Why do so many people claim that the Yonex MP100 is fragile?

majority of racket failure is due to poor stringing job. Because one can't see stress the profile in a strung racket, one couldn't tell the stress from one strung racket from another. If the racket failed due to minor incident and breaks, the user automatically blame the racket because a broken racket is visible. Because mp100 is an high end racket, users don't blink an eye to go 25+ lbs because 'the pros do it'. That's why we hear more bad stories on mp100 than a lower end racket. At 25+ lbs, stringing techique more or less determine the racket longevity, assuming other variables being similar.

 

i just bought a cab 23 that was strung @ 24 lbs already .. and im scared that once i just tap it onto the wall it will break like a twig .. so now im so protective of it .. its not even funny anymore. wut u guys think about a 24 lbs strunged cab 23

 

Also, MP100 is one of the most popular rackets used by players. Therefore, there are more chances to see a broken MP100 than many other less used models. For example, say, 10 out of 100 MP100 broken, and only 2 out of 10 other particular model is broken. The chance is 10% vs 20%. However, most players only count the # of cases, which is 10 vs 2. It's very easy to conclude that "MP 100 is more fragile than the other model".

 

From my point of view, I think MP-100 are usually bought by more advanced players/people. However, more advanced players usually have more strength and power in swings than normal people, thus, when accidents happen, MP-100 breaks, and people say it's not durable.

Not to mention if you use MP-100 in doubles, no rackets are designed for clashes, and thus, no rackets are durable (if you are considerring hitting things besides shuttles.)

Period

 

From my experience using and stringing many MP100s, I can testify the MP100 is no stronger or weaker in structure than other topline Yonex rackets.

As mentioned by other forum contributors, there are a lot more people using MP100s than other types of Yonex rackets, and law of averages will see more incidents of MP100 breakages. Besides, people tend to make more of a fuss when they break a $AUD300 racket than say a $100 Yonex racket, that's why there are so many posting on failure of MP100s.

My MP100 is strung to 26lbs and is still in immaculate condition. Firebolt I can assure you if your stringer knows what he / she's doing your Cab23 will be able to handle 30+lbs - provide you keep the racket away from anything solid! Mine's strung to 28lbs and it is still smiling.

 

hmm...


i've been told that... all high-end yonex racquet's tend to break more easily than lower ends ones....

 

you guys just bought up an interesting point.

i've used to let this guy string my racket(iso800, 2cab20, cab23, mp100, mp88, and others which i've forgot) at 23# and they have all been broken. However now my rackets are strung at 26# and they are fine, i play with the same intensity now as then. I just notice that all my previous racket would collapse if i miss hit the shuttle and made contact with the frame, but now with the new stinger it does not break.

i think this is due to like what you guys have said, poor stringing method.

 

how do u tell whether a mp100 is in its early days or earlier batches? thru the code on the racquet itself?

coz singapore mega sports store, sportslink, is selling it at 239 sing dollars only, and comes with a lot of freebies... and it's half the price of the original selling price. so it makes me wonder whether izzit from the earlier batches of production or not....

or issit that they reduce the price coz of other much more competitive pricing from other imitation models?

 

It would appear so. But look it from Yonex's perspective. They will assume the people who are willing to spend that sort of money on a MP100 to have decent game skills to minimise clashes, bashes and so forth, and will want the best material engineering available from Yonex to ensure the rackets perform spectacularly. As result, less emphasis is placed on MP100 on its absolute durability, but more on outright performance.

On the other hand, the lower end of Yonex range will have more emphasis placed on its survivability and durability, as Yonex anticipate the end users will more likely to be involved in activities detrimental to the lifespan of the racket. That's why MP100 is made of high grade graphite and B-450 is made of high tensile steel. One'll be great for generating 300km/h+ smashes time after time, and the other one will be suitable for leaving craters on the timber floor and bounce back laughing. In the end no racket will break if left sitting on the shelf. It is up to the user who will determine the lifespan of their racket.

 

Valid question you've made there Fusion, and people have the right to believe paying $300 for a flagship Yonex racket are getting the best of performance, materials and durablity.

