Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC Review

Racket	Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC
Shape	Teardrop
Advertised weight (strung)	135 grams
Weight distribution	Slightly head heavy
String	Ashaway Supernick XL Titanium
Stringing pattern	14×19
Head size	485cm sq
Colour	Black/white
Release date	2021
Purchase links	PDH Sports

A unique ultra-light teardrop racket that oozes touch and feel. We took the latest racket from Ashaway, the Powerkill Meta XBC on court to put it through its paces.

Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC at a glance

• This racket has an overall weight of 138 grams – therefore one of the lightest rackets we’ve ever tested
• Its large teardrop head size of 485cm helps add power and gives a generous sweet spot
• A dense stringing pattern of 14×19 ensures plenty of touch, feel and control
• The ultra light weight may be a detriment to beginner/intermediate players
• It’s endorsed by pro players Alicia Mead and Ben Coleman

Purchase link
PDH Sports

An ultra lightweight teardrop frame

Ashaway advertise the Meta XBC as 135 grams. However, pay close attention to their wording. This racket is 135 grams strung. This means that what you see is exactly what you get. 

Most other squash racket manufacturers advertise their rackets’ unstrung weight – once you add in the strings and a grip, this usually adds around 25-30 grams to a racket’s weight (in most cases, a 125g racket actually weighs around 155g).

So, the Meta XBC is light. In fact, it’s about as light as it gets. You won’t find many, if any rackets that feel this light in the hand.

On the scales

Racket	Weight at head	Weight at grip	Overall	Weight distribution
Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC	75	63	138	54.3%
Eye Rackets v.Lite 110	72	69	141	51.1%
Head Speed 120	82	67	149	55.0%
Dunlop Sonic Core Revelation 125	79	73	152	52.0%
Tecnifibre Carboflex Aitshaft 125	85	70	155	54.8%

We weighed the Powerkill Meta XBC across two scales, one under the head and one under the grip. This gives a really clear indication of just how light this racket is. 

While the Meta XBC does have a slightly head-heavy balance, it still only has 75 grams of weight at the head of the racket. This means it’s an ultra manoeuvrable frame – more on that later. You can see just how much lighter it is when compared to similar specced rackets, weighing almost 20 grams lighter than the Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft 125.

Taking the Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC on court

Manoeuvrability – 9.5/10

This racket is fast. Very, very fast. Swinging this racket is effortless thanks to its ultra lightweight frame. If you’re the kind of player who likes to hunt the volley, take your shots early, attack the ball and deceive your opponent, this could really play to your strengths. 

The only slightly more manoeuvrable racket we’ve tested is the Eye Rackets v.Lite 110, which has even less weight in the head thanks to its omission of a bumper strip. 

Touch, control and feel – 8.5/10

Given this racket’s light weight frame and dense stringing pattern, the Powerkill Meta XBC offers plenty of feedback as you hit through the ball. You can really feel how the ball has made contact with the strings as you play your shot. I found myself playing a really accurate short game when using this racket, and I could place the ball just about wherever I wanted on the front wall.

On impact with the ball, the racket can feel a little ‘soft’, or ‘spongy’ – there are no sharp vibrations as you hit your shot. However, I believe this is the stock strings (Ashaway Supernick XL Titanium), rather than the racket itself. 

If you want even more touch and feel in your shots, make sure to read our review of the Ashaway Powerkill Meta ZX, which has a traditional frame shape and a smaller head. 

Power – 7.5/10

Thanks to its teardrop head shape and large 500cm sq head size, for such a lightweight frame, I was surprised at how easy it was to generate power with the Meta XBC. Granted, it’s not exactly a ‘hammer’ when compared to something like the Head Speed 135, but it’s definitely able to deliver power when you need it. 

It’s far from the most powerful racket out there, however the Meta XBC can without a doubt hold its own against most modern lightweight frames.

Consistency – 7/10

As there’s such little weight to this racket, you really have to ‘do the work’ yourself. The racket won’t do it for you. If you’re a good player with a strong technique, this shouldn’t be much of an issue, however, for beginner players this racket may expose poorer techniques. 

As well as this, to generate the power mentioned above, you need a quick racket head speed. For some players, this may lead to ‘hacking’ at the ball, which can impact the accuracy on shots.

When I concentrated on hitting with a good technique, this racket played really nicely. I had a great time hitting drives to the back of the court, with shots often staying glued to the side walls and landing deep in the back corners. However, when my technique dropped, my shots suffered, likely more-so than if I was using a slightly heavier racket. 

Design – 7.5/10

Black rackets are certainly on-trend at the moment, and the Meta XBC plays into this trend. However, I’m not overly sold on the amount of branding featured across the racket – with words like ‘power frame’ on the inside of the head being a little too ‘shouty’ for my liking. Less is often more when it comes to product design, and squash rackets are no exception. However, I’m probably being a little harsh – it’s not a bad looking racket by any means!

Overall

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect with the Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC. On one hand, its large head size and teardrop frame shape suggest this racket is targeted towards power, and on the other, its dense stringing pattern and light overall weight lean towards control. There are very few rackets similarly specced to the Ashaway Powerkill Meta XBC, and I was pleasantly surprised with how it performed.

I would say this racket sits more towards the ‘control’ end of the scale, albeit with only a small compromise on power. It’s a great all-round racket that should suit a wide variety of players. I really enjoyed the lightness of the frame, which opened up a wide range of options for attacking the ball and moving it around the court.

Overall, the Meta XBC is a great racket from Ashaway, with unique attributes that set it apart from a very saturated squash racket market.