Dear All, I have a Yonex arc 7. I play well with it, the light but even balance suits my mixed style of play. In an ideal world, a very marginal more amount of weight in the head would be good, but I am being overly fussy, it's close enough to being right for me and I will stick with it as my main racket. I have been looking for a spare arc 7. This is incase I break a string - I want to swap to something as close as possible mid-game, with no re-learning. I missed an arc 7 on Ebay, it went for slightly more than my maximum bid. I wondered if you have great experience of this racket, what would be the closest alternative I may find used. As a spare racket, I want to spend UK 40 (US 60). I have been waiting for more used Arc 7's to turn up, but none yet.. So, which other Arcsabers do you feel are the closest match. Are there any clones out there which are close enough that I can use one with no re-learning if I break a string. I hope this makes sense - not looking to sell my racket and start over. Thank you
I think a clone is your only hope; it's hard to expect much of rackets in that price range. Just from the racket characteristics, though, you might be able to find some luck with Winex.
the best bet is still to look for a used one in the used market. the clones are not too reliable in terms of balance and weight, tho i have very positive experience with my armortec900t clones by hi-qua. if you are willing to wait, you could just save up more money and buy a new one from mybadmintonstore.com
Not sure where are you from.. but if you are from North America, some stores still sell them. I used to Play with Arc 7, probably just me.. I find it a bit head heavy and therefore a tad too slow when playing doubles. I traded it in for Arc11. I find Arc11 quite balance.
Hi Cash, I find the arc 7 to be a balanced racket, with no weight towards either handle nor head. Yonex do say that it is this way, am suprised you found it different. I was looking at other arcsabers, but a forum member (has probably) come to help with a decent clone racket. For a spare, this will probably be fine. These days, if you buy second hand Yonex you can easily end up with a clone anyway, just a used one.
For some reason, I find the Yonex racquet matrix doesn't match what I have experienced. Like I said, it's probably just me. Just to give you an example, I used to have a NR800, according to the matrix below, it is a leaning towards head-light and power. I agree with the head-light bit, it is a fast racquet and suitable for fast exchange in doubles, however, I do not agree with the 'Power' bit. It is so head-light that it is not easy to generate powerful smashes like Arc7. However, Arc7 is more 'Control' according to the Matrix and less Power than NR800? Seriously??? Arc7 is definitely more 'power' than NR800. Some of my friends agreed with me.. Unless they have a different definition of 'Power'.
Its interesting, how all these factors effect things isn't it? I find that I am rarely hitting the shuttle perfectly, so I need loose stringing and an isometric head. These are the most important things for me. Like you say, head heavy seems to give me more power, but at my level string tension and isometric head are more important to give me a big fat sweet spot. Despite average ability I can still tell the difference between rackets. It is tempting to buy all kinds of rackets and experiment, but I know I am better served sticking with a couple exactly the same and just practicing a lot more. Thanks again.
it's hard to expect much of rackets in that price range. Just from the racket characteristics, though, you might be able to find some luck with Winex.
