Li-Ning Racket

If you like to smash a lot go for N90

 

N90 gives you powerful smash but your wrist will be exhausted very soon. That's why no men double use this racket.

N50 may not give you powerful smash (unless your proper technique is as good as fu hai feng) but you can continously smash through-out the match without feeling exhausted on the wrist.

I am not sure about the version II of each of these rackets. But i think old version is much better than new generation. Old version are kinda ugly in term of color thus version II comes out with more colorful. Durability are pretty much the same but not sure about BP, flex, etc. If you don't care about color, then old version is definetely must have (price is a bit higher than new generation due to who-knows-the-reason!)

 

voltrics are the head-heavy replacements of yonex armortec.

 

LN N90 is the logical upgrade if you like AT700 balance etc. If you want a new YY then VT80/3U is the commn YY-alternative.

 

Arcsaber Z-slash is a piece of crap imop. Arc-10 is great but more even balanced than N90/AT700 if thats something you like. VTZF is very different. Personally I love the racket, but it is stiffer and lighter than the other so swing speed and snappy wrist is crucial to tap some power from that one.. for longer arm movements N90 will be the most powerful one of the mentioned. Thats my 2 c.

 

Get the N90. I just ordered one. Can read a bit more about Li-Ning rackets here:

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/115058-Li-Ning-Rackets

 

OK.. I think I have ranted about the problems with Z-slash maybe enough on the BC But in short.

1) Narrow frame = small sweetspot, more or less back to "classic"-oval-head feel in headshape.. Its one step backward form ISO frames for most players.
2) Too flexy shaft.. overflexes and sacrifices control for a slight advantage in speed.
3) Tends to overflex and therefore loose its shaft properties. But thats a minor gripe for pros who can change the racket to a new one weekly.
4) Pretty bad reception amongst pros and poor results from pros switching to it (Tago may be the exception, if you discount this OG, as I think he has done fairly well with it.. But I feel sure he would have done better with other models.). Most other players abandoned it quickly once YY came with another "newest" model.

It's biggest problems are in flat-play/defence.. YY has tried to fix the "bugs" of it with the latest Voltrics but in my book it was an experiment for YY (when they tried to set a new smash-speed record) that ultimately proved to be a flawed design.

I am not sure what you want to know about the role of balance.. Generelly less head-heaviness leads to a quicker more agile racket, easier to defend with, but usually asacrificing that extra power, that you get from the bigger mass and momentum from a more head-heavy (think hammer here) racket.

 

You're coming from the AT700 second gen which is slow and head heaviest out of all the Yonex lines. From your description, your style sounds quite similar to mine and I highly recommend you buy the N90 or a VTZF as I can use any of those interchangeably with my AT700LTDs. The ZF is different in that it requires more swing speed, but the power is there and it's not that hard to adjust to.

The N90 is really something else. Essentially when Li Ning began sponsoring the Chinese National team, they asked Lin Dan what he wanted improved on his AT700 First Gen to make it better. We all know that he used white athletic tape at the top to make it more head heavy. The result was the N90 which requires no further modifications and you can really feel the punches in this beast if you're used to using the AT700 line. Compared to the AT700, it offers you similar power, but it adds speed and faster recovery into the mix. What you get is something that doesn't feel sort of perfection.

Watch out for fake N90's... there's so many on the market that even I'm scared to order it online and only trust a few sites like MBS. Li Ning USA and Canada do not offer the N90 for sale and locally, there was a store that imported the N90's from overseas and they turned out to be all fakes.

 

Why not get a at700pre? IMO its the closest to at700 but its more aero. Cuts through air a lot faster.

 

You've essentially played for 5 years relying on sacrificing speed for power. Sure you can switch to an even balanced racket to gain speed, but when you want power, they'll leave something to be desired. In my opinion if you want more speed, get the ZF as the N90 is only marginally faster than the AT700. The VT80 doesn't feel anything like the AT700 and timing is completely different. Yes these are more singles rackets, but you're mostly powering up from the back like you said.

 

VTZF is a unique racket, it is quite head heavy when you grip it, however when you swing it in the air and hitting the shuttle, it is quite fast and does not feel as heavy head as you think it would be. Thanks to the slimmer shaft and frame which is a little bit smaller as compared to the normal ISO.
VT80 is a head heavy racket, when you swing it, it gives a head heavy feeling and it is slower as compared to VTZF. VT80 is slightly more packed with raw power as compared to VTZF, however the trade off between power for speed in VTZF is something which is worth to try.

If you are playing double most of the time, i suggest you to pick 3U VTZF, since you will gain advantage by having faster racket yet still has head heavy character.

If you really want something new from AT700 series, i suggest you buying another AT700 2nd gen or AT700 Premium 2012.

 

4U is lighter than 3U, therefore 3U would have more power. Is your AT700 3U or 4U ?