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Seriously, I have got to make Blogs on other topics. Maybe later. 
I am currently looking for a new racquet. Since quite a bit of you play badminton, I'm pretty sure we're beyond those crappy racquets that you get from the club if you don't have anything else.
What racquets do you people have, and what racquets have you had? Any recommendations?
I've gone through many a google searches already, and I'm currently looking at the Yonex Voltric 70. If that doesn't work well, I'll go with either the NanoSpeed 9900 or the Armortec 900 Performance.
Before you tell me not to buy a racquet, this is surplus money, this is a little reward for something, and it definitely feels amazing to know that I'm playing with something good, and that my racquet won't be holding me back.
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My playing is balanced. I'm aggressive when I need to, but I'll try to take it safe. The problem is that most of my play before was quite tame since my racquet did not have enough power to do anything other than defend. So currently I'm looking to change my playstyle, and learn new things.
 
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I use an arcsaber z-slash :D sick racquet. I can vouch for nanospeed and 900 power too, don't like the technique much.
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The only issue I have with the Z-Slash is that there are some reports of it cracking if the string tension is too hit, if it's misshit, and if it isn't string according to the site. Since there isn't really any safe number and I can't ensure my racquet is strung correctly or I won't collide, I'll stay away from it for now.
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im still using a muscle power 55.. my backup is a old carbonex.
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On February 12 2011 11:15 HudsonK wrote:
im still using a muscle power 15.. my backup is a old carbonex.
Wow carbonex oldschool. its like a tennis racket man
Muscle Power is my back up. My main is Nano 9900, light balance and heavy over for smooth transitions between drops and smash
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My racquets are all from China... cheap but decent
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Yonex is like apple. You know its incredibly overpriced but you also know quality will always be reliable, and can't go wrong with it.
At the price of each Yonex racquet, you can get a better racquet of another brand
Kason is a Chinese brand but it's really damn good.
Dark Knight (forgot name?) Canadian brand is really good
If you are gonna go for Yonex, I would suggest getting a top tier Yonex (even tho they're expensive as heck) like Armortech 700/900 or Arcsaber. I personally own Armortech 900 Power and the offensive power on that thing is a beast.
Arcsaber 10 felt great, and Kason 300A seemed just as good as my Yonex. If you are aiming at $50~100 price range, I would recommend Dark Knight.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
yonex MUSCLE POWER 55 FTW!
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@gong, i would get a new racquet, but it's so expensive T_T.
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On February 12 2011 12:07 lastmotion wrote:...
Thanks!
I'll be honest, I have no price range. Anything less than $300 is fine at the moment.
I would love to try out Black Knight racquets, but the only problem is that they aren't as available, and there haven't been as many reviews online of racquets from this small company, in an already very niche sport like Badminton. I wouldn't know where to start to be honest.
The MP55 was a racquet I was considering, but it's stock is quite limited since they're discontinued?
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From my experience with badminton here are some of my beliefs:
A racquet is only about 20~25% of a player's performance. I've had quite a few of really skilled players beat me with basic-entry level racquets.
A $60 racquet is almost as good as a $200 racquet. Some people might call BS on this but the difference is minimal. There is a WORLD of difference between a $10 racquet and a $60 racquet, however.
Before you go out there and buy one, I suggest you try out each racquet before you buy it. You have to have a feel for it seriously. (Note: Avoid using sites like Ebay or Amazon to order racquets. Many fake racquets floating around)
Also, try to figure out if you prefer head-heavy or not racquets, and figure out if you prefer 3U weight or 4U weight
For me, I almost always looked for head-heavy racquets because I'm a very offensive player who loved to smash. I wanted that extra weight in the head for more power for smashes, and ignored all defensive racquets just because I knew I could make up for my racquet's poor defense in the court by running faster, reaching farther, and going adrenaline-explosion ape shit mode lol
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On February 12 2011 12:07 lastmotion wrote:
Yonex is like apple. You know its incredibly overpriced but you also know quality will always be reliable, and can't go wrong with it.
At the price of each Yonex racquet, you can get a better racquet of another brand
Kason is a Chinese brand but it's really damn good.
Dark Knight (forgot name?) Canadian brand is really good
If you are gonna go for Yonex, I would suggest getting a top tier Yonex (even tho they're expensive as heck) like Armortech 700/900 or Arcsaber. I personally own Armortech 900 Power and the offensive power on that thing is a beast.
Arcsaber 10 felt great, and Kason 300A seemed just as good as my Yonex. If you are aiming at $50~100 price range, I would recommend Dark Knight.
Hmm, my impression of BK haven't been that great tbh, and they're pretty ugly too. Lol one of my friends broke like 3 photons... but she has a million from tournaments.
I haven't had any bad experiences with yonex, they're solid racquets, they never break even though I abuse like crazy (throwing them in rage).
