ok, i got to admit that i dunno much about gosen strings... and have never tried it before... local shops only carry a very limited number of models and i seldom heard the stringers recommending gosen strings... and had read the reviews on gosen strings, in which most of them are hardly updated anymore... i was in my favourite badminton shop and having a talk with the stringer. we were talking about why yonex is so dominant in the market, to an extent of being a big bully. one of the reasons could be due to the actual incompetence of its competitors, in which Gosen is fading badly and rapidly. from what i know, gosen didn't have iso-head racquets, and by right, if it still want to compete in this saturated market, it should either folllow the crowd or come up with their own technology. but seems to me that their range of racquets is still rather limited and less appealing to the masses as of now, as i went to other shops before to search for gosen racquets. then the stringer told me something very interesting (shocking). that though malaysia team is supported by Gosen, the players are actually using yonex strings, and they find that gosen strings is lacking in every department. and the end product is ironic... yonex strings with the Gosen logo painted on it. so is Gosen strings really that 'bad'? and can anyone who has used gosen strings recently give us some valuable feedback? just read Taneepak's comments about gosen's latest string in another thread and i hope to hear more about its strings to satisfy my curiosity. and also, do you think that Gosen is not innovating itself enough, both as a manufacturer and brand name? and what do u think that takes to become an established global brand?
I had a bad experience wif Gosen string...Pro66...i strung it on my mp100 @ 28Lbs...after a day or 2 the Lbs dropped by 1-2.5Lbs...the string actually required pre stretch...well...the string is at queensway 1
Many years back I used to play with natural gut, which I thought was the best gut, until rising cost as well as frequent breakage forced me to stop using it. I then found an extremely synthetic replacement string from Gosen, something sounding like Tecgut etc., which came very close to the natural gut. However the early Gosen Tecgut was not durable and it broke easily when the weather turns cold and dry. The new Gosen Tecgut Tour is, I believe, today's version of the old Tecgut. If it is, it would be as good as, if not better than, Yonex's New BG66. The last time I tried the new Gosen Tecgut Tour was 3 years ago but it then disappeared from the market suddenly. I remember it was at that time head and shoulders better than the new emerging Yonex BG68Ti or BG65Ti. I have got myself a few of the new Gosen Tecgut Tour, which is a thin 0.66mm string.
Hmm.. I really loves Gosen string. It is my fav brand for strings , especially the bigut Roots and aremet strings. The Biogut roots strings is very soft , but offer alots of power . The aremet series is the opposite, which has a fairly firm feel and is very powerful. I liked this 2 strings more than any of the yonex bg series, although Bg80 comes really close. Also, I found that most gosen strings do require prestreching before stringing or else there will be some tension lost eventually over time.
I tried BioRoots (68) and B505Ti, both require either pre-streching, or need a consistent pulling machine to prevent significant tension lost. Also, once the gosen string starts to lose tension, the power and control are dramatically decreased. Other than that, the lower price gosen sure beats the yonex strings that are in the same price range.
I tried the Gosen Roots Biogut 0.68 a while ago, and I liked it so much I decided to put it on all my racquets. This string is now pre-stretched from the factory, and indeed it does lose less initial tension than my long-time favourite BG-80. My impressions of Gosens are thus limited, but very positive.
I agree the BioRoots 68 is a great string, especially when it comes less than 50% of the Yonex BG85's retail price. My dealer insisted to call it "Poor man's BG85".
I love the 68 as well.. But it snaps too easy imop (two or three mishits during the smash is usually all it takes at decent tension (about 24lbs babolat-electronic string-machine) :-( I therefore use bioroots 70 now.. but the string usually last only a couple of trainings-sessions for me :-( ... But the feeling is super.. Cheers, Twobeer
B4 the emergence of BG65 and BG66 as the market leaders in strings, esply in Malaysia, Gosen strings used be "the" strings. Gosen Hy-Sheep Super Micro (0.69mm) were loved by many. Then came the BG66 and BG65, and the lack of marketing agressiveness.. Gosen lost its market share to Yonex, big time. What is more surprisingly is that Gosen is the biggest strings manufacturer in Japan, in terms of Factory capacities, production lines, etc. Yonex was no where near Gosen. But , due to proper and extreme marketing, coupled with very aggressive sales and promotions, Yonex emerged as the leader in Badminton rackets and strings, world wide. Even with its recent "come back" to the Badminton scene, the impact is not there at all. Its sales in Malaysia and Singapore is no where near even those Taiwanese brands. In the strings categories, Gosen loses out to Ashaway ( Made in USA) , KX ( Made in Taiwan), Apacs ( Made in Taiwan) , Pro Ace ( Made in Taiwan). In the rackets category.. it loses out flat to brands like Pro Ace, Apacs, Protech and Fleet. I do hope that the Gosen marketing team in Japan.. and those in Malaysia and Singapore wil do something to bring back the "glory" of the brand.
Actually i love this string. Based on my experience with this string , i find it had a longer retention rate than other yonex strings. The tension last longer. But one thing bad about it is the durability factor since its a thin string.
I guess in Asia, many brands join the competition, therefore, Gosen lost its market share to Yonex (due to popularity and promotion) and other smaller brands (due to price?). In US (at least, my local area), I believe Gosen still holds up quite a bit share, as not too many brands available. Of course, Yonex still leading the way, but Gosen strings (especially Bio Roots series) still have quite a bit supporters locally.
I have had some Tecgut Tour lying around for a while. I put it on my Mp100 and Ti-10 last week at 22lb main, 20.5lb cross BG80 and BG68Ti lasts about 2 weeks for me at this tension (when only used for singles) The Tecgut Tour lasted 9 days of Singles and Doubles and only broke because of a mishit. I haven't really used it enough to give much of an opinion of it yet, other than I haven't noticed it being much better or worse than the other strings I've used. I think it has an oval braided outer construction, which may help with tension retention.
I managed to get a few Gosen Tecgut Tour strings recently, but they all came in an all black colour. I have been comparing the Tecgut Tour with the new Yonex bg66. They are both comparable. At very high tensions of over 26lbs I prefer the Gosen Tecgut Tour. At 30lbs tension the power of the Tecgut Tour is incredible, if you have the power and handspeed to use it. At lower tensions the Tecgut Tour is good but not exceptional.
i'm quite pleased with gosen pro-66 strings. They cost 50% cheaper than yy bg68ti and can last just as long. These are pretty thin strings at 0.66mm. Not too durable for uber-powered hitters, but are mighty-fine for an average hitter like me. Too bad they're getting harder and harder to find here in manila. I agree with you guys re: yonex's marketing savvy. Even if i'm dedicated to finding yy alternatives, at the end of the day, people still tend to benchmark everything with yy products. Perhaps this is why gosen's floor space is shrinking.
I haven't used such high tensions for quite a while now, so i tried some TecGut Tour at 26/25 on my 2U Ti-10 horrible, just feels dead. Taneepak, have you tried the Gosen at about 26? Does it get better at 30? It's more likely to be my poor technique, I expect.
Frankly, I am surprised. I have been stringing Gosen Tecgut Tour at 24/26lbs (lowest) to 28.5/31.5lbs on MP99, AT700, AT800DE, La Fleche Ti500 2U, 3U4U, fake Yonex racquets, Winnex Hi Qua Victor, Nano rcaquets, etc. etc. and there have been few complaints. Complaints of 'its like playing with an "iron" racquet' do come from players who have hit the upper limits of tension, after having successfully adjusted to higher tensions incrementally by a lb at a time. Stringing the Gosen Tecgut Tour cross strings is much harder than stringing the Yonex new Bg66 at very high tension because of resistance. Using the string mover to pull the Tecgut Tour cross strings generates too much heat at high tension, so I had to pull it by hand one string at a time to avoid degrading the string. For me, 30lbs is much better than 26lbs. At 30lbs everyone will be looking at you, wondering where those mighty sounds come! There is another thing about high tension which may be surprising. I do find I can get more power from 30lbs than from 26lbs. The shuttle seems to land on the other side earlier and its flight path is much more precise, crisp and accurate. The shuttle seems to leave the racquet earlier. You think it is all in my mind?
