Wilson Blade v9 vs v8 or Babolat Pure Strike v4 vs v3

[mescobcl]

Hi everybody,
I was wondering if there really is a difference between versions 9 and 8 of the Wilson Blade or between version 4 and 3 of the Babolat Pure Strike? Is the difference really noticeable?
I understand that maybe the average player may notice a difference between very early versions and the lastest versions, but not necessarily between the last 2 versions.
Sometimes I believe it is more of a marketing thing or even a paint job with very slight adjustments (the nesw Wilson Blade v9 has a great look).
I still use the 2017 Babolat Pure Strike 16x19 strung with Solinco Hyper G at 23 kgs or 51 lbs.

 

[andrewc]

Here is a comparison of the 2 versions

 

[Royp91]

I have the V8 and V9 Blade 98 16x19 and the far bigger difference is the swing weight but the V9 does have a stiffer feel. My V8s have a way over spec swing weight and the V9 is average. I don’t notice any more depth, pace or spin, but with the same strings feel like the V9 is strung a few lbs tighter (without being strung tighter). My only experience is with the Pure Strike 97 2024 and Pure Strike VS 2022. Those racquets are virtually indistinguishable. The 2024 feel ever so slightly muted, but that sensation is less than what strings deliver.

 

[riptide120]

I own a pure strike 98 gen3, and demoed a gen4. The main thing I noticed was how much more heavy gen4 was to swing. It's only supposed to be +2 points of SW, but it was very noticeable. Maybe one of them is off-spec? (I don't have an easy way to get mine weighed.)

 

[Royp91]

That’s likely the case. I am very sensitive to swing weight and it is a bummer that it racquets can be so far off.

 

[Ombudsman]

Played the PS G3 - loved it - and just recently purchased 2 PS 100 G4s and they still maintain the same PS personality. G3 caused me arm pain and so far, the G4 does not.

If you do go with PS - recommend the matching service.

 

[Konik_1982]

Hi, Blade V9 user, former V8 user. Between these two there is a big difference. I was never a "Blade" guy, even though playing with the V8 I did not like the "noodlish" feel and was just praying that Wilson could do something with it in the next version. And they did exactly what I (and not only myself I would say) wanted - they made the racquet stiffer and more stable. Funny thing is that the RA on V8 is higher than on V9 this just shows that the RA number doesn´t tell the whole story. Generally is the V9 still a very comfortable frame for your arm but they stiffened up the racquet in different areas than the V8 and this is the biggest improvement. I used to switch between frames as I was playing with the V8 sometimes when I was lacking some stiffer feel but now I went fully in, bought 2 V9´s 18x20 and I´m happy. Great racquet to play with.

 

[Blade_X]

Easily Blade V9. Best blade since V5. Strike is the same racquet with a more plush/soft feel in contact.

 

[nintendoplayer]

Hi everybody,
I was wondering if there really is a difference between versions 9 and 8 of the Wilson Blade or between version 4 and 3 of the Babolat Pure Strike? Is the difference really noticeable?
I understand that maybe the average player may notice a difference between very early versions and the lastest versions, but not necessarily between the last 2 versions.
Sometimes I believe it is more of a marketing thing or even a paint job with very slight adjustments (the nesw Wilson Blade v9 has a great look).
I still use the 2017 Babolat Pure Strike 16x19 strung with Solinco Hyper G at 23 kgs or 51 lbs.

I find this question to be very interesting in general, because out of 10 players you might get 10 different answers. Because every player has a different degree of sensitivity. There actually are players out there who would demo all 4 racquets beside each other and would tell you "not that much of a difference, just get the cheapest one". While I would most definitely be able to hold a 30 minute speech about the fine subtle differences I can feel between every frame.
So the question is: how sensitive are you?

I personally would probably prefer the Blade v8 to the v9 - but would you?
You actually have to demo them all to know for sure.

And then you still have QC variances between frames. You could demo 5 Pure Strike v4 frames and they could all feel different, because their weight, balance and swingweight can vary that much. Sometimes even >=10 swingweight points difference between 2 frames. So even if people tell you "v4 is a lot heavier to swing than v3", this could simply be an issue of QC and wildly out of spec frames. That's why if you want to have an objective comparison, you would first have to make sure that all of your frames are on spec - like AC Tennis does.

Which you could then interpret as "if you aren't able or willing to measure your frames in detail and possibly customize or return them, it actually won't matter that much". Because it will be more important to get specs that fit your muscle memory and feel good to swing than having the latest model with slightly updated tech. I also tend to purchase models on sale, like the Blade v8 has been lately or the Pure Strike v3. Simply because the latest models from Wilson, Babolat, Head or Yonex are usually way too expensive and the predecessor can't be that bad if it was good enough a few years ago.