Wilson BLX Pro Tour 2012 Review

[Virtua Tennis]

I bought the BLX Pro Tour 2012 from Mid West for $75 to replace my K Pro Tour, and let me tell you it is worth the money. Comparing it to the K Pro Tour specs wise it is exactly the same but now made with BLX instead of Karophite. What that did was make the frame feel even more solid than the K factor.

On groundstrokes with the BLX Pro Tour it is one solid frame the racquet never vibrated or shook it just felt solid even on miss hits. The sweet spot was generous and the racquet can generate some amazing spin and power with it's 16x20 pattern. I was like a wall with this frame on the baseline I just couldn't miss. I can take a half swing and still get good power and spin.

For serves and volley this racquet reminded me of my old Pro Staff 6.0 it's head light so it's really maneuverable and with it's BLX material it felt solid at the net no matter how hard someone was hitting a ball at me I just stuck the racquet out and it did all the work. For serves the racquet has a nice pop my first serves felt great and my second serves I was throwing some nice spin.

Overall if you're a fan of the K Pro Tour, BLX Pro Tour 18x20, the Juice Pro or an agressive player who's looking for a great cheap powerful spin freindly stick I would definate give this racquet a try.


My set up for the frame is switching the grip to full leather instead of the hybrid grip, 2 inches of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock for added stability. For strings I use natural gut mains at 58 and Alu Rough at 61.

 

[newton296]

I bought the BLX Pro Tour 2012 from Mid West for $75 to replace my K Pro Tour, and let me tell you it is worth the money. Comparing it to the K Pro Tour specs wise it is exactly the same but now made with BLX instead of Karophite. What that did was make the frame feel even more solid than the K factor.

On groundstrokes with the BLX Pro Tour it is one solid frame the racquet never vibrated or shook it just felt solid even on miss hits. The sweet spot was generous and the racquet can generate some amazing spin and power with it's 16x20 pattern. I was like a wall with this frame on the baseline I just couldn't miss. I can take a half swing and still get good power and spin.

For serves and volley this racquet reminded me of my old Pro Staff 6.0 it's head light so it's really maneuverable and with it's BLX material it felt solid at the net no matter how hard someone was hitting a ball at me I just stuck the racquet out and it did all the work. For serves the racquet has a nice pop my first serves felt great and my second serves I was throwing some nice spin.

Overall if you're a fan of the K Pro Tour, BLX Pro Tour 18x20, the Juice Pro or an agressive player who's looking for a great cheap powerful spin freindly stick I would definate give this racquet a try.


My set up for the frame is switching the grip to full leather instead of the hybrid grip, 2 inches of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock for added stability. For strings I use natural gut mains at 58 and Alu Rough at 61.

if your just looking for a cheap, spinny , powerful racquet why not go one step further and get the blx pro open

 

[Veninga]

Can you tell us anything over the SW?

The BLX Pro Tour has a hefty 330+.

The K Pro Tour has only 310 or something?

Did you measure it or how does it feel?

 

[Virtua Tennis]

if your just looking for a cheap, spinny , powerful racquet why not go one step further and get the blx pro open

I'm not that old and weak. I wanted a racquet that had a touch more power than the six one.

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

I'm not that old and weak. I wanted a racquet that had a touch more power than the six one.

LOL! Nice review, but you just took a shot at ~half of the population here, if not more.

 

[Virtua Tennis]

Can you tell us anything over the SW?

The BLX Pro Tour has a hefty 330+.

The K Pro Tour has only 310 or something?

Did you measure it or how does it feel?

It's exactly the same swing weight as my K protour 308 after a little lead my racquet is 316

 

[Ross K]

Interested in a comparison between the BLXPT and the Juice 100. Anyone?

 

[Virtua Tennis]

Interested in a comparison between the BLXPT and the Juice 100. Anyone?

The Juice is way more powerful than the BLX Protour the racquet body is 26mm compared to protour which is 24mm the juice is also lighter than the protour.

 

[cknobman]

I have not posted a review yet because I am having a little more trouble adapting than I thought I would.

Right now I am having issues with the lack of mass in the head. Its leading to my backhand not getting good depth and power and my volleys at net suffering badly.
When at net any time a good hard or spinny shot is directed at me my volley is very sub par. The pace and spin of shot combined with very little mass in head of racquet make good aggressive volleys difficult.

