Solinco Blackout 300 tennis racket review

Solinco might be new to many but when it comes to creating strings for pro players the California based brand has been a big hitter for many years with the best selling Hyper G now a household name. Tennishead was fascinated to see if this experience could translate into a tennis frame as we review the Solinco Blackout 300 racket

First launched in early 2022 the Solinco tennis racket range has been kept as what you might call an ‘insider’s secret’ without any high profile stars playing with either the ‘Whiteout’ or the ‘blackout’ frames whilst the owners focus on the success of their hugely popular range of mainly polyester strings, however having heard some positive murmurings from players that have tried the rackets we thought it was time to try them out on court.

Solinco Founder KT Kim says, “Our vision has never been to be just a string brand. Our mission has always been to equip players with everything they need to play tennis at the highest levels. Early on we were focused on strings, and that’s the segment where we built our name in the marketplace by bringing innovative products to market. But our goal has always been to be a head-to-toe equipment brand.”

One particular area of interest for us with the Solinco Blackout was the ‘Weight Control Module’ which allows players to add 5 or 10 grams of extra wright to the handle of the racket by using the weighted butt cap system. Kim commented on this innovation by saying:

“We were trying to find a way to make it as easy as possible for any level player to easily customize/modify their specs without having to deal with lead tape, which is quite daunting. With the Weight Control Module, in a matter of seconds you can pop out the base plate that comes with the racquet and replace it with a 5 or 10 gram plate. It’s a super easy and fun way to modify and tailor the overall weight and balance of your racquet anytime, anywhere.

As always with a Tennishead review we put the Solinco Blackout in the hands of some good players and let them loose with the freedom to give honest feedback on their experience of playing with this frame that they’ve not tried before.

 

 

Liam is a top college player and has a doubles ATP ranking

“The access to power was very easy with the Solinco Blackout but sometimes I struggled to control the ball as I’m used to thinner beam rackets.

“I hit with lots of heavy spin so my control brings the ball back into the court but sometimes the power from this racket was a bit too much for me. If you’re looking for power from the baseline it was very good for that.

“This is really easy racket to serve with. The power in the frame helps to add a little bit more pop to my serve”

 

Sahej plays mainly on the ITF circuit in Europe

“This is definitely a solid racket option compared them to the Babolat Pure Drive. It offered explosive power and was good on the serves and volleys which makes it suitable for doubles players. It has nice weight to it so if you’re strong you can really swing the Solinco Blackout hard.

“I liked volleying with this frame. I felt like gave me good ‘stick’. I’ve got decent hands so I need more punch from a racket when volleying and this frame certainly gave me that.

 

Ryan’s highest ATP ranking was 650

“This is very very similar to Pure Drive. It’s probably the closest racket you can buy. It felt very good on the volleys as it’s a very stable racket. From the Baseline it probably lacks a bit of control but in general a very good racket overall.

“I think the Solinco Blackout is probably the best racket I’ve ever volleyed wit so if I was a serve and volleyer i’d definitely use it but because i play mainly from the baseline then it’s not quite right for me.”

 

Josh is a competent club team player

“It’s similar to the Babolat Pure Drive Tour from the baseline. It’s reasonably stiff but you’re not getting quite as much power as the Pure Drive. It was a bit less good at the net for volleys but for serving and hitting from the back it was pretty easy to rip spin.

 

Solinco have said they designed the Blackout as “more of a powerful racquet that does more for the player. It has a dual-tapered beam design, with the max beam height designed at the 5 and 7 o’clock positions to improve the flex and maximize power return of the ball, minimize energy loss, and offer great pop off the string bed.” As always we suggest that after reading this review of the Solinco Blackout 300 you test the racket yourself.

 

Solinco Blackout 300 specifications:

• Headsize: 100 in sq
• String Pattern: 16 x 19
• Weight: 300g
• Balance: 315mm
• Length: 27in

 

Buy the Solinco Blackout 300 tennis racket:

When purchasing from the UK Visit SolincoSports.co.uk

When purchasing from the USA or outside the UK visit SolincoSports.com

 

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