I posted this mistakenly on the equipment page originally so appologies for the double post. Hi folks. Following the implosion of my Carlton Vapour Trail S-Lite on monday night, (the frame split at the top and ripped itself into 5 pieces, looks a treat!) I am now on the hunt for a new racquet. As much as I liked the S-Lite i suspect I was getting quite a few problems with my shoulder and inner elbow as a result of it being the wrong type of racquet for me/poor technique. Im looking for a balanced but still lightweight racquet for fast paced good standard doubles, with a fair bit of power behind my smashes but without loss of control. So im guessing a lightweight, stiff, balanced (slighty head light) racquet? I've had a look around but the specs seem conflicting and i honestly dont know where to start beyond the old suspects. Looking to spend under �100 if possible (though not essential) in the next couple of days. Any thoughts and help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Neil
Maybe Babolat X-Feel Lite or Power. Too bad the NanoSpeed 7000 sale has long past, might be an option or 8000 which seems to be on sale. Forza Ti 299 N-Light might be something as well . The S-Lite is listed as flexible on the websites and you still have shoulder and inner elbow pain? Must've been too light, headlight or flexible (or probably just poor technique ). Maybe you can list your results from this: http://anonym.to/?http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/which_badminton_racket/badminton_rackets.aspx (note their balance and weight are measured strung)
Cheers for the reply mate. I think you are right with the s-lite being just too light for me. I am 6ft 1 and quite broad in terms of build, so using a soft flex racquet, (whilst creating one quick old smash) was probably not the cleverist of ideas, and may well have led to the racquets somewhat short life! :crying: From other recommendations i am now looking at the Sotx ranges 11i as it comes across as a balanced medium flex racquet which should suit me ok, but that said up to yesterday i had never heard of the range. Any other thoughts would be much appreciated. Neil
with £100 you can get mid range yonex, or high end on another brand many people has different definition on lightweight, so what is you preferred weight? and light racket doesn't always means better, if you have a good build, take stiff and a little heavy racket (3U (85-90gr) would be suitable for many people) might be good for you
What a clever idea for a store to put out to help their clients choose racquets. However... ... I put in two searches, one asking for very stiff shaft and the other asking for very flexible shaft. The results were almost exactly the same racquets. Well not exactly the same -- the "flexible" list included the Nanospeed 8000 and the "stiff" one didn't.
Hi guys, thanks for the responces so far. Tonight a friend gave me the chance to try out both his new Arc Saber Z and his old Nanospeed 8000. (prior to the orange one) As nice as the arc saber is, i cannot justify spending £150+ on a racquet especially given my history with racquets. I suspect one or two bad mishits when smashing would make it look the same as my last! (see pic below) So onto the Nanospeed 8000, currently down from 140 to 79.99 online, i tried it and loved it... Medium balance but very stiff ,was totally different from the bendy carlton,. but it gave great feedback at the net for close shuttle rollovers and the smashes had my opponents laughing at the speed! I think we have a winner.... If anybody else has any suggestions on this basis then please let me know, would be very interested. Cheers Guys. Neil
Good to hear, quite like it myself as well. Although you must be warned they are not known for their durability but might have been addressed when the new (current) colourway was released. You could also consider the 9900 then but a considerable price difference at the moment makes it hard not to go for NS8000. Looks like it is in the midst of being discontinued, it has already had it's facelift to the current colour so either a rare third colour might be on the way as it has for the 7000 or it's out. But it seems to be in the 2011 japanese catalogue as is so might be the last batches for this model.
Ok so after a week of umm'ing and aah'ing i went for the nanospeed 8000, in the orange/gold paintjob. Better still my local racquet store mactched a price online in london, so i managed to get it for 40% off rrp, and in time for monday night. I had heard that durability issues with the 8000 were addressed after the 1st generation (black and gold) so hopefully it will hold up. Will be interesting to see how the difference in flexibility helps or hinders my game, only time will tell. Cheers everybody for your input.
Congratulations on selecting your racquet. How could you do better than that? High-end piece at sale price and available to you almost immediately. Please give us a review in a week or two when you've become accustomed to it.
Cheers Fidget, and your right i can't ask for better. Hey i might as well give them credit (if this is allowed) PWP Sports on Dumbarton Road in Glasgow, Scotland is my wee gem of a local racquet shop. Convieniently open just 5mins from my flat, the guys in there are laid back and a pleasure to deal with, good customer service and also they offer fortnight trials of all racquets if you want. I will give a review of the racquet in a week or two when i get the proper feel for it, tis the least i can do. Thanks in the mean time for all the help. Neil
