Ah its that time of the year again! The smell of fresh badminton racket peeled off its plastic cover beckons! Haven't posted anything here for quite a while. I've been a bit too busy with work lately! Rest assured though, I've been playing quite regularly. My go to racket at the moment is an RKEP PRO900 Red with specs: 84g 300BP and its been a solid companion until now. Lately though, its deficiencies have begun to bite. Its not generating as much power as I'd like in the smashes, clears etc. My secondary racket is still the old trusted Arcsaber 008 and the weight of the racket feels nice buts it too flexible for me now and I need something a bit more stiffer and head heavy. I gave away my Voltric 70 (4U) since it was feeling too low powered and flexible as well. I guess that with time, I've gotten a hang of the stiffness of the Pro9000 at it doesn't feel stiff anymore. I like that and I also like the fact that its very fast through the air and I can defend pretty well because of that. I'm looking now for a racket with equivalent stiffness to the PRO9000 (even a bit more is fine) with total weight similar to the Arcsaber 008 and a BP of at least 300 or more. The options I can think of at the moment, are the RKEP XP70 and Victor BS11. What do you guys think? Which one will be a better fit? Are there any other newer models which could perhaps fit into my requirements??
Head over to the RKEP racket thread... for sure the XP70! It is a hidden gem. Fast, powerful, accurate, great feel, and a great deal! What more could I ask from my go-to.
Yup, I too am leaning towards the XP70. Its just that I keep hearing stuff about the amazing speed of the Bravesword series and with my style of play, I think that its an important trait. What do you think, is there a justifiable difference in speed in the two rackets?
XP series is a hybrid of MX and BS frames. So it is faster than MX series and more powerful than BS series. Best of both worlds.
Adding to the list... Ok how about throwing in a few more into the ring? Been reading up a lot about the Victor MX JJs as well as the Thruster K6k (Oh God, I'm gonna die here!!!) Now I'm utterly confused! The RKEP XP70 racket unfortunately is just around 20 Euros cheaper than the Victor ones (Delivery charges included) and it doesn't seem to make much sense to me to pay so much for a racket with little resale value, as [MENTION=62821]Maklike Tier[/MENTION] mentioned in a post before http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...2-Considering-a-new-toy?p=2063887#post2063887 Sigh!! This indecision period is the most excruciating. Once I have finally bought a racket, however it may be, I know that I'm gonna love it... !
The TK6000 is head heavier but mid flex. According to its head wt, it's gonna feel like a 4U VT80. And XP70 won't nearly cost that much if you email Eric directly.
[MENTION=72087]uselessmail[/MENTION] Since you're in Germany, you should give the Adidas AdiPower Pro a try. Imo it's very similar to the Pro9000 I had, but more powerful and great touch.
Aah that costs upwards of 160 Euros mate! A bit too much in my opinion for racket well into unchartered territory. They should at least lower their price point initially so that people may start buying, using and sharing it until it becomes familiar to everyone. For that price I can get the TK8K or the Nanoray Z or even the N90 II (not that I'd ever buy any one of them anyways )
^ Well, there's suggested retail asking price and then there's actual selling price. Fortunately I have a good relationship with my dealer... I get it for slightly less than Internet prices shipped. But seriously, you owe it to yourself to give the APP a demo. It has a power box frame exactly like the Pro9000 (I have 2) and swings exactly like it but with more power and better touch.