I was browsing through www.buy.com For fun, I typed in "badminton". Not surprising, most links for those "Backyard" sets. However, they do have Karakal SL-80 for USD$79 (not such a bad deal, compare to badmintonwarehouse) with free shipping. And 2 grip sizes! God... Is this sport getting popular in US now???
i bought my sl 80 for RM150 thats roughly USD37.50 which includes gosen string n grip. US used to be a powerhouse in badminton somewhere around the 50s. think they eevn made it to the thomas cup final once but lost to malaya as it was called then.
Check www.karakal.co.uk. The SL-TI80 in the pic seems have light blue shaft and silver head fream (majority). However, the pic on www.buy.com (SL80 Ti) looks more like silver (shaft and majority head) + black. Are these newer / older models? Or, the one on buy.com is the "Asian model" (87/92g instead of 80/85)? Any reference will be helpful.
try... erm.. KMart.. ? http://www.bluelight.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1184317 SL80 for US$70 i was actually taking a look at the TGR90, as i want to try out another regular length 2U oval racket from some brand other than Yonex. but i also want to stiff one and there is no info on that. anyone tried it? it is only $50 in KMart....
and what the *^(^*&), Kmart listed Squash racket under "Sport", while they list badminton racket under "toys"!?!
interesting, a search of "karakal 90" in google shows that many of the sport chains like Sports Authority, ****'s Sporting, etc, are selling the Ti-80 and also the TGR90, as well as a few Wilson rackets.
Hmm.. you've got to bit a bit wary of Karakal rackets. I can't speak highly enough of the rackets but the pain is they seem to change their model lengths, style and colours more often than Peter Gade changes his socks! You'll find a number of different models floating around at the same time and I got burnt on a couple of cheap Ti-75's that didn't match the version I liked. Would have taken sponsorship terms off them otherwise
Besides buy.com none of the other retailers have them in stock. Sports authority has the SL-70 on their site but does not have any for sale. Bluelight.com also has none available.
Karakal SLTi-80's One of my partners in Tangent Sports plays with the SL-80 and SLTi-80 and this is what he had to say of the racket(s). Kind of a brief history. The Karakal SLTi-80 on Buy.com is previous season's model. The new one, which is on Karakal.com, is the up and coming one. As far as I know, there have been four models of the Karakal SLTi-80 available in North America: -The first one was called the SL-80 had no titanium in it -The second one was the first year that they added titanium to the SL-80 and Karakal called it the SLTi-80. -The third one is the one that you see on the Buy.com site. -The fourth one is the newest model coming out at the end of this month, and is the racket that you see on Karakal.com There could have been another SL-80 before the first one I described. I'm sure there has been four models, but I could be wrong. The people who like the feel of the original SL-80 like the new SLTi-80. The people who like the second generation SLTi-80, have mixed views on the new one, as the new one isn't head light and has less vibration in the racket. The light head allowed quick defense and some did not like having the weight distributed more to the head of the racquet like the first generation SL-80. The racket on Buy.com (last year's model) and the one on Karakal.com (this year's new model), are pretty similar with the exception of slight difference in balance and improvements in feel. Personally I only like the new and current one, coming out this fall.
TGR-90 Hey Kwun, I've tried the once piece TGR-90 that's coming out this fall. When Karakal sent me the racket, they only sent it with the standard Pulse 75 string and told me that I could not change it. This racket is a complete one piece racket so it is very stiff. I don't remember too much about it, because I only got to play with it for a couple of hours, but I do remember it being a very nice smashing and clearing racket, but lacking in the touch department. That could be because of the Pulse 75 strings that come standard on all Karakal rackets. Sorry for the brief and crappy review, but I thought you might have been interested.
Re: Karakal SLTi-80's John, Thanks a lot for the valueable info and review. Seems u like the current available model (buy.com as well as several other sites). Can u tell me what's the weight of this model? Is that really 80/85 g (without and with string), or 87/92 g (asian model???) as someone previously metioned in another thread?
Buy.com Karakal SLTi-80's For the North American market, the racket should be 80gm unstrung and 84gm~85gm strung. I don't believe that anyone would sell the Asian model in North America, especially a chain supplier like buy.com. The thing though is Karakal is an aquired taste. It takes a while to get used to Karakal rackets, if you have been playing with Yonex or Yonex clone type rackets. So if you're really interested in buying this racket, I highly recommend that you get it in your hands first. If you do end up going to a store to check out Karakal rackets, try out the: SL-70 (just because it's the lightest racket on the market) Ti-75 (lighter racket, head light balance, but stiff) SLTi-80 (light balanced racket) TGR-90 (Super stiff racket) These are the ones that drew alot of interest while we were demo'ing the up and coming year's new models. Hope this helps.
John, Thanks a lot. I don't think I will get a chance to try it out in a local store (seems big chain only has SL80TI online). However, I am willing to take a little bit risk, if I can buy it from www.modells.com. I've just a $100 gift certificate from my friends. If I can use it, it's more like a free gift. To me, light and balanced = good chance of like it.
John, thanks for the overview. the TGR90 is super stiff? stiff, regular length, 2U and only $50, just my taste.... hm... tempting....
Hehe... but you still gotta swap out the strings man. Let me know how you like it after you get it. IF you get it
well, ok. i couldn't resist the temptation. i found that fogdog.com have it in stock for $50 and they also have free shipping so i ordered it. US$50, no shipping cost, no tax. that's my kind of price for a racket. just need to wait.
