Category Archives: PEEK
String Evaluation Program
Racquet Quest, LLC has for years been doing the extensive evaluation of racquets and string for the benefit of our client’s customization requirements.
Now we are making this evaluation “program” available to anyone that wants to dig deeper into the workings of the string in the racquet!
This is serious stuff and requires significant resources but it is worth it!
Please contact us of you would like to take advantage of our evaluation program!
Prince Vortex 300
The new Prince Vortex design is a new offering of an older string pattern with 14 main strings and 21 cross strings in a variable taper beam…whew! You can see by the throat design that the main strings are longer that a conventional throat design. The longer the main strings the more energy they can return…sort of, and in some cases!
Vortex 300
The beam starts at the grip with a strong 25mm then tapers into a 23mm at the throat and then back to 25mm at the tip. Do not let the beam dimensions fool you! The RDC flex of 59 after stringing is quite acceptable for most every player style.
We have been taking coefficient of friction (COF) data for years but have not included it this review format, until now. The 14×21 string pattern is unique enough that it is worth including. You will see the numbers on the review specs so we won’t go into them now, however the numbers are interesting.
The 14 main strings contribute to a very “open” area right about where most extreme “spin” shots are hit according to our data of string failure positions.
The frame geometry is sort of “Aero” like. The shaft is trapezoidal that transitions into a “reverse” trapezoid around the head. It makes the racquet look stiffer than it is!
Take a look at the specs then pick up a demo to see what the numbers mean to you!
| Manufacturer | Prince |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Prince Vortex 300 |
| Reference Tension | 56 lbs - 25.4kg |
| String | Victrex 7718 |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 45 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 58.5 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 59 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 40.0 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 526.3 lbs/Inch |
| Weight, Grams | 322 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.36 |
| Balance, mm | 320 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.60 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 9.94 |
| Head Length | 12.94 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 652 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 101.1 |
| Number of Main Strings | 14 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 21 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .512 |
| Main String Grid | 7.30 |
| Cross String Grid | 9.50 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .686 |
| Average Cross String Space | .452 |
| Average Main String Space | .521 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 32 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 176.98 |
| First Moment, Nm | .790 |
| Polar Moment | 336 |
| Torsional Stability | 17 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 319 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 11.25 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 329.7 |
| Power, RDC | 47 |
| Control, RDC | 52 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 74 |
| Power, Calculated | 1921.1 |
| Head Points | 7.24 |
| Head Weight, % | 46.6 |
| Center of Percussion | 21.7 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 9.48 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 30.2 |
| K, Lb/In | 144.23 |
| Recoil Weight | 165.41 |
| Twist Weight | 237.56 |
| End Weight | 134.5 |
| Tip Weight | 189.0 |
| 9 O'Clock | 96.2 |
| 3 O'Clock | 96.1 |
| Butt Cap | 131.4 |
| Coefficient of Friction: M | .400 |
| Coefficient of Friction: X | .262 |
Prince Phantom 107G!
Prince! What can you say about the brand that “normalized” over sized racquets!
So, instead of talking about “what was” we will talk about “what is!” And “what is” is exciting, I think! With so many really good tennis racquets to choose from why would you choose a Prince racquet? With this review we will explore the reasons you may want to consider it!
THE PRINCE PHANTOM 107G
Prince Phantom 107G
If this racquet had a high gloss finish and some green lines instead of the current matt finish you could not tell it from the original Prince Graphite. In other, words it looks terrific.
The beam tapers slightly from about 17.5mm at the top of the grip up to about 21mm at the tip, but by just looking you would say it is a straight beam design. The proportions of the racquet are “classic” and the “torsion bar” in the throat contributes to that classic look.
And speaking of classic, the grip shape and the “torsion resistance system” at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions are classics!
So, take a look at the other specs of this racquet and if you like what you see come by at take it for a “demo”
| Manufacturer | Prince |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Prince Phantom 107G |
| Reference Tension | 58 lbs - 26.3 k2 |
| String | Victrex 224 |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 50 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 62 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 61 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 51 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 425.5 lbs/Inch |
| Weight, Grams | 333 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.75 |
| Balance, mm | 324 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.76 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 10.25 |
| Head Length | 13.25 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 688.4 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 106.7 |
| Number of Main Strings | 16 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 19 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .652 |
| Main String Grid | 8.00 |
| Cross String Grid | 10.43 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .783 |
| Average Cross String Space | .550 |
| Average Main String Space | .500 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 33 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 184.57 |
| First Moment, Nm | .830 |
| Polar Moment | 342 |
| Torsional Stability | 17 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 325 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 11.46 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 349.6 |
| Power, RDC | 53 |
| Control, RDC | 49 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 70 |
| Power, Calculated | 2136.6 |
| Head Points | 5.98 |
| Head Weight, % | 47.2 |
| Center of Percussion | 21.1 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 9.00 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 27.5 |
| K, Lb/In | 160.26 |
| Recoil Weight | 160.29 |
| Twist Weight | 260.14 |
| End Weight | 135.5 |
| Tip Weight | 197.2 |
| 9 O'Clock | 98.4 |
| 3 O'Clock | 100.2 |
| Butt Cap | 133.2 |
In a string does color matter?
Of course color matters! Brands have made history on color! Prince Green, Head Orange, Babolat Blue, for racquets but what about string?
Sure, again! Luxilon Silver, Babolat Black, Solinco Green, Victrex Putty…what? Which of these monofilament strings do not have any color pigment?
If you guessed the Victrex you would be correct. But why not? The natural color of the polymer is probably the very strongest a string can be, however, without color they would not be at all interesting or recognizable! The natural Victrex color is typically what we use when evaluating the string because it is visually different.
Victrex does make strings with black-pigment, but this post is about the difference pigmentation can make in a string. In a previous post some years go we determined that color had very little affect on string properties and this evaluation shows pretty much the same result in a different format.
You can see by this graph there is very little difference between the two Volkl V-Star strings. In fact it would be safe to say the strings are identical.
Racquet Quest, LLC
