what i mean is by the "durability" of the racket ie. paint dont chip too easily(but this ain't realli important) able to withstand high tension stringing(unlike Yonex's)(kinda important) and at the mean time still have pretty good (response/power but that depends on the model...) this is THE important one Hope ppl know wut i am talking about ^^"
i have a fleet mp 9900 its the replica of yonex mp 99 it can withstand tensions up to 23 pounds i think i have it on 21....
definitely give winex a try, heard a lot of good things about it. A lot of people I play with use the winex racquets, might be because most of them are from Taiwan and winex is cheaper there and they are mostly graduate students without much money to buy the expensive yonex racquets.
i string my yonex at 25 lbs (11kg ~24.8lbs i believe) and it doesnt break. and im not all that careful with it. i wrecked one that i had restrung at 30 lbs tho. broke damn easy. i dunno what the limit of yonex racquet is but must be somewhere in between 25 and 30 lbs. my friend plays carlton at 28 lbs and it doesnt seem to break. he not careful either. we both snap our strings alot tho =(. mine lasted everything between 15 mins and 15 hours play time. his paint is alot more durable. mine chips off all the time. on all of my yonex racquets. but i dont like how carlton racquets play. im off topic i know. i cant help you out with clones cuz i never had one neither did any of my friends.
i use mp99s i dont always use the same string. bg85, bg80, bg 65, ashaway, carlton, ... im trying to find one that last long at the tension i like. the only one i really didnt like playwise was bg68ti. dunno why i just didnt think it felt good. i cant get the bg 88ti or bg95 cuz they dont sell em here yet =*(
I've been using Winex SQ 500 and 600 for the past 10 years. So far all my racquets are still in good shape. I used to string them at 24 lbs using BG66, BG80 and more recently also BG85. I think they have good quality, durable and very playable.
karakal also has a good range of rackets in which the company itself ensure the racket can withstand tensions up to 30 lbs.
i strung up a Karakal several weeks ago. On the frame it stated 30 pounds string tension max. But the customer wanted only 21 pounds. The point about this was that even at 21 pounds, I noticed a lot of head flex. I could not imagine it taking 30 pounds, regardless of what it has printed on it.
In my opinion after several doubles clashes approximately 5 or 6 and stringing at the tension of 25 lb my karakal Ti-75 is still going strong. The frame may not be as strong as say a kevlar hi-t from carlton but i find the head of the racquet extremely strong and i find very little flex when stringing. Hehe i guess my theory is if i'm stringing my racquet at such a high tension and it still hasn't broke it's a good racquet in my books. I've broken my mp100 just off smashes so it's a big difference. However this is my personal opinion and isn't the opinion of studied facts and figures. Back to the question. Winex is a alternative brand and so is carlton and karakal. They provide quality equipment at amazing affordable prizes compared to the very commercialized yet high quality equipment provided by Yonex. Winex has alot so called "clone" racquets however they also do have several of their own designs. Personally i retail karakal and i use them for my tournaments and yes you could say i'm bias but so far so good The durability of the racquets are amazing and it's a great plus that they do take up to 30 lbs of tension. I do play alot of doubles and sometimes i get new partners to play with in tourneys and well sometimes they are lefties and racquets tend to clash here and there however no breakage or warping so far just paint chips here and there. I have used carlton's before and i've heard good things about the as-ti, super stiff, some what even balanced and it still produces power. I don't really like the new power flo racquets very much. I guess you could call me a traditionalist. I don't really like the weird one piece cone shape on the top of the handle. I hope this helps if you need anymore information about the brands i have noted karakal especially because i play and retail the racquets please feel free to go to my website and contact me. www.repulsivesports.com . Cheers, Nick Repulsive Sports
