REVIEW -- Prince Exo3 Tour 100 16x18 -- great for tennis elbow

[corbind]

BACKGROUND

After having quit tennis for 20 years, I came back in Aug ’10 and bought a new stick on the way to my first hit. That evil stick’s specs at 102”, 9.4 strung, 74 stiffness, 18 x 20, 27.5” (½”longer than normal), 6 points head heavy. So it was extremely stiff & light while being long, dense pattern and head heavy. After just 6 weeks I got tennis elbow so I did some research and experts say, for a person with a full swing, those specs are a near-perfect way to get TE. I let my arm rest over the winter and came back in the spring still demo’ing sticks.

PRINCE EXO3 DEMO

I demo’ed the PRINCE EXO3 TOUR 16x18 and its brother the 18x20 in May ’11. Both are just AMAZING at softening the shock to the wrist/elbow/shoulder. Am I exaggerating? Perhaps, but I had demo’ed 24 of my 30 racquets by this time so I'd done more demo'ing than most.

• Incredible frame flex (absorbs lots of ball energy normally traveling up the arm)
• Significant spin on serves and groundstrokes
• Higher ball trajectory/arc than the 18x20 pattern
• Less accurate/precise compared with the 18x20
• Serving took more effort with both 16x18 & 18x20 (because frame flex)
• Serving usually produces the most shock to the arm but had almost no arm shock compared to most sticks

I actually decided to demo the 16x18 and 18x20 twice just to make sure I was not imagining the aforementioned. The second demo week confirmed my findings. Ultimately I hit better with the 18x20 in that I was more accurate with my serves, groundstrokes and volleys. Yet I made the decision to purchase two of the 16x18’s because they felt better on my tennis elbow. The less-dense string pattern absorbed more. I played not as well but at least I was able to continue playing which was my main priority.

PURCHASE

I bought two Exo3 Tour 16x18’s strung with Babolat 16 natural gut. One was strung at 53 (minimum tension) which I used 26 times mostly for serving. The other strung at 58 (mid tension) used 36 times before strings broke. This flexible stick with the natural gut is just almost sinfully wonderful on the arm. When just hitting with friends I’d switch to use their sticks and they felt all harsh. When I'd get my stick back and it’s like “Ahhhh, soft again!” I never knew how soft or harsh hitting could be until I was able to do a decent amount of sampling.

SUMMARY

Damn if you're already here without reading the aforementioned. Anyway...

• Is the Prince Exo3 Tour 100 16x18 the greatest in the world? Not by a looooooonnnnngggg shot
• Is it the most accurate? Nope
• Is it the most comfortable? Yes (of the 30 I demo’ed)
• If I did not have tennis elbow I would the 18x20 version be better for more accuracy while still being comfy on the arm? Yes (and that's what I currently use as of 11/12)

This year my tennis elbow is gone for the most part so I’ve decided to use another stick, well, because I can now. It has a 55 flex 18x20 pattern so certainly not as soft as the EXOs but much more accurate).

DEMO BEFORE BUYING

After demo'ing thirty sticks from Sep '10 through May '12, I've found some average, many crappy, and some nice for my play. Without the TW demo program I would have bought the wrong sticks so the so the $180 “wasted” in demo’ing was totally worth it. I just wish more people would break down and demo 4 sticks for a week for just $20. Too easy to do. Here are the ones I demo’ed (stiffness in parenthesis):

