Hi, Does anyone know where in the UK I could get a demo racket of the Bravesword LYD and 12?? Iv tried going through the offical Victor web site and e-mailing but with no luck. I will be buying one of them but its so hard to know which one to get as I have never used had a Bravesword or Victor rackets before. Thanks
I dont know of any uk based outlet that will give demo rackets. First I have ever seen offer this is tennistown.de (german). I dont know if they offer demo rackets to all of EU, and you only get 3 days iirc.
I've never heard of demo racket days for victor being held anywhere in the UK unfortunately. I know that quite a number of yonex sellers do provide such services. Maurice robinson sports i believe do offer demos for a wide range of brands.
Crazyfreak I know of a retailer who has demo racquets of virtually all Yonex range and they are now building their Victor range. By the way, they are based near Manchester so you wouldn't have far to travel. Given a couple of weeks they will have quite a few Victor racquets as demos but may not have LYD as there are none in Europe except for those retailers who pre-ordered. They will have Meteor 70, and many of the new racquets.Where do you think I get the racquets to demo and review that are on my blog? Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Dear Paul, Thats good to hear, might i know the name of the retailer? Virtually no one i know from the 4 venues i play in, (in central manchester) actually know of any regular demo days let alone victor demo's. I would really appreciate having the opportunity to try out rackets first before actually buying them. However i've been quite lucky in buying rackets (a VT-70 and a MX80) which i feel i've made good buys. On a side note, really wanted to join your coaching weekeds. Its just a tad bit too far and expensive for me and my mates. Would have really appreciate your high level training.
Guys BWS Sports near Bury, Manchester have demo racquets. I have taken Meteor 70 today and will be getting Meteor 60 next week so that i can review it. They don't have a website but will happily lend out demo racquets. They used to do a lot of club visits and sponsor tournaments but not so much these days. They also have some Victor clothing and footwear, albeit limited at the moment. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Hi Paul, have you ever had use of the mx80? What were your thoughts? Is there likely to be a review on your website?Cheers
I thought Meteor 80 was a good racquet. As you probably know i use VT80 and therefore I felt it was a little hollow compared to my main racquet and therefore lacked a bit of punch for me. Overall it was a nice performer but I felt it lacked a bit on the power side. It had good touch, but was not solid enough to crunch the shuttle. Surprisingly Meteor 80 only lasted 1 season so I feel my comments were justified otherwise why withdraw such a good looking racquet so soon? Let's hope Meteor 70 is better although can't wait to get my hands on Meteor 60 too Hope this helps a little. Paul
Thanks for the response. In your hand, how does the mx70 feel in terms on stiffness and head heaviness. I'm a vt80 user and love them so I'm intrigued to see if victor can produce something that can generate the same power.
even more surprising that he called it hollow... I have both VT80 and MX80, and there is no chance MX80 is hollow, if anything the VT80 is hollow in comparison to the MX80... Then again he's Yonex sponsored so...
LD Please don't be fooled into thinking that my sponsorship is anything to do with my comments. I genuinely felt something was amiss with Meteor 80 and that's the only way I could describe it for me. The construction is obviously good as it's a Victor racquet but I couldn't find another adjective to make my point in terms of how it felt to me. And guys, we all know we feel a racquet differently to each other so I don't expect you will feel the same way. Just as I don't expect anyone else to like VT80 - it's a personal thing. Now Meteor 70 feels very different. It has a great feel and initial thoughts are that it's going to be a fast racquet and powerful. Maybe you guys know something I don't but why do you think Meteor 80 has been withdrawn only a year after launch in Europe? I still think it's a really good racquet and would certainly get a 4 star rating. By the way guys, if you've read my reviews then you'll know a number of Victor racquets received 5 star reviews. I think this proves my unbiased approach. I also just tested 10 APACS racquets and may of them scored highly. I now have Meteor 70, Meteor 60, Flumetec and around 4 other Victor racquets to test and review over the next few weeks in addition to other brands so I think I'm going to be pretty busy. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
I have to back this up as Paul has done some great reviews of Victor rackets and if I'm not mistaken even gave the BS10 a 5 star rating. Rackets are very personal which is why if possible try then first.
