Hi all!!! I'm new here and have been scouring the web looking for reviews / advice etc on a new racket but it seems a little thin on the ground... Found this site and figured it was likely to offer better advice than a bunch of Amazon reviews I've got a 2/3 year old Carlton Powerblade 6000 racket which has served me fairly well considering it only cost me about ~£20. I've just started playing again after a while out in a league at work. The standard isn't amazing but there are enough good players (well... comparatively) to keep it interesting. I'd like to up my game a little and feel a new racket might help. I've always felt something lacking in my smash power as well as overall distance (takes a proper WHACK to reach the back of the court). I'm sure most of it is down to technique but I can't help think my cheapy racket might have a part to play. I don't play enough to know if I have a "style"... I play a few drop shots and am fairly quick / energetic around the court but as said above - have never been able to *really* nail my smashes (they never make that cool "thwack" sound!!). I've got a budget of up to £50 (tops) but would prefer something in the £30-40 range if possible. Not an amazing budget I know, but with 2/3 years of technology and a jump in price I'd hope to get something noticeably better. Thanks, Mark
Edit: Should add... My current searching has thrown up the Carlton Ignite Rapid and Carlton Air Interceptor as possibles. Would be interested to hear any thoughts on those or any alternatives that people would recommend.
first getting a new racket will not help you at all. second, if you don't know your style yet you probably haven't played enough to know. getting a new racket might not help at this point especially your budget is so low. i do have the carlton ignite rapid and it's a wonderful racket. it is considered head light to me and light weight. very flexible so power is not a problem. i currently had it strung with yonex bg70pro at 24 and i get tons of power. the tension is 24x25 so i also get a bit of control. the only problem is i've been using head heavy rackets so my timing is off, but that has nothing to do with the racket itself. since i loved it i think it's worth the money. but head light racket is not your thing then maybe you want to try something else.
I was kind of expecting someone to say that Yeah... I fully appreciate what you say. My racket has some noticeable flex in the strings... much more so than any of the rackets I was looking at over the weekend. Would a restring be a decent / reasonable option in this case? I'm all up for not spending £40 if I don't need to!
