I recently got a few packs of string from Badminton Nation to try out. The models I received are AP62, AP70, AP80, AP85Ti, and AP101N. Here's a little description of them from them from one of their Market Ninjas: (strung at 28 lbs) AP101N – great repulsion power, great for defensive clears and smashes propels the shuttle nicely if you hit the sweet spot. Control is not as good as AP80 but durability is better than AP80. Hitting sound is crisp. AP80 – Designed for control, repulsion is good but behind AP101N. You can “feel” the shuttle better when executing a drop shot from the backcourt. Hitting sound is crisp. AP70 – Purely for durability. Hitting sound is a little dull but last a long time even at 30lbs. I would only recommend this for beginner to early intermediate. AP85Ti – titanium coated. Think of this as a more durable version of AP101N but gaining durability also means you lose a bit of repulsing and control. AP62 – Awesome repulsion and control. Hitting sound if clean and crisp, almost metallic sounding. But durability is very low since its .62mm. If you don’t string the racquet yourself I stay away from it because restring will cost you. I have yet to try them out for myself but I'll add some of my findings later on.
Both the 101N and 62 are very, very slick. 101N durability is lower than BG66, repulsion initially the same, but drops quickly. Feels dull after 2 weeks (or you can string it 2-3lbs higher than usual and let it rest for a week). The 62 does indeed have incredible repulsion, but the durability is a joke at anything higher than 25lbs. Only one mishit and it's gone - I'm a very clean hitter and cut as many strings as I break (because they got too old), but the AP62 really tested my patience Had to restring every two sessions if I played with one racket exclusively.
A set of NS-70 has magically appeared through my letterbox, c/o of an anonymous donor (anthemtwins), so a review will follow... after Zymax 65 and a BG80/VS850 shootout. j4ckie, I cut ten times as many strings as I break - 30 lb loses its sparkle all-too-quickly for uncle Mark...
Tested the AP90 on one BS10 today - felt great. A bit softer than expected (12,5kg=27,5lbs), but that's not bad because 12,5 on the BS10 are usually my max. The repulsion was great, and so was the touch, but it moves like crazy (in the beginning, I thought that was my horrible timing - I was pretty hungover) and it's pretty slick. Net play took some getting used to, but that's pretty normal for me as I try to tumble the shuttle whenever possible and the friction of the string is vital for that and has a huge influence on the angle needed to play the shot. Can't say much about the durability, but it took the slightly off timing and occasional off-center hit in stride so far. And judging by my smashes, I hit decently hard today. NOTE: Had two rackets strung with the leftover AP62s. Broke both in one session - one was a complete mis-time on a smash, could've broken anything up to a BG80, the other one was a warm-up drive hit near the frame. The durability is really not holding up to the ZM62. Both strings I'd only recommend to very clean hitters with a lack of arm strength, or those who have the time and money to restring roughly once for every session Feeling is nice though, and the repulsion is incredible. Mark: What string do you use normally? If I used a .7 string, I'd break maybe one every year and cut the rest....but even with the 66UM, I have gone 2 weeks (=10 sessions) without breaking one. One is getting close to getting cut by now, probably one more week...
Having only just gone up to 30+ lb ECP I have no "go-to" string yet; I'm testing everything again to see which I like best. I use plastic shuttles and I'm after a very hard feel, so I may have to go even higher (or stick with a Vectran at 32). I've seen more than one review that said NS-95 was pretty hard, but my mysterious benefactor didn't have any for me to test, sadly - any opinions?
Plastic shuttles? With hard strings? Whenever I have a session at a center and a plastic shuttle from an adjoining court falls into ours, I feel pretty much nothing when I hit it back to where it came from. Very little resistance compared to feather, and seemingly a bit more vibration. Why exactly do you use plastic, anyway? I mean of course it's cheaper, but for any serious player, it's very strange indeed. Over here, no club players uses plastic. They also limit the level of play somewhat as there's no tumbling net shots and sliced drops (well of course you can slice a drop but with feather the rotation of the shuttle changes the flight path, and with plastic it doesn't.)
At the risk of going O/T, I play at my former high school, where there is a) a wide range of standards, from novice to a solid C+, and b) very scant funding; feathers would be a waste of our non-existent money. Nobody at our club pays a penny to play (save for the bottle of gin we get the coach for his birthday), so I am in absolutely no position to complain about using M300's even if I wanted to. And now, back to our scheduled programming.
