if you guys have been listening to my rants about my recent developments, i previous beloved racket is Iso900SS (CN), and actually Iso900SS in general, and also have owned a Iso900SX (SP). i have used these rackets for the past 2 years. but due to usage and age, they are either broken or cracked. in the past few months, i have been exploring rackets, as many as i can get my hands on. and been exploring quite a few of my own. being a purist that i am, i really want to get back to the very basics, the good ole oval shaped and normal length rackets instead of the fancy Isometric muscle power long ultimum titanium etc rackets. so i went off and tried quite a few of the more traditional types, making use of the old stock that i have. however, i have found mixed results, some are ok, some i just cannot get used to no matter what i do, and some are ok one day and bad the other. today during training i was using a Iso600 at the beginning, with only ok results. the Iso600 is a slightly Isometric and normal length racket. felt pretty good, my coach borrowed one of them and actually liked it. well at the end of the day, we started playing some games, so i borrowed one of Janet's IsoTiSP SS to play. and wha lah. the feeling came back, we played quite a few games and i felt like i met an old friend again. i think one day kwun should just accept reality that i have been raised with one type of racket and it will take much longer than a few session for me to be completely comfortable with a different style of racket. i may have to re-learn all my stroke again. sigh. as much as i hope the quest for my best racket will continue, it looks like the racket that i need has always been *the one*.
Hey Kwun, I wouldn't worried too much about whether the racquet is oval or Iso or whatever. If you find one model that fit your style of play, stick with it. So what if it is the Ti Swing Power (which is a very good racquet). Some folks believed that the latest and greatest will give them better performance and if they can afford to switch everytime a new model comes out, more power to them.
Similar feeling here. Last night, it was the first time I used a longer racket (MM90), team up with the new string (Gosen B505Ti), I just found out seems I fell all the way back to a rookie again. Just can't control anything for the first several game, especially the serves. Well, guess need to play more to gain more control, and make it to be "the one".
Im not sure if this will help at all Kwun but I was just searching for an Isometric 900 ss and found this site. http://www.hiclear.co.kr It seems that they have them i think, but im not sure if they ship to the US.
I agree! I had a few swings with an MP 99. It's an excellent racquet, absolutely great. I could see its potential that would help me with more power and maintain the control aspect of my old racquet. But I learned if I'd want to use it to win my games, I'd have to practice and play with it for quite some time. I don't have time for that now I'll just stick with my Ti SP SS to have fun (translated: to win a few games once in a while )
Kwun, do the CN rackets last longer than the other ones? cuz according to you, it seems to me that the life expectancy isn't much longer ^^"
JChen, yes. this is my experience: Iso900SS (SP) - broken on second day of play on a light clash. Iso900SS (CN) - lasted more than a year with numerous battle scars and many clashes so hard that my heart nearly popped out when i heard it. the racket frame itself looked more like the face of the moon with all the craters. so yes, definitely. don't expect CN rackets to be indistructable, nothing is. the Iso900SS is an extremely fragile racket to start with, the CN version are much longer lasting than the normal ones.
adopt a good racket It is much easy to pick a racket with playing characteristics designed to one's playing style, and then to learn to use it. There is no perfect racket. Good players should be able to make minor changes to suit the racket. Considering the variations from different string jobs, most people would get comfortable after a short time.
Kwun, Sounds like Yonex racquets are quite easy to break! I know its been said it only feels that way because most people use Yonex, but it seems that it doesn't take much for them to crack. Certain other brands (I'm thinking of Black Knight in particular) can take alot and still hold up, even though they tend to be alot lighter than their Yonex counter parts. I'm presuming the difference is in the string tension, that yonex people tend to string their racquets at insane 26l-30lb tensions. But I do suspect that companies are intentionally making products more "disposable" to increase their revenue. Sony, for example, makes great looking Wega TVs, which are notorious for how easily they break and needs to be replaced. You think we are seeing a new marketing trend here? Japan has been under a recession lately, and perhaps this is their plan to get out of it? This is probably just a crackpot conspiracy theory of mine, but it would be interesting to compare how well Yonex compares to their clone counterparts.
Yes it seems that CNs do last a lot longer than SPs, however as Kwun has said, the whole ISO900/Ti Swing series is incredibly fragile, fantastic racquets, but horribly fragile. There's not much you can do about it. Dammit, this racquet breakage has put a larger hole in my finances than expected, luckily CNY is just around the corner
I admit that ISO 900 is rather a fragile racket. But the broken should depends mainly the force to hit the racket, the position of the racket for the hit. Moreover, it is high chance to break rackets in double (or in single if one always use the racket as a 'stick' for body balance). So if playing double with a friend who don't know how to play double, use cheaper rackets. I used to play double with ISO 900 SX/SS but for casual partners, I am now using ISO Swing Power 500 (which is much similar with ISO 900). I also own a ISO 900 CN SX. The CN racket is much more (I must say) solid feel. The material of the racket seems denser. So it may be the reason for lasting longer than SP racket.
Iso 500 is similar to Iso 900??? Where did you get your iso 500? Where did you get your iso 900 cn from? Luxis?
There are 2 versions of ISO 500: ISO 500 ISO Swing Power 500 (with SX,SS,SR,SA). Both ISO Swing Power 500 and ISO 900 are using SPS theory (said by Yonex). But the materials are different: ISO 500: Full Carbon graphite ISO 900: shaft: Ultra H.M. graphite, frame: H.M. graphite Moreover, the frame area also slightly different with ISO SP 500 is little bit smaller. Since ISO SP 500 is discontinued, it is now not easy to get ISO 500/ ISO 900. Some places in H.K. do have ISO 900, but with high price.
Last time (about 6 Jan 2003) I saw a ISO 900 SX (SP) in Mong Kok, the price is HK$999 (about US$125).
Thx Kwun and Pecheur ^^ beacuse I find that the Ti-10 is pretty sturdy already, was wondering if the CP version of it will last even longer (without the extra weight)
kenlmw, They only have SP? Nothing else? And $125 doesnt sound so bad...Do you know if they have other regions beside SP for the iso 900s?
SP version only. Moreover, there are only a few stock left. For CN, you can see Luxis but they are much more expensive. (nearly the price of 2 SP version for a CN)
yeah i know about luxis...do you know of any way or online store that carries the sp racquets that will be willing to ship to the US?
