Head Graphene 360 Instinct MP Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 83

Our playtesters found that the Graphene 360 Instinct MP was easy to use and offered great depth on groundstrokes. Brittany has played with five iterations of the Instinct, and she's noticed some variation throughout the years. She said, "I am happy to report that this Graphene 360 Instinct MP is an easy racquet to pick up and play with. Right away I noticed the access to power and spin on my groundstrokes. Hitting the ball deep in the court felt nearly effortless. When I was testing the racquet with our PlaySight Smart Court I noticed that I did not miss a single ball into the net. Another positive for me was that it was very easy to generate racquet head speed. However, when I was on the attack my shots weren't penetrating through the court as much as normal, and my opponent was getting to an extra ball or two. I would have liked a bit more mass in the hoop because I felt like my slices were floating."

"This is one of those racquets I think most people will be able to pick up and use right away. It is very user friendly," started Jason. "It had excellent maneuverability for easy spin generation, and I could find sharp angles from both wings. Power and pace were slightly above average for me. Where I struggled with this racquet was when I tried to absorb pace from harder hit shots. I was getting pushed around against bigger hitters, so I'd definitely add some weight to the hoop to help with that."

The specs of the Graphene 360 Instinct MP surprised Tiffani. She noted, "I like to begin hitting with a playtest racquet before I dive into the specs, so when I saw that this racquet had a swingweight of 320, I was shocked. I would have guessed that it was closer to 310 because it was whipping through the hitting zone so quickly. The last Head racquet I tested was the Graphene 360 Extreme, which had a similar beam width, string pattern and static weight. Despite surface similarities, the two racquets are quite different once you get on court. The Extreme swings with more heft and feels more stable to me, and although the string patterns are both 16x19, the Instinct has tighter string spacing and doesn't feel as powerful. I enjoyed the depth I was getting with the Instinct, and my PlaySight data showed higher speed numbers, but I missed the plow through of the Extreme MP. The sweetspot felt a bit lower than where I tend to make contact with the ball as well. However, I did enjoy stepping in and taking the ball early with the Instinct and found more power than I did with the previous Graphene Touch Instinct."

Erik just couldn't get into a rhythm from the baseline. He described, "The Graphene 360 Instinct MP on my groundstrokes was kind of a mixed bag for me. This racquet wasn't as stable as I would have liked. I was able to hit with a good amount of spin and power, but sometimes the power was too much for me to control. My slice tended to sit up, and I couldn't knife the ball as much as I wanted to. This racquet was not very stable; I would add more weight to the head at 3 and 9 o'clock. However, this racquet was very maneuverable, and I could generate a lot of head speed. Unfortunately, the Instinct MP didn't quite work for my game because it wasn't very stable from the back of the court."

Volleys - Score: 80

Up at net, our playtesters were impressed with the Graphene 360 Instinct MP's maneuverability, but they wanted a little more stability at times.Tiffani found that this racquet fared better at net than its predecessor. She said, "When I headed to the net I really appreciated the improved feel over the previous version of this racquet. I could feel when the ball was sinking into the strings, and I had good placement. I also liked how easy it was to maneuver this racquet."

On the other hand, Erik would have liked more feel. He said, "I had no problem maneuvering the Instinct MP, and I found it extremely quick up at net, although it wasn't as responsive as I had hoped. I found myself hitting too deep with this racquet because I didn't feel connected to the ball. While I felt like I lacked feel with this Instinct MP, I was able to maneuver it nicely."

"The Graphene 360 Instinct MP had nice feel and was quick around the net," Jason added. "The lack of torsional stability was more noticeable on off-center hits due to the lack of weight."

Like Tiffani, Brittany was shocked by the swingweight and maneuverability. She said, "One of the first things I noticed when hitting volleys was that the racquet was pretty maneuverable. I was surprised when I checked the swingweight and found out it was 320. If I were to have guessed, I would have expected it to be in the 308 to 313 range. This racquet was very easy to get into position, and I never felt late hitting the ball, which was especially important on reflex volleys. On the other hand, I had to be very confident and firm when hitting my volleys to keep them from floating."

Serves - Score: 81

Our playtesters had mixed opinions when it came to serving with the Graphene 360 Instinct MP, but they were all satisfied with the racquet's ability to generate head speed and spin. Brittany was the only playtester who found easy power on her serve. She described, "I was able to tap into the power potential by accelerating up and over my shoulder. When I first started hitting serves they were landing well past the service line. I had this issue on both first and second serves. I had to dial them back and consciously add some spin. This allowed my serves to drop right inside the service line. I enjoyed hitting slice serves out wide, which ended up being my go-to serve when playing points because it was so consistent."

Erik's serves weren't as powerful when he was serving with the Graphene 360 Instinct MP, but he made up for it with depth. He observed, "I could hit my spots and send the ball quite deep. I lacked power on my serves, but I managed to hit the ball deep with a lot of spin. This racquet wasn't as predictable as I would have liked, and I felt like I would miss in the net if I didn't go after the serve completely. My favorite serves were body serves down the middle and kick serves out wide on the ad side."

"It was more about placement and spin, rather than power, when I was serving," explained Tiffani. "I struggled to generate pace with this racquet. No matter how hard I tried to swing, I didn't feel like I was rewarded with any additional plow through. I wanted a bit more mass in the upper hoop. On the flip side, this racquet did swing quickly, and I had some success hitting serves out wide to move my opponent out of the court."

With such great maneuverability, Jason didn't expect to struggle as much as he did on serve. He said, "I was really missing some mass here. I felt like I had to swing harder than I'm comfortable with to generate the pace that I wanted. However, getting the racquet to quickly accelerate through contact and getting lots of spin on my serves was effortless."

Returns - Score: 82

The Graphene 360 Instinct MP received similar feedback from our playtesters when it came to returning. Jason found success on his returns but would have liked some added weight. He said, "The easy mobility allowed me to hit a nice variety of returns. I could get aggressive and take big swings at the ball or take some pace off, really brush up on the ball and go for sharp angled returns. Again, a bit more mass would've helped against harder servers."

Easy maneuverability was the key factor for Tiffani on returns. She said, "I could take a full swing at most serves, and for the most part, I didn't really have any issues with stability. Every now and then a shot would fly on me, and I think it was when I hit slightly out of the sweetspot. I had this issue on groundstrokes as well."

"Normally my return of serve is one of my favorite shots to hit, and while I was able to get the racquet around my body easily, the Graphene 360 Instinct MP was lacking a little mass, just like it did when I was hitting my groundstrokes," critiqued Brittany. "I could feel some instability at times against bigger serves, and I just wasn't fully confident hitting my return. I would have good connections that would send the ball deep in the court and others that landed short."

Erik also struggled to find consistency with his return. He concluded, "I tended to play more defensively on returns with the Instinct MP, and I found the power a little unpredictable. I felt like I would overhit the returns occasionally, and I wasn't getting enough spin on the ball when I needed it. The Graphene 360 Instinct MP would get a little unstable on first serve returns."

Overall - Score: 81