I got out on a ball machine this morning, and hit for about 20 minutes afterwards when another player's partner didn't show up on time.
I captured a video during the ball machine session where I hit with the Phantom 107G, my old POG OS, and my wife's old Precision Graphite. It's a mixed bag against a ball machine - I get to hit a ton of balls but these ball machine balls are pretty terrible with some that are just totally flat and others that have no fuzz, so it's different than hitting against a live person with new and consistently bouncing balls. Anyway, here's the video:
The Phantom 107G is fairly low powered. It's not the lowest powered racquet I've hit with but it is definitely below average in terms of generating ball speed. It also is pretty muted and does a good job of dampening the impact, and that kind of adds to the sensation that it is low powered. On top of that, I'm currently using Solinco Confidential 1.20, a low powered and muted string. Add in that Prince worm string dampener and there's practically zero vibration when hitting the sweet spot, even though it still has a good pocketing feel. There's a sensation the ball stays on the strings enough to be able to generate pinpoint control. It's an old school, almost wood-racquet feel where the flex on contact is obvious.
The wide string spacing creates a pretty high launch angle. Even though I was hitting the ball pretty flat, I still got easy net clearance and decent spin, but also some balls that just kind of flew on me. The balls unexpectedly flying was much less prevalent with new tennis balls but was there still to some extent. I said in the video that it felt like I needed a thicker string than a 1.20 and the more I hit with the racquet, the more I thought that was the case. It also feels like a more lively, crisp string would work well in the 107G. I recently participated in the TW Gamma Sapphire test and found that to be a powerful and lively string, and that seems like a much better combination with the Phantom 107G than Confidential.
In its stock form, it's a lot lighter racquet than I'm used to. I could time the ball fairly well swinging flatter but any type of upward cut to generate heavier topspin made for timing issues. It also feels like there just isn't enough mass in the hoop, so when I traded ball speed for more spin, I got more of a ball speed reduction than I expected. I never really got a good feel for how to hit a penetrating backhand slice. My first few attempts just flew on me, and when I did get the ball lower, it seemed to lack pace.
I hit a few serves with it and found that the sweet spot doesn't extend that high up on the hoop. I normally use a 27.6" racquet that is much stiffer and my general tendency is to hit serves just above the midpoint of the hoop. The 107G has a pretty large sweetspot but it is centered just below the midpoint of the hoop, and it gets slightly dead higher up on the hoop.
That big and low sweetspot, low powered racquet and strings, and old school feel made the 107G feel immediately comfortable when volleying. Once I adjusted to making contact lower on the stringbed, I felt like I had pinpoint directional and speed control, with the only issue being enough putaway power without taking a larger swing at the ball. There were times when the 107G actually made me look like I knew what I was doing up at net. This would be a fantastic racquet for a doubles specialist who values placement over power.
As for the other Prince racquets, the POG OS feels old and tired when hit back to back with the Phantom. It is more flexible than the 107G, and also 60 grams heavier. So it is both more powerful and more flexy, and balls feel like they spray unless I make clean contact with good timing. I'm also not used to the feel of how the racquet flips lengthwise with such a headlight balance. There are times when it feels like the pivot point is just inches above my hand and that's a weird sensation.
The Precision Graphite feels more similar on impact to the 107G than the POG OS. It's an ounce heavier than the Phantom and has 40 year old synthetic gut strings but the pocketing sensation and dwell time are more in line with the 107G. It was also my wife's racquet so never has had the same kind of use as my POG OS so it feels stiffer and more precise. The 40 year old strings still feel elastic but I'm not used to the launch angle of a synthetic gut. Lastly, that 40 year old leather grip is hard as rock and it hurts so badly when I mis-hit.
I'll get some more hits with the 107G in its stock form before I add weight to get it up to 350 grams and 350 swingweight. At that time, I may also try a different string as the Confidential is already notched up from how much string movement the open pattern allows.
