Hiya people of Badminton Central, Im in a typing mood so I thought I'd share some opinions of this racquet with you. [N.B. I dont work for Victor or have anything to do with them, I dont get any commission for writing this or whatever ya de ya. But if you are from Victor and generally bribe me Im more than happy to accept. ] Background of me - I suppose I am an average player, I play for the university team in UK and generally play between 2-3 times competitively a week, socially 1-2 time/s a week. Started at age of 11, had some basic training for a couple of years, into a few singles tornies etc. Nothing special or particularly fancy. I changed to a dedicated doubles player in the last 2 years and loving it at the moment. Styles of play is generally all-round, perhaps prefere more placement shots at times when i know string tension isnt high as i would prefere. The Racquet I've bought mine after a bulk order so it was on the cheap @ under £50, Originally I thought a training racquet would be nice to play with, best buy something cheap but at the budget I was looking at Yonex wasnt really a worthwhile option really, so i've heard Victor is bigish in HK/china, only just started distributing in UK. £50 for "top of the range" Victor racquet.. why not? 1st Impressions - When it arrived I thought the colour/finish on it was superb, I've never seen anything like it before. Mind you, being a Yonex fan all my life their finish arnt really that great.. Playability - I normally use my Nano 9k (Only reason i bought it was because my MP99 broke (after 5 years! :crying and just so happen the nano 9k was just released) Anyway, ofc everyone knows Nano9k is super stiff and you'll need to get your technique of swing 100% correct to hit the perfect angles and power. [IW5000 - Only have original strings (ashaway XL's?) currently but soon to be replaced ] On comparison to the Nano9k; the Victor Inside Wave (IW) 5000 is more forgiving and I found it actually has quite alot of flex, some-what easier to pull off steap angles. My Nano feels more rigid when hitting the shuttle but the IW feels alot lighter when hitting perhaps suited for control rather than power smashes, this COULD be due to the strings. I can tell that when strung at a higher tension there is ALOT of potential for power though. Overall I think this is a very good investment for most players except the people who really cant stand a bit of flex in their racquet. However this 'flex' isnt like anything I've experienced before, Im unsure how to describe it but it does needs some getting used to. I do like this racquet alot though and the ABILITY of this racquet is like when I use my nano 8k; all the precision and feel of the shuttle but with a bit more punch to go with it. Not so much recommended as a training racquet though Racquets I've aquired to play with properly: Yonex Isometric SP21 (1st racquet! but broken ) Yonex Ti10 Yonex MP88 Yonex MP99 (Broken ) Yonex Nano 8k Yonex Nano 9k (Currently using) Ashaway Ti130 Ashaway T990 Ashaway Nano Titanium Victor IW 5000 If theres anything I missed PM me and I'll try give some details. P.S. Sorry! its kind of....... a short overview
Thx dude, just wanted to say I use an IW4000 and in fact it was the golden colour scheme whcih I saw at a stall at the All England 07 which attracted me to it; awesome racquet - love it, pretty good power though harder for back to back clears than my Talbot Torro CHaughton ISO, but the drop, net shot accuracy is just beyond belief!
thanks for the review.. I have written some positive comments about the IW5000. It is a truly a very good racket imop.. Agile and crisp, and yet very powerful!! Actually I think the inside wave technology seems very good.. both in the aplication of Victor, and the application used by SOTX and RSL.. /Twobeer
