Racket - RKEP AT800Tec Weight - 96g gross BP - 288mm String - Victor VS850 @ 25lbs Grip - Karakal PU Super replacement Me - Intermediate B-Grade Club player About a month ago, Eric from RKEP gave me a deal on one of his latest AT800Tec rackets. I wasn't really keen to try it out becuase it was a bit head-light for my likings and he had self-admittedly had some QC issues with the old model. However, the AT800Tec is made by a different manufacturer, and it shows - bigtime. The quality all-round is very very good and the paint is great. Eyebrow-raisingly tough, too. He knows I'm not a fan of the 'inspired by Z-Slash' paint job but then again I have offered to redo the design for him and have yet to get around to doing it. I'll say straight out that this is a good racket - to the point where I don't know why he doesn't sell bucket-loads of the things. In fact, if I'm not really 'feeling' my go-to - Bravesword 11 - I reach for the AT800Tec and play the rest of the night with that without issue. And this is a surprise for me, because aside from the NS9900, it's the most headlight racket I've ever owned. Like the Carlton VT Tour, the AT800Tec has a long shaft and a very short handle with gives a bit of extra oomph to your shots, but because it's quite stiff doesn't seem to effect directional control at all. There's a bit of a learning curve especially if you have long hands like me - as the handle is pretty much the same size as my hand - but what this does is encourage you to keep your hand low with gives you better leverage on the shot. I'd consider overall stability as good. The shuttle goes where you put it, however there is a bit of flex if you take the shuttle very high in the string bed, but many rackets suffer from this and it's more a result of my bad technique than anything else. Generally, it's a solid feeling racket with good feedback and control. Nothing flimsy or half-arse here. I think the big surprise for me with this racket, is that while it's fairly even-to-headlight, it delivers really quite a surprising punch. Repulsion off the stringbed is strong and the sweetspot is forgiving. It's big strength is that for doubles, it doesn't really have a front-court or back-court bias - it's equally as good executing a tumbling net-shot as it is punching from the baseline. That's very confidence inspiring. Eric has advertised this racket as being a 'pro' racket, but I really think that's selling it short, because it's a great intermediate's racket. I don't think 'pros' will find it heavy or stiff enough but that's perfectly fine, because this racket is definitely going to suit more people, more of the time. So, the silly ratings time. I'd give the AT800Tec a solid 8/10. It's just a really great value, solid all-rounder. Honestly, at the sort of dollars Eric wants for them, I think he's selling them a bit short. They're insane value for money. If you're in the market for a solid all-rounder, perfect for intermediates and beginners alike, and don't want to be yet another Schmoe with a Panda or APACS, you should seriously take a long hard look at the AT800Tec.
