing polys fresh every 10-12 hrs of play for your arm health.

If you must play with polys, chose a softer poly (sub 200 stiffness) with acceptable tension loss (in the 20-30% range). Isospeed Cream, Hyper G 17 or 18, Yonex PTP, are some that come to mind. Others may have much better suggestions.

Agree with all the above suggestions for synthetic setups.

NG setups in my signature (as well as dozens of others on these boards) are relatively inexpensive (cheaper than RPM) with decent durability, excellent playability, and most importantly arm comfort.

When I was having arm issues (due to Aero pro + ALU), I went to full bed Wilson sensation in a PK Tour 325, and then slowly to NG x poly.

Good luck!
 

Lorenn

Hall of Fame
this.
from what the majority said - maybe give Head Velocity a try, especially in black colour if you like abit more crispness.

I am also fond of the Head Velocity Strings. It would be my first suggestion to try if you want to keep your current racquet. I use natural on most racquets but I do use Black on one.
 
Choosing to use polys for durability is a wrong reason to use polys. The damage to the arm is done when you continue to play with poly after it had gone dead - which is usually within 10hrs, and less so for RPM. So you should be restringing polys fresh every 10-12 hrs of play for your arm health.

If you must play with polys, chose a softer poly (sub 200 stiffness) with acceptable tension loss (in the 20-30% range). Isospeed Cream, Hyper G 17 or 18, Yonex PTP, are some that come to mind. Others may have much better suggestions.

Agree with all the above suggestions for synthetic setups.

NG setups in my signature (as well as dozens of others on these boards) are relatively inexpensive (cheaper than RPM) with decent durability, excellent playability, and most importantly arm comfort.

When I was having arm issues (due to Aero pro + ALU), I went to full bed Wilson sensation in a PK Tour 325, and then slowly to NG x poly.

Good luck!
This is awesome, I will definitely look into this and use your suggestions. Very much appreciate your response! Where do I find the stiffness rating of different strings?

The reason I went to my racquet first is that when I play with it, any shot off-center causes me to feel vibrations through my wrist and arm. I had heard other Pure Strike users say the same thing.
 
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nochuola

Rookie
As a Vcore 95 user myself, the Vcore 95 seems to be the odd one out of you list. It does many things well, but it might not have the amount stability you are looking for (in stock form).

The Prestige Pro is quite under powered compared to the others on your list.

Those are the two that I think you can safely defer to a second round of demo. Also the 360+ Radicals are a month away, so if you want to demo now, that would obviously also be off the list.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
I used the G1 Pure Strike Tour for 5 years, but always felt that it was at the edge of stiffness I could tolerate and played with gut strings. Otherwise, it was a great racquet.

When the G3 Pure Strike Tour came out, I found that Babolat had made a very similar racquet, but designed it to be much more comfortable as they supposedly added Cortex for dampening vibrations. So, I switched to it and am very happy that now I can play with gut/poly hybrids. Instead of stringing fullbed gut at 58 lbs like I did on my G1 PST, I now string VS/HyperG Soft or VS/HyperG at 47/44 lbs.

It took me about 8 hours to adjust to the 16x19 pattern on the G3 from the dense 18x20 on the G1, but was able to do so without any issues because the G3 pattern at the center of the racquet is closely spaced. So, the G3 PST has everything you like about the G1, but takes away the one issue that it had.
 

McGradey

Hall of Fame
Wilson Blade v7 18x20

It’s a plow through extraordinaire, and incredibly comfortable. And your wrist will appreciate the lighter static weight.

A bit lower powered than a Pure Strike, but if you’re used to swinging a Tour weight racquet, you’ll have no issues swinging the Blade fast enough to hit a very heavy ball.

The feel will be very different, but try it and you might enjoy it.
 

n8dawg6

Legend
if youve been vibin’ with that babolat for awhile, unless youre just dying to try something new, i would try the 3rd gen pure strike or a 2019 pure aero. otherwise youre gonna go deep into the rabbit hole, as some of us here can attest.
 
D

Deleted member 776614

Guest
I was on a mission to find an arm friendly Pure Strike and believe I found it. If you want stability and plow through, look at:

Tecnifibre TF40 305
Tecnifibre Tfight 305

They both play very similar to Pure Strike, and both have relatively high swing weight for their weigh, giving them that sense of stability and plow through. The SW of the Tfight 305 was a bit much for me (~330+), so I chose the TF40 305 (~325) as I also love the control and stability.

You can also try the 315g version of each for more weight but also more head light. I haven't hit them yet though. Tfight 300 swings like a Pure Drive (light) but plays like a Pure Strike.