I also have been trying to play with the Wilson Sensation full bed it shipped with and have found control and spin difficult. I am not going to blame this on the racquet yet because I normally play with a hybrid and put poly in the mains. I plan on restringing this racquet with my normal string setup and then seeing if the spin and control improve.

The biggest benefit of the racquet so far (in comparison to my Dunlop Bio 200 lite) is the serve. I have found (and been told by my teammates) that my serve speed/power goes up significantly with the Wilson vs. the Dunlop. I have also found it very easy to control my serve so in addition to more power I am getting a higher % of first serves in too.

I will post a full review once I play with my regular string setup and that likely wont happen until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Even though its a 16x20 the frame seems to have a dense string bed the way its spaced.

I can also say that no matter what strings I use that I am going to need to add some lead into the head of this racquet if I want volley well with it and get my backhand back.

 

[Virtua Tennis]

I have not posted a review yet because I am having a little more trouble adapting than I thought I would.

Right now I am having issues with the lack of mass in the head. Its leading to my backhand not getting good depth and power and my volleys at net suffering badly.
When at net any time a good hard or spinny shot is directed at me my volley is very sub par. The pace and spin of shot combined with very little mass in head of racquet make good aggressive volleys difficult.

I also have been trying to play with the Wilson Sensation full bed it shipped with and have found control and spin difficult. I am not going to blame this on the racquet yet because I normally play with a hybrid and put poly in the mains. I plan on restringing this racquet with my normal string setup and then seeing if the spin and control improve.

The biggest benefit of the racquet so far (in comparison to my Dunlop Bio 200 lite) is the serve. I have found (and been told by my teammates) that my serve speed/power goes up significantly with the Wilson vs. the Dunlop. I have also found it very easy to control my serve so in addition to more power I am getting a higher % of first serves in too.

I will post a full review once I play with my regular string setup and that likely wont happen until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Even though its a 16x20 the frame seems to have a dense string bed the way its spaced.

I can also say that no matter what strings I use that I am going to need to add some lead into the head of this racquet if I want volley well with it and get my backhand back.

I don't know how you can't get any spin or control on this racquet. Just to teach my juniors to hit with spin and control so they don't shank balls in the net I raised the net to 5 feet and I was still able to hit balls with enough spin so it just goes over the service line.

 

[Muppet]

The Sensation stringbed may feel off if it's the first stringjob on a new racquet. The grommets are settling in and leaving the strings a bit loose. Your next set of strings should be fine.

 

[cknobman]

Reporting back with an update.

I restrung one of my Pro Tour 2012's with Donnay X-Hybrid (a really cheap hybrid that I have never played with before) putting the poly in mains(55lbs) and multi in crosses(60lbs).

I do briefly want to mention that the Donnay X-Hybrid seems to be a really nice string. It was very easy to string with and seemed to play very nicely, I wont go into this anymore since I am not here to post a string review.

The racquet performed much better than with the full bed of Wilson Sensation. I was able to control my groundstrokes and found it easier to alter my groundstrokes between power and spin.
I do still find that it takes more of a concerted effort for me to keep control and suffer from the occasional flier if I make small mistakes in my swing compared to my Dunlop.
Serves still had plenty of pop and also decent spin on them. Teammates again repeatedly told me how well I was serving with it.
Volleys did improve some with this string but I still stand by my first assessment that there is not enough mass in the head for stable volleys on groundstrokes hit hard at me.

Overall the spin is decent. I can generate enough spin just not as easily as my Dunlop or previous Prince racquets.

I have been tinkering in the TW University section trying to decide how I wanted to improve the lack of mass in the head without sacrificing too much on swingweight. I have decided to add .2 oz @3&9 oclock on the racquet to bring the overall weight up to 11.8oz and give a swingweight close to 315.

After I get the weight on there and have a chance to hit with it I will report back another update.

 

[cknobman]

Update:

I decided to try hitting with the racquet strung with the Donnay X-Hybrid a little more before adding weight.

It was a good decision and I will not be adding any weight.

I have played enough with the frame now to get past the break in/getting used to period and I am really starting to like it.

I really have to say the Donnay X-Hybrid string job made all the difference in the world. I have played with many many hybrids and I can say that priced at $6 I dont think I will be using any other hybrids from now on. This string is just awesome all around. Good feel, spin, power, and great durability. String does not loose tension quickly either.

