I am planning to get a Ti7, the sales person told me that it's a good enough racket, while the Ti10 is too stiff for usual players, only top players can fully utilize it. Is that just a sales tatics?

Also, I keep hearing people saying that Ti7 is not a good racket. Is it really that bad of a racket? If so, what's so bad about it? Or it's just a comparison to some higher end models?

Thanks for all the opinons.

i've used the Ti-10 once before. it is a <b>heavy</b> racket. unless you have a lot of strength and your wrist doesn't get too tired, then it may be a good racket for you. it does have a lot of power though.

So would you recommend a cabonex racket, say the Cab23, over a Ti7/Ti10? And how would you compare the two?
Is the Cab23 more or less the same as Cab22?
Thanks.

May be you can try the new MP-100. The 2U version is not that heavy and stiff (in compare with Ti-10). However, according to Yonex, it is even more powerful than Ti-10.

I was using Ti7 last night, since I broke the strings on my swing power. I don't have good FEEL .. it feels a little clunky at times. But it is relatively light, and should be fine for an intermediate player.

i've not used the Ti7 nor the cab23. i do have a cab22. the racket is stiff, but the head is also light. that's a combination that hasn't worked out for me, i have a hard time finding power on that racket. so i haven't been using it much recently. i know that Cheung is crazy about that racket, may be he can give you more info on it.

as Cheung said, racket is a personal thing, you'll have to experiment and see which one suits your style of play.

so what are the pros and cons of a head heavy vs head light racket? and / or a heavy vs light racket?

Kwun or Cheung, or any players, if I know the style of my play, how do I decide whether I need a racket that's stiff / flex, heavy / light, head heavy / head light, high string tension / low string tension, etc... are there any guidelines or so on choosing the types racket other than trying the racket out? since some places might not offer try-before-you-buy, should i get a racket and adopt to the characteristics of the racket

many thanks.

This is a good question. Much better than the "which racquet is better" type discussion

There is no short answer!
Choosing racquets is difficult.
Not sure if you can make a judgement on a choice of racquet just by trying it out a few times becsuae the racquet may have different strings and at a different tension to your own.

My experience is as follows:
cab 20. Flexes quite a lot on impact so I had trouble putting steep angles on my smash. found that the control was better with a stiffer shaft.
The stiffer shaft was good but my smash not so powerful so I did some DIY on my racquet to make it head heavier. That combination lasted a few years. It was a proKennex model, only mid-range and not expensive, yet I played some great games.
Over the last few years, tried playing with other racquets (because of boredom) but because dropped them because unsuitable for my game at that time. i.e. I wasn;t training my wrist and only playing social games with some matches. You can read the comments on badmintoncentral racquet reviews. (Cab 9, Iso 800, slim-10).
A coach let me try a cab 22 and the balance was great, I really liked the stiff shaft but the others I bought subsequently aren't really of the same standard. Had to do the DIY stuff to slightly increase the head weight on two of them.

Doubles game:
Since my game is mainly controlling drives and control around the net, the stiff racquet and medium head heaviness seems to suit me. Now, I'm never going to have the supersonic smash (even though I keep trying) so head heavy racquets increase my smash but I would lose control around the front of the court. So my choice was to keep the control at the front of the court and try to pair up with someone who is more comfortable at the back of the court. we would then work our play around to get this formation in matches.

Singles:
This doesn;t apply to my singles game. Head heavy racquets are better for me since the singles game needs more clears and my clears are much deeper with more weight at the head end. My smashes improve as well. Of course the control at the front court and the drives suffer but my overall game is improved.




strings?
You had just better try them out. Yonex usually don;t recommend greater than 18lbs in their brochure and commercial stringers won't go above this unless you make absolutely sure you won;t blame them if the racquet breaks. My preferred tension is 24-25lbs for doubles and 23 lbs for singles. It took me a couple of years to work this out. Note the tensions are for BG65 and BG85 so other strings which stretch less may not need to be pulled so strongly.

Basically your question had been discussed by other players either in this forum or the other (e.g. Harvard BC forum has quite a lot of messages archive). Here is a summary :

Heavy head - more power (just physics), less control
Heavy - more power (physics too)
Long - more power (physics again)
Stiff - more power, less control (this is something I don't really understand the reason behind)

I strongly agree that choosing racquet is something very personal. As I like smash a lot, my favorite racquet is Ti-10 long. It is stiff, heavy head and long - and it turns out match the above theory - it is the most powerful racquet I ever play with.

Regarding string tension, I think this is the most difficult decision - as different racquets have different characteristics (i.e. some racquets are better to string with slightly higher tension), and different strings also have radically different behavior. There is a discussion about string tension which said that higher tension (more than 20-22 lbs) will result at "LESS" power but faster speed, so if your wrist is very strong, then you can compensate the power loss - as a result, you will get faster speed without losing power (again, this is something I don't totally understand).

My favorite string so far is Yonex BG85 (although it is not durable) at 22 to 24 lbs. If you just want to try for different string tension, I personally don't recommend to go for anything higher than 22 lbs unless you sure it will fit your style.

While it is not possible to "try-before-buy", you can have at least have a rough idea on a racquet when you hold it on hand - you can find out its stiffness, heavy head or not, etc. Of course, you won't know its true performance, unless you play it with your favorite string. However it usually won't violate the theory mentioned above, e.g. a very stiff racqeut will definitely won't give you very best control (e.g. Ti-10, Gossen 5000, etc.).

heavy racket has more kinetic energy / momentum when you swing it, so when you hit the shuttle, the kinetic energy is transferred to the shuttle, thus harder shots. the downside is, you need to have the correct skill and strength to bring the racket to speed.

therefore, beginners and intermediate player may benefit from a lighter racket instead.

the biggest problem with heavier racket is that they are slower on the defense. if you need to flick return a heavy smash during a double game, you will have a real hard time.

i have problems buying rackets without trying them too. i have a small stash of racket that i bought and didn't like. and i always seem to go back to the couple of trusted ones.

I've tried the Ti-7 before and i think its an excellent racket. Its got slighty more flexible than the Ti-10 but i think its better that way coz i don't like super stiff rackets.

But i had to give it back to my friend because it wasn't mine. But i'm still using the Ti-10 and i don't find it that heavy...... Good rackets, both of them.