I have uploaded yet another racquet comparison to YouTube. This time the HEAD Radical Pro vs Prestige MP. Which one would you pick?
HEAD has a lot of racquets in their range and many of them overlap. In the 98 sq inch segment there are: the HEAD Radical Pro, the HEAD Radical MP, the Prestige MP, and the HEAD Extreme Tour for example. They are all a bit different though and it can be confusing to understand how. I hope you find this HEAD Radical Pro vs Prestige MP racquet comparison useful.
Specs
There are a few specs differences between these two racquets that tell part of the story. The Radical Pro has a tapered beam, meaning it has a different thickness in different areas, while the Prestige MP has a constant beam, 20 mm throughout. Still, the Radical Pro is around 20-20.5 mm, so it’s not drastic.
RADICAL PRO
PRESTIGE MP
What you can’t see are the stiffness ratings. The Radical is slightly stiffer for a bit more power, while players with sensitive arms might want to opt for the Prestige.
Another figure they rarely give out is the swing weight. The racquets I have measured vary between 325-330 in SW strung which is suitable for advanced players looking for good stability.
How do they differ?
Let’s look at the different areas of play.
Control – Prestige MP is a bit more precise
Power – The Radical Pro offers more power
Feel/Touch – I think the Prestige feels a bit better on touch shots
Spin – The 16×19 pattern of the Radical helps to create more spin
Maneuverability – It’s pretty much an even struggle here
Stability – Both racquets are equally stable
Stroke by stroke
Serve – I find I hit a bigger serve with the Radical
Groundstrokes – More control with the Prestige, more power/spin with the Radical
Volleys – The Prestige is more stable and connected
Slice – The higher twist weight of the Prestige helps generate a more penetrating slice
Returns – Equal as they are both very stable
I hope this helps you make up your mind! Which one would you pick?
4 comments
One addition you could do to the comparison reviews is to let your hitting partner comment on what it feels like to receive the balls from you when you use the different racquets. You can do the same and hand over the sticks to your hitting partner and notice what happens.
I have noticed when doing so that the result is often different from what one may expect. Sometimes when your hitting partner switches racquets, you feel extra depth, spin or pace immediately.
I guess this would be useful for string comparisons too provided you had two identical frames to switch between.
The video describes the specs accurately, but your table above lists the Radical Pro as having a 18/20 pattern and 100sq inch head, which needs correcting. I guess calling it a 20.5 beam would be more correct too.
There is string pattern 18/20 in the description of Radical Pro. Down in the text you speak about 16/19. I think, there are no Radical´s with 18/20 pattern in program.
Because of the many changes in the program of HEAD Prestige (string pattern in MID, weight, stiffness) I just changed to the Gravity line, after 20 years of using Prestige MID 18/20. I my eyes is the Prestige line wrong place for tests.
The new Radical racquets should be softer, then the previous models, but still stiffer than Prestige. This is no choice for me. Thanks for the comparsion.
Hi, I’m using a BLX six.one tour 90..
I was thinking to refresh my tools, moving to one of this two in the comparison..
I tried the Prestige Pro, and I didn’t like the feeling (it sounds less solid/stable than my Wilson). Is there in the market something with a similar feeling to my racquets?