Unfortunately, performance and durablity often stand on opposite end of scale. Watch a Ferrari F1 car in action. It's very fast, expensive and only Michael & co. can drive it and keeping it on the tarmac. It represents everything mankind knows in making a car to go as fast as it can. Yet if Michael stood on it's front wing there's a good chance he'll break it off the car, nosecone and all. On the other hand Michael's grand father can stand on a $10,990 Fiat Punto's front bumper and it won't shift an inch, and good bet he can drive the car on the race track, on dirt, and on wet road without too much trouble. It all comes down to design and engineering for a specific needs of the end user. It would be fair to say that Yonex engineered the MP100 for all out performance with little regard for durablity, whereas B450 was engineered for maximum durabilty instead of performance. As necessary Yonex has designed many other models in between these two rackets with the durability / performance quota cleverly balanced as deemed necessary, based on their market research and customer feedback. Therefore there's a fair chance that Yonex designed the MP22 to be more durable than MP100, as it is aimed towards beginner - intermediate level players who is more likely to subject the rackets to destructive incidents.

With my limited materials knowlege, the use of titanium alloy & mesh in rackets actually reduce the durability of graphite, as less graphite is used in same cross section to make room for titanium and bonding resin to form the Ti-Mesh portion in the racket. Graphite's strenght is proportional to its cross sectional wall thickness and the less void within the graphite structure, the stronger it is. I believe MP24 has greater amount of graphite than MP100 at the same said area. (3 & 9 o'clock position) Yonex introduced Ti Mesh for marketing reasons and I personally have doubts about its claim of head stablizing benefit on a badminton racket.

Also keep in mind MP100 was one of the very first full bodied MP rackets to be made by Yonex and they should have perfected the construction process by the time MP24 was released, which is about 3 years after MP100, allowing ample time to eliminate any earlier defects experienced by earlier MP100s. I haven't seen too many MP100 failing in last 2 years and plenty of them are still getting banged around at stadium day in, day out, without breaking.

However, with each racket breakages one also has to examine how the impact caused the frame to fail. I have seen a MP88 clashing against a Cab8 and got away with a big paint chip whilst the Cab8 broke it's alloy head. Common belief would dictate Cab8 being the winner of this clash. Everything's relative and there are too many variables unless someone is prepared to conduct a full scaled structural test of all Yonex rackets in laboratory conditions.

Ok it's getting late and I might be blabbing here, so forgive me if I don't make things clear enough or answered your questions..... but if you are willing to pay me $300 I'll be glad to have my MP100 clash with your MP24 and see which one is stronger.....

 

good observation cheung considering u uses mostly cab20. The early batches of mp100 have its problem but people that bought them from authorized dealers they have recourse on that.

 

The MP100 uses the highest grade graphite available for sports products. Very or Ultra high modulus graphite that is stronger and lighter than the graphite used in the MP24 by far. The Ti in the head makes it more forgiving not stronger or weaker. When you use light weight materials there is a tradeoff in the strength to a small degree. At my club there are two Danish coaches using the MP100 and the one guy says he can't break his MP100. He's clashed, hit on the floor, and in one case abused the frame and expected it to break but it didn't to his surprise. The other Dane was using the Armortec700 and broke two and has now switched to the MP100 and has not broken a raquet in some time. I've used the 100 myself and have had numerous clashes and have checked the frame expecting a crack but none found. I think the 100 is one of our most durable frames. As stated in an earlier thread I think the reason we have seen a higher number of broken 100's is there are simply a larger # of them around to see get broken.

 

There's two points here, ultimate performance equals reduced durability. Ayl used a great example in F1, the cars can in most situations outaccerelate ours (in all aspects including negative) many times but would you accept a car that required an engine rebuild after every race and regularly broke down each race? Same with racquets to get ultimate say smash performance (in the case of the MP100) you want a shaft as light as possible with as much of the mass as possible in the head, meaning the shaft, and the joint with the shaft is going to be weak.

Also theorectically (I think I've mentioned this before) an Iso racquet, given all the same factors cannot be as durable as a Cab. The closer you get to a perfect circle, the stronger the shape will be. Corners are stress concentrators, as Iso racquets have a shape more cornerlike than Cabs then they won't be as strong. Plus 2U is usually stronger than 3U.

PS Cab 8 Dx (assuming it's still steel shaft and graphite head) would own all your fancy shmancy high end Yonexes durability wise I'm sure you could accept that Fusion.

 

PS Cab 8 Dx (assuming it's still steel shaft and graphite head) would own all your fancy shmancy high end Yonexes durability wise I'm sure you could accept that Fusion

cab8dx is actually Al frame and graphite shaft.

there are many kind of durability that wasnt defined here.
I would say without any clashing, a regular racket with graphite frame will outlast a cab 8dx.

 

Unfortunately, a Punto can't do 280Km/h......

 

but a mp100 can do 280 km/hr costing much less