Solinco Racquet Playtest: White Out 305
String and tension used for test: Multiple setups.
Head Velocity MLT 1.30 @ 50/52 for 2 hours
Head Velocity MLT 1.30 @ 52/55 for 10 hours
Babolat VS touch 1.30 mains, Kirschbaum Pro Line Evolution 1.25 Crosses @55/52 for 3 hours
Babolat VS touch 1.30 mains, Velocity MLT 1.30 Crosses @??/55 for 7 hours and counting.
Tennis experience/background:
Self taught player, currently playing at USTA 4.0 levels. I no longer play any tournaments however my hitting partners typically get to Quarters or higher at 4.0 tournaments and I normally split sets with them.
Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley):
I am mostly aggressive baseliner. I will play serve and volley if opponent is just blocking serves back, otherwise I only come to net to finish points.
Serve and return are my best shots. I do not hit with ton of spin unless I am defending. My OHBH has more spin than my forehand.
Current racquet/string setups:
I typically play with extended (27.5") racquet(s). Regular ones until January were Dunlop CX 200+ (2 grams of lead at 12 and 7g in butt) and Yonex Ezone 98+ (playing stock) both with Gut (1.30)/Poly (1.25) @55/52.
However since late January this year my shoulder has been bothering me a bit and hence I have been playing with Pure Aero 2019 with full bed Head Velocity 1.30 @50/53.
How many hours did you play with the racquet?
22 hours
Comments on racquet performance for each stroke (each section should be 3-5 sentences minimum):
All racquet performance comments are based on string setups that worked well for me. Racquet was used with 5gm weighted butcap and dampener without overgrip.
Groundstrokes 9/10:
In summary ground strokes were reliable. I got more spin on my shots compared my regular racquets and very similar to PA 2019. I was able to land my shots where I wanted pretty easily. I lost little bit of power/pace compared to my extended length racquet, but not too much to be cause of concern.
Short angled forehand, inside out forehand and down the line backhand were improved compared to extended length racquet (may be due to easy maneuverability). My Approach shots were much better, I was able to hit short or deep based on the need.
Compared to my extended length racquets, rallies ended up being longer and I won more points from forced errors rather than hitting winners. However I don't think I defended more with Whiteout compared to regular racquets.
Among all ground strokes slices are the weakest. Slices float a little and is really not an offensive shot with this racquet. It's not that important of a shot for me and hence this rating.
Serves 8/10:
This was matter of give and take. My first serves are definitely bigger with extended length racquets. With white out I could not dial in flat T-Serve in deuce court for some reason. But slice, kick serves were better. Slice serve in deuce court was amazing. It took the returner way out of position. Kick serves are also great, kicking and going away from court.
I did not win many free points of flat first serves however I defended my second serve well.
Volleys 7.5/10:
I played about 5 sets of doubles in 2 outings with white out and nothing really stood out from volley perspective. I felt little instability against hard hit shots when I was at net. Hitting volleys deep was easier than trying to hit drop volley. Part of if it's my technique, but I can volley better with my Dunlop CX 200+. For singles I really do not have any issues with volleys.
Serve returns 7.5/10:
On big first serves to my backhand my returns were weaker than normal. I felt racquet twisting in my hand. Some weight at 3 and 9 may help. On second serves though complete 180. I had lot of return winners on second serves.
When my opponent was serving well, it was easy hold for him.
Comments on racquet performance in each area (should be 2-3 sentences minimum)
Power/Control 8/10:
Racquet has just enough power where I don't feel at disadvantage. However I would prefer little more pop from racquet to finish points early. There were many rallies where I had to play 1-2 extra shot(s) where normally with my regular racquets ball would not come back. Control with regards to ball placement (direction, depth) was excellent. Varying of pace was also easy.
Power -- 7.5/10, Control 8.5/10
Top Spin/Slice 8.5/10:
There is no shortage of topspin with this racquet even when using full bed of multi or gut with multi. I was able do get balls landing just inside baseline, or get high bouncing to opponent's backhand or getting ball very low for volley. Normal rally ball also had little more action on the ball compred to my regular racquets. As mentioned earlier my slices were not really offensive, though I do not depend on slices that much (aka not great at it).
Spin -9.5/10, Slice 7.5/10.
Comfort- 8.5/10:
There was no issue with comfort, however I did not use full poly stringjob. Shots hit outside of sweet spot did not cause any comfort issues.
Feel-8.5/10:
Feel is very good, firm without feeling discomfort. There is enough feedback when hitting shots. I knew when I missed sweet spot and when I hit it.
Maneuverability-9/10:
Coming from extended length racquets racquet felt so much easier to wield. Still, maneuverability is excellent. It helped me few times out of akward position due to my bad footwork. I was able to get raqcuet in place easily when I was at net in doubles and shots were hit hard at me.
Stability-8/10:
There is enough stability for 4.0 level. Except for couple of instances (volley against hard shots and hard serves to my OHBH) I felt racquet was stable. I did not have any issues while changing direction/pattern from croscourt to down the line.
General reaction/comments on overall performance:
Overall I really like this racquet. It's jack of all trades while doing couple of things exceedingly well.
Launch angle is high of the stringbed and I had to adjust string tensions to get it where I feel comfortable. I think this racquet will play well with full bed of poly and I plan to try it after Gut breaks.
I played with Pure Strike 16*19 (3rd gen), Tecnifibre TFight RS 305 (although extended by 1/4 or 3/8 inch) last year and I prefer WhiteOut over those.
I like the quality of paint on this racquet. I have hit racquet on ground 4-5 times (for low volley/ accidental drop) and there are no paint chips yet. However paintjob is probably the weakest aspect of this racquet design. It's RBA of paintjobs, there is nothing wrong with it, but it's definitely not exciting.
Overall Solinco has done great job with this racquet and it should be in demo list if someone is looking at control oriented 98", 305 racquets.
I plan to use it couple more months while my shoulder recovers. I am really looking forward to extended length version's release.
Thank you TW and Solinco for opportunity of this playetst. This is my most favorite playtest at TW so far!
