I know some of you were interested in the customworqs racquets but had your doubts... well I went ahead and got one and it just arrived today. Packaging: The package it came in was terrible. It was a thin piece of cardboard with absolutely no packing inside to keep the racquet safe.. he was even skimpy on the tape and you could see into the box. Racquet: came with plastic wrap and a thin peice of cardboard over the head with the customworqs logo. Initial inspection found no problems except one speck of paint was missing/chipped and the top of the frame seemed to either be cracked... or the paint bubbled a little bit and left an uneven section. I went with the black and yellow racquet and it's pretty dull.. I like mellow colors but this is quite unattractive.. I'd suggest maybe trying the blue one. There wasn't much written on the frame or on the shaft, so nothing to tell there. Racquet measurements: I went with a head heavy, stiff, medium weight racquet off the site. Initially it felt very light in my hand.. and weighed in at 87 grams with no strings, the grip it came with and the plastic on the grip. The balance point like this was 296. The plastic weighed 1g, the grip weighed 9g, so 77g for completely dry weight. Completely dry balance point was 326. I then gripped it with standard towel grip (i can't remember which kind) and it weighed in at 91g.. which is perfect because i like to play with around 96g-98g. Racquet feel: It feels very maneuverable in my hand...and I can't feel the head weight very much (still no strings yet). It is quite stiff.. stiffer than my sw30 and bs15...but similar in stiffness to my mx70 and mxjjs.. it seems to have a slightly different flex point and at times feels much stiffer than my jjs and then suddenly the same stiffness..as of now I think it might be the stiffest out of the group... but only by a hair.. i will be able to tell more when I play with it. It feels like a bravesword but I don't get that sturdy frame feeling i get in a victor. I'll be stringing it with vs850 at 24X26. Racquet extras: the "special" grip it came with actually felt pretty nice.. I took it off for weighing purposes and put my own grip on it.. but I will probably eventually put the original grip back on to see how it play and how much swear it can absorb. Some of the grommets were in bad condition and I think I will have to replace them so to avoid string damage. That's all for now I will try to play with it soon to let you know how it plays. I was most recently using the mxjjs and mx60 so I guess I will be comparing it to those most. Sorry for the bad sentence structure I'm sick and sleep deprived. Hope this helps ^_^
dang... you've got to clean your camera lens... but seriously, that is just horrible packaging especially compared to rkep
Played with it. The racquet has a dead/dampened feeling compared to my victor racquets.. it's the head heaviest you can go and it's not really heavy enough to my liking.. but it plays super fast. It more maneuverable than my mx60. It could pass as a great doubles racquet but can't see it being liked for singles.. unless a different strings brings the crispness vs850 was definitely lacking. I would also suggest maybe going for the heaviest of the weights.. as I went medium weight and it weights around 96g but feels like a feather in my hand.
I can get a top of the line victor racquet for cheaper than the customworqs..so definitely not worth it for me. I guess it depends how much you normally pay for your racquets...it was roughly 200 canadian for this racquet.
so anymore review on this one tranqq? it is kinda horrifying to see the packaging and to think that there is paint chip before you could even use it!
have you tried it with different setup like different string? and how is it with their special grip? is it feels good on hand?
Hey avenger..so i thought i lost the grip but i found it..so ill give it a try and let you know. As far as setting it up with different string..it seems like a waste becauae i cant see different strings making up for what is lacking. I actually recorded a game with me playing with the racquet but the game is played so poorly i wasnt planning on posting it
I was going to ask whether it could be that the racquet doesn't suit your needs but I guess that if it's customised to your preference it shouldn't be that far off. Can you be more specific as to what you find is lacking with it? Looking at the head shape (it may be a distorted photo) it looks a lot longer and oval than I would expect an iso frame to be. Do you find that the sweetspot is quite small and the racquet a little unforgiving on off-centre shots?
I will be testing this brand very soon through a friend of mine. So we will be reviewing the process and the finished article. This is going to be an exciting and interesting experiment. The concept behind this brand is brilliant. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
I wouldn't say it's fully customized to my preference because I asked for the head heaviest racquet I could get and it's not head heavy enough for me. I also asked for the medium weight instead of heavy weight because I was worried I would have a tank otherwise (i use about 16g of grip) and it's almost too light. The racquet is very fast.. but does not feel solid. Even when stringing it at 24X26 the racquet frame was making creaking noises..where as with my mx-jjs at 30X32 didn't make a peep. When I hit with the racquet it felt dampened.. or dull. The racquet seemed to do nothing to help my hitting of the shuttle crisply. As far as as the sweet spot I would say yes.. it is a small sweet spot.. but I need to play with it again the verify that one. It is a very fast racquet... so it was fun to play with.. but lacked stability and feel. Anyways I'll try to play another game with it tonight... the only problem are all the injuries I've got right now. wish me luck
after trying it out again I would definitely say the racquet isn't very forgiving if you don't hit everything really cleanly..and it makes an odd sound when you do full smashes. The grip seems quite nice though... it's got a little bit of cushion.. tacky enough it doesn't slip around and didn't start slipping when my hands were sweating.
Hi all, Just been using the CustomWorqs rackets for a couple of weeks and have been really impressed. They feel and play a lot better than the Yonex rackets I have used before and can string them up really tight. Think the whole concept of being able to customise your very own racket is excellent. I am really looking forward to seeing this brand grow and seeing what new ideas and designs CustomWorqs come out with. I went for the White design and it looks great!
You will forgive us for taking your review with extreme caution (suspicion) in light of past incidents ...
hmm. interesting. i play with vt80. i just went through their racket configurator and it suggested i use a super light headed racket base on all the data i inputed. maybe ill be a ninja if i pick up a nanospeed.
"New Member" "January 2013" "1 post" All points to an inside job Kwun, do you have an IP for this guy? In semi related news, Andrew Smith's results have taken a turn for the worst since his switch it seems
Interesting comment about Andrew Smith. I think there is a lot more to it than his rackets. After all, his results have been poor for some time, when he was playing with Carlton. Those who know me on BC are aware that I am sponsored by Yonex. Therefore, it will be very interesting to test this racket bearing in mind I sat with my friend to design what he considers to be his perfect racket. When the racket arrives, I will be providing a full account of the order process and my usual racket review. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk