Panda Power: A Racket That Can Take 40lbs. String Tension!

[visor]

If the Evil Empire comes calling, Panda will sell out in a New York minute.

LOL!

No kidding! Like in today's Wall Street minute!

With all these glowing reviews, though, probably the most compliment from the Evil Empire would be to buy and dissect and study Panda's rackets!

[alexy]

Here is my little review for T2
I have
2x t2v1 @ 287mm bp 86.6g sw / 286mm bp 87.5g sw.
2x t2v2 @ 283mm bp 84.5g sw / 281mm bp 84.1g sw.

Racket overview:
Paint job for v1 is thin but a bit silver shinning, looks pretty elegant.
v2 has thicker paint, makes it more durable. With shinning/Ferrari RED, looks very charming. Totally amazing when pair up with red string. :P
Comes in G5 grip which is the best. Most of the badminton rackets in US only comes with G4 grip, which is too big for most of the badminton players.

Power: T2 might not be the most powerful racket I've tried, but it is the most "easy to smash racket" I've used. Continuously smashes are very easy to perform with accuracy, and easy to control. Depend on the SW and BP, T2 can be very powerful. For a 4U racket, T2's power is already better than many of the 3U rackets out there.

Defense: Defense is obvious superb, even with the higher BP T2, the defense is still as fast as a head light racket. The low BP T2 is just crazy, there is pretty much NO recovery time in between defense, and the returns are much more controllable in height, depth and directions.

Feel: Frame is thin, but solid and stiff, makes it fast to cut through air, good for high tension but yet very stabilize on strike.
Shaft is stiff but not very stiff, makes the racket fast but still very easy to generate power. 4G light weight makes me never want to go back to 3G rackets, why 3G rackets when a 4G racket can provides me better of everything.


Overall: T2 is so far, the best double racket I've tried. The quality and performance are easily matchable or better than all those top end rackets out there. For it's price, T2 is pretty much the best value vs quality/performance racket I can find out there. Not to mention I get to choose my favor BP and SW. To me, T2 is not a racket that is design for Pros because it's too easy to adopt. It a racket for everyone.

[Mark A]

All but three of the T2 have now been snapped up by pre-interested customers, and I have reached the end of my list (finally). I'm still waiting on a couple of people, but it's probably now fair to put what I've got left up for any and allcomers to buy:

284/85
284/85.7
287/85.1

To repeat, price is £72 per racket plus £5 shipping in UK/£10 to EU. Stringing done on request. PM or email me (appleton_strings@yahoo.co.uk) to get one - they will go pretty quick now they're out in the open (indeed, one or more might disappear today when I hear back from people).

M.

[dyrtla]

thank you mark and dan, i received my T2 today in the afternoon.
i thank you for all the hard work and dedication.
However, i found a paint chip at 9:00 o clock on the frame. although the frame looks like its okay, the paint chip is relatively big. other than that, the racket is in good shape. I guess its okay, as i got this as a replacement for a broken T2.
i havnt had the time to test it today, so ill give a short review when i get to play with it.

[Destricto_Ense]

Racket Expert Nano Replacement Grip (1.9mm thick).

Thank you, I will try to remember to get it if/when I get around to buying one of your racquets.

[amleto]

hmm, that's not good that it arrived chipped what kind of packaging did it come in?

[Mark A]

I'll field this one, as I sent it: it was wrapped in plenty of bubble wrap around both shaft and head in its cloth case and then in an opaque, racket-sized postbag. I have to do this as the sizing regulations for Airsure (the fastest, safest, traceable international service) are very strict and boxes always get knocked back by the jobsworth at my post office (if she's in); even these bags sometimes won't go through. The only alternative is untrackable and/or slow, which allows Royal Mail total deniability if it gets lost and won't come back to me if it's undelivered.

I'm aware that this isn't as invulnerable as a box, so I always over-insure the packages in case of damage and write FRAGILE in huge letters on the front. I will say that I inspected all the rackets that I was sent by Dink before I re-packed them, and a couple of them did have small chips (but I can't remember which ones). dyrtla can PM me if the chip is big enough to be a problem - only fair, as I am the last link in the chain.

M.

[amleto]

haha, i'm sure FRAGILE is only like a red rag to bull for most of the postie people

[Mark A]

haha, i'm sure FRAGILE is only like a red rag to bull for most of the postie people

Actually the Post Office don't even make FRAGILE stickers any more (I asked), so you may be right...

A quick note to all remaining Panda buyers: I received a huge order of the requisite strings today and I'll get cracking (no pun intended) first thing tomorrow; legs at the gym will have to wait till Sunday. I intend to send every T2 that has been paid for out on Monday morning.

M.

[Destricto_Ense]

Nice commitment, Mark.

And yes, from what I've heard from people who work in the postal service, fragile labels mean absolutely damn all. Apparently the best way to get special treatment is to make the packaging interesting enough to catch their attention so they regard it as a unique item, not just another box to be drop-kicked onto the conveyor belt.

[jamesd20]

Actually the Post Office don't even make FRAGILE stickers any more (I asked), so you may be right...

Really? I guess my post office must of had some spare. I posted a racket last tuesday & asked for some & they gave me loads....

