I have never played before, but I want to start next week. Since I don't want to buy online, I'm stuck with a badminton shop here in Vienna, and they only sell two kinds of Yonex rackets (since they have some sort of a contract with Babolat, I think): the Isometric Alpha Peter Gade and the Arcsaber 008 (I don't know if the Taufik edition or not, their website doesn't make it clear). The Iso Alpha is low-end and the Arc 008 is "mid-end". I know most people advise against low-end Yonex rackets, but the other options for that price are Babolat rackets which aren't even on the Babolat website, so I'm thinking it's either the Iso Alpha or the Arc 008. The question is, does it really make that much of a difference if it's low-end or mid-end if I'm a beginner? The price difference is only 34 euros, but I also have to buy shoes and other stuff so I don't want to spend too much on the racket, especially because I'm on a tight budget.
you can buy isometric alpha, it does not really matter for a beginner but later you will want a better racket, and maybe you will buy mid end racket like arc008 so.. for me, I think it would be better to buy arc008 right off the bat but it is up to you, it doesn't really matter what racket you use, the most important one is your footwork and technique. expensive racket does not help you to win the game if you cannot utilize it
You have a point, I thought about that too, but if I buy the Arc 008 or some other racket a few months from now it won't hurt to have the Isometric Alpha as a backup.
I think that's a good idea if you don't mind to buy another racket again in few months then iso alpha is the best answer the main reason is not because of the price, but because of the shaft stiffness iso alpha is medium flex, which is more suitable for beginner can you give me the website where you are going to buy the racket? (I can give you advice about string, grip, etc)
It's www.sportkoch.at, but I think it's only in German. They don't have that much stuff (especially Yonex), but it's the best (if not only) badminton shop in Vienna. It belongs to two Austrian badminton players.
the shop looks ok, but has pretty limited choices.. I'm thinking how about order it from another country? try from UK? the delivery cost can be divided if you bought many items at once (shoes, racket, bags, grips, shuttlecock, etc) you will get better product and maybe better deal than buying from another website http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk I recommend this one, you can email them about the delivery cost
Yeah, there's no comparison between the two as far as choices are concerned. However, I chose Sport Koch because I don't want to buy online (I won't detail the reasons here). So, it's pretty much them left because they have the only (serious) shop here in Vienna. Maybe they have some more stuff in their store than on their website, but I don't think so. I'm probably gonna go see tomorrow. Thanks anyway!
I'm not usually very sweaty, but I think that if I'm gonna be playing and holding the racket then my hands would sweat. I'm trying to remember if my hands used to sweat when I used to play table tennis, but I don't know anymore. You're probably asking because of the towel grip...
yeah, if you know about it the good most people will change the grip straight away either using replacement grip, or overgrip (these two are different) towel grip is a replacement grip, so you remove the grip, and apply it straight to the wood overgrip usually use over another grip to make the grip bigger. it is pretty thin compared to replacement grip if you go to the store, and they offer cheap restring, then go for it
Well, I ended up buying a Muscle Power 10, because it was cheaper The thing is, I know they don't make so many fakes for low-end rackets, but could it be fake? I'm asking because they don't even make the MP10 anymore, I think, since it's not even on the Yonex website.
Well, demolidor thinks it's fine and the guy I bought it from was Austrian Champion like 20 times and has played at the Olympics in 1992, so that's good enough for me
good luck with your new racket did he offer you to do restring job? and did you change the grip to towel grip?
Thanks! He didn't offer it because he seems to think the factory string job is good. I know everybody is against factory stuff but I'm gonna stick with the factory strings and the factory grip, at least for a while until I get a feel for what's right.
actually, I'm not against factory grip, but I'm a little bit against factory string usually they use cheap string with low tension if you don't feel comfortable with the grip since your hand sweat a lot, change to towel grip straight away it is not funny when you in the middle of the game and your racket slipped from your hand and fly
