ns8000 v mp99 v mp100

Managed to scrounge three demo racquets off my local sports shop to test in order to find out which I wanted to buy.

Racquet 1 - Nanospeed 8000 strung @ 22lbs
Racquet 2 - Muscle Power 99 strung @ 21lbs
Racquet 3 - Muscle Power 100 strung @ 23lbs

First of all I tried the mp100, took a bit of getting used to as the head shape on my Wilson Sledgehammer is completely different. Found the mp100 very unforgiving with shots hit off centre going short. The racquet gave me lots of feel for drops and once I started hitting the shuttle properly again my clears and smashes had good power and direction. Backhands have always been a weakness of mine but if hit correctly, the mp100 enabled me to hit the full length of the court. The balance of the racquet felt good to me being head heavy but it still gave me quick enough movement to pick up smashes. In summary I felt the racquet was great all round if hit correctly but that it was very unforgiving when mishit.

Next I tried the ns8000. Straight away I liked this racquet as it was much easier to use with a larger sweetspot than the mp100. Smash and clear power was good but required a bit more oomph from me than the mp100! Control was good and the lighter head gave a quicker racquet speed on smash pickups. In summary this racquet was much more user-friendly than the mp100 and although it didn't give me quite as much power I felt very comfortable using it.

Last up was the mp99, obviously felt much more like the mp100 than the ns8k but felt more head heavy than its older brother. From the off I didn't like this racquet as much as the other two. It felt more cumbersome without giving the power benefits that I would expect to come with that. Drops were less controlled than with the other two racquets but this may be due to its lower string tension. The sweet spot seemed to me to be somewhere between the mp99 and ns8k which made it reasonably forgiving when I did my usual and fluffed a few backhand clears! Much better racquet than my old one but didn't suit me as well as the others.

So which racquet am I going to buy? Would probably give the ns8k the slight edge over the mp100 due to the fact that my game is still rusty and it was the more forgiving of the two but on the other hand my technique will probably improve more if I use the mp100. My decision came down to price in the end; as the mp100 is discontinued I have been offered a discount price on the demo that I used. My game is at the stage where practice is going to make much more odds than which racquet I use and I can now buy a nice racquet bag with the cash saved!

 

All the racquets were 3u g3 bar the mp100 which was 2u. They were also all strung with bg65ti strings.
Got the mp100 for £70 so everyone is happy!