The clear finish appears to have chipped alas. Meh. I'll live, my T2 was a hell of a lot more battered than that and it still plays a treat, not that I use it any more.
Yay, I played my tournament this last weekend and got 2nd place with the Precision. TPro had to be put down after a string breakage . For the smash competition I had to go to the Ti-10 and load up the top end with about 4 inches of lead tape
does panda include lead tape in balance & weight specs for the labels? Isn't this as bad as 'speccing up' with overgrips on? Just bought a 296mm, but it plays more like a 306mm.
No, Panda does not alter the rackets in anyway. The rackets are received direct from the factory and measured. The plastic wrap on the racket is done by the factory so there's no way to alter the grip unless you remove the wrap. As for your 296 feeling like 306, please measure the BP with only the original grip. If you have string on the racket already, measure the BP and subtract 6 and see what you get.
unfortunately original grip is removed (as well as the lead tape), replaced with white rkep g05. With strings (carlton .67), the bp is 314mm. I'm fairly sure the rkep grip is heavier than factory one (so should reduce bp if anything) so that leaves the 'real' bp at > 308mm.
You removed the lead tape, that's the reason why the BP is now off. The lead tape was put on the handle by the manufacturer to get to the desired BP and weight. There have been many discussions about this, many/most racket manufacturers add lead tape to achieve the desired specs. This is not out of the ordinary. If you want to get it back to the original BP~296, Panda's suggestion is, after the string breaks or if you just want to cut it, remove the string: 1) unstrung, with your desired grip set-up, place lead tape on the handle, where the manufacturer originally placed it. 2) to get it right, do not stick it, just place it on top of the handle to achieve your ideal BP. 3) once your BP is achieved, now remove your grip and stick the lead tape on the handle; now put back your grip. Now you have your desired BP.
One does wonder why you would go to the effort to buy a racquet at a specific weight and balance point and then play around with said characteristics in the process of regripping because you either don't know what you're doing or just for the hell of it...
so my point stands - it is apparently normal operating procedure' to spec up with lead tape included - this is no different to adding grips before speccing up. it pretty much renders the whole process of measuring and balancing pointless.
If you are in the category that thinks it makes no difference ... Apparently you noticed a difference, unless you removed it straight away, so is it pointless?
Sir, there is a difference. It is achieving the desired specifications for both weight and BP. The TPros produced in your batch, the desired weight and BP range was: 85 - 88g, BP295-305. By removing the lead tape off the handle, the racket is now around 80g, BP315. Neither are in the desired range.
That's my point - it should be an off-spec racket, but it is bundled in with rackets that are on-spec without the need for any lead tape.
I removed it straight away. I thought it was a ~296mm racket (thats what label says), but compared to rackets like-for-like, it is not a 296mm.
Sir, your racket is not off-spec. I have already stated it in Post # 5064 but I will repeat again, as clearly as I can: 1) The racket is not off-spec because it came from the factory like that. Nothing was altered after it left the factory. 2) The factory used lead tape on the handle to get the desired weight and BP. It is common practice and again not off-spec. 3) If you did not remove the original grip and lead tape, the racket would be the stated weight and BP on the label (+/-0.2g, +/-1mm). 4) Just about all the rackets in your batch (that I have seen) have lead tape on the handle to achieve the correct BP and weight. Based on the requirements ~85-88g, BP295-305; this is what they had to do to achieve them. Your racket is typical, it is not a mistake. So do not worry.
That's the problem, you were not supposed to remove the lead tape (big factor) and original grip (small factor). If you would have weighed and checked the balance of your racket, unstrung, with the plastic wrapper removed only: it would be the stated weight and BP on the sticker. By removing the lead tape from the handle dropped the weight of the racket about 3-5g and increased the BP significantly. Now the racket is overall lighter by 3-5g but much more head heavy, maybe 8-10+mm
This just means that the industry's weighing and balancing is pointless - it is meant to provide a means to rackets - but you cant compare them as rackets with same spec but different amounts of lead tape wont play the same.
No one said it's a perfect world. This is why Yonex is "smart" using the "U" weight system and general terms such as balanced, head heavy, head light. They know making rackets near identical is extremely difficult to achieve. Being off by a few grams in weight and a few millimeters in BP happens quite easily during the production process of a racket. Remember, a gram is about the weight of a paper clip, very light. For Panda Power rackets, we just try to quantify these general numbers, minimize the variables, as close as possible. But again, it's not perfect. But we do the best we can. For instance, Panda worked from 3pm to 1:30am, came home and started answering your posts. It's 4:44am and Panda is still up replying. Don't think too many racket makers will do that for the customer.
That's one of the reasons I buy PP - you won't get service better than this amleto: Stop complaining. All companies use lead tape, I've had lead tape on other rackets before. On no Panda racket so far, btw. Adding lead tape on the handle DOES change characteristics of the racket, but if you KNOW it's there, and think it will play differently than one without, you'll always feel that way. It's called placebo. Anyone who knows a bit about engineering will tell you the shift in BP and weight caused by the lead tape will have an influence.
you missed the point - compare a 296mm racket with lead tape to one without. It's not a like-for-like comparison.