I've been meaning to get a new racket that can provide me with some more "pop". I consider myself fairly amateur when it comes to badminton but I do have some decent strokes. I'm looking for a racket that would take me a long way, one that I won't need to switch until it breaks.The racket I'm using right now is the Yonex Muscle Power 30. It's a nice racket but I find it somewhat flexible and I'm looking for a stiffer racket now. Which racket of the three would suit me best? I play a half control and half power game.
I can't really say too much for the at-500 or the mp-100 as I have probably only played an hour total with ethier of those rackets but my impressions of the at-500 was that it flexed a bit too much and was just not as mobile. The Mp-100 felt really nice, but requires some strength to handle and at least with the stringing on the racket I played with, very unforgiving. The woven-8 has been my main racket for almost 10 months now and there is nothing bad I can say about it, well except for my friend calling SOTX a tampon brand. It is in my opinion a good mix of all the characteristics that you want in a racket so it's a good point to start at when figuring out what kind of player you really are. It is probably the cheapest of all those rackets too. Edit: What I mean as a good starting point is that the woven-8 is a 7/10 in all categories. I have used the at700 and gone back to the w8, then the woven-11 and back i go to the woven-8. My next try will be the w7 and we'll see how that works out.
I have the Armortec 500 and I think it's a very good racquet, it's got a stiff shaft not extra stiff like the NS 9000X. It is forgiving and I find it easy to to weild. I have mine strung at 25lbs (BG 65TI) and get a really good feel with my touch shot's and a nice snap with my smash. Personally I think this is a great buy. It weighs the pretty much standard 85-89g. It is a well balanced racquet and has the perfect amount of flex to get a snap on your smash. It is durable too after a few clashes nothing has happened to it.
I also use the Armortec 500. I use the Armortec 250 for practice and the 500 for games but the 500 feels much better and its strung with BG-80. I would recommend it.