String Playtest Comparison:

About the play testerAbout the String

Name: radicaltourist on the Talk Tennis message boards

Playing Level: 3.5 & 4.0

Regular racquet, string & tension: Pro Kennex 15G PSE, Leopard Plus Control 17, Kirschbaum Super Smash Honey, 58 pounds.

Tell us about your game: Mainly doubles and some singles, baseliner looking to mix in approaches, eastern topspin forehand, eastern slice backhand, medium/fast swing, flat and slice serves.

Introduction

Nobody has been able to drum into your head that you haven't got the live arm you had in your 20s or 30s. For more than a couple of years now, you've been hanging on to that player's stick. Better touch, better control, yada, yada, yada. C'mon, be honest. How many times do you REALLY need to hit over a specific net string? Your kick serve tends to sit up in opponents' strike zone. Your killer forehand is getting returned more often. Your slice backhand once bit like a Doberman, now it's getting more Jack Russell like. Your topspin is a foot out. It's not that you can't do that stuff, just not often enough or deep enough into a third set. You've tried new string and lower tensions. When it gradually dawns on you that you need a little more pop, a little more spin, a little more margin, here are three candidates. . .

The Babolat Pure Drive 107 is the answer to people who could use a little more stringbed and a little more pop than the ubiquitous midplus Roddick racquet. The new "cortex" technology puts to rest my complaint about "that tinny feel."

The ProKennex Ionic 15 PSE is a second generation of the PK 15G PSE and the original answer to the answer to the question, "what if you combined the stiffness and wider beam of a game improvement frame with the weight of a player frame?"

The Prince Spectrum O3 Hybrid is also a next-generation stick of a popular frame, a more power-oriented 'tweener and head-heavy to the head light ProKennex and Babolat.

Power

The Prince comes out ahead here. It's point and shoot power was most noticeable on serves and complemented great spin potential. But it was also easy to generate too much power. The ProKennex will make your forehand a feared weapon again. With multifilaments and the newer polys, it can punish opponents cheating too far to the left or right of center. From zero aces with my OS Radicals, I got back to 2-3 aces per match with a higher number of service winners. The Babolat is for those who just need a little help on the power front, but is no slacker in the power department. It's a noticeable and usable notch up over the original Pure Drive. The difference in the PK and the Babolat was on shots that screamed low over the net with the PK smacked the tape and fell back with the Babolat.

On any of these racquets, use multifilament for wild power or poly if you need to control your power.

Control

The ProKennex ruled here. It communicates well, finds the lines well on the forehand, has the heft to knife off volleys and chip back opponents' line drives. The Babolat does well but the ÔCortex' technology gave shots a vague feel that didn't inspire confidence to get the most out of its potential in this category. But I could see that a little more time with it could have changed my mind. The Prince had way more power than control. Better to shrink the court by 3 feet all the way around with adjusted targeting and just bang the heck out of the ball.

Maneuverability

The lighter Prince gets the nod. Whether on rapid net exchanges, whipping up kick serves or whipping short cross court forehands, it shines here. Next was the ProKennex, which holds its own at net. The Babolat belongs on the baseline unless you're bench-pressing on your day off. Both the ProKennex and Babolat will make you pay if you don't split step, prepare and take that extra half step on the volley. I found myself more than once dragging the head behind the handle on high volleys with predictable results. That said, both are sufficiently heavy at net that an efficient move allows you to knock off short stab volleys.

Stability

The Babolat was the best here. It's just a heavier stick. Whether from the baseline or net, there's no twisting and no getting pushed around. The ProKennex wasn't appreciably less. The Prince is twitchy in comparison

Comfort

The Babolat is soft. I normally use a worm dampener, but I just added a W dampener to the Babolat, mostly out of habit, and it was great. This will win friends in some quarters and enemies in others. It affects feel, and I gave myself extra margin when playing with it. It's a solid stick, though. The ProKennex's Ionic technology provides a comfortable hit without affecting feel. Somehow it feels flexier than its predecessor. For at least 3-5 years, Prince has managed to build in some amazing comfort in to pretty light, stiff sticks and the Spectrum carries on this tradition. It's a comparatively comfy hit. Overall, the Babolat gets the nod for absolutely catcher's mitt comfort.

Spin

The Prince has it here, perhaps due to its more open stringbed. It generates turbine like spin, particularly noticeable on short, wide slice serves and circus backhand drop shots. I felt the Babolat came in behind the Prince but ahead of the ProKennex for unknown reasons. That said, the ProKennex kicked up my spin noticeably over my old OS Radicals.

Conclusions

The disclaimer is I was using the original ProKennex 15G PSE before this test. I added an Ionic Ki-15 PSE after this test. The Ionic Ki-15 PSE is the first review stick that I had enough confidence in to wield in serious league play and played it till I popped a string. The combination of power, control, spin and comfort makes it unique among all brands IMO. If it had a pro endorsement, everybody would be using it. I liked the Babolat enough to carry it into league play also and did well, but the vague feel and somewhat high weight for doubles brought it in second. The Prince probably doesn't belong in the same company but could be just as deadly in the right hands with the right game, perhaps a counter puncher who uses an opponent's power against him. The guy referenced in the introduction scenario was me. I finally gave up my OS Radicals in late 2005 after a disappointing year. The ProKennex has me competing again. Nobody can tell you when it's time to give up that player's stick. None of these are more powerful alternatives to the Radical or a Prince Graphite OS. But when you decide you have to change, the ProKennex and the Babolat are a good next step. While the other review sticks in the past year have been fun and I appreciated their finer points, these were probably best suited to my game.

Comfort
Babolat Pure Drive 107 80
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 76
Prince Spectrum OS 71
Control
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 75
Babolat Pure Drive 107 70
Prince Spectrum OS 65
Groundstrokes
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 79
Babolat Pure Drive 107 78
Prince Spectrum OS 68
Maneuverability
Prince Spectrum OS 73
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 68
Babolat Pure Drive 107 64
Power
Prince Spectrum OS 84
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 80
Babolat Pure Drive 107 77
Serve¥Returns
Babolat Pure Drive 107 78
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 76
Prince Spectrum OS 72
Serves¥and¥Overheads
Prince Spectrum OS 84
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 82
Babolat Pure Drive 107 80
Slice
Prince Spectrum OS 80
Babolat Pure Drive 107 77
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 76
Stability
Babolat Pure Drive 107 85
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 84
Prince Spectrum OS 70
Topspin
Prince Spectrum OS 80
Babolat Pure Drive 107 78
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 77
Touch/Feel
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 65
Babolat Pure Drive 107 60
Prince Spectrum OS 55
Volleys
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 77
Babolat Pure Drive 107 72
Prince Spectrum OS 70
Overall
ProKennex Ionic Ki-15 PSE 78
Babolat Pure Drive 107 73
Prince Spectrum OS 68


Playtest date: November, 2006.
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