Time to experiment: racquets like the PDR 2012?

[Winners or Errors]

Over the past three weekends, I've had the opportunity to play with the PDR 2012 and EXO3 Black. I was pleasantly surprised to find that neither is the rocket launcher I thought they'd be, but definitely preferred the additional weight of the PDR. Both will take some getting used to when serving (coming from 6.1 16x18 and 4D100), but the forgiveness in other areas makes me think it is worth a try.

I'm not willing to cough up more than $100 a racquet for this, let's call it, extended demo, so I'm looking at the Dunlop F5.0 and the Head Graphene Extreme Pro. I'd appreciate input on both, as I didn't find much crossover in the threads on this subject. Thanks.

Other suggestions welcome too. The only racquet that seems to fit the weight and size requirement is the Extreme Pro, but I guess I'm open.

 

[Brad1981]

I have recently switched from a PDR to Wilson Burn. Granted, the Burn is 11.3 oz, but I put lead at 3 and 9 to bump up the weight. To me, it feels even more solid than the PDR and I seem to have better control, and more power even! Even without lead tape, the Burn has got to be the most solid sub-11.5 oz racquet that exists. Every part of the racquet face is solid, even the sides.

 

[DustinW]

F5.0 and Extreme Pro are good choices. Also Radical Pro, Volkl Super G 8 315, and Tecnifibre TFlash 315.

 

[Winners or Errors]

Thanks. I have been debating lighter racquets and think they would all require lead to raise their weight closer to my comfort zone. My hit with the Black made me painfully aware of how little free power on serve you get losing that ounce of weight. Even the PDR can't match my 6.1 16x18 - but perhaps that's because I need to get used to the larger head and less connected feel.

 

[KaiserW]

Thanks. I have been debating lighter racquets and think they would all require lead to raise their weight closer to my comfort zone. My hit with the Black made me painfully aware of how little free power on serve you get losing that ounce of weight. Even the PDR can't match my 6.1 16x18 - but perhaps that's because I need to get used to the larger head and less connected feel.

You are spot on saying the PDR can't match
the power of your 6.1. I am using the Pure Drive Tour but still hit with my Pro Staff Classic 4.2 sometimes and I immediately notice my ball is heavier with the PSC. Only reason I have not switched back to it is I like the extra forgiveness of the PDT. I do have a RF97 demo on the way though. Can't help to give it a honest try. I hit with it for a half hour before and it had poly in the mains in it which I do not like so I was not crazy about the feel and felt sluggish. Giving it a try with multi to see how it feels.

 

[Winners or Errors]

Yup. Extra forgiveness = consistency. That's precisely what has me looking. I noticed my bad swings produce better results. The only area where I really felt at a disadvantage was the serve.

 

[n8dawg6]

The Extreme has a more "connected" feel than the pure drive to me. They build a lot of vibration dampening into the PDR, which is where that disconnected feel comes from. If you can get past the frying pan headshape, the Extreme is really a fine racquet.

 

[Winners or Errors]

So, that gets me to the question:
IG Extreme Pro 2.0 - all I can find is 4 1/4 grips, which are a little small, though my strokes aren't wristy so perhaps I'm not at risk of injury.
Graphene Extreme Pro - also on sale, and easy to find in 4 1/2 that I am comfortable with...

Is it worth the experiment to get the IG? Is it that much better? I am coming from, and more comfortable with, racquets at least 7pts headlight, and the Graphene version suits that, but I've seen a number of commentaries that the IG is the version of this racquet to get and I have a few 4 1/4 grip racquets in the closet, so I'm not that scared of the smaller grip. I've also played a lot with Volkl, so the rectangular grip doesn't scare me.

 

[n8dawg6]

I dunno man, I've screwed around with grip size before and it never worked out. havent ever gone smaller than I use (L2 is perfect for me) but at some point your palm is going to overlap your fingers. I wouldn't buy a racquet in the wrong grip size to save a little money I guess is the point I'm making. If you're looking for older discontinued models, the 'bay can yield more results than you'd expect.

 

[Winners or Errors]

Not really money, and my hand is small enough to use 4 1/4 without any chance of my fingers connecting with my palm. It's about whether or not the IG is sooooo much better that I should get them no matter what.

 

[Winners or Errors]

I should mention that I hit with a lot of topspin, sometimes too much. I did notice, in the TW video reviews of both racquets, that Troy seemed to have much better depth control with the Graphene version and seemed to be over-spinning the IG version and hitting short. Perhaps I'm just splitting hairs and the versions aren't truly that different, but maybe not... Maybe they are.

 

[n8dawg6]

ha, I can empathize with the obsessing over versions of Head racquets. You won't really know until you actually try them. you can read any number of opinions on here re youtek, microgel, flexpoint, IG, graphene, etc, and they all conflict. My ultimate opinion is that the various incarnations are more alike than different, although the graphene models have taken a bigger step toward polarization. The only extreme I've actually used is the current XT MPA version, and it's really a nice racquet.

 

[Winners or Errors]

Graphene Extreme Pro it is - and we shall see. From what I've read, it sounds like it will be a good fit coming from the racquets I like to play. Just hard to sift through all the bull, even in some TW reviews, and get to an answer without a good long-term demo. I play 1-3 times a week during the school year. It's just not reasonable to try a racquet out for a week. They require many months of auditioning. I will post a review once I get some playing time in... from the perspective of someone shifting from almost exclusively players' frames.

 

[crazyups]

I just received my tecnifibre tflash 315 atp(not dynacore). My goal is to have something similar to my PDR 2012 but not quite as heavy yet have more mass at the tip. The PDR's balance was off for me because it had too much mass at 9 and 3. I have added 6 grams of tungsten tape around 10 and 2 and with over grip am at 12.2 oz. Dry swinging feels perfect, less heavy feeling/more maneuverable than PDR and I feel the mass higher up. I will report after my match.

 

[pfrischmann]

Try the Volkl 8 super G 315. It fits into that PDR kinda space. Michelle from TW used it as her primary doubles stick for a while.

 

[crazyups]

That only has a swing weight of 315. I would need a huge amount of lead to get that up to around 330-335.
Had a match with the tflash 315 atp today and I liked it better than the PDR. The tflash has a more maneuverable weight distribution and it is significantly more customizable whereas the PDR just gets too heavy when I try to raise the sweetspot. It is the same head shape as the PDR except for the bottom where it's longer. So it is about a 104 square inch bed because the PDR is actually 102. I need more match play to see if I like it better than my go to bat, the PK Q5. Q5 is my control racquet and honestly there isn't much difference in power when I spec them the same. Swingweight is power. The advantage that the tflash could have is the bigger head size which did bail me out a few times today. It is more spin friendly too. I will play more with it to see if it really is more powerful with the extra stiffness and bigger head size. It's a matter of getting used to it. Too bad the new tflash dynacore was changed some in it's specs and got a worse review.