Hello all, this is my first thread. Glad to find this forum ! I have been playing badminton for years (mostly casual games), but recently I really want be more serious and improve my skills. First thing is to get a right racket -- mine is pretty crappy . I just saw someone selling a YONEX ISOMETRIC 80 LIGHT for $50 but couldn't find much info about it on the internet. Can anyone tell me if it's a good choice for an ''advanced'' beginner ? or maybe give me some suggestions on rackets? Thanks in advance!
The iso 80 isn't too bad. Rather old, but still a perfectly good racket, you couldn't complain about it. However, it may not be the best racket for you, personally. Could you give me some information on your playing style, and budget for a racket? Then I can give you better racket advice as it will be more personal.
Thank you Danstevens! I guess I'm more defensive a player than offensive -- I play lots of controls, I love smashing but I had a shoulder injury (dislocate )a few years ago so now I only smash when I have to. My budget is around 100 us dollars --- I think it's better not to invest to much in rackets before getting some real improvement. Or maybe I'm wrong?
Mate, you are talking sense. You have such an intelligent view of equipment for an (advanced) beginner. You could go out and blow huge amounts on an Arcsaber 10, Nanospeed 9000, Armortec 900P/T or a Muscle Power 100, or infact, any high end racket on Earth. All you would succeed in by doing that, would be having a much lighter wallet and a racket that would give you little performance benefit but hurt you as you played. Once you become an advanced player, then by all means spend a lot of money on a racket (I regularly do/did, now I'm in the process of getting sponsored) but for a beginner, high end rackets are way too expensive and very dangerous due to the stiffness. 100 US is a decent, if not extravagant budget. The Yonex Nanospeed 500 should be suitable and it should be in budget (£39.99). It is headlight (good for defence and of medium flexibility (nice for beginners). It seems ideal for you as it will be kind to your shoulder and good for defence. It's not obscenely heavy or light (85-89.9g) so that's fine too. Are you limiting your search to Yonex, or would you like me to show you some other brands? EDIT: maybe that would be Canadian dollars, looking at your location. However, the NS500 should still be in budget. I think the exchange rate might be similar? Can you enlighten me?
Thank you again for your kind input Danstevens! You are right the exchange rate is similar for US$ and Canadian$, with rate for US$ a bit higher. My budget is 100 US dollar because I most likely will be buying from eBay, and the prices listed there are mostly US$. Talking about eBay, can you give me some suggestions for online badminton vendors? It seems that there are more fake than genuine rackets on eBay, especially for Yonex. I just saw one selling NS9000 for $49 : ). The local retailers are more expensive, not to mention the tax in Canada. I'm open for all brands. In fact Yonex might not be my first choice --- I think the high reputation of Yonex increases the price and thus lower the Performance/Price ratio. I believe for the same price there are better choices from some other brands, and I'd love to hear about those from you.
Ebay is not the place to buy rackets. I'm glad you know what the signs of a fake are (stupid price etc) but I still think Ebay is a minefield even for experienced Yonex users. Why not buy from an online store like Centralsports or badminton alley? They offer decent prices, but no risk. Karakal make some great rackets. The MTec range being some of my favourite rackets. The MTec 80 tattoo limited edition looks great and plays better, or if you're being budget concious, the normal MTec is the same racket without crazily nice looks. It looks nice, don't get me wrong, but nothing could compare the the limited edition one. The MTec 70 is incredibly light, infact the lightest racket on Earth (equal to the SL70 @ 70 grams as well). Apacs make Yonex clones (not fakes, they just borrow Yonex technology). They are much cheaper than YY so your budget will go much further. Infact for you budget, you could get a high end Apacs. You could look at SOTX as well, their Woven range is excellent.
I took a look at the Apacs and Karakal rackets and they look awesome! Do you have suggestions for specific models? M Tec 80 seems pretty good but not sure if it's the right one for me. How about Apacs models? And can you tell me where can I buy Apacs rackets? Both Centralsports and Badminton Alley don't have Apacs products. Thanks you so much!
www.apacscanada.com The shipping may add $15-20 for one racket. As for the ISO80 Light, it is an ok basic racket but if you have lots of power (as in swing force and/or speed) it will feel a bit soft even if strung up to 26lbs. I'm surprised you could find one. I had one and never saw any others in GVR and ended up giving it to a school.
