After many trials with different strings, I am back with BG-65. It is simply a no non-sense string that lasts a long time under very high tension. I don't have to worry about popping out CDN 25 bucks per string job every three to four weeks!
i too think i will go away from bg88ti. too expensive and not really worth the marginal performance with nearly double the price of other strings. bg85 is still fragile, maybe i will also go back to bg65.
Ahhh yessss Finally we have yet two more intelligent persons, switching back to bg65 I just recommend stringing it at a higher tension, or better yet, prestretch your string first, then retension it The best bang for your buck, no frills, no gimmicks, just good durability (sounds like a carbonex racquet to me!!! LOL), and tremendous play, although we seem to be running out of colour choices now'a'days..................... We must impress upon all the virtues, of this string. LOL I'm so glad I switched, back, it has saved me so much $$$ Also I find when you string it at a higher tension, it pretty much does the same thing as some of the other fancier strings, for about half the cost. -Kelvin aka El Cheapo Grande
come to think of it. Cheung is quite a trend setter in BF. he is the first to use cab22, first to settle on cab20, first to promote high tension, first to switch from fancy string to bg65...
LOL, you know you're absolutely right Kwun! Oh mighty Cheung, will you share any new trends, that we should follow in?? Speaking of which, I think since the Cab20 had been put back into production, I should probably claim a few for myself. I'll see if I can catch any last few pieces of Cab20long as well, if they are still available. Like the both of you, I think it'd be better if I also stock pile a few racquets, just to prepare for the inevitable breakage, which will undoubtedly happen one day. I remember, one person posting a long time ago, saying their cab20 last them for almost 15 years??? was that correct? A tribute to a good design. anyways, I'm way off topic now. sorry. -Kelvin PS: sorry for all the edits... my spelling is off tonight.
I think it is typical to go back to BG-65. Since the beginning of this year, I have been going back to use BG-65 just because I don't feel "that" good about fancy strings (65TI,68TI,70Pro,80,85) So, I decided to go back to BG-65, and tried to start to work from the bottom toward the top. BG-65 is the most average string in today's string market. I think it is great for practicing shots and working on your skills for games. Its cost and performance should exceed others obviously, and that's the other reason that I switched back.
Er... I am using a pair of Mizuno Stratosphere 2003 right now... but only because Timeless recommended it. With regards to strings, I might go back to BG 65 only after I finish my stash of BG 80 and couldn't find cheaper deals for it.
I've gone back to BG65 after a very brief period of absence. I've tried BG85 as well as BG65ti and BG68ti. I liked BG85, but to be honest I didn't like it any more than BG65. I can't really tell the difference, except that BG85 breaks after a week. I could try to convince myself that the hype about BG85 and other so-called high-performance strings is right. But I've noticed a couple of salutary points: 1. Yonex marketing is nonsense. 2. Many amateur players apparently possess no brain of their own, and will repeat whatever marketing Yonex feeds them. 3. Many amateurs are so obsessed by equipment that they are easily conned into buying expensive rubbish. Conclusion Buy "high-performance" strings if you want, but only if you can notice an improvement over BG65. Don't buy BG66/BG80/BG85 just because other people tell you that they are better strings. Other people are often full of s**t
Is It That Good? I was about the start a BG-65 thread to ask about the merits of this string, but I guess Peter beat me to it. I am not afraid to say that I don't really like BG-65 all that much. The only merits that I can see is that it is a beater that absolutely refuses to snap, can tolerate some pretty high tension, is probably as inexpensive as badminton strings could get, and that's about it. If extreme durability, high tension, or costs are important factors, then I guess BG-65 is perfect. However, I think everyone would agree that BG-65 isn't the most powerful string around. In fact, I personally find it pretty lacking in the power department. Furthermore, the string doesn't give that much feel. Tension-wise, numerous other strings can tolerate up to 24 or 25lbs without too much problem. Besides, after a few weeks of action, the string will start to lose tension anyway (and BG-65 doesn't really excel in tension retention). If I am after durability, other durability-minded strings such as BG-70Pro or Hy-Sheep Super Micro would probably do just as well. Furthermore, the extreme durability from BG-65 seems rather unimportant if the tension in the string is already gone, and I am about to get the racquet restrung. As far as cost is concerned, if you take labour into account, the price difference between BG-65 and some higher end strings is only a few bucks. (If you string the racquet yourself, you can save a bit more provided that you buy the reel, which isn't available for that many strings.) However, if I choose another string over BG-65, I'll most likely end up with a string that has better feel and more power to boot. All in all, I don't really see the appeal in using BG-65. It is certainly a workhorse string, but I see better alternatives to it (and there are lots). That's the end of my babbling. Let's take the topic back to the floor and discuss away? -Rick
Well, you can always string 2 lbs higher with BG65, to compensate for that sudden initial tension loss. I've found that there isn't much difference between (say) BG65 and BG85 in terms of performance. Different tensions do seem to make a big difference, however. Basically I'm happy with any string, so long as it's not a TI one, and so long as it lasts for a while, and so long as it's at least 22 lbs of tension.
Bingo, you get it! At very high tension, BG-65 and other what-have-you-gimmicky strings out there produce the same result: tightness and control.
The extreme durability of BG-65 is very useful under mishit situation. It's a real pain to re-string a racquet twice in a week due to a mishit. I use very high tension and other strings just doesn't cut it. For example, BG-68 Ti at 30 lbs semi-PT lasted two weeks. The darn thing just snapped after a mishit!!! It's so brittle. I do notice a drop in repulsiveness after the switch but I get used to it after a few sessions. I do not notice significant drop in tension yet. You will feel it when we meet next week.
I will be back Well, well, well, ..... It seems like we have a same problem with the other strings. I used BG-65 for very long time, more than 10 years. Year ago I began a new adventure with BG-70Pro, nice string, but I felt BG-65 was better. Couple months ago I got 10 packs of BG-85 from a friend. So I swithced from BG-70Pro to BG-85. I felt BG-85 better than BG-70Pro, but still felt miss 'something'. Something that I got from BG-65. BG-70Pro and BG-85 are nice strings to use for, but more expensive and can't last long. I still have 5 packs of BG-85. After finished all of them, I will back to my 'darling' BG-65. I am dreaming to put a fancy color Orange to my MP-99.
One of the best thing about BG-65 (besides performance and cost) is its color selections. We have all kinds of crazy colors on BG-65. White, Purple, blue, black, yellow, red green, grey,.....
I am a little bit surprised about players from Asian region are the ones started the trend to go back to BG65. Compare to market such as north america, the price for re-string (both string and labor) is fairly low in asia. i.e. in CHN, the price between BG65 and BG85 is just RMB15 or even less, but it will be US$5 or more in US. Team up with the price difference in labor (say RMB 20 vs USD$12), I would assume ppl who tend to switch back should be players from N.A. etc...