Tecnifibre's frame is very, very similar to Pure Strike frame in stiffness and in shape. The Tfight is the closest being the stiffer of the two. Both have a modified square + elliptical frame shape like the Pure Strike. The TF40 feels better IMO but I love both.
 

jdx2112

Hall of Fame
I was on a mission to find an arm friendly Pure Strike and believe I found it. If you want stability and plow through, look at:

Tecnifibre TF40 305
Tecnifibre Tfight 305

They both play very similar to Pure Strike, and both have relatively high swing weight for their weigh, giving them that sense of stability and plow through. The SW of the Tfight 305 was a bit much for me (~330+), so I chose the TF40 305 (~325) as I also love the control and stability.

You can also try the 315g version of each for more weight but also more head light. I haven't hit them yet though. Tfight 300 swings like a Pure Drive (light) but plays like a Pure Strike.

Tecnifibre's frame is very, very similar to Pure Strike frame in stiffness and in shape. The Tfight is the closest being the stiffer of the two. Both have a modified square + elliptical frame shape like the Pure Strike. The TF40 feels better IMO but I love both.
Agreed. TF40305 is a nice racquet that has a similar feel to Pure Strike, with slightly less power.
 
I used the G1 Pure Strike Tour for 5 years, but always felt that it was at the edge of stiffness I could tolerate and played with gut strings. Otherwise, it was a great racquet.

When the G3 Pure Strike Tour came out, I found that Babolat had made a very similar racquet, but designed it to be much more comfortable as they supposedly added Cortex for dampening vibrations. So, I switched to it and am very happy that now I can play with gut/poly hybrids. Instead of stringing fullbed gut at 58 lbs like I did on my G1 PST, I now string VS/HyperG Soft or VS/HyperG at 47/44 lbs.

It took me about 8 hours to adjust to the 16x19 pattern on the G3 from the dense 18x20 on the G1, but was able to do so without any issues because the G3 pattern at the center of the racquet is closely spaced. So, the G3 PST has everything you like about the G1, but takes away the one issue that it had.
Did you ever try using the 18x20 option? That is good to know, I'll see if I can demo this one as well.
 
I was on a mission to find an arm friendly Pure Strike and believe I found it. If you want stability and plow through, look at:

Tecnifibre TF40 305
Tecnifibre Tfight 305

They both play very similar to Pure Strike, and both have relatively high swing weight for their weigh, giving them that sense of stability and plow through. The SW of the Tfight 305 was a bit much for me (~330+), so I chose the TF40 305 (~325) as I also love the control and stability.

You can also try the 315g version of each for more weight but also more head light. I haven't hit them yet though. Tfight 300 swings like a Pure Drive (light) but plays like a Pure Strike.

Tecnifibre's frame is very, very similar to Pure Strike frame in stiffness and in shape. The Tfight is the closest being the stiffer of the two. Both have a modified square + elliptical frame shape like the Pure Strike. The TF40 feels better IMO but I love both.
Ah interesting, I don't have much experience or knowledge with Technifibre. Thank you for your input. I'll look into this as well.
 
if youve been vibin’ with that babolat for awhile, unless youre just dying to try something new, i would try the 3rd gen pure strike or a 2019 pure aero. otherwise youre gonna go deep into the rabbit hole, as some of us here can attest.
Funny that you say that, I actually hated the feel of Babolat except for the Pure Strike line
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Did you ever try using the 18x20 option? That is good to know, I'll see if I can demo this one as well.
I wanted to stick with the PS Tour‘s weight and SW for stability and comfort purposes. I demoed the 16x19 and 18x20 standard weight versions and found them to be more unstable and more uncomfortable. The vibration frequency of the PST G3 according to TW is 139 while it is 146 or 147 for the standard weight G3 versions. So, the comfort of the standard version G3 would be more like the G1 PS Tour and I wanted something more comfortable.
 
I wanted to stick with the PS Tour‘s weight and SW for stability and comfort purposes. I demoed the 16x19 and 18x20 standard weight versions and found them to be more unstable and more uncomfortable. The vibration frequency of the PST G3 according to TW is 139 while it is 146 or 147 for the standard weight G3 versions. So, the comfort of the standard version G3 would be more like the G1 PS Tour and I wanted something more comfortable.
Where did you find the vibration frequency stats?
 
I was on a mission to find an arm friendly Pure Strike and believe I found it. If you want stability and plow through, look at:

Tecnifibre TF40 305
Tecnifibre Tfight 305

They both play very similar to Pure Strike, and both have relatively high swing weight for their weigh, giving them that sense of stability and plow through. The SW of the Tfight 305 was a bit much for me (~330+), so I chose the TF40 305 (~325) as I also love the control and stability.

You can also try the 315g version of each for more weight but also more head light. I haven't hit them yet though. Tfight 300 swings like a Pure Drive (light) but plays like a Pure Strike.

Tecnifibre's frame is very, very similar to Pure Strike frame in stiffness and in shape. The Tfight is the closest being the stiffer of the two. Both have a modified square + elliptical frame shape like the Pure Strike. The TF40 feels better IMO but I love both.
Oh awesome! Thank you!
 
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