I recently started playing again, purely for fun at the moment, after a hiatus of nearly 20 years. Back in the day, apart from having more hair & much faster reactions, I was the envy of my friends with my graphite ceramic Jaguar Osprey Pro racket, which has been duly dusted off & returned to action. Given my current level of play (I was never that good anyway) it seems fine, but I was thinking a restring is probably a few years overdue. However having has a look online it seems there are a multitude of modern rackets available for very reasonable prices, for example a [h=1]Browning NanoTec CTi 85 Badminton Racket RRP £230 with titanium strings[/h]for £25 delivered to my door. My question therefore; is it worth me paying £15 to have my 20 year old racket restrung when I could buy a brand new model for only a tenner or so more? Having been out of the game for so long, I have no idea how much better new rackets are, but I'm guessing the technology has evolved somewhat since 1990. Any advice would be greatly appreciated...
all depends on your budget and how often you think you'll play baddy. i had my cab21sp for 16 years, then decided to pick up the new voltric 5 before "investing" in the more expensive models. even the low/medium entry models nowadays are better than my old top of the line 16 year old racket (its graphite!!!). but you should restring the old racket anyways as backup, i use my Cab21sp as a warmup/training racket as its heavier (2U) (anyways for 230 squids, you can get the best yonex/li-ning racket already )
I came back to badminton after an 18 year hiatus, when my racket du jour was the Cab8! I'd restring the old one just for fun, but definitely get a new racket. So many to chose from these days, it's all part of the fun trying new ones. You can't really go wrong with any mid-range Victor, Yonex or LiNing (I mention these because they're the ones I'm familiar with). Be warned though, the array of specifications is a complete minefield these days.
I am using a 25+ year old racquet model. Still can't be retired as it doesn't break! I'm not sure using a lighter racquet will benefit me - I need better technique
hahaha, using a lighter racket will help you practice your technique. heavy rackets are meant for stamina building. (well in terms of exercise, you'd use a lighter weight to perfect your technique before progressing up) all the meat in the racket, especially everyone is head heavy rackets nowadays you tend to lose the precision you'd have with a lighter racket.
browning for £230?? that's expensive.. go for yonex and you even pay less than that! I used my parents cab 8 (2 years old racket) before, it is fine actually I don't need to restring that racket but maybe it is better to buy a new racket.. I would go for something like armortec 70 MG2, or arcsaber 002 (since I don't know your preference, these two are all around racket)
do you have a sports-direct near you? they have a variety for £50 upwards some reasonable carltons or centralsports in coventry..
"Browning NanoTec CTi 85 Badminton Racket RRP £230 with titanium strings for £25 delivered to my door" He did mention he can get it at 25 for the Browning tho.
don't get cheated by those browning rackets. the title always says that the rrp is 200+ but in reality they are cheap. they definitely do not play like £200+ rackets.
Thanks for all the advice. i think I'm going to go ahead & get my old faithful restrung for now while I have a look around at what's available. Regarding the browning offer, I was a bit skeptical when I saw them advertised on ebay & amazon as I've never heard of the brand before, and the reductions do seem a little too good to be true. Also ,as Cheung made reference to, my technique needs to improve vastly before a better/lighter racket will have much of an influence on my standard of play. This brings me to my next question. Again, not having been around for years I don't know much about strings anymore. I'm sure everyone has their preferences but some general pointers on what to go for would be handy. Also if anyone knows a good place for restringing in Essex? I pm'd a member called airsteins that I came across on another forum but I haven't heard anything back so I don't know if he's still in the business. I've seen adverts for mail-order restringing as well but that seems like a bit of a hassle, not to mention risk. Lots of questions I know, but thanks again to all for taking the time to offer input...
Thanks for all the advice. i think I'm going to go ahead & get my old faithful restrung for now while I have a look around at what's available. Regarding the browning offer, I was a bit skeptical when I saw them advertised on ebay & amazon as I've never heard of the brand before, and the reductions do seem a little too good to be true. Also ,as Cheung made reference to, my technique needs to improve vastly before a better/lighter racket will have much of an influence on my standard of play.<br><br>This brings me to my next question. Again, not having been around for years I don't know much about strings anymore. I'm sure everyone has their preferences but some general pointers on what to go for would be handy. Also if anyone knows a good place for restringing in Essex? I pm'd a member called airsteins that I came across on another forum but I haven't heard anything back so I don't know if he's still in the business. I've seen adverts for mail-order restringing as well but that seems like a bit of a hassle, not to mention risk. Lots of questions I know, but thanks again to all for taking the time to offer input...
you could pop down to a club and ask the folks there where they get restrings locally. I reckon yonex BG80 is a fairly safe string.
Yeah BG80 is a good, trusty, and readily available string. ZM67 from Ashaway might even be better and is also easily available from stringers world there in the UK. Yeah man, clubs and social groups are a great resource for things like finding good stringers and recommending / trying out new rackets.The whole Browning thing was a failed attempt for them to get into the market, and the rackets have been dumped on eBay for well over a year now. No idea what they're like, but if you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket and are up for a bit of fun, sure, grab one. Otherwise, do some research and hold out until you know what's available and what you think might be good for your style of play.
