Prince Textreme Beast 100 Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 83

The Prince Textreme Beast 100 lives up to its name from the baseline. The playtesters found plenty of power and easy access to depth and spin. Kristen found the Beast 100 loaded with pure power for her groundstrokes. She said, "The name says it all: When it comes to power, the Beast 100 is truly a beast. This racquet was a lot of fun to play with from the baseline — sometimes too much fun. I definitely had to shorten my stroke at times and be careful not to overhit because it definitely offers more power than control. At times this racquet would get pushed around outside of the sweetspot against big hitters, and it wasn't quite as maneuverable as the Beast O3 100, but overall, it was very user friendly and easy to pick up and play with. Players who like getting nice pop off their groundstrokes will definitely love this racquet from the baseline."

"As a big fan of Prince racquets, and someone who absolutely loved the Warrior 100, I was excited to see what this next generation was going to offer," continued Brittany. "The specs are right in my range, and I didn't need an adjustment period. It was easy to generate head speed and get the Beast 100 flying through the air (although maybe slightly slower than the O Port version). There was easy access to power and depth on both wings. I would have liked just a little more precision when I was putting balls away; I often found myself missing deep by a couple inches."

Comparing the Beast 100 to his racquet of choice, Jason said, "I really enjoyed hitting groundstrokes with this racquet. In many regards, it reminded me a lot of my Babolat Pure Strike 98 16x19. The ease with which I was able to get depth, power and spin was fantastic. According to my PlaySight data, this racquet was slightly outperforming my Pure Strike in power and spin. My average spin numbers were among some of the highest tested recently. I found the Beast 100 really easy to swing, which helped me hit balls at shoulder and head height. The only real downside for me was that the racquet could be too powerful at times, so I'd tend to launch shots if I didn't put enough spin on them. Luckily, I tend to hit with a lot of topspin, so it wasn't much of an issue."

Fun and easy are the first words that popped into Tiffani's mind when she recalled her time with the Beast 100 at the baseline. She remarked, "The fun comes from the easy power. The ball just shoots off the stringbed. Easy refers to the depth that I could generate with this racquet. Much like a previous Prince racquet I tested, the Warrior 100, this Beast 100 made it easier for me to transition from a defensive position to an offensive position on the court. I didn't need to swing hard to generate power and depth. I liked the crisp feel of this traditional grommet version better than the Textreme Beast O3 100. I could tell the racquet had a stiff layup by its response, but it never felt uncomfortable, even when strung with a full bed of polyester string. I had just a couple of issues off the ground. First, I was getting too drawn in by the power level and had to remind myself to keep my shot selection in check. Second, I had trouble finding my range on my backhand slice; like with the Warrior 100, this shot was floating on me."

Volleys - Score: 85

Our playtesters had mixed feelings on the Textreme Beast 100 when it came to volleys. Some found that it offered a maneuverable feel, while others were looking for a little more stability. The racquet was a breeze up at net for Brittany. She praised, "It felt easy to maneuver and get into position. I liked playing doubles with it because it was quick enough for reflex volleys but had enough stability to handle any hard-hit passing shots. Just like with the O3 version, I had the most success when I was punching the volley deep with pace to end the point."

"The Beast 100 got the job done at the net," added Tiffani. "I found it most effective at punching volleys away rather than trying to feather a ball short, which isn't my strong point anyway. When I didn't stick my volleys the racquet fluttered a bit, and my shots didn't penetrate the court as much as I would've liked. When I made good contact, though, there was plenty of power and good directional control."

Jason thought the racquet felt quick and responsive up at net. He noted, "There's plenty of power to put away volleys and overheads with ease. I would've liked a bit more stability for when I didn't hit it cleanly in the center, so I'd try adding a little tungsten to the hoop."

On the other hand, Kristen found the Beast 100 to be a bit sluggish at net. She critiqued, "The Beast 100 performed well when I had enough time to get into position, however, when I was on the stretch or having to react quickly against big hitters, the ball would tend to fly long off the stringbed."

Serves - Score: 82

The playtesters felt that the raw power and spin potential of the Prince Textreme Beast 100 made it a real weapon on their serves. Jason, who was able to access easy power on his serve, offered, "I wasn't hitting bombs like John Isner, but I did feel like I was getting some nice pop on my serve with this racquet. Since it was so maneuverable, I felt like I could easily accelerate it through contact to put lots of spin on the ball. That maneuverability also allowed me to control where I was placing the ball with pinpoint accuracy."

Tiffani agreed, adding, "The serve is rarely my favorite shot to hit with any racquet, but the Beast 100 delivered the free power I like on serves. Although I found the power harder to contain on groundstrokes, I loved that this racquet helped me bring some heat to my serves, which are usually more lukewarm! I appreciated the spin potential, too."

Kristen really enjoyed hitting serves with this racquet. She explained, "The pop and plow through the Beast 100 offers made it really fun to go for powerful serves, and I found it easy to get good placement."

"The serve was the one shot I enjoyed more with this standard beam version than I did with the O Port," said Brittany. "I could easily hit my serves with pace, and they were landing deep in the service box. It was also easy to get the racquet moving up and over my head. The biggest advantage over the O Port was that I felt a little more connected to the racquet and had a better idea of where the ball was going once it left the stringbed. This gave me a little bit better accuracy on both first and second serves."

Returns - Score: 82

The Beast 100 again offered the playtesters easy access to power when they were returning serves. This turned out to be both a positive and a negative in the eyes of the playtesters. "I was able to hit a variety of returns well with this racquet," said Jason. "The great access to spin allowed me to go for aggressive returns, because the topspin helped bring the ball down in the court. When I wanted to hit my slice, I felt like I could really knife it and keep it low. I was also finding some sharp angles on my backhand. The one shot I consistently struggled with was my inside-out forehand; I could never get quite as much angle on it as I wanted."

The Textreme Beast 100 was easy for Brittany to return with. She said, "I had no issues stepping up to the baseline and taking a big cut at the ball to start off the point on the offensive. I thought the Beast 100 had a nice combination of maneuverability and stability. I never felt like I was getting pushed around on big first serves, and I was confident in my ability to block the ball back to a specific target."

The Prince Textreme Beast 100 may have had too much power for Kristen. She commented, "Although it was super fun to hit returns with this racquet, I definitely had to dial back my return motion a tad to make sure I didn't overhit. This racquet is definitely packed with a lot of power and plow through, making aggressive returns feel great."

Tiffani was in a similar boat. She said, "With the easy power coming off the Beast 100, I had some issues finding my range. My first returns were pretty wild with this racquet, and I had to dial it back some. Going back toward the server gave me more room for error, but because I hit pretty flat, I also needed to remember to try to add some spin to my returns. When I got it all right the Beast 100 let me get on the offensive quickly. When I got it wrong I missed my returns — usually long."

Overall - Score: 81