Hi guys. My friend is buying a new racket. His budget is $100. The brands that he likes are Yonex, Carlton, Winex and Prince. He prefers isometric rackets but would also consider the traditional oval shape as long as the racket plays well. What do you guys recommend?
if your friend can ask someone to buy a yonex racket in Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur, he/she can get a better deal. Yonex rackets are less than half the price in Mongkok and Kuala Lumpur. Here, your friend can get a Chao Pai racket or a Carlton Airblade racket. Personally, I like carltons but I'm using a Yonex MP-77.
Among the few racquets that I have played with that I liked are: mp77-good-solid feel, very powerful, a bit cumbersome mp55-ok-cheap but not as good as the mp77 isometric 800 tour-very good-fast, good maneuverability, powerful ti-3-good-flexible, powerful, cheap I have played with other racquets but I don't think that I've played with them enough to conclude anything concrete.
sayang, you guys just missed the sale of planet sports which ended around a week ago. their yonex racquets were 15% off. your friend could have chosen from their inventory of racquets priced lower than $100. from memory, the mp-77 light, mp-55 and carbonex 8 were available at that price range. got my 2 ti-10s for around $125 each, still quite expensive i guess compared to other countries (if they're still available )
Yes $100 = US$100. My friend is going to the US and is buying a racket there since rackets here are more expensive but if my fellow kababayan na Filipinos will point me to a place here in the Philippines which sells great rackets that is US$100, my friend will be more than thankful.
another choice can be for Gosen rackets.... you can check out "Roots Gavun BR-5000" once... though I use current cab 21 special.. but planning to get another piece of gosen one... cheaper and good performace ... it's worth your money... ...
i'll still stick to the Ti-10 Armortec i think it's not worth the price... by the way.. Ti-10 is more like a racquet used for training... because of it's head heaviness... beginner can train strenght
In US, the cheapest price for Ti SWing Power I can find, is around USD$130, and Ti-10 is hard to find. AT700 is way as high as USD$200 around. Most of the prices are not including re-string, shipping, etc. If price is really a concern, I would recommend Cab20MS (either 2u or 3u, depend on what he likes). It's a oval, regular length and balanced racket. Stiff shaft provides solid feeling. Decent power and excellent control. You can find a deal around $90-99 easily. If possible, try it then spending $$$.
I would disagree that Ti-10 is for a begginer. I suggest that a begginer wanting to train strength can buy a 100g aluminum racket. Price $5. That way it can get broken and said beginner wont have the hassle of ebay auctions if they get bored of the sport. graphite - what level of play is your friend at?
A US$100+ racket just for training? I agree that heavy racket might be useful for strength training, however: 1. I would rather use a relatively cheaper (under $50) racket for warm up / social game / strenth training (on/off court). Using a pricy racket is not wise to risk huge amount of $$$. 2. Strength is important, but not everything. Also, not every player has the ability and willingness to focus on strength. In the thread of "crafy old folks", many ppl described skillful aged players don't have the "super cannon" shots, but still manage to kick butt around. The above especially apply to int. or below players. Basically, it's not there's no need to get a top model BMW to teach a kid how to drive, just because such model has the "potential" of more functionality and speed.
My friend is an intermediate-high school player like me and we compete on provincial and sometimes regional (state) level. My friend would prefer isometric models in Yonex, Winex, Carlton or Prince brands but would also consider regular oval designs.
At that level it's just not worth going for something too expensive IMO. In essence it's difficult to "reccomend" a racket because how do we know what will suit your friend? Find out what is cheap in the Phillipines. in the US, carlton are dirt cheap. Don't be conned into Yonex prices if they are high! Any racket between about $50 and $100 level is probably suitable.