Since strings seems to be the hot topic this week, I will post another question on this issue. I have received free 10m packs of Ashaway Rally 22Ti and Babolat Aeroflex strings. Have any of you ever used either of these strings? If so, please let me know your opinions about the string's control, feel, power and durability. Please provide the make and model of the racquet, as well as the tension. I am particularly curious about the Babolat string, as I have never seen any badminton string by this manufacturer. I know that Babolat makes exceptionally high quality tennis strings (used by about half of the top 15 pros from both the ATP and the WTA), but I have never heard any comments on the quality of their badminton strings.
Babolat makes the most expensive badminton string VS Touch natural gut. A 33ft reel costs 19 pounds sterling and can be purchased from www.gefensports.co.uk. I can't tell you anything about the string because I have not used it before.
Thats really expensive, the most expensive sting i've found here in Singapore is the Pacific Natural Gut. It costs $25 but i think its still cheaper than the Babolat strings......
Re: Ashaway Microlegend I use this string on my Yonex Ti-7. I used to use this racket alot but i changed back to my Ti-10 a long time ago and now to a Slim 10. Anyway, the Ti-7 is a great racket for doubles but the string seems to be very weak, any hard smashes you do will cause the strings to spread out. It may seem normal but after every rally i had to readjust all the strings. Its not very durable either, broke off and i recently replaced the string with a BG-65 Ti.
Babolat Aeroflex: I can't really give an opinion on this string, as I had this on my Aerogear 1000FX and it snapped during the first game. I'll admit that it was a mishit, a smash near the top of the frame... so I can't really blame the string. It was fairly hard strung, around 25 lbs. Generally, both Babolat strings and racquets have a decent reputation here in Sweden. Have you checked their web site? It's www.babolat.com
I string my rackets myself and I have experience with quite a few strings. Ashaway: From my pov, most of the Ashaway strings are quite flexible and don't hold the tension long enough. (flex21, f21micro, vantage series etc) They are okay for durability but i never really liked them. The surface of most of the ashaway strings also seems to be very slick and therefore doesn't give as much control as other strings. The best Ashaway string i have used so far is Rally 22, it is the thinnest in their range afaik. it has good power but comaprd to bg80 (which has about the same diameter), it really lacks control and it softens much earlier. The advantage lies in it's price, here in germany it costs about 60% of the bg80 price. Don't know about the MicroLegend series, I would still have to try them out. Babolat: Lets exclude the natural gut strings from this discussion, as they are expensive and hardly anybody does use them nowadays. I know that the discussed Aeroflex string is one of the lower end babolat strings. I never have played with it though. I have tried the Superbraid, Hyperbraid and Hyperbraid Micro (the last two of these are new here in germany for this season). All i can say is that the three of them are excellent strings. What they have in common is a very rough surface, even more so than the bg80 (my long-time fave). As a result, you get a very decent control. The Hyperbraid Micro offers best playability but it is not quite durable so what i play now is the Hyperbraid. It is a tremendous allround string with a good balance between power, repulsion, control and durability. I have also played the Superbraid for a while before, but it is not as good as the new hyperbraid series. After playing the superbraid i switched to bg80 for a while, which i think is better (thinner thus more durable, more power) Hope this may help you, Alex
Ashaway Rally 22Ti Duh -- I forgot to give my few cents worth on the Ashaway Rally 22Ti. I've used this for some months on two of my Carltons, the Aerogear 1000FX and the Airblade 1000, both strung at about 24 lbs. I'm very happy with this string. It has excellent durability. I play about 10 hrs/week and it shows no signs of wear yet, on either racquet. It is very similar to the BG68-Ti which I have on my MP100. It has great repulsion power, a very stiff feel and a clean and crisp sound. Like the BG68-Ti, it also seems to keep its initial tension quite well.
Thanks for your comments guys. I guess I will hold on to these strings and use them, as it sounds like they would not be much of a step down, if any, from the BG-65 that I usually use. When my new AB 900 comes in, I am probably going to have it restrung with Ashaway Microlegend, as a friend who strings racquets has a roll. Mag, have you ever used Microlegend on your Carltons? Did you like it? By the way, Mag, this was your first time posting in about a week - were you on vacation? Any badminton stories to tell?
No, I haven't tried the MicroLegend. My regular stringer doesn't have it... and I'm quite happy with what I regularly use now (Rally 22Ti and BG80). I'm actually consciously trying to NOT change things about my equipment so much these days... And Brett, I'm almost a little flattered that somebody noticed I'd been away I've been away for a week during the Easter holidays. I was with my girlfriend's family in their house by the sea... very nice. And yes, we actually took the car to a nearby badminton hall every morning. It's sick, I know...
As far as Ashaway strings are concerned, I have some bad experience with them with their absolutely poor performance.
i agree with Cheung. sorry Mag, drug addiction, tobacco addiction can be cured, but badminton addiction is definitely uncurable. but then, why cure it?
all the strings you have mentioned here for ashaway are rather old, you should try the micropower XL, very good string, And if you can afford to restring your racket fairly often give the power gut 66 a try, i am using the pg66 nice but ofcourse a thiner string so have to replace it alot more
Of course they are old. These posts were started in 2001. Back to your topic. I have heard many good comments about MicroPower string, I definitely have to try it some day.
Micropower or Micopower Ti?? there are several positive feedbacks on MP... do you think that the TI version would be better or would it be worse because the ti coating will make it slippery?.. Just looking for a better string for my favorite racket...
No, stick with the regular MP string. Performance is similar but the Ti version is less durable. MP has a nice texture for good grip.
