Recommendation (for a former Carbonex 15 long player)

Hi,

I used to play with a (now broken) Yonex Carbonex 15 long (2U / G3). I asked for opinion in another thread but I probably typed too much to get much feedbacks from carbonex lovers. ;-)

I do not know what are the balance of the Carbonex 15, if you know let me know. But if you are one of those that loved this type of racket and tried new Yonex rackets, let me know which one you liked (I really don't mind hearing about other brand models you liked, but I will consider those mainly in a second round of purchase).

Here are the candidates I see (I put my current notes and question along with them):

• Yonex Armortec 900 Power (slighty heavy head) [bzone: 240$] [wingee: 154.70$, G4]
• Yonex Armortec 900 Technique (heavy head) [bzone: 240$] [wingee: 154.70$, G4]
• Yonex Armortec 700 [bzone: 195$] [sport-experts: 190$, including LTD] [wingee: 136.50$, G4]
• Yonex Carbonex 21 [wingee: 67.50$, 2U/G3]
• Yonex Carbonex 20 Muscle [wingee: 67.50$, 2U/G3]
  • Is it really long? (people had doubt in BC forum, but wingee claims it is long, I will ask him, but in case you know?)
• Yonex Carbonex 30MS
  • http://www.badmintonalley.com/Yonex_Carbonex_30_Muscle_p/racket-yonex-cab30ms.htm [110$, 3U, strung?]
  • http://www.sportsnetonline.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=47 [109$ + string, long?]
  • Are they all Long? (as I saw some people sell 30MS Long)
• Yonex Ti-10 [wingee: 106.60$, 3U/G4, only 2nd and 3rd generation]
  • people seem to like it at BC, but are available mostly the 2nd and 3rd generation which apparently is different from the 1st one, so are these new one still good candidate?
  • I tried a Ti-3 of some guy and I liked the feel, only his grip I did not like much (but it was not the original grip)
• Yonex MP99 (balanced) [bzone: 220$] [wingee: 118.80$]
• Yonex MP100 [wingee: 117$]
• About other brand, I took note of RSL X2 Gold, SOTX Woven-7 and SOTX Woven-11 mainly because they were tagged as powerful racquets, but maybe they are not all for me.

* I tried NS8000 of a friend (he ordered from eBay some years ago and did not pay that a low price, I assume it is not a fake), I liked the grip, but not sure about the raquet (could not generate the same smash), I think changing his string might help, but if he does I will retry it. He is also a Carbonex lover and he said that in 2 years he has not adjusted much to his nanospeed.

My style?

I like to smash and have a good power feeling when doing it (string play a role too, I liked to string my Cab15L with BG-80, best feeling and sound), plus I really like to do tight netplay and make my opponent move a lot by targetting the corners, etc. So I guess a combination of good control with the option to do good smashes (yeah I want it all! ).

I am not sure I would love very lite racket, but I guess it all depends of the feeling it gives.

My plan?

- I will probably order from Wingee (look cheap), I would like to order both Yonex Carbonex 20 and 21 and add one of the new non-carbonex ones (either one of Armortec, Ti-10 or MPxx) and that is mainly where I want recommendation about. I might also order Carbonex 30MS later.

Feel free to put an order to your recommendation from your experience and/or knowledge of the rackets (considering the racket I liked!).

 

EggLover, thanks for that confirmation! I plan to try at least the Cab21 and Cab20Muscle if I order from Wingee (as the price seem good for these Carbonex). I will ask him if the Cab20Muscle is really long as some people here seemed to think none existed (I am used to Cab15Long, and I picked long to get that extra power back in time).

Also for the record, I also found another place with a lot of Carbonex:
http://bbesports.com/English/racket_cab.htm (better use that link - http://www.bbesports.com/racket_cab.htm - if you want to see the picture, specs, etc.)
But I don't know if it is easy to order ;-)

There seems to be a lot of Carbonex 20 model (like on Wingee they sell the "muscle" one). I wonder if there is much difference between them?

 

silenthearth, in your point #2 you said that "Cab30ms is regular length" and then you said that "Cab30ms is the only long Cab in production". Seems contradictory. Can you explain? Maybe you were talking about the 20ms for the regular length as I asked a question about it ???

I wonder if you only tried to say that it was the only Carbonex in production? Because there is other model listed on yonex.com, but they are not widely available in all store. But still, we can find new Cab 20, 21, etc. I don't know if they are old stock, but they are available in some store!

If you tried to say that Cab30MS was not long, I wonder if there is multiple model, because I found on a catalog on yonexusa.com this: http://www.yonexusa.com/images/badminton/2007_Badminton_Catalog.pdf and inside it talk about Cab30ms being long. But if I order, I will probably double check with the store just to be sure.

For Carbonex 15, there was a regular and long version.

 

In that thread (Armortec 900T Vs Woven 8 or D900), some people say that Woven 9 is similar to AT900T. If you read up, so far, I did not like much the Woven 9 (I will get it re-string to see if the feeling and power part change, I won't change the grip size for now as it is not mine!). What you think about this? I am tempted by an Armotec, but I wonder if it will be similar as Woven 9 or it was not a 100% good comparison?

In the same thread, Phandrew said "You can try the Ti-10, MP100 or MP99 for even balance." and in DinkALot's review, in balance, these racket are listed as Moderate+, Head Heavy-, Head Heavy- respectively! But on one website, I see that MP99 is even balance as Phandrew say. So maybe DinkALot's a bit subjective about his feeling or his test rackets differed!? Or maybe it is more a question of the scale we use to describe head heaviness. ;-)

I guess it is like anything, more you read, more you might find contradiction or get mixed up. Best way for the feeling is probably to try. ;-)