My good friend asked me a question the other day, which made me think. He asked me what is the best racket you can buy for around £40 -50. I proceeded to tell him people have different needs, such as stiffness, weight, balance etc, but he said, if you don't take that into account, what is the best performing racket for the cheapest price? I wasn't really sure. Does anyone have a view on what would be the best racket for the cheapest money. (£40-50 would be under $100)
Its hard to say, I think the "best" racket wouldn`t fit well to a player which plays a different style.
I know, but thats the whole point. I'm just asking what is in your opinion the best racket for lowest amount of money. That was what i was saying before how i told my friend that there were factors that contribute towards an ideal racket. However, if you look at this in a different angle and were asked a simple question, "what is the best value for money racket?" (where those facotrs do not interfere) then it can be an interesting dicusssion. I would just like to know what most peoples' opinion would be, whether there would be a trend in the thinking.
maybe a carlton, you seem to be able to get the higher end models at a fraction of their RRP, though, of course, there are many other factors to consider.
first your friend has to define "best".. a) hardest smash for strong player with good technique b) hardest smash for strong player with poor technique c) hardest smash for weak player with good technique d) Easiest clear for weak player e) quickest (best defence) f) most durable (clashes, life-expectancy, overall quality) g) most forgiving (torsion-stiffness, sweetspot-size etc) etc.. Just like when selecting a golf-clubs or Cars etc. there are differnt strokes for different folks... It all depends on the user and preferences which is the best... whats "best" for player A is not "best" for player B.. Even pro's which all have very good strenght and skill have different opinions on what is the "best" racket for their game... Cheers, Twobeer
My experience with many of the later Carltons (Powerblade, Megaflex, airblade) i've tried is that quality has been so-so.. (I got some indications from friends that the later powerblades (and fireblades) rackets are more durable, though than the earlier ones i tried).. On Price Performance i don't think Carlton can match most models from companies like Kason, SOTX, MMOA/Victor, Tactic, Wilson etc. /T
If you don't take all the factors into account, what's the point to even ask such a question??? It's like, what's the best food? Do you think you can come up with an universal answer, and expect everyone to agree with each other? I can give you an answer based on my preference, but once you hold the racket, it might be too heavy/light, too flex/stiff, etc. Therefore, my best investment (best performing racket with reasonable price) could be a total waste for you (absolutely not useable with $$$ in trash can). So, what's the point for your friend to even ask, if s/he does not want to evaluate the necessary factors?
No NO thats precisely it. It's similar to a "whats the best food question?" I'm not asking what is the best racket to suit everybody. I'm asking what people regard as their best racket for cheap. Obviously it's subjective and people won't all agree, but thats not the issue. It's a real simple question, which has been made a bit complicated and confusing by adding in factors. I know facotrs plays a part, but I'm saying if this were NOT an issue.
To clarify my point above. You know how people talk about the armortec700. Everyone acknowledges that its a great racket, even though it not for everyone, but it doesn't matter because everyone knows that it is a great racket. Thats bascially what I'm looking for, other rackets that people acknowledge to be great, even though its not for everyone (it doesn't matter). Another example, Sotx woven 8 is regarded by many to be a great racket, even though not everyone likes to use it. You can still sppreciate a racket even if it isn't right for you. A nanospeed9000x and yonex ti-10 are rackets that I feel are very good, but they're not my type. Simple. PS: Karakal SL70 I heard is quite a good racket.
the list of good/great rackets just becomes endless... Can you yorself name 5 rackets that are not great, in some aspect, price, durability, performance? /Twobeer P.S. AT700 btw is mostly NOT a great racket for female mixed players for example...
yeah, the list will be endless, but I'm seeing whether there will be a trend, a racket that is suggested more than once. Obviously you'll get a huge range and that fine, but as the discussion continues, then you'll find that some rackets would have been menioned more than others. Its those particular rackets that I'm interested. What is the general public's view on what the best racket is for the cheapest price.... Like i sed previously, you don't necessarily need to be able to play with the racket to appreciate it. I'm sure there are female players who think and appreciate that the at700 racket is good, even if they use something else.
The list will be meaningless, as I see it, from a statistical standpoint.. .How many answering such a question do you think tried more than lets say 20 different racket-models... not many... So the answer you will get will be more representative on which brands/models players most frequently are buying.. That this correlates to the best price/perfromance or best value for money, is highly unlikely in my opinion.. I would argue that it would rather be more likely to be the opposite (the rackets most players use have probably quite bad price/performance ratio, as it is likely that a bigger chunk of its sale-price is marketing-cost, branding, advertisments, sponsor cost etc... /Twobeer
ok... just like food without taste ... whats the point then? like my friend uses a bk specter 150 (ithink) its HIS ideal racquet other gut NS 7.7k... his ideal racquet... THERES NO POINT IN THIS
Hm, maybe the question was ment as 'cheapest graphite racquet', that will be around for 1-2 years I bought to my brother YangYang's cheapest local model for ~38.5 EUR($ is atm very low in europe ), found it to my surprise quite good and tried to weasel out of the deal, by thinking to give to brother my old Babolat. But my great plans were ruined by me wife The point of the story is - for Sunday player, any change from aluminium to graphite is good. Also I've seen in a short time many Carlton handle breakage, but that could be a bad patch, as it is ok now. Carlton seems like a good choice too.
From my limited racquet experience I would say either the SOTX Woven 7 or Diamondfighter D-600. The only other racquets that I have tried are the Carlton airblade and Wilson Dynapower and I must say that the SOTX racquets I much prefer.
If you can't give an universal (no one can) definition of "best racket", then, you can't get an answer. To me, a massive list of answers is not the answer you want. Therefore, it's purely pointless. In addition, to solve a problem, but never consider the factors involved, is very much pointless to begin with. You can't simplify a complicated matter, and assume there's an easy answer somewhere in the world. Tell me, "without consider any factors" how to cure cancer, how to go to Mars/Jupiters, etc? No, don't give me all the scientific studies and data, I just want an easy answer "without consider any factors"... Give me a break, please...
I sorta understand the gist of what the originally poster... but I must concur that such a list wouldn't be very useful... If it was rephrased to something like "Best Price:Quality Racket in each category" (ie head heavy, balanced, head light or offensive, all-rounder, defensive) it would be probably be better...
