Racquet Review: SOLINCO Tour 8
HEAD SIZE: 98 SQ. IN.
LENGTH: 27 IN.
WEIGHT: 10.58 OZ.
BALANCE: 8 PTS. HL
SWINGWEIGHT: 280
FLEXIBILITY: FIRM
BEAM WIDTH: 21MM
STRING PATTERN: 16 X 19
IDEAL SWING: MEDIUM TO LONG
NTRP: 4.0+
The Pitch: The SOLINCO Tour 8 is made with Nickel-Mesh, individually nickel-anodized, high-performance carbon fibers that are woven together into a solid and powerful mesh. The California-based company claims this enhances the frame’s feel and control.
How It Tested: If you’re an exacting person who loves to customize a stick to the idiosyncrasies of your own game, the Tour 8 is for you. Advanced 4.0 and 4.5 playtesters complimented the control-oriented feedback of the Tour 8—making the racquet a good choice for fast-swinging adolescents still building their games—while others disliked the racquet’s light weight and lack of stability on mishits. But, with the Tour 8’s thin beam, playtesters agreed that the racquet’s rare blend of low weight and head-light balance was a “perfect situation for after-market customization”—i.e., adding heft to the frame in the form of lead tape. As one playtester noted, it’s easy to add weight to a frame, but it’s awfully hard to take it away.
Bottom Line: This year's most customizable player's stick is great for developing juniors and the technically astute.
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