Racquet Playtest Comparison: V-Engine 8 vs T-Feel 290XL vs Pure Storm Team MP

About the play tester

About the racquets

Name: radicaltourist on the Talk Tennis message boards Playing Level: 3.5 Regular racquet, string & tension: 1998 Radical Tour OS, 366 grams strung/345 swingweight, 31.6 Balancepoint, Babolat Razor Spin 17, 62 pounds. Tell us about your game: Power baseline, trying to look for opportunities to come to the net, moderate to fast stroke, eastern topspin forehand, eastern slice backhand, mostly doubles. Power Power on all three is healthy without the addition of lead, and its rare for me to say that about anything below 11 ounces. All three are serve monsters by intermediate standards. The Tecnifibre generates the most powerful serves by a little, then the Tour 8 and then the Pure Storm. But theyÕre very close. On groundies, the Tecnifibre seemed less impressive. But with all three, you need to dial in more vertical input (spin) than horizontal to keep the balls in the court if you attempt anything more than a moderate cut at the ball. The Babolat also has plenty of pop but a bit less than the others.

Control

For the lightning bolts these can hit, here is where you pay. Stay balanced and hit with spin and you will be fine. Slap at the ball off balance and it's headed for the fence. Moderate strokes are most often rewarded. The Volkl seemed like it was on automatic pilot compared to the Tecnifibre. It's easy to confuse control, stability and maneuverability on fast reaction volleys, but the Volkl seemed more agreeable to knifing back low flying bullets. The Tecnifibre, perhaps due to its very open 14x18 string pattern, had control issues at the net. In my first hour of hitting with the Babolat, I never gained control of it, possibly due to the slight head heavy balance. It came around in my second outing.

Maneuverability

The Tecnifibre and Volkl racquets are so maneuverable you forget these are extra length frames. All three had enough maneuverability to inspire me to take hard cross court groundstrokes from opponents and hit a one-hand backhand down the line Ð not that a few didn't go wide, but I felt comfortable going for them. I recalled which were extra length frames, however, trying to hit inside out forehands. I'd think more experience would solve that.

Stability

Regular serves don't push these around, though a chip or block return may be more reliable Ð and effective - against harder serves. If your competition is serving regularly up in the 85-100 mph category, you probably need a little lead or better still a different stick. The Babolat with its larger head and heavier weight was most stable, followed by the Volkl and the Tecnifibre, which might benefit from a slightly wider head. I also gave stability points to Volkl for a rectangular handle similar to a Head stick, which I think puts more surface perpendicular to incoming balls..

Comfort

None of these actually need a dampener, partly due to the Wilson Sensation String they came with. The Tecnifibre felt stiffest but still was far from harsh. Same with the Bab. The Volkl felt almost cushy. Worth noting here is that the Volkl and Tecnifibre have longer handles to accommodate two-handed ground strokes.

Spin

Sheesh, the Tecnifibre with its 14x18 string job is the Circ de Sole of spin and slice groundstrokes. It's like having a faux Western grip, and you might want to keep a string straightener in your pocket. But the other two provide excellent spin to tame the power. I struggle to hit a topspin backhand with an 18x19 107 stick but could demonstrate pretty good proficiency with all of these. I expected more of the Babolat but its power frequently seemed to overcome its spin potential. The Volkl seemed to dial up whatever spin was requested.

Summary

If ever I thought about keeping a set of TW's review sticks and disappearing into the hacker protection program, these are three keepers. There's not a dog in the bunch. I didn't get the as-measured specs, but I found them to all be point-and-shoot baseline bombers. None of these middleweight sticks violate the laws of physics. If you get jammed or stretched wide, it's hard to dig yourself out. But Volkl, Tecnifibre and Babolat seem to have found a very nice balance of power, control, weight, flex, feedback, and comfort. I liked the Volkl Tour 8 V Engine best. Switching from my Radicals, it was the easiest to pick up and just start hitting with. It has more power and nearly as much feel at net as the original Tour 8, an underappreciated stick. The worst I can say about it is I wish it were at least a 102 head. It still is a nice choice for a mix of baseline and volley play. If I was strictly a baseliner, though, the Tecnifibre might have been first instead of second. The topspin, power and maneuverability seem effortless and mostly just as comfortable as the Volkl. I hated putting the Babolat in third because it is a great stick, and I love the specs on paper. On court, it has some of the Pure Control's feel with more power, feel and a forgiving head size than the Pure Drive. Had I tail-weighted it with some lead, I might have found my groove better. For the 12 oz, 95Ó, 59 stiffness player starting to lose his edge, something like the NXG MP, O3 Tour or FP Radical Tour might be a better choice. But if you need more help short of an oversized widebody, or if you're a beginner outgrowing a beginner stick, the Tour 8 V Engine, T-Feel 290 XL and the Pure Storm Team MP are as good as it gets. Unfortunately, these racquets are in the overpopulated midplus Ôtweener' category, where a good stick can die in anonymity. I fear they could be overlooked by people who want to look like Andy Roddick and default to the Pure Drive. Every one of these three is a better choice, in my opinion.

Postscript A couple of months after I wrote this, I began switching to the Volkl to restore needed pop to my serve and reliability to my one-hand topspin backhand. Though I've added two layers of lead centered just above the 3 and 9, I still have more maneuverability than the leaded up Radical and gained a very stable hitting platform.

Comfort Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 75 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 74 Babolat Pure Storm MP 73	Control Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 74 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 72 Babolat Pure Storm MP 70	Groundstrokes Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 79 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 79 Babolat Pure Storm MP 76	Maneuverability Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 78 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 78 Babolat Pure Storm MP 75
Power Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 82 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 81 Babolat Pure Storm MP 78	serve Returns Babolat Pure Storm MP 77 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 75 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 73	Serves and Overheads Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 80 Babolat Pure Storm MP 79 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 77	Slice Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 82 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 80 Babolat Pure Storm MP 78
Stability Babolat Pure Storm MP 78 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 74 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 72	Topspin Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 84 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 80 Babolat Pure Storm MP 77	Touch/Feel Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 74 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 73 Babolat Pure Storm MP 72	Volleys Babolat Pure Storm MP 78 Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 76 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 72
Overall Volkl Tour 8 V Engine 78 Tecnifibre T-Feel 290XL 74 Babolat Pure Storm MP 72

Playtest date: August, 2005.

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