Thank you Ph Leung. Can you please give me some suggestions on the models, string an tension? sorry for asking all these questions but I'm not familiar at all with the rackets and it gave me quite a headache trying to pick a right combination out of all those selections.
Wow... Just the same problem I faced... I quit badminton for about years... Because of that cursed injury xD... Luckily they're fully recovered now... (Sometimes it still hurt though xD)... Actually I would suggest the same thing that I'm planning to take... It's Apacs Visible Hollow. You can read the details at visible hollow. It's said they have a sophisticated shock damper technology. So that people who tried it in this forum feel "nothing"... But yes they hit nice xD... You might want to search more information.
lol K4mu1, thank you for the info. So your shoulder got dislocated as well? glad to hear that they have fully recovered. I think mine has recovered as well, but I am just worried that it might dislocate again if I swing/smash too hard. Do you wear some shoulder support/protect when playing badminton now? As for the racket, that's a good find. I'll take a further look into it. Do you have any suggestion for how much tension I should go for?
I second the suggestion of Karakal MTEC series. The MTEC 80 is one of my favourite racquet now and it is within your budget.
Yeah, the MTec 80 is a great racket (I've got the limited edition one). It's quite easy to use for a beginner as well, as opposed to most high end rackets which are totally not suitable for beginners. EDIT: Just noticed your tension question. I play at 28 Lbs but that will be far too high for an (advanced) beginner with a shoulder injury. Look at going for somewhere between 22 and 24 Lbs with a good quality string. The MTec comes alive at 26 Lbs and above though. Try some different tensions and find out what you like most.
No, I don't. My injury was caused by wrong technique xD... I'm fixing my technique and try to focus my power on my wrist wholly. And so far so good, so I don't expect my injury will come back to me xD... At least, I hope so . About the tension, I'd say you will have to measure them yourself . I don't know how strong your hit is, but I'd say 24 - 25lbs as a good start, if you don't know how much to start, since you're an "advanced beginner", just like I do . 25++ is likely to be harder to use (your ball will go slower if you don't have the speed). And 24-- is less powerful if your power is over the boundary xD. 24 - 25 I'd say is "balance" point. So I'd say you will have to measure yourself, your measurement may differ from mine . Good luck pal hope your injury never come back to you.
Ah... About the tensions, you might want to look these articles. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27039 http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22983 These are talks about strings. And the preview about some string, is available in these http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38509&page=16 http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30885
Thank you for the links K4mu1. Really appreciate it. Also I must thank everyone who has posted here, your opinions helped a lot. After reading lots of reviews in the forum and considering my shoulder problem, I have narrowed down my targets to 1. Karakal M Tec 80 2. Apacs Nano Pro 9600 Tour 3. Apacs Visual Hollow 1700 4. SOTX Woven 8 I really like Karakal M-Tec 80 but it's hard to find a dealer. I called Centralsports but they no longer ship internationally. And a few other online dealers are selling it quite expensive (around $130 plus string plus shipping). I guess I'll have to pass on this and decide between the other three. I prefer to go for Apacs because of its high Performance/Price ratio and apacscanada.com is such a convenient place for me to buy from. I guess I'll eventually end up buying either 9600 tour or vh 1700 unless I find out some really good reason to get SOTX Woven 8.
Actually, if you have shoulder problems, you shouldn't really be using stiff-shaft racquets because it may cause your problems to come back. Medium flex or just a bit stiff can decrease the chance of injuring yourself again. Actually, have you consulted your physicians about playing racquet sports since you have your shoulder injury?
My shoulder was dislocated in an accident about 3 years ago. It took about 4 month ( as my physician suggested ) to full recovered and luckily it's been fine ever since. The physician said it shouldn't be a big problem for me to play racquet sport as long as I don't rotate my arm backward hard (that's how the bone comes out the socket ). So I guess I'm fine playing badminton, but as I said I avoid smashing as much as I can. As for the rackets I pick, I think they are all medium or medium-stiff shaft, right?
