Well, that makes 5 in under a year. Two were collisions, the rest were either birdy hits or just hitting too hard. Perhaps the string tension is too high/too low? This last racquet seemed to be doing alright, it was a Yonex Ti-5. The previous one was a BlackKnight 2010, before that, two BlackKnight 2008's and before that, an older BlackKnight midrange racquet ... it lasted the longest, almost a year. But it was the first to go, then I won the first 2008, broke it in 2 weeks, got a replacement free, broke it in 3 weeks, got the 2010, broke it in a couple of months and then had the Ti-5 for about 4-5 months. What does everyone have to say about the durability of their current/previous racquets? My spare that I'm using is an old school Carbonex8 with aluminum head/carbon shaft. It's a bit of a warclub, but mostly indestructible. .r.
Try to find a Ti-10. They're as hardy as it gets. Also, try to make sure that your stringer isn't putting in extra pounds on you to make you buy more rackets. You should be save with a Ti-10 though, if you aren't... get one specially tailored for you, full titanium!! Btw, any broken AT700 yet?
a couple of rackets that seems to be rather solid: durable rackets cab23 / aerotus 55 - a friend of mine owns one of each. the racket head has so many paint chip it looks like the craters on the moon. cab22 - i have one. seems rather solid iso600 - got two of these. both have been through numerous battles. one more than the other with many more paint chips. fragile rackets iso900 - got 4-5 dead ones at home slim10 - a little tap and it will be gone anybody care to add to the list?
Durable racket: Cab20 (original): several players using this racket (with old logo) for many (1 ppl claimed for 10+) yrs. Some of them are hard hitters and playing 10+ hrs per wk, and the rackets are still in service. Some paint chips here and there, but the graphite is still in perfect condition.
been using the same victor racquet for 3 years, playing frequently. restrung it alot though, i did have clashes and i drop my racquet alot, it never broke though
carlton aerogear 600......so old no one has probably heard of it/remember it lasted about 5 years now, the paint is almost all gone from the top part of the frame, restrung once or twice. and i play for nearly 5 hours a week..and try to smash as well....hehe....i would get another carlton..but i'd rather grab a couple cab 20s.
yonex raquets are easy to break, i broke 3 mp 100s in one day once, and i broke my 99 in a warm up, calton r very hardy
i get my mp 100s for about 75£ through a shop, but i think we did get them replaced, it was someting to do with my movement, and how i used my raquet to help me move
reply That is an unbelievable number of broken rackets! I use mostly Ti-10 and MP100, which are strong-ish rackets, but I've never broken a racket in open play. In the past six years, I've only broken one racket when someone stepped on the head. I use fairly high tension, usually around 25-26lbs. My problem is having too many older rackets I can't get rid of before I buy new ones. Are you sure the breakages aren't being caused by bad stringing? You can't always tell a bad stringing job by looking at the shape of the racket. Friction between the strings causes the racket head to keep a good shape even when it's under uneven pressure. This puts a lot of strain on the frame, especially near the top corners, then all it takes is a hard smash for the frame to give. It happened a lot to players I know. They bought expensive Yonex rackets and had them break within a few weeks.
Do you mean that you push off with your racquet?! Even though some people said that MP100s and Ti-10s are durable and tough, it's only in relation to the usual wear and tear of strokes. Racquets are not strong enough to prop your stance or help you recover, footwork is the key in all that. Just clashing/dropping the racquet on the floor could cause internal damage. Unless it's made of aluminium and steel, most racquets are frigile.
Errr... U mean u bumping racket to the floor very often, and use the theor of "action vs. reaction" to help u get back to balance / better position?
Well, the 2008's are really fragile ... they are less than 79grams, so very very fast and light. But like I said, I swing very hard and don't always hit the sweet spot. The first 2008 I broke with just continous smashing while practicing, no frame hits. I guess it could have been the stringing. I never thought about it before. But I usually get my stringer to string with a very tough string, since I break strings a lot. Perhaps it's better to go with a weaker string and break that instead of the racquet? My all-aluminum head cab8 makes a nice loud *DING* everytime I mishit. I think the sound might almost constitute a noise fault =). .r.
one broken Ti-10 (my own fault; I hit it on the ground because I was angry ) one broken AT 700 because of a collision (heavy one). My newest AT700 is solid as a rock! (until I get angry again I suppose.... )
What cause you angry so often?your partners?we should'nt take it too seriosly,it's just a game. I usually kick the shuttle rather than knocking the racket!!hope this helps.
To add to our list of durable rackets: - the old isometric 500(blue) and 300(dark reddish brown) - cab 22 or cab 20 power - blacken - old version of prokennex, i forgot which model Fragile rackets 1. slim 10. It was designed as slim so durability problem is quite obvious. 2. AR100. Not only weak but bad paint job. The silvery white paint peels off easily exposing the black frame making it look like a dalmatian. 3. the lower ends of aerotus in general, ok if strung properly. I listed yonex because that's what i've used, seen and strung a lot of. The worst ones that i came across was those lower end models sold by a proace representative in canada. I broke the one on a second shot (clear) and another one on the 3rd game. All from shaft problem, ie, no carbon fiber in shaft.
Oh yeah, FYI, every break was a head break, no shaft problems. 2 of the 5 were collisions, but the other three were either mishits or just plain hitting the birdy too hard. .r.