Bonny Golden Dragon Roar Pro review: a refined evolution of an obscure flagship

Overview

Last year, Boli's Jinlongxin impressed me deeply — high elasticity and bounce brought a strong pleasure experience. This quarter ushered in its successor, Jinlongxin Pro, with a new image. The norm in the industry is that a racket goes Pro by upgrading materials, but Jinlongxin Pro went further. After changing the shaft material formula and re-adjusting it, the frame structure also improved versus the previous model. The previous version was already very complete. Will Boli's counterattack this time turn into brave trial and error, or a more gorgeous turn? Parameters: 4U G5, bottomed, playing weight 91.94 g, balance point 300 mm, 6.5 mm shaft, length 222 mm, medium hardness, fluid box frame, 76-hole string bed, 9–3 point string groove, 30 lb warranty, stringing 26–28 lbs BN-66A. Dark blue paint base with bright surface; frame sides decorated with golden dragon pattern water stickers. Mid-shaft water sticker incorporates scales spirally wrapped around the mid-shaft. Colour difference between top and bottom of the head uses two dark blues for visual depth — careful operation creates a gorgeous look and feel. Jinlongxin Pro frame is slimmer and rounder, but rigidity is not reduced and strength is very high. To match the improved frame, the shaft moved from boron fibre to nickel-titanium wire for enhanced stability. On first contact, Pro has more obvious ball-holding feel than the previous version. Shaft hardness lowered slightly; driving feel in the hand is clear. Rebound after shaft bend and deformation is very positive. On high clears it takes advantage of low wind resistance and strong leverage to increase ball speed easily. Aside from slightly higher swing weight, overall difficulty is reasonable and controllable — no painful break-in. Improved ball-holding changes ball control texture; cover effect is more obvious. With downward pressure from the head frame, it hits high-quality falling shots smoothly from the back court and slides the racket, with sharper landing points. Head frame weight is relatively high, so Pro has greater fault tolerance and stability on small net-front balls than Jinlongxin. Frame thinness increases string bed area in disguise. Sweet spot is regular and fault tolerance high — easier to build confidence on net fighting and rub shots. Racket face does not wobble; push and pick have clear feel and direction. Richer control tools disrupt opponent rhythm. Ball-holding improvement and conservative swing-weight adjustment make Jinlongxin Pro's blocking feel in mid-front court inferior to the previous generation — but smooth play to ball-holding is a style change. A little compromise in fast front-court games does not damage racket quality. It can hit more solidly in the limited power window when passively handling the ball. After one side's first string broke, I left it in my bag five hours before remembering — no deformation, quite resistant. In active scoring, Jinlongxin Pro shows due pressure. Slender shaft has obvious whipping feel on active force; strong rebound from 6.5 mm nickel-titanium middle tube increases ball speed. Hitting feel is solid on heavy-strength links — full energy transfer from body through arm to sweet spot. Versus Jinlongxin, ball release is a little heavier; string bed takes the ball deeper; force feedback is stronger; release route is low and stretched — no feeling the ball cannot be suppressed. When I get the chance to attack with full strength, this shot will not let me down.