Buying the right racquet is far from easy, and reviews can only guide you for part of the way. It would help if tennis racquets were put through rigorous lab benchmarks like some computer components. Racquets are measured for flex, weight, swingweight, balance, and a few other factors, but real-world measurements of shock, resistance to torsion, and other qualities crucial to arm safety are not readily available.
Racquet Research is the only online resource that tries to rate a wide selection of racquets objectively. It raise important issues, and we should hope to see them addressed by physicists and engineers. In the meantime, racquet buyers should remember to be skeptical about what they don't fully understand. Whether or not you accept Racquet Research's conclusions, the tables of specs for current and discontinued models are a great resource.
Online reviews can help you learn which factors to consider and decide which racquets are worth a demo. The next step -- and the only way to get an accurate sense of how a racquet is going to treat your arm and suit your game -- is to take it out for a thorough play-test, which would mean using it on a few different days and ideally, though inconveniently, trying the same frame with different string types and tensions.