[Mark A]

Now that (almost) all my T2 have been ripped from my grasp, I feel I can put a review up without there being a conflict of interest.

T2 v2, 283/85.2. SOTX 1040Ti65 @ 25/27.5 lbs.


Looks/fit and finish - 9/10

Livery-wise, it's really evocative of the AT900P; the new red is far more aggressive. Between the v1 and v2? v2, but I have to agree with Alom that the silver pinstripes should have been kept. Comparing it the T1 is as pointless as comparing Michelangelo's Pieta to Tracey Emin's bed.

With respect to fit and finish, though, there is absolutely no contest with the v1 - the v2 wins hands and feet down with its deeper lacquer and sharper colour separation. Being OSP it's a doddle to string - I can knock them out in 35 mins without pre-weaving - and there isn't as much of that 2 o'clock yielding as in the T1.


Power - see below (it's tricky)

The T2 is odd in this respect, and won't really match up with any Yonex I can think of. In absolute terms (by which I mean in the hands of a top pro or a limitless machine) it is by no means the most powerful racket out there. However, as a "percentage" racket it is unlike anything else. Let me explain:

In my hand, an AT900P would give me a 90% smash but only 10% of the time i.e. the ones I can get behind, climb over and really unload on. If I get locked in a wristy swing with little travel, though, that percentage falls through the floor: the 900P doesn't like anything other than nuts-to-the-wall swings.

The T2, on the other hand, might give me an 80% smash if I can climb over and give it some welly, but the percentage stays very high even when the swing is locked up (like in the deep round-the-head corner). I'd guess it gives me a 60% smash 40% of the time, which is way beyond anything else I've tried. (The NS7000 comes closest, but the head-lightness compromises the overall power somewhat.) Another area where it excels obviously is with extravagantly "held" (delayed) shots, which are staple of my game.


Control - 8.5/10

I am (now) a control/defence/deception player, so I need something that's going to put the shuttle exactly where I need it to go. This means head stability and lack of torque and vibration. The head of the T2 is, in shape, almost identical to the NS9900, and I'm on record as saying this is one of the best hoops Yonex have ever made. I've had umpteen frame hits over the past two weeks and, although it's not exactly pleasant, the horrible resonance that comes with weaker frames is almost totally absent. This is one of the two criticisms I levelled at the T1: it vibrated too much and felt slightly "tinny". Good to see it has been addressed.


Defence - 9/10

I deliberately chose a balance similar to the NS9900 so I could compare them directly, and they are pretty much neck-and-neck in terms of head placement and transitions; I can't really see any obvious gap between them. The T2's shaft, though, creates an interesting defensive quirk: being softer than the NS9900 it is better at absoring the power of an imcoming smash and killing it off. I've lost count of the number of times I've blocked a smash back by simply holding the racket out in front of me and letting it do the work. If I have occasion to try a whippy drive the shaft again colaborates with its high power/effort ratio. The T2 puts me in a "block first, then drive, then lift" mentality.


Value for money - 9.5/10

If this thing was a Yonex it would be $50 dearer (at least). As I was relating to Dink during an MSN chat, it seems to me that modern top-end Yonex rackets are extremely exclusive with regard to standard of play - a 900P is a great racket in the right hands, but in the wrong hands its qualities diminish alarmingly. The T2, though, should be at home with anyone from intermediate to top amateur, as it has enough raw power and control to satisfy the discerning A player but is accessible enough to appeal to a C. Pretty rare, that...


Overall - 9/10

My overarching thought while testing this thing was "where the hell did this come from?" It has characteristics that seem to straddle Yonex's ranges but is priced insanely low by comparison. You can get serious power out of it, but you don't have to be Jung Jae-Sung to unlock it most of the way. It defends in both active and passive manners very well. It's stable, sturdy and WANTS you to play well.

[LD rules!]

nice review mark, if I wasn't happy with my SW35 I would give them a try, but sorry at the moment nothing is going to displace my SW35 from my hand. Which reminds me, now you have your panda power review out the way, are you going to get a SW35 review done.

[DinkAlot]

T2 v2, 283/85.2. SOTX 1040Ti65 @ 25/27.5 lbs.

Now imagine if you used a better string, the ratings will only go higher.

[dyrtla]

hi, mark i have sent you the pictures of the paint chip on my newly received T2.
thank you.

[OliverHH]

Recieved my T2 today. Very nice. Although it had a paint bubble on the frame, but I don't think it'll cause trouble
Very light racket (86g) compared to my ARC8DX & AT's, but a little heavy on the head (bp290), kinda like my Wilson K-Lite, but much more stiff.
At first, when I hit the shuttle it felt very wierd, like I used tons of power with no output, but when the strings settled (at least I think so), it took my game to a whole new level
Defence has never been easier, and it has a tad more control than my ARC8DX, which in the other hand has more power lying in the smashes, that I also find easier to hit with the ARC.

But on every other point, the T2 oversteps the ARC8DX with a big margin.

Well done Panda! ARC8DX sent on vacation (and I have just praised it to the skies only months ago).

[Mark A]

An update for all those who've already paid for their rackets - they are strung and will be packed tomorrow. Eight rackets in four and a half hours (inlcuding two AT700 for a customer) - lucky there was sod-all on telly today! (Though I did have Mythbusters on in the background.)