I admit that I've tried very few new frames in the past 10 years or so. That's because from about the year 2000 to about 2010, I tried many new frames, and didn't like even one of them. I hated most of them. So I gave up on new frames. Fortunately, I was able to find old frames that I liked - Prestige Classic 600s, iPrestige Mids, Pro Tour 280s... plus the Graphite Edges I had, along with various frames from the 1970s. Those are the racquets I use today - the newest is the iPrestige Mid, which is 20 years old.
The Dunlop Muscle Weave 90 played rather similarly to the iPrestige Mid. They were on the market at the same time. I chose the iPrestige simply because I was used to the Head shape, string pattern, and feel.
Not co-incidentally, the early 2000s is when racquet companies began going completely nuts with their frames, introducing 'new improved' models every 2 years or so. Claiming that these new racquets were 'improved' versions of the earlier models was absolute BS, of course - 100% marketing gimmick. If their claims of 'more power and control' with every new generation of frames were even remotely true, we would all be able to hit the ball THROUGH the fence, and be able to hit a dime on the court any time we want!
I rapidly grew tired of the marketing BS - nano this, liquidmetal that, etc. - and gave up on new racquets, as, beginning in about the year 2000, the racquet companies had very obviously placed quantity - and financial profit - far, far ahead of quality.
In the past 10 years or so, I've tried out a handful of frames - racquets that friends have had that I've grabbed for a 5 minute hit. I didn't like any of them. Over the past 20 years or so, my complaints about new racquets are always the same: they are too light and too stiff, and they have virtually no feel. While 'feel' may be a subjective element, I know what it is TO ME - and I've not hit with any racquet made in about the past 20 years that has had enough feel for me. None were even close.
In a related story...
Somewhat interestingly, I began playing pickleball (in 2019) with a wooden paddle. This was because that's the paddle they were lending out for free to newcomers. There were 2 models of wooden paddle - I chose the heaviest of the two.
Right away, I was beating everyone else in the group with it. They had their $100+ graphite, etc. paddles, and I had the borrowed $15 wooden paddle. They were all ridiculing me for playing with the 'heavy', 'ancient' paddle... but I was beating them. I tried at least 20 different paddles that first year - many different makes and models - all recent - just asking others to try their paddles. I hated all of them. As in tennis, I know what I want from a racquet/paddle - and I know what I DON'T want. Unfortunately, the huge majority of them are the type that I don't want.
At the beginning of this year (2020), I still did not own a pickleball paddle. I was planning to play with an advanced group in another town, and so asked if I could purchase 2 or 3 of the wooden paddles I had come to love from the place I was playing in 2019. They would not sell them to me, saying they were for newcomers to borrow - even though only about 3 newcomers borrowed paddles in 2019, and they would not be lending paddles out to anyone in 2020 due to COVID-19.
As I needed a paddle quickly for my try-out with the advanced league, I grabbed one at Costco. I figured I'd hate it and would return it - then beg to purchase at least one of those wooden ones. To my utter shock, at the advanced try-out, I liked the Costco paddle. It was a Wilson something-or-other. It was the only non-wooden paddle I'd tried (out of 2 dozen or so) that actually felt right. It's considered 'very heavy' - but to me, all the others I'd tried (except the wooden one I loved) seemed like toy paddles made for children. I got into the advanced league and bought another of the Costco paddles. I would have purchased 1 or 2 more, as well, had they not disappeared from the Costco stores.
Here's a nice present-day story of a guy using a wooden paddle (the same wooden paddle I began with and love) to win tournaments today. I only saw this story after I'd played with that paddle for a year. (You might recognize one of the comments below the story.
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https://blog.pickleballcentral.com/2019 ... od-paddle/
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