Who makes the best 'quality' sticks?

[vandre]

Racquet purchases are an emotional thing.... Marketing, branding, pro endorsements, etc.. have a bigger influence...

The general tennis population probably wouldn't have a clue how bad these racquets really are in terms of quality.

if you doubt this, go to a hs tennis meet sometime. all i see in my area is babolat because the local snooty racquet club sells them like hotcakes. in fact, in terms of popularity in my area, it prolly goes

1. babolat
2. wilson
3. head
4. prince

with most of the princes and wilsons being the sub $100 variety available at an mc sports or dick's type store.

so for the kids, it's like this...

for the adults, alot of them what to try before they buy and most of them don't know that places like tw exist, as evidenced by me always getting asked "where did you find that???" so they just demo whatever the club has sitting around till they find something they like.

as for yonex, call around to clubs in your area and ask what brands they carry. the closest club that carried any yonex sticks was over 2 hours away from me. even at this point though, i don't know if it does yonex much good to make a big push to get into more racquet clubs. online retailers are taking over everything else and like ppl have said, the headshape turns some folks off right off the bat so they don't want to try it whereas the babolat, insert name here sticks pretty much sell themselves.

 

[syke]

In my personal opinion I don't care where the stick could be manufactured. The issue with quality control should be more of a company responsibility not on whether it's made in x place. Why should the simple factor of "location" be the deciding "tell" to know if it's quality or not. I haven't used Yonex to know if it's a higher grade of product but I do own Prokennex's and Volkl's. and they are outstanding sticks... made in China.

Where it's made shouldn't be a deciding factor..
However, Japanese factory workers are more likely to halt production if there is any anomaly found during manufacturing. Quality is drilled into their heads.

Chinese factory workers on the other hand wouldn't give a hoot. It's time, cost and quantity they are most concerned with. And if these racquet companies don't manage the factories diligently, what gets churned out is simply going to be crap.

Apple is one example of good quality products made in China. I have friends working in Apple managing subcontractors, and personally I have dealt with Apple in the past as a supplier. You have no idea how anal Apple can be with regards to quality. The production fall out rates are crazy.

Not every company out there manages their factories like Apple do. Definitely not the Wilsons or Babolats.

 

[Racketdesign]

Hi op. if you are able to edit the poll, I would love an extra L on angell.

 

[BLACKOUT]

Yonex and Pacific, it doesn't matter how many Yonex sticks I order, they are always spot on spec-wise. I love the craftsmanship on the Pacific frames

 

[eleventeenth street]

Pacific hands down. Only racket company that guarantees every racket they make will have identical specs. http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/catpage-NOTOLERANCE.html

actually, only a few of Pacific's racquet models comes with the zero tolerance guarantee.

and their zero tolerance guarantee seems to only cover static weight, not balance or swing weight (although i could be wrong). so it's possible that you may get 2 racquets that weigh the same, but don't necessarily swing the same.

still an awesome thing for a racquet company to offer though

 

[Relinquis]

Hi op. if you are able to edit the poll, I would love an extra L on angell.

my apologies. unfortunately i am not able to edit it. Love the custom racquet concept though.

 

[NJ1]

Yonex. "Made in Japan" has never let me down be it tennis racquets, digital watches, boxing gear or SUVs.

 

[Racketdesign]

my apologies. unfortunately i am not able to edit it. Love the custom racquet concept though.

No probs! Just thought I would ask. Glad you like the concept

 

[BMWprestigem3]

Head has been reliable for me.

 

[pkshooter]

I think the feeling of quality of a stick stems from how " meaty " it feels in your hand, which is depended on weight and thinner beams. I don't know.... Haven't had many rackets but my Dunlop 4d 1h feels alot more " meaty" than its comparable Wilson pro 90.

 

[eidolonshinobi]

Do people not use the search function? I swear there's a thread about this topic every month or so.

*sigh*
but I will commit to some effort.

Bought a yonex vcore 97t (330g) from CA, bought one here in Taiwan, and got another as a gift from a friend in Japan. All three Identical specs.

Before switching over to Yonex I similarly bought 3 different volkl pb10 mids from 3 different stores in CA, only a marginal 0.1 oz difference in one of them.

I can definitely vouch for these two, and obviously Pacific has a standard requirement and guarantee.

 

[pkshooter]

Answer: 90%+ of pros who make their living at this use:
1) Wilson, 2) Head, 3) Babolat follwed well behind by 4) Prince and 5) Yonex. Dunlop has perhaps 3 active pro users in the top 200 (men and women).

If "better" quality were manifest elsewhere they'd rush to it.

Pro stock + sponsorship money
These companies throw money at this not general consumer quality.

 

[tistrapukcipeht]

Yonex tops anything I have played with, Babolat Aero Pro and Pure Drive (face palm), Dunlop Bio 400 T, Wilson Pro Open, Wilson Pro staff 100, Volkl Organix 6, Wilson Steam 99S, Head pretige S.

I have tested a few Yonex racquets in this category and I could play with any of them but i could not switch from Ezone Xi to any of the others, so much power, control and forgiveness with the Ezone xi, such a complete racquet, i can't say the same for the others.

Now I am lusting after 98 Xi

 

[shaneno]

I'm talking about build quality, quality control and the way it feels to touch.

I'm looking at the racquets I've bought over the past 6 months, Wilson, Babolat and Dunlop and it seems like Dunlop have spent more effort into making their stick look and feel like a quality product.

I haven't tried Yonex or Head yet.

Who do you think make the best 'quality' sticks?

WILSON ALL DAY!!!!
But i hear yonex has the best Quality. It really personal preference.

 

[NKX6]

I have been using Babolat pure drive team racquets since 2005.
i wouldnt change them for anything. Had 8 of them. Now Im down to 2. So having of course difficulty to find my old babs in the market I bought the new 2012 version with cortex and all.
I can tell you one thing.
My old babs were perfect. All of them. Excellent quality, almost identical. New one is crap. No relation to my old ones. I compared it with another 2 sticks a friend has. Lots of differences and bad quality in manufacture.
Im gonna try yonex next!

 

[jimbo333]

Angell make the best quality rackets, this is a fact!
They have more layers of graphite and are foam filled. I believe they are more expensive to make than any other retail racket, but as Angell has no marketing budget to speak of, they can be sold at about the same as other retail racket prices.

Angell are amazing rackets, and I suggest everyone at least try one out, you will be amazed, honestly I was!

 

[jimbo333]

my vote goes to vantage / angell. Second best would be yonex.

Surprised that they are not more votes in Vantage / Angell frames.

I'm not that surprised as Angell is not really that well known even here, but most people that have used their rackets will agree how superb they are!

I too agree that Yonex would be the second best.