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

[minty31]

To be honest they all feel fairly evenly balanced but if i was going to pick id say the one with the 283 BP. But i guess everyone has got their own opinion on what an even balanced racket feels like in their own hands.

[visor]

Dang, minty! You practically took up a third of Europe's allotment of T2's! Why do you need 3?

[minty31]

lol you can never have enough spares.
i always tend to break my strings so i like to have one spare. Regarding the third one i guess im just greedy.haha

[Alom]

Ok here goes my first ever racket review A lot of reviews on the new Trinity II but I’ve decided to finally do my review on the Ultra II. Over the two weeks I’ve finally been playing purely with the Ultra II to get the most accurate view on this racket. Having finally played a league MD and XD match today, I’ve finally decided that the review was due now Apologies to beforehand to BC members for any grammatical errors or if I have plagiarised your review layout Please note that this is my opinion and this might/will differ from other members/users.

Previous Rackets that I have continuously played with: AT700 (1st Gen 4U), Bravesword 08, Trinity 1, Zelm PowerPlay 9990, Arcsaber 10.

Other Racket owned: I have many other rackets, too many to list/remember (including NS9000X, Prince TT Warrior, Browing etc). Some are still in my racket bag but majority have been sold on due to not being compatible with my needs.

Racket Spec: I both this racket from the UK supplier of Panda Power (Mark ) The weight was 85.7g and balance point of 287mm. The racket was strung with Ashaway Zymax 67 at 27lb X 30lb. Karakal PU supergrip was added over original grip.

Previous Racket vs. Game Style & My Needs: I play at a Division 2 level and all the games consist of 50% Men’s Doubles and 50% Mixed Doubles.

With the AT700 (4U) I used to love the power I could get out of it from my smashes and in XD this was great as I would constantly win points by power smashing from the back. But boy was it tiring and defence was very weak. In MD this would be the same but I was weak if I was covering the front or defending a smash and also tiring to continuously smash.

With the Bravesword 08, racket was less stiff but huge huge power if you are an arm smasher like me. Feel wise the racket was a bit dead, to some people it’s a big piece of wood with a door knob attached to it !! Racket was weak in defence and touch play but powerwise, if you could yield this piece of metal, ka-boom!!

Arcsaber 10 was a great racket but I needed something that was faster overall.

Trinity 1 (87.3g, BP 288mm), initial view was it felt slow defence wise and needed more effort to smash with. I also didn’t spend enough time testing this. I am going to restring this and continuously play with this for a week to get a better opinion.

Zelm 9990, very powerful and very stiff. Did not fit my criteria (maybe I should try the PowerPlay 10000, Sgbad )

What I need is a fast powerful racket which is excellent in unleashing smash power, touch play and very fast in offense and defence!!

First Impressions: Gorgeous looking racket from Dinkalot. Felt solid and light. Swinging it through the air, it felt faster than my previous rackets.

Playing: Took a few games to adjust. Wow, power is on tap. Clearing, smashing, driving, lifting, net-play and power-play is done effortlessly.

Power: Definitely more power than the T1. Racket didn't feel as stiff as T1 and you can feel the shaft bend with powerful smashes, nice Very very impressed with the power. Smashing from front, mid and back court was done effortlessly. Power in backhand/front hand drives, clearance done with ease. From a person who is pessimistic about most things in life, this racket is awesome!

Control: Control is great. Racket responds well and drops, cross corner drops were done with ease. Lifts and clearance done with ease.

Defence: Excellent!! I was retrieving smashes which normally would have been difficult, if not impossible to retrieve with my other rackets. Because of the speed of the racket through the air, I could easily control opponents smash and turn that against them. Very impressed.

Drives: Drives were done flawlessly. Speed and accuracy was not an issue.

Conclusion: The Ultra II has become my current go to racket. I was extremely impressed by every aspect of this racket. Awesome racket by Dinkalot. Thank you Mark for getting the correct spec with the help of Dinkalot.

Hope this did not drag on I did not realise how much I had written. I am currently in a queue to buy the Trinity II, would any BC members be kind enough to recommended a spec & weight based on the spec of the U2 (85.7g, BP 287mm) so that it would match the swing weight etc (If that makes sense )

[visor]

Good review, Alom!

I'm coming from the other direction: having been playing with a T2, I'm itching to try an U2, so your review piques my interest. Hopefully, I'll be able to demo one this weekend.

Re your T2 spec, best person to ask would be noneother than Dinkalot!

[Alom]

Thank you visor.

Please do let me know how you compare the U2 with the T2 after you have demo'd the U2.

Good review, Alom!

I'm coming from the other direction: having been playing with a T2, I'm itching to try an U2, so your review piques my interest. Hopefully, I'll be able to demo one this weekend.

Re your T2 spec, best person to ask would be noneother than Dinkalot!

[cayzi]

Actually that future is already here in woven rackets, especially SOTX. Relatively speaking, good woven graphite outperforms the best, regular, non-woven graphite. But there is too much of a good thing.

Ok why then woven series of SOTX are relative cheaper than D series if this is true?

[jymbalaya]

Ok why then woven series of SOTX are relative cheaper than D series if this is true?

because not all the rackets in the series are fully woven graphite. only the Woven 16 is, and that's pretty expensive.

[DinkAlot]

because not all the rackets in the series are fully woven graphite. only the Woven 16 is, and that's pretty expensive.

Sir! Panda's been at the drawing board...

...

[what07]

Wow that looks like my mountain bikes frame!!!!

[visor]

Ooooh! Noiceeeeee!

Also looks like your photo taking skills are improving.

How does it play?

[DinkAlot]

Ooooh! Noiceeeeee!

Also looks like your photo taking skills are improving.

How does it play?

Sir!

[Distanc3]

what are the specs Dink?

[Random-person1]

Wow! no need for a design on that baby!
okay maybe some color but that woven pattern is great!

[Random-person1]

Sir!

wow, nice photo. (:

[DinkAlot]

what are the specs Dink?

This particular one:
86.0g, BP290
Stiffness: 8.0-8.5
Both shaft and frame: Toray Woven 40T (equivalent) Graphite

I strung it at 32lbs. with ZM70 and it felt like stringing a normal racket at 22lbs. I think it can take 40lbs. without too much strain but I don't think the grommets will hold.

Will test it on Friday...

[DinkAlot]

wow, nice photo. (:

Thanks, can do better but Panda thinks that's good enough for the web.

Though not perfect, Panda gives it 85-90 out of 100.