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Blisse, what is your style of play? Aggressive, defensive, control, power? You need to know these things before picking your own racquet. Also, what is your preference for racquets? Head light, or head heavy. Balanced? Heavy or Light racquet overall?
and sup buhhy :p
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Apacs Lethal 60 or 70 is amazing.
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Feels weird to be posting about badminton on this forum.
Anyhow, I can't really say that racquets are really better now than they were 10 years ago. The majority of materials and manufacturing methods were devised in the 60s/70s, adapted to sport products in the 80s and more specifically to badminton in the 90s or so. Since then, added technologies tweak the stiffness and balance of the racquet, but I'm not really convinced that they're clearly better than the older carbon graphite frames from a few years ago.
In other words, any fancy technology terms you see are more a product of marketing that engineering. This doesn't mean a cheap racquet is necessarily better; really it's more about manufacturing quality control than anything else.
So, say you're in Canada you might check out the former high end racquets from Black Knight. Their top end models are usually 250-300$, which I think is excessively costly, but as new top end racquets come out prices on the older models will drop. Any "performance enhancement" real or imagined between a 150$ and 300$ is not really worth the extra cost.
Also, what kind of player are you? Do you play in tournaments and require multiple identical racquets? Do you string at high tension? Do you play at a club with a lot of casual players or more of a competitive club? I've coached at all sorts of levels and my recommendations in terms of racquets are different for every group.
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ArcSaber 7 is a really nice racquet. I really like it.
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On February 12 2011 14:54 LegendaryDreams wrote:
and sup buhhy :p
Lol man, why haven't we played yet?
Yonex isn't even that overpriced anyways, a brand premium is to be expected anyways...
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Get an arcsaber 9, be pimp... LOL Okay kidding, but I'm currently using Arcsaber 10 and a Nanospd 9900 as a backup (yes I know they're both completely different from each other). I used the Nanospd for over a year and I started using the arcsaber since I'm a more offensive styled player. I think its all personal preference as well as game style, coming from a flexible racquet to a more hard hitting and extremely stiff racquet takes a bit of time to getting used to. I can't really say how much it impacts my game, as I've only started playing again after a year, (last year was my peak because I was in a club) and now I'm no where at that level, so I can't vouch for how much the racquets affects your game overall. Sorry I can't be of too much help, but I can speak for my personal experience ><
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On February 12 2011 16:44 zylog wrote:
Not on any Competitive or Professional level. Recreational and aiming a bit higher.
EDIT: Wow the sound that the Voltric makes when you swing is so amazing. I tried the Armortec 900, and it was a bit too head heavy. The NanoSpeed 9900 was pretty light, but I didn't think it helped at all.
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Well. I just broke my racquet today. What bad luck. I guess that means I actually have to get a new racquet.
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O_O Wow that sucks >< I've actually never had that happen to me before =/ though I commonly break strings... good luck choosing a racquet!
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Racquet really doesn't make that much of a difference. You get used to whatever you use most.
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On February 13 2011 10:31 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
Racquet really doesn't make that much of a difference. You get used to whatever you use most.
I respectfully disagree. The difference between my old racquet and the new racquet that I broke is ridiculous. It's hard to explain, but when I swing my old racquet, no matter how hard, there is never any of that nice "whoosh" sound. That's kind of why I like the Voltric. The sound is so nice. And more seriously, the power difference is amazing.
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On February 13 2011 11:12 Blisse wrote:Show nested quote +On February 13 2011 10:31 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
Racquet really doesn't make that much of a difference. You get used to whatever you use most. I respectfully disagree. The difference between my old racquet and the new racquet that I broke is ridiculous. It's hard to explain, but when I swing my old racquet, no matter how hard, there is never any of that nice "whoosh" sound. That's kind of why I like the Voltric. The sound is so nice. And more seriously, the power difference is amazing.
Well, like someone mentioned, if the racquet before you were using was under 40$, then yesm there'll be a difference. But unless you play extremely competitively, as long as you have a half decent one around ~100$ you'll be fine. Don't waste 300$ on a NanoSpeed 9900 that you don't know how to use properly. You'll likely benefit more from new strings then you would a new racquet
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see if you can still order a ti-10 that is if you like head heavy racket, the ti-10 will give you power unmatched by a good portion of the rackets right now.
otherwise, if you want something a bit lighter, the nanospeeds are a good choice, ive used the 9900 and the 9000 type x, the 7000, and the 8000. all similar weights i find, just different attributes.
but realistically, if all you're looking for is power, basically any of the muscle powers or lower end armotecs like the 250, strung with the correct tension can give you the power you want. like many people have already stated, you don't need to spend a bunch of money on a sick racket if you're not going to use the racket to its fullest potential.
