Hi, It's hard for me to profile myself since the skill-level here in Belgium isn't as great as it is in the rest of the world, but: - I play 2 times a week, w/o tournaments & competitions - I'm among the best of my club, but that's relative of course ... Let's say I'm a good intermediate player. So, situation: At this moment I have an ArcSaber7 as my main racket and a Nanospeed 9000 as a backup. Before those, I had an ArmorTec 800 Offensive (I broke the frame and moved on to the Nanospeed and now the ArcSaber). What I've noticed is that my smashes, as they are now, are far less powerfull then in my 'AT800 days'. I used to be all about power-smashes but now I'm more of an all-rounder that survives on speed. I'm wondering if this is because of the racket. I also used to work out once a weak with a personal trainer (= pretty intensive), but I don't anymore. (Going to try & pick it back up though). Anyway, enough of my personal life: I'm really not sure how all the specifications have impact on your game. Someone told me that I would have difficulty with the ArcSaber since it's a medium flex and my other ones were 'really stiff'. Another thing is 'Head-Heavy'. I read on wikipedia that the AT series are all head-heavy (correct?), that Nanospeeds are the opposite and that ArcSaber is somewhere in between. Am I correct to think that changing rackets is what made my once powerfull smash so slow ? Also: How would switching to an AT change my net-game? ( I've developed quite a good touch with my ArcSaber (answering smashes with a really tight net-drop)) Lastly: The racket I had was the AT800OF, but why is there so little information about it? My local vendor doesn't sell it (anymore), the yonex site doesn't list it (yonex.com), ... Was this racket suck a failure that it was discontinued or something? As you can see I have a lot of questions and I would really appreciate it if someone took the time to answer some (preferably all) of them. I'll sum them up for your convenience: - Did my 'power-smashes' disappear because of my change to NS & ArcSaber? - How do Head-Heaviness, stiffnes (and others?) effect your game? (I know there has to be an explanation somewhere, but I just can't find it :s) - What happend to the AT800OF (&def?) ? - What racket is more or less the same as the AT800? And another one: - I'm guessing that it's really not wise to have two different types of rackets ? (Fe using ArcSaber as my main racket & a NS as a second) Thanks for reading!
Hi Dauntless, welcome to BC. Allow me to put my two-cent for your reading pleasure: 1) Your smash power may be reduced due to weight of the racket head frame. As you rightly put it on your thread, AT800 OFF is a head-heavy racket. Arc Saber 7 is a great racket by the way; a relatively head heavy but leaning more toward well balance; hence you may experience smash power as not as powerful the armortec series, but generally one should be producing decent power with it and most importantly it exceeds AT800OFF in control and manuverability. I am actually advising my At800Off die-hard friends to go for Arc Saber 7 as its replacement though Nanospeed 9000 on the other hand is a head-light racket. It generates pretty decent powerful stroke, but may not as terriying as armortec 800 Off 2) To simplify the equation; generally a head-heavy racket is more toward attacking. Your smash is more powerful using a head-heavy rather than a head-light. Head-light on the other hand, will provide easy and quick manuver which is really useful when comes to fast drive and smash-return strokes Stiffness on the other hand, will generally help you in controlling the shuttlecock. I personally feel better shuttle placement - always get the spot where I am aiming for; and more precise in net playing 3) You can still find AT800OFF & DEF here in Asia; though it's getting relatively rare these days. Seems Yonex to discontinue the production of AT800 OFF and DEF 4) In my opinion, the closest racket to AT800OFF is AT900 Power. Slightly head-heavier, but gives solid feeling while hitting the shuttlecock. 5) Many people (include me ) carries various rackets in the bag - some of them are really at the extreme end. I have AT900 Power, Arc Saber 10, MP100 and NS9000S in my bag. All of them are equally good, but may perform better than the other on specific occassions/type of playing (single, doubles, attacking, defensive playings, etc), and my favorite is AT900 Power Hope above can give you some insights. Cheers!
The Yonex AT800 Offensive has been discontinued in favour of the newer AT900 Power. You should still be able to find one through online sale (I won't trust ebay though). The AT800OF is one of those "do or die" racquets because of the design. If you like it then it is advisable for you to go back to using it. I'm planning to get one myself.
AT 8OO Off is a very stiff head heavy racquet. I know one racquet which matches the same caracteristics, the Babolat X-Feel Blast. You should really give it a try, unless you want to settle with Yonex. But it's definitively a racquet that you should love and feel comfortable with. Ademas, Babolat is quite easy to find in Belgium.
Hi Dauntless, As these guys have pointed it out, they are correct. These are the infos I didn't know about a week ago, and now I've purchased an Apacs AMP90 for my smashing pleasure because it's Stiffer and Slightly more head heavier than the Yonex I had before which is light and flex. Heavier and Stiffer racket gives you more smashing power to a degree, as well as longer racket. Bend it and see.
Looks like my only option for re-improving my smash is start to power-train again ... Is the new AT900P as stiff as the AT800OF ? As for Babolat: I've looked on the websites of the 2 suppliers I use and none of them offer it ...
Just some local stores who have a really small profit margin. I don't really mind ordering online as long as it can be trusted. Do you have a specific retailer that I should check out ? (And I'm guess going back to the Gym is the only way to get my smash back )