Ah well we have to pay for the shuttle, although the club usually has a contract with one company to use their's exclusively and gets better prices for that. In our club, the shuttles are sponsored partially (I think the club pays 12-13€, and team players get them for 10€). Only very few clubs pay for shuttles for the players, mostly very small ones with some kind of junior training (which they can get some funding for). Anyhow, back to topic^^
Here are my opinions on a few Li-Ning strings I have tried to date: NS30 One of the hardest and stiffest strings I have tried up to date. According to the product description in the catalogue and the packaging, it is written that this string has high rigidity (which is hardness and stiffness) with high repulsion. Even though this string is pretty thick at 0.70mm like BG65, it is almost as sharp with the metallic impact feel as BG80 at the same tension (my test tension was 33lbs pre-stretched). The repulsiveness of the string bed is also pretty high, similar to that of BG80 and aids in defensive shots nicely. Due to the hardness, I feel that NS30 suits heavy smashing game play a lot, especially in doubles. Even though it is very similar to BG80, the surface does not have the rough texture of BG80, although the control element (in this case is where the string bites into the shuttle head) is pretty satisfactory. NS70 Even though its design is similar to BG80 (oval shaped nylon outer texture and 0.68mm thickness), the impact feel of this string bed is more "big and full" compared to NS30/BG80 (I tested both NS30 and NS70 at 33lbs pre-stretched). In fact, from my experience this string feels a lot like the currently discontinued BG66 Sharp. It is pretty repulsive and with the bigger feel and the rough BG80-like surface, I feel that NS70 is more suited for a balanced and yet quick attacking play with good shuttle control which suits me for singles games. NS95 I have previously posted my opinion on NS95 but what I have here to add is that NS95 is now starting to remind me a lot of an improved version of BG65. The "special nano coating" as according to the packaging adds an interesting feel to the string bed's feel and overall performance. Overall the repulsion and control/grip on the shuttle is similar to NS70 (although the NS95 has a sort of sticky string bed compared to the rough textured NS70). The impact feel of NS95 is lively, similar to BG65 at high tension but with a little bit more sharpness to it. The coating also gives the string bed a slightly silvery sheen which looks metallic. A note about the coloured versions I have so far tried the yellow versions of all the above, and from my experience having strung each string for comparison at the same tension, the yellow versions feel slightly thicker than the white versions. This slight thickness can also be felt via a slightly bigger impact feel and for NS70's case, a slightly less rough texture. I have not tried the other colours but I would expect a similar finding with each string.
One new thing that I recently noticed with neon yellow NS70 is that it loses tension pretty quickly, similar to what a lot of you have been reporting/complaining about Victor VS850. One of my jobs which was done at 33lbs with 10% pre-stretch has currently settled to 32lbs, after the first real game played with the racquet. However I must again recommend the impact feel of NS70 (both white and neon yellow), which if compared to ZM62, feels like ZM62 strung at 4-5lbs higher with way better durability.
Hey sir, NS70 white from my experience is slightly better at retaining tension compared to NS70 neon yellow. From my experience, I have strung both colours at 33lbs without pre-stretch and after one week of play, with roughly equal usage of both, the white one has settled at 31lbs while the neon yellow one has dropped to almost lower than 30lbs. I am still using the NS70 white at 31lbs while I have restrung the other racquet with NS70 neon yellow at 33lbs pre-stretch which led me to the conclusion in the prior post.
Thanks for your informative findings, Blitzzards. I am a big fan of Yonex BG80, i have also concluded that White BG80 better in retaining tension than Green BG80. I also find that after stringing, green BG80 felt more repulsive, however the feeling will soon be depleted as the tension drops so much. I strung BG80 @29Lbs, 20% PreStretch. I will try NS70 after reading your views on it.
Hey, I'm currently using Yonex BG66 Ultimax, the sound is produce from the smash is sharp, anyone has recommendation on strings that could produce explosive sound? I'm changing to Li-Ning string soon, anyone has any recommendation? Please Advice.
@Ferrerkiko: What about AP101N & AP90? Are both good? I not really into the durability, just wanna make sure the string is good. Please Advice.
