Okay, so as 2011 comes to a close, I thought it might be fun to have a light-hearted look back at the hits and misses of 2011's new gear releases. It was a pretty good year for new stuff, with the new Voltric and Nanoray series from Yonex, the Meteors from Victor, and a slew of other new rackets which I've completely ignored. So without further ado, here are some serious and other not so serious nominations for the best and worst of 2011! Best racket paint job : Yonex Nanoray 700Fx Most imitated paint job : Victor MX80 / Yonex Voltric 80 String most likely to lose tension just by looking at it - Victor VS850 Best shuttlecocks : TIE Aeroplane Black Label / RSL Tournament Most annoying racket trend - Anything chrome Most confusing racket model range - LiNing N-Series. The damn thing keeps growing and getting more confusing by the day Most underrated brand I've never actually tried - Fleet Most anticipated new release - TIE LiNing N80 / Victor Signature LYD Bravesword And now the big one......Racket of the Year....... Victor MX80! What are your best and worst of 2011?
I'm sharing the love! actually I'm in my 40's now and they're hurting my shoulder so I'm wusing out and getting some more 'old person' rackets. Sucks, but I still want to be playing this game for the next 10+ years so prevention is the best medicine, right? Looking forward to your list
Well if you have no taste, then yeah . Next thing you'll be telling us Li-Ning is the way to go ... . Of course if you don't agree with one you should nominate another as well ...
So your "best racket paintjob" was really the Li Ning N90-II. I mean, come on... it's the worst-concealed rip-off since the N50/Arc 10 (ironically). Agree on the N-Series confusion, though - the only pattern I can find is that the price goes up with the number (but I can see even this falling apart now Lin Dan is using the N50-II).
Best racket paint job : Victor SW37 / Flypower Warriors 7 Most imitated paint job : Victor MX80 / Yonex Voltric 80, String most likely to lose tension just by looking at it - Yonex BG70. LiNing ns101 Best shuttlecocks : RSL Tournament / Pro Ace (forgot the model) Most annoying racket trend - bulge on the shaft (gosen's racket model... weird!) Most confusing racket model range - I go for Li-Ning... Not only the N-series, the mid & low end also confusing Most underrated brand I've never actually tried - Apacs (never tried b4) Most anticipated new release - Victor SW37 My best racket of the year: Victor Super Waves 37 (clear winner)
No one cares about shoes and clothing? I think these deserve a mention Shoes: SH8500 (red) Clothing: 2011 WC Victor Apparel (red)
Well I will admit my favourite shirt is the Victor Surdiman Cup team Korea shirt.....and I don't care what anyone says, the Yonex 'camouflage' gear is spectacular and if I actually had any triceps I'd buy a whole heap of them.
I can't vote for any badminton shoes because I think from a technology POV they're in the dark ages. I recently bought some Nike Kobes and they're like wearing shoes from another planet.
Same stick of rock, just different colours. Best racket paintjob: Voltric 70/80; Best looking shoes: SHB101 LTD (the red-and-white ones, not the coloured-by-six-year-old ones); Most anticipated new release: Nanoray 900 - I wish they'd hurry the F**K up with this thing!!!
You're going to be waiting a while. Somewhere in the vicinity of the timespan inbetween the release of the VT70 and VT80 Anyway, in the meantime to put you out of your misery, just look at a picture of a NR700RP, squint, imagine it's black and orange and has some weird bulges somewhere. et voila - Nanoray 900!
for clothing, i prefer malaysia jersey during sudirman cup - blue colour... i dont really prefer camouflage jersey from yonex, it feels like an army shirt... btw, victor jersey during sudirman cup is not bad at all
I like the MX-80 alot but I have to disagree with you about it being the raquet of the year. I have to give it to the VT-80. I've seen the damn thing everywhere now. In the pro game you see it being adapted by players across the whole spectrum of play. Men, Women, doubles, singles. It's been awhile since I've seen that raquet that widely adopted.