Hello everyone. Last night I played my first game of badminton in 20 years. I'm 41 now. My old racquet is past it's best, the grip disintegrated in my hand as I was playing. It's an old Wilson Defender that cost £15 20 odd years ago. So I'm looking for a new one. I've got a budget of around £30. Looking online I found a nanospeed 300 for that price. But I know nothing about racquets so I don't know if it's too good for me. I'm a fit guy, play lots of sports including Martial arts, football, golf weight training etc. So I'm strong. but I feel I don't get enough power in my smashes (I'm blaming the raquet). My golf clubs are stiff shafted due to my fast swing. my smashes last night were a little too high for my likeing. I'm interested in the racquet flex. This is something I know zero about. But I assume its the same principal as golf club flexability. I hope to play every week for atleast an hour. If I'm lucky I might get a second game in. I'm looking for as much advice as poss. Thanks in advance.
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/155-Racket-Recommendation-Comparison cant really give decent advice since you gave no information about your technical skills, and you wont have much choice at £30 anyway. The lower your budget, the more difficult it will be to find stiff racquets - the stiffer the racquet, the better ones technique needs to be.
Sorry to disappoint you, but £30 is an unrealistically low budget these days - especially if you're looking for a reasonably stiff racket. A couple to consider, around the £50 mark: http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/...rackets/Wilson_K_Brave_Badminton_Racket_.html http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/...s/Ashaway_Kevlar_7000SQ_Badminton_Racket.html
it is hard to find £30 racket with stiff shaft.. pick anything you like carlton has wide range of cheap racket buy it from http://www.sportsdirect.com/badminton/badminton-rackets (or your nearest sportsdirect retail shop) but I don't really like it my friend bought Carlton PowerTrail Viper and the top area of the frame is really THICK and wide Nanospeed 300 / NS300 also medium flex and even balance try to read coach Paul said about this racket: http://badminton-coach.co.uk/258/yonex-nanospeed-300-badminton-racquet-review/ if you want to buy NS300, try this one: http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/...peed_300_(Black-Silver)_Badminton_Racket.html yes, it is more expensive £3 than you found, but you don't need to pay the delivery cost. tennisnuts will charge you £5. which means you safe £2 if you try the website I gave you also, try to restring it. Add £6 then it becomes £39, but free delivery. another seller usually do not give this option. (see the option below the black box in the website that I gave you) String is actually a pretty important factor since the one that made contact with shuttlecock would be the string what strings? tough choice Yonex: BG80, nanogy95, nanogy 98, Ashyway: zymax 70 or zymax 67 tension: 22-24 lbs could be a start (this only apply if you restring your racket)
thanks everyone. all the recommendations look good. i like the nanospeed 300. i also found a wilson k brave reduced from £150 to £50. is that legit? ive got a sportsdirect and a decathalon sports close to me, plenty of choice but i dont know what im looking at.
ive just realised directsports have an ebay shop. if i raise my budget to £50 whats the best i can get? they also have an amortec 70 mg for £50.
I think direct sports is legit I bought Yonex from them, and they are Yonex authorized dealer (I don't know about Wilson though)
it seems a really good deal. i like to the look of the carlton vapour trail fx ti, apparantly the strings on it are high spec. would i be wasting my money spending £50?
about armortec VS nanospeed (in general) armortec is head heavy, meaning that it would deliver heavier swing and could improve your smash, the downside is, since your swing is heavier, your defense would become poor (As it is hard to swing head heavy racket) nanospeed is head light rackets. swings faster than armortec, good for defense, but it is hard to generate power from it. meaning you need more power to gain same result as head heavy racket in smash department.
there is no such thing as good string if it is factory string usually factory string is not really good and around 18-20 lbs (kinda low) when they said: • String Tension: 18-28lbs / 8-13kgs that means this racket can be strung from 18-28lbs but the racket itself come with factory strung which is 18-20lbs do you also see the spec? http://www.sportsdirect.com/carlton-air-rage-fx-ti-badminton-racket-722040
this is a mine field. i suppose i just want a decent racquet. i dont know what type of player i am now. i just want to beat my pal. have a look. http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk/...lton_Vapour_Trail_FX-TI_Badminton_Racket.html
sorry, I didn't read properly I'm confused between air rage and vapour trail (As both has FX-Ti) another reason why I hate carlton too many models, hard to distinguish and also no one really try the racket do not blame anything to the racket it might be your technique, it might be your foot work choose anything you like as actually it doesn't really matter at this stage I am between wilson K brave or nanospeed 300 don't forget to restring it and buy karakal SUPER grip (there are two type, PU super grip, and only PU grip.)
The Vapour Trail FX is a very low-end model, and the AT70MG is only mid-range. The K-Brave and K7000SQ are slightly older models (which is why they're cheaper), but they're still much higher quality rackets. DirectSports are totally legit (I've ordered plenty of stuff from them). And Avenger is right - factory stringing is invariably low tension, and usually with a crap string.
i like the carlton airblade tour at £50. it seems to be a common consensus that factory strings are poor. why is that? must i get my new racket restrung? if someone bought at racket for £10 it would surely be a waste to string it. so at what price range does it cease to be a waste of money?
nothing wrong with older model in fact, many popular high end yonex is actually old model racket (around 2-4 years old racket) the new one cannot beat the old one, that's why it is still popular
to answer your question because at the end of the day most people will restring it with better string so factory will use cheap string since they know people will just cut it and strung it with better string same with the handle /grip factory will use cheap grip since they know people will not use it. usually people will do these two: either they put another overgrip (overgrip is grip that you put on top of another grip, usually pretty thin) or take it off and use replacement grip (replacement grip is when you take off the old grip, and you apply the grip on the wood. it is thicker than overgrip) note: if you strung your racket usually it would cost you around £12-20 (depending on the stringer and what string you choose) directsports give a pretty good deal with only £6 for the string AND the labor job
£30 - £50 would be a good start you will not break the strings that easily if you are a casual player, it could be more than 6 months or even for your whole life (if you don't mind the drop in string tension) for £10 racket, no need to restring it. If the string broken, just buy a new racket
Yes, I absolutely do. I don't honestly believe racket design has advanced all that much in the last few years. The main thing you pay for (aside from the brand name in some cases) is the materials. A high-end model from a year or two ago, will still use quality materials. Low end models - even new ones - will use cheap, low quality materials. The Carlton Airblade Tour is a couple of years older than the Ashaway and Wilson though - it's even the old standard length of 665mm (most modern rackets are 675mm)
