Wilson V8, Yonex Carbonex 8400 or 8600, Yonex Armortec 150

There is no love here. Please provide your experience, style, single or double. No onw is going to reply if you ask question w/ no info.

 

hey, If i'd be given a choice, i'd get the armortec 150, I own 1, its not too bad, ever heard of nano power 8000? (NOT Nano Speed by yonex XD) thats quite a good racquet too! I use that currently, its better than the Armortec 150, price? not too sure.. Brand? Its designed by an ex Malaysian Champ, Ong Beng Teong here's the love XDXD

 

I will take the V8 for the value and bigger sweet spot.

More love...

Note. Not the V8 drink or the engine type...

 

I would take V8 over the more expensive AT150. AT150 is to headheavy for my liking and V8 has to be one of the most "underpriced" rackets around in my opinion

But it all comes down to your own preference.. You may find it easier to paly with a more head heavy racket like AT150 if you are beginning...

/T

 

You might take a look at the Yonex Isometric 75 MF Light. It's listed at $70 but a number of shops in the South bay (ASBY, RacketSupply, Badminton Alley) are selling it for $50. Another Yonex to consider is the MusclePower 21 which is on sale at BA for $60. I've not tried either of these but they appear to be decent intermediate rackets and some ppl on this forum seem to like 'em.

Badm Alley has also got the Carlton PowerBlade Carbon TT on sale for $70 (lists at $80). I believe that they've got some other PowerBlade & AirBlade frames for $40-55. Afraid I don't kno much abt any of the Carlton rackets but I thought that I'd give them a mention in case you wanted to look into them.

I went shopping yesterday for a moderately-priced backup racket. I was considering one of the Yonex frames that I mentioned (above) or one of the Vision series rackets from Wilson. The Yonex frames designated 20 lbs of tension as an upper limit. I got the impression from a couple of the shop guys that Wilson would be more likely to guarantee their frames if I wanted to go with higher string tensions.

BA is selling Wilson's Vision 8 for $45 and the Vision 14 for $40. The V14 is the lighter frame (by several grams) but the V8 felt like it was definitely the more headlight of the 2. I flipped a coin (in my head) & went for the cheaper v14.

The Wilson V14 is the same weight as my old Prince Axis 65 (still available at ASBY for a mere $27 -- an excellent buy!). However, even tho' the V14 is less headlight than the V8, it's still too light in the head for my taste. (I've just added some lead weight to the top of the frame & will give it a try again in the next day or two).

Other than timing problems with my faster swings (cuz of the unfamiliar headlight-ness), the Vision 14 racket performed very well. As for the V8, perhaps the slightly heavier weight will offset the fact that it is more headlight.

 

String tension

I had considered the Wilson rackets over the Yonex frames primarliy cuz of the string tension concern. I'm fairly certain that ppl often go a few lbs past the Yonex recommendation without any problem. But this may not be a concern for you at all.

You might very well want to have a racket strung at a lower tension -- lower tensions (within the recommended range) will result in a larger sweetspot. The larger sweetspot may (or may not) suit your level of play. If you don't, unintentionally, hit very many off-center shots, then the larger sweetspot might not be a requirment for you.

Your stroke style will also dictate your string tension preference. For some players, the lower tension will yield more power. For other players, the higher tensions can result in more power. Power as a function of string tension is not straightfoward as it is with tennis frames. You'll need to determine what string tension suits you best.