Hello, I am in the process of trying out a bunch of racquets, and was wondering if people could give me some leads. I have started playing for the last 6 months recreationally, and plan on taking lessons this summer. I am a defensive player, mostly drops and clears. I have played with the Black Knight c2c ice, Yonex Nanospeed 9900, Black Knight magnum 40xl, and Black Knight Magnum. I liked the Magnum the least (I found the head too small and I was whiffing quite a bit), while the other three I liked equally, for different reasons. (Ice I found all around ok, 9900 I found my reaction time was better, and Magnum my smashes were better with). Could you recommend a racquet, or racquets to try? The li-ning racquets look nice, although I can’t find many to try here in Canada (or maybe I’m looking in the wrong places). Any suggestions? Thank you!
1. How often do you play, how serious are you? I play around 5 times a week, just rec level, I'll join tournaments now and then, but they are strictly community/rec level. 2. What style of player are you? (Aggressive smasher, net player ...) Defensive style, try to out manouever opponent, clears and drops, occasional smash if they leave it up. 3. Do you care much about durability or is it all about performance? Durability is not too important, I play softly and take care of my equipment. 4. How much money do you want to spend? I can go up to around 175$ Canadian.
actually, I don't really see where you should go from NS9900 NS9900 is a pretty decent racket except you cannot handle the very stiff shaft and I am not expert of li-ning.. I would go for Victor BS10 for speed (stiff and even balance) MX80 for more balanced power and speed (stiff, slightly head heavy) btw, what is your preference? stiffness? (flexible, medium, stiff, very stiff) what about the balance point? (even balance, head light, head heavy?) NS9900 is even balance and very stiff
I think I would want the flexible shaft, as for balance, I like how the mag40 and ns9900 both feel in hand, but honestly I haven't paid attention to that aspect of it.
For your preffered brand of li ning, I would recommend the n70 or the n77. The N70 is less stiff than the ns9900 and it's slightly head heavier. N77 is less head heavy. But recently I've been pulled over by victor and I would recommend either the bravesword 12 or the bravesword 10. Excellent rackets.
Ok, and how about the N33? Reading around the forums, it is even more flexible it seems, but how does it do for overall weight, and head weight, balance?
Oh, I forgot about the N33. Unfortunately, I have never tried this racket and I know almost nothing about it haha. Although since Cai Yun uses it, I would suspect that it's around the same balance as ns9900. I know nothing about the flex though.
so.. why do you want a flexible shaft if you can use very stiff shaft like NS9900? you might not like flexible shaft if you liked NS9900
Sorry if I'm explaining it messily, I didn't like the stiff shaft of the NS9900, I liked the feel of it around the net, dropping shots, I liked that it was very light feeling, I could react quickly, but the stuff shaft I couldn't handle. CanBad pointed out a few places around here that sell ln racquets, so I think I will go there to feel a few of them... how do you guys get a feel for racquets at a store, when they are not strung? And there are no demo racquets to try?
Without strings, there isn't really a way to feel out the racket because the bp will be different as well as the aerodynamics. Although you'll get some good first impressions of the paint jobs In all honesty, my top racket reco would be the bravesword 12. Seems to suit all your needs.
Ok, thanks that gives me some direction in my search, thank you. In the meantime, if I took the ns9900, and restrung it at a low tension, like 16lbs, would that help/compensate some do you think?
That would help to a certain extent but 16 pounds is too far. You'll actually get no power and your accuracy will suck too. Buying a racket will a suitable flex is the best option.
Do you think at stay with Bk?? You can take a Vortex krypton xl a very good racket or a super light serie it's will perfect for your game
Ok so I will look to see if I can get my hands on the following to try: Victor MX80 (it seems to be a popular model, lots of reviews here) LN N77 LN N33II Victor BS 12 Hope people around here where I play have them to try! Otherwise not too sure... and thanks for all the great suggestions!
It is the Yonex BG085, and yes plastic, depends on what the facility has, but usually the Mavis 300 is the one most often used.
for your ns9900, you can try zymax 67 at 20lbs to mitigate for the shaft stiffness bg85 may be too harsh for plastic, whereas zm67 has a softer but good feel, and excellent repulsion for plastic
