Treton Micro X - Disappointing...

[peterpenhk]

A mini review on the Tretorn Mirco X balls.

Recently I started to do more practice sessions with my friends, regular tennis balls wear out quickly after hours of baseline hitting and hence decided to give pressureless balls a try.

Ordered 3 cans of Micro X, very promising right out of the box. When fresh they were quite close to pressurised balls on the stiffer end like Wilson US open, much better plability than other pressureless I've tried before (wilson and babolat bucket).

However, after around 3 hours of hitting they started to wear out, just like regular pressurised balls the bounciness dropped, even worse the level of wearing were quite different among the 4 balls, and I couldn't recall hitting with any particular one more than the others. Roughly speaking one became a heavier version of an old pressurised ball (very squeezable if you knew what i mean), two were still stiff but didn't bounce as well as fresh, and the last one held up decently.

And then today we used them for another session, and we managed to break one of them!

We're by no means hard hitters. Discarded that one and played two set with the remaining three, at the end of the session I noticed that another one seems to be on the edge of breaking as well...

Overall quite disappointed by the quality of these Micro X balls... Has anyone else had similar experience? Or am I the unlucky one happened to receive defective goods? (Not ordered from TW BTW)

 

[Rysty]

I remember using them years ago, one of them blew up after about 5 hrs of use and several others were close to it (the seams seemed ready to tear...) And I've heard this has happened to others too.

Edit: My point is: you may get more playing hrs out of these compared to pressurized balls, but it is not sure, so I don't find the higher price of Micro X's justified. So I stopped using them.

 

[Chotobaka]

I have Micro X balls that are well over five years old and they look nothing like the ones in your pics. They are filthy (but Tretorn confirms that they are washable) and worn smooth -- they never fuzzed up like yours. The imprinted "X" has not worn off the way yours have, after only four hours no less. Never had one break over years of ball machine use on hardcourts. They bounce and feel pretty much the same as new -- maybe a tad firmer or maybe my body is a little more sensitive these days. Clearly, something has really changed for the worse.

Mine were purchased back when Micro X balls were packaged in large buckets and bore no information other than "Made By Tretorn" with their TM statement and location in Sweden. No "Made In _____" country of origin statement, so I assume there were actually made in Sweden by Tretorn. I believe Tretorn has since been using a contract manufacturer in China, or at least have heard as much. Whether this is accurate, I cannot say for sure. The balls now come packaged in bags, which would make sense if they are shipping from China.

In any event, that is just terrible performance and pi$$ poor QC.

 

[peterpenhk]

I have Micro X balls that are well over five years old and they look nothing like the ones in your pics. They are filthy (but Tretorn confirms that they are washable) and worn smooth -- they never fuzzed up like yours. The imprinted "X" has not worn off the way yours have, after only four hours no less. Never had one break over years of ball machine use on hardcourts. They bounce and feel pretty much the same as new -- maybe a tad firmer or maybe my body is a little more sensitive these days. Clearly, something has really changed for the worse.

Mine were purchased back when Micro X balls were packaged in large buckets and bore no information other than "Made By Tretorn" with their TM statement and location in Sweden. No "Made In _____" country of origin statement, so I assume there were actually made in Sweden by Tretorn. I believe Tretorn has since been using a contract manufacturer in China, or at least have heard as much. Whether this is accurate, I cannot say for sure. The balls now come packaged in bags, which would make sense if they are shipping from China.

In any event, that is just terrible performance and pi$$ poor QC.

Do you use them on smooth hard court? I play on slow, rough surface hard court which has quite a bite on the balls, maybe Mirco X is not design for this particular surface and hence being torn apart after just hours of hitting! Going back to Wilson US Open for now, and keep searching...

 

[frank52]

The OP might be happier and better off financially using regular balls (Wilson US Open are nice). Use the ZT-1 Zombie Tubes ( http://savethetennisballs.com ) to re-pressurize the balls after each session. Pump the tubes up to 25 psi and the balls will be good to go again after a day or two. I get 3-4 uses out of balls before they seem too worn for further use.

In defense of Tretorn Micro X, I do use them in my ball machines and have been pleased with the results. Let's hope the new ball quality is not slipping.

 

[QuadCam]

I hated the tretorn micro x balls.. When hit hard, the balls would completely compress an make a weird thump sound...... And it didn't feel good in your arm when that would happen. They weren't good for practicing as they didn't play and bounce like regular balls either when hitting hard and heavy.

 

[gdeangel]

Court surface might not be the only thing that's changed -- I notice more "hard" courts are being resurfaced with a rough coating to the point I see a yellow-on-blue streak where the ball made impact. Also it could be something to do with the string if you are using a "structured" string with "bite" on the ball.

I am glad OP shared this information because I was thinking of getting a bunch of Micro X balls for my ball machine. Thanks for saving me some wasted $$.

