Racket A - Feel dead or inert = totally solid with no vibration.....name a few brand if you have come across any... Racket B - Feedback feel is great or alive = solid with some vibration.....name a few if you have come across any...
Your choice of grip can also affect how much you "feel". Personally I prefer some feel rather than it being numb upon impact.
too much vibration will cause tennis elbow. too little then it's a like a dead fish.... i believe most of non ISO head, eg cab 30 has great feel
I hope Dinkalot won't mind me reproducing this here, but this is what he told me: "Reason why is because in badminton, you need some vibration. If it's completely vibration less, you cannot feel the racket on drops, clears, smashes. This is why the TC700 is a terrible racket. And those minority who say it's a great racket and string the racket at 28lbs. or higher, I just shake my head at them because there's absolutely no feel. I am 100% convinced they like it because on paper, it's the most technologically advanced material (strongest) and because of this, the racket MUST BE GOOD. The TC700 is definitely very strong but good playing, it is not. Why do you think they discontinued it? No pro would use it at least not for any extended nor successful period of time." I've never even seen a TC700 (not available in the UK), so I can't comment - but Dink generally knows what he's talking about when it comes to badminton rackets.
Dinkalot vs Twobeer...i can't help but imagine them using the TC700 to fight each other literally....oops
On a more serious notion, many rackets had gone through the discontinuation process....new models came out & the old ones stopped production...Badmintan's review on the TC700 was something similar to the Cab 30 Muscle's feel which i had took a swing at Mr Soh place...but of cos, the Cab is a oval headed design vs TC700 customized iso....
I too believe that Sir Dink generally knows what he's talking about but in this case, my own experience disagrees with his observations. 4 of my TC700 are among the most communicative rackets I've tried and I like them not because of the technology or what not. I personally do not care about what tetra(whatever) is nor do I care if pros use them at all. OTOH, I did prefer my Cab30 to most of the current isometric offerings. In any case, he is entitled to his observations and I to mine. We can agree to disagree.
Rackets that vibrate lose energy and are definitely not good. A racket frame must be extraordinarily stiff so that little energy is lost through vibrations. One of the main causes of excessive vibrations is the non-symmetry plus lack of stiffness of the T-joint; another is the use of low modulus graphite in the frame. Vibrations should not be confused with feel. Just try a Li Ning N55 racket and you will see what I mean-solid yet with a good feel plus almost zero vibrations. As a matter of fact you can test excessive vibrations yourself without even hitting a shot. It can be done on a table or bench. Excessive vibrations mean the racket is severely off-spec and should be rejected in a strict QC test. Pls don't confuse vibrations with feel.
May I add, I feel the TC700 is way better in all areas (though it is not the best for me but it's definitely up there with the best) compared to my experiences with Cab 35 (never tried Cab 30) and other earlier Cabs. Stick racket vibrations can be customized though with grip replacement in general.
I will explain in detail at the appropriate time. BTW, this simple and quick test is actually a real QC test employed by almost all Japanese OEM racket manufacturers.
To a certain extent, I do believe that the duo are not exactly the same but I do not have the scientific means to qualify my feelings. It deals a lot with how we interprete the signals from our contact with the racket via our hand/fingers. I do not think these signals are purely racket rattle.
a little vibration is good. rackets that are too damped, as you mentioned, kills all the feel of the racket. even though it sounds very good from the marketing point of view, it doesn't work out in real life. if you try most of the high end yonex and Li Ning rackets, you will noticed that there is a certain amount of vibration/feel coming through. it is by design with the very stiff material used. if you try a fake racket or a low end racket, it comes in very damped and feels very soft, the result is that the shuttle impact give no or little feedback to the player. on the other hand, too much vibration is also bad. like most things in badminton, it is bad to be on either extreme, the right amount of vibration is a personal preference.
i believe taneepak made an excellent comment, feel and vibration are to two different things. i must also mention all this write up about racquet feel is very subjective. everyone is different and so is the racquet to each person. there many other variables, eg. string pattern, quality of string job, grommet quality, etc.
Most vibrations players feel come from the strings, not from the frame. A low modulus graphite frame with thin strings strung at high tension will vibrate badly, but on an ultra high modulus graphite frame (Li Ning N55) there will be no vibrations.
There may be a potential problem here unless I get the go-ahead from all of you with no objections from anyone. The reason is that this test may have implications for those who sell rackets here. I may even get sued!
