BG80 - plays similar, loses only half as much tension. Feels a little harder though. I'm testing the NBG98 on my go-to rackets now - and it looks promising. Not as rough, so slicing the shuttle creates different angles and not as much spin, but the repulsion and feedback are beautiful. Took 19 points off of my opponent yesterday - he play in our 1st team, so that's very good for me. In second game, he moved up two gears though and bulldozed me 21-8 I have to say, even though the NBG is kinda slippery, it enabled me to play very nice angles. Against him, I don't smash much because it doesn't put him under any pressure and only makes the reply more dangerous to me, so I try to use much deception to get him slightly off balance. On several occasions, I managed a sliced drop from my forehand that looked like a smash down the line and landed crosscourt, in front of the service line and left him stranded. I was using the BS10, btw. My current favorite singles racket - even though some say it lacks power, I find clears to be the easiest with this racket, and it's stiff enough so that I always know where the racket head is. Quick in defence as well, and I can hold the shot at the net much longer than with heavier rackets. I was testing a whole bunch of rackets a while back, and it came down to this one and the BS11 - and the 80€ I saved on two BS10 compared to two BS11 made the decision in the end^^ In doubles, I sometimes switch to heavier rackets for more penetration in the attacking play, BS09 mostly. Oh, back to the strings - I used to play at ~25-26lbs when I tried the VS850, and replaced it with a BG80 at the same tension. If you string them at the same tension, I would rate them as follows: Repulsion: NBG98>>BG80>=VS850 Control: (depends on how well you can adapt to the slippery NBG) BG80=VS850>=NBG98 Durability: BG80>>NBG98 (the NBG98 holds the second place in the quickest-to-break leaderboard with 30 minutes - although the 5 minutes of the ZM62 will be hard to beat.)
After the Nanogy95, I can't bring myself to use any strings in this range. I found it very slippery and mechanical feeling. BG80 I've used quite a bit and it's the benchmark 0.68 string I think. I don't break strings so durability doesn't even make my radar. I'm stringing one of my MX80's with the new red ZM67 and seeing how that goes, too. But currently my go-to MX80 is still faithfully strung with VS850 now settled at 24lbs. Nothing wrong with the BS10 mate, it's a top shelf piece of kit. You clearly pay too much for them though.....and got ripped because the BS10 and BS11 are the same price. €80 is almost the price of a BS10, so you Euro types need to find a grey market pathway to better pricing!
I think you got me wrong. I paid 175€ for two BS10s as it's gonna be discontinued, and the BS11 would have been 126€ a piece (140-10%). And even though the BS11 had a bit more head weight, it was NOT worth the extra money...I would've paid nearly 80€ more for two of them. Anyhow, I usually get the best price here in Germany because our club gets 10% off at one shop, but I usually compare prices just to be sure. Although Asian stores don't have G3 in stock often, which is my very much preferred grip size (I have to put an overgrip on G2 and don't feel the edges so clearly). Anyhow, the BS10 is my most reliable racket right now, it's quicker and somehow more powerful than my MX80, even though it doesn't have the pinpoint precision. But in singles, the effortless clear is much more of an advantage than a slightly more precise drop shot, and in doubles, the increased power and speed are more valuable as well. I really like the feel of the MX80, but I think it's somewhat detrimental to my game as it's just too stiff for me. I'd love to get the MX70, but don't really have the money.
The RRP of BS11 was higher than BS10 which in turn was higher than BS09 (here anyway). Taking the cake is BS12 with RRP of €209 (no it's not a typo ; retail about 75% of RRP) LD_RULes should probably make a signature with a disclaimer: "All Victor prices based on special discount, not available in stores"
Don't just talk about those high end model, BS10, MX80.....etc. For a starter, which model in medium price point is recommended?
Bs10 IS medium price range now. In my club, many use the Inside Wave 4500, which is medium stiff and even balanced. The IW1500 is also quite popular and head light.Also, we enjoy talking about the rackets WE use, so don't tell us what to discuss - we'll answer questions, but demanding that we talk about rackets we don't use is a bit much.
Actually the racket Im taking about IS available at the price mentioned, no discount for this one. I really shouldn't like it, cause of it's specs and weight, but I do...
thanks, i'll wait for the review ^^ is this the only way to cover the weakness? hmm, i'm wondering if Eric (squashmart) could help me prestretch the string first bfore stringing it.. one thing, if we prestretch it.. will it easily broke due to the deformation?
*business man thinking mode on* if victor wanna fix it, they might just create a whole new string ( maybe VS-950? ) then they can charge more for it.. rather than fix the old one and charge the same price.. *business man thinking mode off*
Probably because it is extra work with no added benefit to them if they don't increase the price. Also...some people may prefer not to have their strings pre-stretched. Pre-stretching may also lead to more defects/waste which translates as a $$ loss to the company. It's still a business.
Same reason why Yonex doesn't improve the BG65s tension holding properties or the NBG95s numb feeling - people buy it and improving it would cost quite a bit. The initial feeling of the VS850 is very nice, so the Pro's won't need any new string - and if you look at the badminton market as a whole, there are a lot more unskilled people than those who actually notice the drop in tension. And quite a few of the more skilled intermediate or advanced players just learn to live with it by either stringing it higher than needed and waiting for the tension to drop, or pre-stretching, or managing with the lower tension..... In the end, it all comes down to one thing - money. If a product sells well, why improve on it for a lot of money without hoping to sell much more?
IMHO, it's not that Victor doesn't want to improve the vs850; which company would survive if they refused to improve their products. It's most likely that this is the best they can do with this combination of core and outer shell materials in terms if feel, touch, repulsion, durability. As it is now, as j4ckie says, for pros and tournaments this string is very very good since the stringing resources are there and they can afford to string every 2 weeks if needed. Hmmm, perhaps I'll have to invest in a stringing machine and do it myself! And anyways, who knows, perhaps Victor is currently working on a new prototype string that will correct this little deficiency in this otherwise excellent string.
Just to make it clear - I did not want to slam Victor I just think there is no profitable way for them to improve the strings tension holding properties without either changing the playing characteristics or copy some of Yonex's patented stuff in short time. Over the years, they'll either improve it or bring out another model, no doubt. Had a horrible training session today. After the initial (good) MD matches, I started to hit everything out of court. Suddenly, no string or racket could give me any measure of control. Even the MX80 with a 28lbs NBG98 felt very light and clears were 10-50cm long. Just in the last game, the BS10 brought me back near my usual control and made me enjoy badminton again
Recently I have seen on Victor's (Taiwan) website and some Malaysian webshops models that don't seem to have much discussion, like the Super Waves 310, 320, 3150, are these simply cheaper versions of the 2-digit SW series?
hey jackie, agreed with u that BS10 is really good racket in BS series...i had got BS09 to BS12, but end up only BS10 will be my favorite go-to. not sure what happen if victor discontinue BS10 soon or later..need to get spare myself.
