Hi everyone, I have been playing badminton since I was in primary school. My skill is between intermediate and advance. I'm now 37 years old and hasn't played since I moved to New Zealand (not play for 5 years now). I'm good in all areas except a little weak in backhand. I'm a serious player. Won't be joining any competition. For a start, planning to play twice a week. I will join my friends next year to play again and I'm having difficulties choosing from a list of Yonex rackets below. Here are the rackets that I have selected: 1) Carbonex 20 2) Voltric 60 3) Nanoray 500 4) Arcsaber i-Slash Please give me your advise.
You listed a headheavy, an even balanced and a headlight racket. They are very different. You'd better tell us what specs you like/what style you play before we give you any suggestions...
lol what were your previous rackets? in these few years, has your fitness gone down, or do you think you can still match your movements from your playing days? if so you can probably try a Voltric and an AS from your contacts and see which suit your current state better... im thinking a voltric or nr should be good for you. do let us know what you discover
Haha . . . Although I'm old, I'm still active in gym and play soccer. I will stop those two and going back to badminton next year. I'm still fit and energetic. I feel no difference though. Thank for the recommendation.
cab 20 is the most intermediary racquet in the list, its not too head heavy, not too stiff really nice for offense and defense the arc saber I-slash has a more flexible shaft, its headlightness with its flexible shaft packs a much lesser bite than the vt60, which is headheavier and flexible. my recommendation for your preferences is either to go for a cab 20 or for the voltric60..
Thanks guys for the feedback. It has help me a lot in choosing one. I'll definitely try them out when I purchase it.
Reason is because those fall between my budget range. I'm prefer something in the mid range price. I do prefer more expensive models but I'm not playing in tournaments.
Rather than being limited to a particular brand due to budget, have you considered other brands as well ? In some places, the price of a mid range Yonex can get you a top range racquet from other brands. I am not sure what's available in New Zealand but you can also order from reputable online stores. There are brands out there which offer great value for money and has top performance.
That's what I was thinking. Victor is one that immediately comes to mind and Apacs. But if I had to choose I'd go with the nanoray 500. Headlight and fast for defense but still has some decent power. However if you were looking at the Cab 20 I'd look into the Apacs tantrum 200/300. 2cents /shrug.
You can consider brands like Victor, Adidas and Li Ning. Though unless you can get them oversea, they won't be cheap and even if available locally, might just be slightly cheaper than Yonex for the equivalent high end model. You can try mybadminstore.com or look for RKEP on ebay. Most of us have good experience dealing with Eric he does have his own brand of racquets which offers amazing value. Search for "RKEP XP70" on the forum to see the reviews and feedback. For models, it really depend on your style of play. Most will recommend stiff and head heavy racquet if you play singles, mixed doubles or is the baseline smasher in men's doubles. Generally, most brands create their line of racquets based on the following : Power play - Head heavy All round - Balance Speed play - Head light I did not include the stiffness of the racquet because in each of the above category, you can have varying stiffness. For example, you can have a flexy racquet that is head heavy and it will be easier for someone that's a beginner to use it. All the various permutation will create more sub-categories but as a general rule, stiffer racquets are more expensive and typically targeted at advance players.
Ha ha ha, I was thinking if I should include Li Ning as most of the time, their prices are higher than Yonex.
Hi there I had some questions about the reviews and was wondering if anyone might be able to point me int he right direction. I haven't played in approximately 8 years and my old racquets were a Yonex Isometric 900 and a Ti 8 and I think it was a higher end Carelton aeroblade i'm not quite sure. I went through the Iso 500's and the 900 like they were nothing and people said I hit to hard for it and my racquets were just buckling and breaking they strung at I believe 20lbs. So now getting back into things again I want a good racquet that will last me a bit but don't know what would be comparable now a days towards what I was used to. I do play a well rounded game of net and power as I play singles and doubles. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
Eh Yonex's prices aren't exactly great either. Victor isn't too shabby. Forgot about RKEP read great things but never tried yet but for budget friendly Apacs beats them all in my opinion. Problem is that their "medium" stiffness is pretty flexy lol.