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im using a babolat x feel lite, it's pretty nice, not that expensive either. Im not a pro at types though, I can only judge how light they are (xfeel lite is really light) and the overall balance. I feel like changing strings is doing more than changing racquet, but maybe thats just me
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@Blisse
MP55 is a beast for its value. You definately get your bang for your buck. IMO it's better than all the Muscle Power series. If you really want high quality, you have to go to top tier Yonex racquets. But I'm telling you, the difference between them is minimal.
I guess one way of looking at it is that if you buy an expensive top of the line Yonex racquet, one good thing is that you won't blame your performance on your racquet =) That's what I told myself at least lol.
I don't know much about defensive racquets (sorry guys)
but for offensive racquets these are good:
Yonex Armortec 900P
Yonex Armortech 700
Kason 300A
Yonex Ti10 (Try to look for an older model)
One of the top tier Nanospeed (forgot exact model)
Arcsaber 10 (I know this is not that much of a offensive racquet, but I played amazing with this)
Those are just suggestions if you are willing to spend over $150 for a racquet. Otherwise, don't go Yonex =)
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You can also look at Victor rackets: I use Brave Sword 09 4u. Lot of power, flexible, and fast. Looks cool too
I wanted to get another one as backup, but they're still sort of pricey even though they're 2 years out. Great series.
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On February 12 2011 16:49 buhhy wrote:Lol man, why haven't we played yet? Yonex isn't even that overpriced anyways, a brand premium is to be expected anyways...
The only times I play now is Wednesdays at school, on the weekend I don't go to RA anymore, sucks 
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On February 14 2011 06:07 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
Well, like someone mentioned, if the racquet before you were using was under 40$, then yesm there'll be a difference. But unless you play extremely competitively, as long as you have a half decent one around ~100$ you'll be fine. Don't waste 300$ on a NanoSpeed 9900 that you don't know how to use properly. You'll likely benefit more from new strings then you would a new racquet
Both my racquets are about $100 CAN. But I'm beginning to doubt that the old one is that now. I don't know if I can handle a high end racquet or not, but it would be nice as hell to try, you know? And I don't know whether I'm stringing at the right tension or with the right strings, so I'm not sure whether it does anything. I understand where you're coming from though.
Yeah lastmotion, that's exactly the thing I keep saying to myself when thinking about racquets. When I lose, I can't really blame my racquet any more. I know it's kinda bad to think like that too. And I wanted the AS10, just because it's so red! I might have to check out the Ti-10 as well.
I need a racquet by next week. Most likely this Saturday.
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I'm telling you don't waste 250$ on a racquet it's not going to make you win games you lost before or anything. I'd suggest just restringing your current ones.
If you are really stuck to the idea of buying a new one, find one that is light, that's the thing that new players will notice the most. Stuff like flexibility and head shape isn't going to matter much to you.
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@blisse - what about the apacs tantrum 300. I've heard that it's pretty good.
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On February 16 2011 05:51 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
I'm telling you don't waste 250$ on a racquet it's not going to make you win games you lost before or anything. I'd suggest just restringing your current ones.
If you are really stuck to the idea of buying a new one, find one that is light, that's the thing that new players will notice the most. Stuff like flexibility and head shape isn't going to matter much to you.
Dammit, you're killing me here with your logic. D:
Here it goes. I bought a new racquet a bit back. It replaced an older, much worse one. The new racquet is phenomenol, but recently it broke. So now I'm stuck with either returning to the old one, or going for an even better one. Keep in mind I basically dumped the old racquet. Now I'm looking for a new racquet to replace the broken new racquet that replaced my old, terrible, but working racquet.
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On February 16 2011 05:51 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
I'm telling you don't waste 250$ on a racquet it's not going to make you win games you lost before or anything. I'd suggest just restringing your current ones.
If you are really stuck to the idea of buying a new one, find one that is light, that's the thing that new players will notice the most. Stuff like flexibility and head shape isn't going to matter much to you.
I agree with you but a nice hot spanking racquet can give you motivation to play more often. It can also turn off the "my performance is my racquet's fault" type of mentality
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On February 16 2011 11:53 lastmotion wrote:Show nested quote +On February 16 2011 05:51 Ian Ian Ian wrote:
I'm telling you don't waste 250$ on a racquet it's not going to make you win games you lost before or anything. I'd suggest just restringing your current ones.
If you are really stuck to the idea of buying a new one, find one that is light, that's the thing that new players will notice the most. Stuff like flexibility and head shape isn't going to matter much to you. I agree with you but a nice hot spanking racquet can give you motivation to play more often. It can also turn off the "my performance is my racquet's fault" type of mentality
Mentality that you should never ever have..
Buying a new racquet doesn't have to mean spending 250$ is all I'm saying, buy one for half the price.
Back when I was going to switch racquets, I switched from the BK photon to the Yonex NAno9900. While I was waiting for my new ones my strings broke on both my photons so I played with a shitty 40$ racquet my friend had in his bag, and I found that I liked the way I played better with that then I did with my photon, and later, my nanospeed, both of which cost 4-5x more.
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EPT