Babolat AeroPro Drive GT Mid+ (69)
Babolat P. Drive Roddick GT MP (71)
Babolat P. Storm Tour GT Mid+ (demo'ed twice) (64)
Babolat P. Storm Tour+ GT MP (61)
Babolat Pure Storm GT Mid+ (61)
Babolat Pure Storm Ltd. Mid+ (62)
Becker Pro Mid+ (66)
Boris Becker Delta Core London Tour (55)
Donnay X-Black 94 Racquet (58)
Donnay X-Black 99 Racquet (60)
Donnay X-Blue 94 Racquet (61)
Dunlop Aerogel 4D 200 Mid+ (60)
Dunlop Aerogel 4D 500 Mid+ (66)
Head YouTek Speed Pro Mid+ (70)
Prince Exo Rebel Team 95 Mid+ (63)
Prince EXO3 Black Mid+ String Hole (71)
Prince EXO3 Black Mid+ String Port (demo'ed twice) (71)
Prince EXO3 Tour 100 (16 x 18) (demo'ed twice) (52)
Prince EXO3 Tour 100 (18 x 20) (demo'ed twice) (52)
Prince EXO3 Tour 100 (18 x 20) poly strings (52)
ProKennex Heritage Type C Redondo (57)
Vantage Bastcore BC20 (49)
Vantage Bastcore BC30 (45)
Volkl C10 Pro (63)
Volkl DNX 10 Mid (63)
Wilson Six-One Tour BLX (65)

 

[goober]

Nice review, though surprised you didn't demo Prokennex Ki5 or 5G since those sticks are widely known as TE friendly .

 

[corbind]

Well not all my demos were for TE friendly sticks. I've updated my demo list with stiffness/flex rating in parenthesis. I just looked up the ProKennex Kinetic Pro 5G Classic - 65 stiffness which is not so arm-friendly, 22mm wide beam, and medium/fast stroke. The ProKennex Ionic Ki 5 -- 61 stiffness with a 22mm wide beam, medium/fast stroke.

Although I'm a net player, I was looking for sticks with full or fast strokes. Some I demo'ed just for fun while others for a specific purpose. It's amazing how you can read the specs but it REALLY does take demo'ing to get a real-world feel of them.

A good example the Vantage sticks rating at 45 and 49 flex. On paper they would be more flexible than anything but sadly not the case. In fact I wanted to like those sticks because, on paper, they would be the best for me. Yet the were ho hum nothing memorable about them. Even with me choosing my string tension and type the control just was not there. So analysis with the specs is important but it's incomplete without actually hitting with the sticks.

 

[goober]

Well not all my demos were for TE friendly sticks. I've updated my demo list with stiffness/flex rating in parenthesis. I just looked up the ProKennex Kinetic Pro 5G Classic - 65 stiffness which is not so arm-friendly, 22mm wide beam, and medium/fast stroke. The ProKennex Ionic Ki 5 -- 61 stiffness with a 22mm wide beam, medium/fast stroke.

Although I'm a net player, I was looking for sticks with full or fast strokes. Some I demo'ed just for fun while others for a specific purpose. It's amazing how you can read the specs but it REALLY does take demo'ing to get a real-world feel of them.

A good example the Vantage sticks rating at 45 and 49 flex. On paper they would be more flexible than anything but sadly not the case. In fact I wanted to like those sticks because, on paper, they would be the best for me. Yet the were ho hum nothing memorable about them. Even with me choosing my string tension and type the control just was not there. So analysis with the specs is important but it's incomplete without actually hitting with the sticks.

The prokennex racquets are TE friendly because of the Ionic/kinetic technology. There are basically little beads in the racquet that absorb shock. The flex rating is deceiving as far as arm friendliness. If you read the reviews- the vast majority of people bought the racquet for its arm properties. But the exo3 tours have great reviews for tennis elbow as well. I am just surprised that you didn't come across the the PKs in your search for TE friendly sticks since they are pretty much mentioned in every thread on here related to tennis elbow.

 

[holytennis]

If you don't mind Corbind, can you tell me how the Volkl C10 Pro played? Always wondered why no one posted anything about it.

 

[corbind]

If you don't mind Corbind, can you tell me how the Volkl C10 Pro played? Always wondered why no one posted anything about it.

I know it's a racquet many people like. The notes on my spreadsheet says, "Not tell much diff b/w dnx 10 mid & c10 pro." I do remember those two sticks being remarkably similar. I remember it felt decent but it did not stand out. Remember also I had hit with it only for a demo for a week so I did not use it for months and months like the EXO3 I reviewed here.

I feel comfortable reviewing the EXO because I used it so much. I do have notes on all the sticks I demo'ed but are literally a sentence which is just for me to remember it by not really for a review.