2025 Solinco Whiteout V2 16x19 Review

In Summer of 2023, I switched to the Solinco Whiteout 18x20. That racquet stayed in my bag for just over a year until recently when the Pure Aero Rafa took its place. The question is, what would Solinco need to do with the V2 Whiteout to cause me to switch back?

So in this article, we are going to cover the changes Solinco has made to the V2 Whiteout, discuss whether or not those changes have made a meaningful difference to the playability and I’ll let you know who I think this racquet is for, as well as discussing the string and customization setups I made to get the most out of the Solinco Whiteout V2.

What’s New?

The big change for the Whiteout is the addition of Arch-2 Construction. Beyond this “tech,” the specs of the Whiteout remain largely the same. It's the same mold with the same weight but a new layup of graphite. Arch-2 is just a different way to layer the carbon fiber sheets, it's like the V2’s carbon architecture, hence the name, Arch-2. The goals with this new architecture are to increase power, stability and overall feel. Beyond that, the other “techs” remain, we still have 40T Carbon and foam filling, so this is going to be more of an incremental update.

Is it Better?

My next question with the Whiteout, has Arch-2 made the racquet “better?”

Especially since the V1 Whiteout was my personal favourite 98 on the market, delivering a near perfect maneuverability-to-stability ratio with a relatively high power-to-control ratio, making it suitable for a wide range of play styles. I loved the connected, responsive, yet solid feel of the stiffer layup with the foam filling. The sweetspot was huge, offering supremely consistent playability across the hitting surface and a surprising amount of spin considering the 18x20 string pattern that I personally used.

While I adored the overall playability of the racquet, I can acknowledge that my personal tastes are just that, personal, and there were some deal-breaking criticisms for other players. First, the racquet was not exactly comfortable. The stiffness of the 40T carbon made off-centre contact jarring, especially with stiffer string setups. I personally like this feel but the market prioritizes comfort and plushness over raw feel. Second, and this was specifically an issue with the 16x19 version of the racquet, was the launchy nature of the stringbed. People felt the stringbed was erratic with the tendency to skyrocket the ball into outerspace. Again, this isn’t really a problem I had with the 18x20 I used for a year, but as someone who never actually tried the standard length 16x19 Whiteout, I’m interested to see if this continues to be an issue, as it doesn’t seem like Arch-2 would fix this.

Market Positioning

The overall playability of this stick lands us somewhere between the Blade 98 16x19 and the Head Extreme Pro. You get easier spin production and a more connected feel compared to the Blade but more stability and better depth control than the Extreme Pro. The racquet isn’t quite as whippy as the Extreme, there’s also more head weight here than you find from the EZONE or VCORE, but not quite as much as a Pure Strike or TFIGHT.

The overall weight distribution of the Whiteout feels quite medium. It’s heavy enough to the point where you’ll find all the stability you need well into the 4.5/5.0 hitting realm without really feeling super slow or clunky. The launch angle is also quite medium, lower than the 16x20 of the Pure Aero 98 but a bit higher than the Blade 16x19.

So overall this is a solid offering that doesn’t stand out in any particular way on paper, but, it very well might combine the features you love from different frames in a goldilocks fashion.

Power and Stability

Solinco tells us this was the primary target for improvement with Arch-2. More power, more stability. This is pretty much what everyone was looking for in 2024 so it makes sense that manufacturers are prioritizing it moving into 2025. With Zverev moving up to a Gravity Tour 100 in Vienna, Bublik experimenting with the TFX1 98, Carlos adding weight to the throat of his Aero in the off-season and Stefanos trialing the Wilson Steam, the search for more power has become unignorable.

With the V2, I did notice more power and stability, but the change is incredibly minor. This is most noticeable on off-centre balls, the sweetspot definitely feels larger and the harshness when you make poor contact is improved significantly. With the V1, you really felt it when you hit the ball off-centre. There wasn’t a major dropoff in playability with the V1, as the stiff carbon kept the frame from twisting, but the stiffness also made itself known through a bit of a brassy feel. Now, with the layup updated, there’s more clarity on off-centre shots, less shaking of the frame on contact which makes it more confidence inspiring to keep your swingspeed up even when out of position.

Still, I think these are relatively minor changes. Spin, power, stability and control are all quite comparable between the V1 and V2, with most of the improvements in power and control being due to stability improvements for off-centre contact. What has changed a lot is the feel.

