Hey guys, I've been playing recreation/ high school badminton for 1 year. I've tried the yonex supergrap and I like it. I've been thinking of getting towel grips. Is there a major difference in performance between he two grips? ie. (durability, feel, comfort, frequent changing.)
As a user of both grips, I would say they pretty much have the same durability, or that they last about the same amount of time (three to four weeks) before I feel that I have to change them. The thing that happens to the Yonex Supergrap is that it gets dirty easily, and if you use a lot of wrist flicks in your shot making, the grip will just wear out as easily. Towel grips (e.g. Yonex AC402) on the other hand feels consistent as it wears out due to the fabric used in the making. However as iSeeNubs said, they absorb a lot of sweat (which of course makes you feel comfortable if you sweat a lot), and this causes them to accumulate the salts in your sweat and they turn hard after a few weeks. Thus regarding durability, both are pretty much the same IMHO so you'll have to look to the other factors. It is in fact very easy to lose the feel of strength in your strokes when you first switch to towel grip. This is due to the weight/density towel grips have, which I think is up to three times that of the Yonex Supergrap. In other words you're just adding a lot of weight to the handle end of the racquet when you apply the same length of towel grip as you would Supergrap, therefore robbing your racquet of its usual balance point and you feel you can't utilise the swing momentum in the head to apply power in your swing anymore. To get around that, most people will remove the original leather grip on the handle before they apply the towel grip on, compared to applying the Supergrap on top of the leather grip, and apply it straight on to the wooden handle (you can add a layer of water proof tape on the handle first for hygienic purposes). I also cover just a little over half way of the handle to limit the amount of weight I add to the handle, such as this.
OK then, thanks. I'm going with the supergrap. Mainly because it won't smell and has less work put onto it like the towel grip. =)
Im going to try the towel grip for the first time tonight. I've been using the supergrap for quite sometime and my main complaint is that it gets dirty too fast and loses its grip. Hope the towel grip changes this.