Background

Wilson is perhaps most well-known for their BLX series of rackets in the early 2010's, upgrading their top tier rackets with basalt fibre technology. The Vertex BLX1 and BLX2 in particular were notable for their all-round performance. The BLX series ended around 2014 though basalt fibre continues to be used in a few of their current rackets.

With the relaunch of the Vertex series, replacing the Blaze speed series, Wilson has now release the BLX3, which is now their most expensive and challenging stick. Let's have a look.

Overview

The BLX3 is a true relic at ~90 grams and a balance of 290 mm. A light handle build resulted in a playing weight of 97 grams. Rackets like this went extinct a decade ago. The basalt fibre blended with the carbon throughout the frame is supposed to enhance both power transmission and hitting feel feedback. Interestingly, the Inabata AV220 compressed foam is missing, with Wilson electing to use wooden for the handle instead, with Power Rod 2 extension to the bottom of the handle. The speed frame is dense and rather hard. The compact oval head is very old school.

Handling

Feedback on hits is very solid but slightly undampened compared with other modern Wilson rackets. BLX3 had the fantastic ability to indicate the quality of your shot - off centre, and you'll know it! Due to the 1u kitted weight, it is slightly clumsy and cumbersome in the hand. It's a bit too sluggish for doubles play and works better with a focus on big swings and good positioning. It is surprisingly easy to press the birdie down both in front and at the back, despite its head-light nature. The shaft flex is fairly stiff.

Control

The BLX3 has good directionality and accuracy despite being true head-light in balance, likely due to the stiff frame. The sweetspot is rather small & concentrated. Overall, the error tolerance is not high, but shots can be very precise both in terms of angle and accuracy.

Speed

BLX3 is sharp through the air but not particular fast... Well, it is probably fast for its 1u playing weight, but compared with the standard 4u sticks most people are using, the BLX3 is slow to accelerate. Short power release is not easy with this stick. Swiping at the net felt pretty good though, and chaining attacks was reasonably easy despite the hefty mass.

Power

BLX3 has more power than the 290 mm empty rack balance point would suggest, and I attribute this to the very heavy and dense/stiff frame. The real draw card for me is how easy it is to achieve steep angles on both forehand and backhand attacks. Top speed and extension are not as good as 3u head-heavy rackets of course, but very serviceable.

Overall

The BLX3 is very nostalgic - it is incredibly heavy and dense by modern standards, and is made old-school by its combination of heaviness and true head-lightness. However, the modern meta for rackets is very much towards the 4u HH archetype, and the BLX3 does not gel well with current doubles play as it is simply not agile enough. It does very well in terms of power transmission and information feedback, as advertised, but these factors alone aren't enough to push past its hulking weight.

This would have been an excellent racket if it was released 10 years ago, but times have changed. The BLX3 might be of interest to a small subset of very athletic and experienced men's singles players, but most people can safely ignore this racket.