yes like many of you have said...the muscle power series may be a yonex gimmick, just to come out with something new until they developed something record breakingly good.

In one of the previous threads...it talks about ultimum ti..how some believe it does nothing for the racket.

what i'd was wondering, because many have mentioned about the MP being a gimmick, are you talking about the WHOLE rakcet...ultimum ti AND the muscle power bumps? or are you just talking about the ultimum ti.

!-- excluding the fact that the muscle power bumps are easy to clone.

the racquets themselves are not bad, but just the little add ons they claim to make the racquet so much better might be a gimmick, like you said, muscle power frame, and ultimum ti. Im sure many people will say that it does something good to the racquet, just because they have one, but they might play the same with another racquet. Yonex's marketing muscle makes it seem very appealing tho :D . Personally i try to use other racquets, right now im hooked on victor

Probably not gimmicks. But it can look that way because they are such small changes.
But then, there's not very much you can change about a badminton racquet.
All that's left to do is make little tweaks here and there to try to make things better.
And it's not just Yonex.
Carlton's aerodynamic frame and shaft
Monsoon's power groove

Look at other industries. Cars. The 2000 model, the 2001 model, the 2002 model.
No major changes, just little stuff to try to keep people buying this brand rather than another.

if that's the case why pay so much for them, why not just get other make of rackets which are so much cheaper?

Yonex is Yonex. Most IBF players use Yonex racquets, so the perception is that they are great racquets (even though the equipment is free to these players). Because of that, people will pay big bucks to have a racquet like the pros use.

I'm not saying that Yonex racquets are not good, because I believe they definitely are good racquets. But the problem is that people overlook other manufacturers that have great racquets as well.

Muscle power rackets seem to hold string tension a lot better than non-Muscle Power rackets.

the mp racquets are not bad racquets, in fact I haven't met many ppl that complains about the performance of these racquets. however the only complaint i have heard are the durability of these racquets, especially with mp100, they just break like crazy.

I have been using Yonex racquet since I learned to play badminton in elementary school. I have not tried other brands but would love to switch (kinda of tired of sticking to only one brand). Please give me recommendation on other brands that can match MP-100, which is what I am using now. I heard some Mal and HK national team players use Gosen, has anyone tried it ?

Muscle Power racquets hold the same tension longer because the grommets allow the strings to move and even out a bit more rather than racquets. Any racquet with the MP grommet or the curved frame between the grommets does something similar to this. The rest is up to the durability of the string...

I think Wilson first came out with the idea with their roller technology for tennis racquets.

they take higher tensions, but maybe thats why they break so much? (i know this is a generalization, some of you have been using the same yonex racquet for a while, but everyone i know has broken many yonex racquets, which costs quite a lot)

do muscle power racquets really hold that much tension? or does it seem that way because you can string them very tight, and think that its normal for a racquet to break in less than a week. (i know this is a generalization, some of you have been using the same yonex for a long time) But all of my friends who are hooked on yonex have broken at least two racquets. One of my friends broke both his mp 99s in one day, 1 racquet clash for each

The concept was actually pioneered by Martina Navratilova in tennis. At the time she was a Yonex sponsored player and had a leather piece inserted around the frame on every string. Not just the bottom two at the mains as was the normal practice at that time. The leather had the same effect or result as muscle power does on the badminton frame. Better feel and longer lasting strings. In tennis as a match wears on the raquet has a distinct feel to it as the strings relax. Some players do not like to change raquets during a game or will not until they feel they will lose a game so the string will last a complete match using this technique.
In badminton the effect is more one of feel than string longevity. The muscle power bumps put the string in contact with the frame transmitting vibration into the frame and the handle better than a regular frame without the MP feature. String life is also extended because you don't have the sharp edge of the grommet rubbing into the string. Most people will play until the string breaks rather than change it before it frays through.

Originally posted by alan_usa
I have been using Yonex racquet since I learned to play badminton in elementary school. I have not tried other brands but would love to switch (kinda of tired of sticking to only one brand). Please give me recommendation on other brands that can match MP-100, which is what I am using now. I heard some Mal and HK national team players use Gosen, has anyone tried it ?

You have a great variety of different brands to choose from like Victor, Gosen, Hi-Qua, Winex, Alpha, Pointfore, Yang-Yang, Carlton, Forza, Pro-Kennex, Prince, Black Knight, Babolat, Karakel, etc. You will have to try out the racquets to see which ones would be suitable to your game.

Gosen is the official supporter of the Malaysian national team but because the Hashim brothers are not part of the National team, they are allowed to use Yonex racquets (their sponsor).

Originally posted by jwu
the mp racquets are not bad racquets, in fact I haven't met many ppl that complains about the performance of these racquets. however the only complaint i have heard are the durability of these racquets, especially with mp100, they just break like crazy.

Some food for thought.

cab explosion
http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8337

Replacement for my old Ti7?
http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10932

Swing Power United!!!
http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10895

Librarian Inc.

Muscle Power racquets hold the same tension longer because the grommets allow the strings to move and even out a bit more rather than racquets.

I had a long discussion with Bigredlemon on this point, and my side of the argument was that the musclepower bumps REDUCE the movement of the strings, and PREVENT the evening out of the tension. Neither side convinced the other of their point of view.

I would be interested in Eggroll's point of view on this matter.

regards,
Neil