As for the racquet what continues to be my favorite aspect is how much it has improved my serve. My first serves are more consistent and have more power/speed at the same time.
Volleys are steadily improving as I am getting used to the extreme headlight balance and firming up my grip and follow-trough.
Racquet seems to excel (for me) in using a low slice and follow in strategy.
Forehands are good as long as I keep my swing speed up. I can hit flat or spin and with good power but if I let up in my swing speed then balls will fly (for lack of spin) or land way to short in the court.

I played my first tournament with this stick last weekend. It was a doubles tournament and I got a fair good of net play in. I was not superstar up at the net but I played decent with the stick. Anyways we finished 2nd place which I was happy with.

 

[thecrusher956]

Isn't this model going to be the last pro tour?

 

[Jeff Nuese]

This was an interesting hit. Loved the weight and balance right out of the box, had nice blend of power and feel , only downside was the frame was a tad harsh and rigid.. seemed to hurt the elbow and shoulder after playing a few sets, ultimately I had to move on from the demo session..be curious to see if the harshness would leave with a soft multi at a lower tension...nice frame, too harsh for me..

 

[datsveryinterestin]

anybody care to post a photo of their 2012 blx pro tour strung up? please?

 

[cknobman]

This was an interesting hit. Loved the weight and balance right out of the box, had nice blend of power and feel , only downside was the frame was a tad harsh and rigid.. seemed to hurt the elbow and shoulder after playing a few sets, ultimately I had to move on from the demo session..be curious to see if the harshness would leave with a soft multi at a lower tension...nice frame, too harsh for me..

I have to agree with you here. Even though the specs say stiffness is 66 I feel like it really is closer to 70.

I strung mine with a poly/multi hybrid and I still get some minor soreness in my shoulder after long hitting sessions. When hitting my Dunlop Bio 200 lite or my friends Wilson BLX Pro Staff 95 I can immediately tell that this racquet is much more stiff/harsh.

Even though I posted earlier about not adding lead I ended up changing my mind. I found that my volleys were really suffering with this racquet as it all to often tourqued in my hand and I was mishitting volleys and overheads.

I added exactly 9 grams of lead to the racquet. 3 @12oclock, 3 @3oclock, 3@9oclock. Now the racquet has become solid as a rock for me and very stable even on hard groundstrokes hit at me. My volleys have more stick to them and I am not mishitting the ball as often.

I have been very happy with my decision to add the lead in the hoop of my racquet.

 

[datsveryinterestin]

I got one to try... it definitely is heavier, thinner, and more headlight than the pro open! I need to string it up with poly to really compare it as soon as temps outside get higher than 30F. tomorrow is supposed to be a balmy 44F high so maybe i can try to hit a few then.

 

[A_Instead]

Please keep us posted...

 

[datsveryinterestin]

i took these 2 out for a very quick hit today.
so last time out i loved serving with the blxproopen. i blasted the hardest 1st serve ive ever hit and i also was able to routinely hit my wide 2nd serve with a lot of kick.

today was a different story. although now it is strung with black shark/enduro pro hybrid instead of my usual black code... and it felt pretty terrible. (this is my 2nd time stringing a racquet with black shark and both times i hated the feel.. lesson learned!) i could not hit a serve with any power and groundies had spin but didnt feel very good.
but maybe it was because i was trading off between this racquet and the pro tour and my timing got messed up. dunno.

but the pro tour served great! placement on a dime and 1st serves had easy power. ball didnt kick up that high but had good sidespin movement. demo has wilson sensation on it so it wasnt a proper scientific experiment with many different variables. anyway, this racquet is very likeable. has good power of a tweener and it has the weight and balance of a players stick. the only thing im not sure about it the stiffness. it seemed like a flex of 70 and that was with multi string! maybe i'd get used to it but im worried about even trying full poly in it. groundies had great directional control and depth but spin was lacking. anyway, this does have me thinking i should try out more 95-100", @11.7oz, under 66 flex, with low swingweight racquets because my serve felt really smooth with this stick.
guess i should restring and give it another shot.. cuz the price is right!!!

 

[datsveryinterestin]

well i restrung with full poly at 54/52 wilson enduro pro 17 and it hits even better now. in fact it feels less harsh (although still a very stiff hit) than it did when strung with sensation16 at im guessing 58lbs.

great serving frame... and a great stick for hitting out. the more i get excited to end a point and get in position to rip one and the better this racquet performs. if i have a second to step around my backhand to crush a forehand.. this stick will rocket a lazer beam into a small corner of the court with a lot of spin and pace that is unreturnable. i think im sold.. in fact for 69bucks.. im definitely sold!