Feel

The new layup’s biggest consequence is a much plusher and more muted hitting feel. The Whiteout has gone from being one of the most connected and raw feeling frames to being one of the more muted. In a lot of ways this plays like an Auxetic update: Mostly the same, slightly more power, more stability and more solidity but mostly just a more muted and softer feel.

Sadly, I struggled to find a defined sweetspot with the frame. It didn’t matter that much to end playability, as there’s plenty of spin, power and control, throughout the hitting surface but I still like to know where I’m hitting the ball on the stringbed.

With the V1, I felt incredibly rewarded when I made solid contact in the middle of the strings and I was slightly punished if I wasn’t in position. The V2 adds forgiveness, no doubt, but loses this carrot/stick hitting feel that made me fall in love with the V1.

Thankfully, the V2 isn’t some utter mush fest with a floppy hoop and a dead, inconsistent response. There’s still a firmness to the frame, there’s some level of responsiveness, you can feel the ball come in and out of the stringbed, but we’ve lost this specialness. I can still play well with the V2 Whiteout, honestly, probably better than I could play with my V1, but I don’t enjoy the experience as much.

Control

I had zero control issues with this frame. There wasn’t any launchiness with any of the strings I tried and the racquet responded 1 to 1 with my inputs.

When I hit flat, a flat ball was produced.

When I applied spin, a spinny ball was produced.

When I went to change direction on the ball, that change in direction was produced. I could find angle, spank lines and control my depth with ease and utter predictability. Even though I used the 18x20 Whiteout before, this V2 with the 16x19 offered me all the control I had with the old 18x20 while making things a little more forgiving. For now, we are only seeing the 16x19 updated, and I personally don’t see a need for an 18x20 option as I felt extremely confident with the control on the 16x19.

Setups

So Simon and I tried a few different string setups. First, the unreleased prototype 10JX (Mach 10), which will come in March, because Simon and I have been loving this string in almost every racquet. Then, Simon demanded to try his usual setup to compare against his V1 Whiteout XTD, which is Caviar mains and Ghostwire crosses. Neither of the above gave me the connection to ball I’ve been craving in the V2, so I tried Tennis Warehouse’s P6, which is sort of like a recoloured Hyper-G designed for improved tension maintenance, but it didn’t quite take me where I wanted to go.

Finally, I found my best setup with the string setup I’ve been using the most lately which is O-Toro mains and Sync crosses. This really helped add some crispness back into the stringbed. Suddenly, I had a much better feel for where I was hitting the ball on the strings with a noticeable boost in spin compared to the other setups, save maybe the Solinco prototype.

With weight customizations, I tried stock, I tried adding lead to beef the swingweight to 340, then counter balancing with a leather grip. My two preferred setups were probably just weight at 12 for a 335 swingweight and no counter balancing and the same specs I customized the old V1 to, which meant no extra weight in the hoop, adding a leather grip and the 5g weight control module which fits nicely in the buttcap.

Recommendations

So who do I recommend this racquet to?

First and most obviously, I think if you loved the V1 Whiteout but want more comfort, the V2 is the obvious play. If you like the Blade 16x19 but want more torsional stability, this one makes a ton of sense. Another one, if you like the Gravity Pro, but want something a little easier to use, a little whippier and maybe better for the one handed backhand, the V2 Whiteout now fits the bill with a more solid, muted and plush feel. The V2 Whiteout is also great if you want a more maneuverable Pure Strike with less clunky power or a more stable and inherently powerful Extreme Pro.

This racquet is perfectly suited to the all court style. It's more than stable enough to take balls early and redirect pace, while being fast enough for creative shots from all areas of the court.

Final Thoughts

For me personally, this isn’t what I was hoping for from the Whiteout V2. I like the stiffer, more raw feel of the V1. That’s why I use the Pure Aero Rafa, it's an Aero without any dampening tech.

Yes, I certainly appreciate the move for more power and stability from the new Arch-2 layup, but the game demands so much power now that I think we need to consider thickening the beam for the V3 Whiteout.  I think this V2 update was the right move for the market, more stability and comfort is always going to sell well, but long term, 21.7mm beam widths just aren’t enough.

With Zverev being one of the fittest, strongest guys on tour, while also having super clean technique, and seeing him go to a 22mm 100, I’m wondering why us rec players think we need more control than that.