Thanks Ben BS10 is one of my favourite racquets I've ever had the pleasure of using. I also loved CAstilus 400 and Strut XT40. Funny but these were the three best-selling racquets for Victor UK over the last 2 years. Co-incidence? I don't know but I am aware my reviews were sent to all retailers and as a result they sold more. As a Yonex sponsored coach, do you think I got anything for this? No, but I gave my opinion and believe credit was due to these racquets for being that good. When I test the other racquets I'll be just as honest. I'd love them to rate as highly. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
The price? I don't think the brand has established itself so far as to ask similar/higher price than Yonex (seeing as it's "unique" selling point apparently was: similar/better than Yonex at lower prices; from the buyer's point of view) ... Availability has also been poor to none in the rest of Europe.
Demolidor Yes, I can see your point. I know there are certain countries in Europe such as France who have no representation for the brand. The UK has also been weak. It's going to take time for the new Victor structure in UK to take effect. I note what you say about price increases. but I've seen this across all brands too. However, I agree that Victor prices have risen a lot and maybe they are seeing sales increases to the extent they consider the brand has developed sufficiently to warrant a higher positioning in the market. If we take the UK badminton market, I'd be interested to know which brand you guys think are number two behind Yonex. At one time I would have said Carlton by a lot. However, i see so few Carlton racquets in clubs these days that I really don't know. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Paul, it depends at what level your playing at, club level at the moment I'm seeing pretty much anything, Apacs, Yehlex, Carlton (not as much as when I started playing five years ago), Yonex (obviously), Ashaway etc etc. Pretty much every brand in existence, even Panda Power! Actually quite a lot of Ashaway. The much higher level county players seem to be using a lot of Ashaway recently and a marked increase in Victor, presumably due to sponsorship drives by them to get their brand "out there". A few are still sponsored by Carlton but not as many. Only the very best in their age group seem to be sponsored by Yonex. At a general county level it does seem to vary from county to county. Also I seem to encounter different brands in different parts of the country. In Reading and Berkshire (2009) it was mostly Yonex with a few Yehlex, Bristol (06-09) mostly Yonex with a few Victor and Carlton and Birmingham ('10-present) mostly Yonex with a few Ashaway.This is based upon what I seem to end stringing anyway! I have a feeling it might be based upon what the top players in the area use and then club players who know them tend to copy and this filters through the system. In this regard Yonex had the market sewn up until recently, when Victor and Li-Ning grabbed South Korea and China. This seems especially true for juniors some of whom see rackets as fashion items as well as rackets. BTW Li-Ning are seen as "cool" at the moment, that's what I learnt from sitting behind some Avon and Gloucester juniors at the All England anyway! They are however too expensive for juniors to afford! Is this because the China team are now sponsored by them (specifically Lin Dan)? Oddly Victor weren't seen as cool, not enough profile for the Korean players? Back on topic, Victor UK's website is hardly working well at the moment, plus they could really do with making all their rackets easily available in the UK, rather than a select few models. (SW35 and the other braveswords are conspicuous in their absence). They are close to breaking through in the UK market but not quite there yet.
I noticed good players that are more casual about their rackets use Carlton. The rest use Yonex and there's some Ashaway, Yelhex, FZ, Wilson. The mainstream high street sports shops in UK only sell high end Carltons (like razors or vapor trail) while available Yonex models are intermediate (like VT7 and 5) or low end. That perhaps explains the large number of Carlton users at club level... Surely Victor would have succes in UK if they would make their range of equipment available and if marketed properly - a website would be a good start! There's not even the case of talking about second place behind Yonex because at the moment they're largely unheard of.