 

[Chotobaka]

Do you use them on smooth hard court? I play on slow, rough surface hard court which has quite a bite on the balls, maybe Mirco X is not design for this particular surface and hence being torn apart after just hours of hitting! Going back to Wilson US Open for now, and keep searching...

I don't think so. I've used them over the years on both smooth and very gritty, super slow hard courts. We are talking years. There is clearly something very different about these balls. If someone still has these in the bag, it would be interesting to check the country of origin.

 

[gdeangel]

I don't think so. I've used them over the years on both smooth and very gritty, super slow hard courts. We are talking years. There is clearly something very different about these balls. If someone still has these in the bag, it would be interesting to check the country of origin.

Purely out of curiosity, did you mainly use a structured poly-type "spin" string with bite, or a traditional syn gut / multi filament, during those 5 years?

And to the OP, what kind of string were you and your hitting partner using? Were your serve styles / spin equivalent and amount of first serve fault's (that could explain why they wore unevenly -- most of the time as server, I use the same ball for 1st and second... it gets hit back after the fault is called and there it is, in my hand, while the other one is still in my pocket -- the rare exception is when a monster serve blasts off the fence somewhere away from the opponent)

 

[Chotobaka]

Purely out of curiosity, did you mainly use a structured poly-type "spin" string with bite, or a traditional syn gut / multi filament, during those 5 years?

I was almost exclusively using a full bed of poly, and mostly shaped/textured spin oriented strings when using the Tretorns with my ball machine.

 

[gdeangel]

I was almost exclusively using a full bed of poly, and mostly shaped/textured spin oriented strings when using the Tretorns with my ball machine.

OK, that's one theory out the window.

Sounds like it's another case of "improving" a product (and the bottom line) once the reputation has been established. Maybe the company switched to an eco-friendly glue or some rubbish like that. To the OP: did you contact Tretorn, and if so what did they say?

 

[peterpenhk]

OK, that's one theory out the window.

Sounds like it's another case of "improving" a product (and the bottom line) once the reputation has been established. Maybe the company switched to an eco-friendly glue or some rubbish like that. To the OP: did you contact Tretorn, and if so what did they say?

I haven't considered doing that, maybe I should, will keep you guys posted if Tretorn reply

 

[racket king]

A mini review on the Tretorn Mirco X balls.

Recently I started to do more practice sessions with my friends, regular tennis balls wear out quickly after hours of baseline hitting and hence decided to give pressureless balls a try.

Ordered 3 cans of Micro X, very promising right out of the box. When fresh they were quite close to pressurised balls on the stiffer end like Wilson US open, much better plability than other pressureless I've tried before (wilson and babolat bucket).

However, after around 3 hours of hitting they started to wear out, just like regular pressurised balls the bounciness dropped, even worse the level of wearing were quite different among the 4 balls, and I couldn't recall hitting with any particular one more than the others. Roughly speaking one became a heavier version of an old pressurised ball (very squeezable if you knew what i mean), two were still stiff but didn't bounce as well as fresh, and the last one held up decently.

And then today we used them for another session, and we managed to break one of them!

We're by no means hard hitters. Discarded that one and played two set with the remaining three, at the end of the session I noticed that another one seems to be on the edge of breaking as well...

Overall quite disappointed by the quality of these Micro X balls... Has anyone else had similar experience? Or am I the unlucky one happened to receive defective goods? (Not ordered from TW BTW)

We tried these for a brief spell at one of the inner city clubs we run as an experiment to save money.

They were awful. Loads of them 'explode' and split like the ones in your photos. Lots of people also complained that the balls were rock hard, had poor feel etc

We got rid of them after a month. There really is no substitute for proper, pressurised tennis balls.

I hated the tretorn micro x balls.. When hit hard, the balls would completely compress an make a weird thump sound...... And it didn't feel good in your arm when that would happen. They weren't good for practicing as they didn't play and bounce like regular balls either when hitting hard and heavy.

Pressureless ball are pure garbage - these are no different.

 

[Farhaan Rahman]

Tretorn is well known in footwear and apparel but the moste people love Treton's pressureless balls. The Micro X is one of the best-selling pressureless

 

[Fxanimator1]

Tretorn is well known in footwear and apparel but the moste people love Treton's pressureless balls. The Micro X is one of the best-selling pressureless

I just hit with them the other day and thought they felt awful when they make contact into the strings. They also sound awful. I won’t hit with them again.

 

[Westerwick]

There are some cases where the pressureless balls really work well. The courts we play on range from 2000 to 2300 m elevation, and just as important are the very wide daily and seasonal temperature swings. In contrast, the Tretorns and Trinitis both seem to keep a pretty even bounce regardless of temperature or altitude. Yes, sometimes a bit on the hard feeling side, but playable when some of the others aren't. I understand that there are tournaments in Mexico and the Andean countries that use Tretorns because they are consistent when none of the other balls are.

So, if any of you bought a bunch of Tretorns and want to dump them at a discount, give me a shout and I can take them off your hands.

 

[Westerwick]

Or, I'll donate them to the high school team for you. They need all the help they can get.