YONEX NanoRay 800

haha... compare bodin's smash with his nr800 here vs his vtzf earlier this year when they won the india open... huge difference!

 

Haha...i knew that was coming. At the end, it is probably not fair to compare the best smashing racquet in YY lineup vs. another racquet that is designed for drives/net play on the basis of smash power alone. All i was trying to highlight is that Nanoray 800 is not as weak/useless as many are saying here.
Who knows, i might side with the other reviewers after i try the racquet--i have it strung and will be playing with it either tonight or tomorrow.
Disclaimer: my regular racquet is the BS9, so might not be a high bar for NR800 to surpass in terms of smash power...lol

 

^ Looking forward to your review.

 

Just strung my new NR800 3UG4 with BG80 @ 25/27 #s. Only get to try it out next Wednesday. Got the NR700RP earlier this year but didn't like it at all, so sold it. Favourite is still the VT ZF strung with BG66 Maxima @ 26/28 #s. We'll see come Wednesday.

 

Ok, just finished playing 3hrs of badminton, alternating between my trusty BS9 and the new NR800. My NR800 is 3UG5, strung with UM66 at 26lbs.
Looking at the racquet, the shape of the head is almost identical to the BS9, and the shaft is shorter than the BS9. The NR800 has the new grommet pattern like the MX80 (ie: more grommets than BS9). Finally, the shaft is definitely stiffer than the BS9.
Playing impression: very fast racquet given its light head balance. It is even faster than the BS9, which is not an easy task to accomplish. The racquet has good feel and very accurate placements. Also, the stiff shaft gives it very quick repulsion. Given those attributes, the racquet excels at the net--interceptions, net kills, net drops. Drives are decent also, but just inline with the BS9 (so maybe not king of drives...lol). Smash defense are very good. My only compliant is when you try to return when you are of position--because of the stiff shaft and light head, it is tough to generate power in those lifts off a smash. From the back, the drops are easy to do and accurate. However, smashing power is tough to harness. Unlike some of the previous reviewers, i do not have an issue with the angle of my smashes (ie: pressing down), but the power is disappointing. I almost gave up until the last 30mins or so, as i found out (through trial and error) that smashing with a short explosive stroke (using fingers, wrist and forearm) produce decent (not excellent) results. What i mean is using the "newer" smashing techniques of the pros today--limited followthrough (to waist level, and not crossing to the other side of the body).
Net-net: like the BS9, this racquets favor a front loving, doubles player. I would say the BS9 is easier to use and more versatile, whereas the NR800 is more specialized for front and mid court play. I will keep trying the racquet for now, as our coach just taught has the "newer" smash technique, so this racquet will help my practice it (and let me know if i am not doing it right, as it will produce crappy power otherwise...lol).
Hope this helps. Cheers

 

What happened to the thread about NR800? I can't find it anymore. I know the NR800 took some heat in the reviews, but still, no need to remove it all together.

 

why did the thread take heat? what happened? i was going to ask the same thing, what happened to th nr800 thread?

 

One of two things probably happened to the thread. 1) Nothing, I'm just bad at finding things2) it got erased by mistake.If it got erased I hope someone can recreate it. NR800 got bad reviews for the usual reasons. Not as powerfull as AT700 and not as fast as NS9900. And it's not the ti10.

 

talking to a badminton store here who mentioned that the description of the racket was wrong too.

 

I think you are mistaken. NR800 is faster than NS9900 and better control without lost of power vs NS9900. You used wrong string.

 

Eeeerh... I never said it was slow or lacked power. I implied that people often compare rackets to the extremes.

 

Sorry, I sort of jumped the gun. Have a nice day

 

I kind of figured. I'm thinking of getting a NR800. You don't happen to have one you'd like to review?

 

I assume it got deleted by accident ... Can find the thread on googel but following it leads to invalid thread specification

 

it was reviewed so badly. so we decide to redo it.

 

oppss.....i cant do it...i sold mine

 

what do you mean?

 

Just a quick few notes about the NR800 and others.

I tested it alongside a NS9900, NR700FX and NR700RP around a month ago.

Bear in mind this was my personal feeling for the rackets, others may feel differently depending on style/technique.

Stiffness from feel while playing I would rank them NR800 > NS9900 > NR700RP > NR700FX - Even at the bottom of the 4 the FX still seems pretty stiff.
"Feel"/"Control" and net play I would say NR700FX > NR700RP > NS9900 > NR800
Repulsion I would agree with Yonex, NS9900 and NR800 more repulsive, spending very little time on the string bed, NR700RP in the middle and the NR700FX spending the most time, but still on the sharp side compared to ARC, VT, AT etc.
Power, didn't notice much difference between them tbh, just slightly different method of generating it, NR700FX feeling the most natural for me.
Defense felt easiest with the NR700FX as well but there wasn't too much in it. Ranking wise NR700FX > NR700RP > NR800 > NS9900 Again Yonex's chart does a good job of illustrating purely based on head balance. There may be something in the 'Toughlex' material on the NR700FX around the bottom of the frame that helps here with defense, it felt more solid on defense, felt like a perfectly timed block or drive every time.

With my style of doubles (was buying specifically for doubles) the NR700FX suited my technique the best I felt. Bought one FX which I promptly broke playing with a lefty 3 weeks later, looking to buy 2 now, seems they have had a price slash in the UK (along with the RP), online prices down from £136 to £110!

Overall preference for me: NR700FX > NR700RP > NR800 > NS9900

So, for the NR800 I would say you need a pretty fast arm, good net shot technique etc and not rely on 'feel'. It's a racket for fast, powerful doubles players with good muscle stamina. Played similar to the NS9900 but a bit more solid. The NS9900 felt a bit 'fragile' and not as 'crisp' during shots in comparison.

 

thank you for the review. i have both nr700s and i figure if the 800 is similar then i might as well save my money, and thx to your review, it proved my assumption is correct. there's a rumor about a 900 earlier in the previous review thread and so maybe wait for that one

 

I received mine last week because I really wanted a 3U-G4 model. The 4U is too light for me, which is currently available in The Netherlands. So it took a while to get the racket here without paying import taxes and someone took it over here.

The racket has been strung with BG66Ultimax at 11 kg which is my reference tension. My sister was already playing with the NR700RP with the same specs, so it was also easier to compare with. Because it's the current top range from the Nanoray series, my curiosity was mainly if this was a good replacement for the NS9900. To me, the NS9900 is one of the best head light racket on the market. My NS9900 3U-G4 has been stringed with BG85 at 10,5 kg.

First some dimensions. I really love the color scheme of the NR800. It is not really eye catching, but with some experience, very recognizable. I really like the general color scheme of the Nanoray series. There are some pictures already, so I took some pictures of the differences between the NS9900 and the NR800.



First the Frame. The head is about the same thickness, but more to the side, the NR800 protection for the strings, end earlier.



Also, the NR800 it thicker when getting more to the bottom. It's the new Aero Frame, but it's not as wide as the NR700 series. The NR700 series is more like a widebody frame. I'm not sure if I could picture this right, but the NR800 seems to have a little longer frame. It's not a lot, about 2 or 3 mm, but it is there. In above picture, the frame top is equal, but the T-junction height is lower on the NR800.



Here again the thickness of the lower frames. It's marginal, but the NR800 is wider.



And the last difference I could discover between these rackets (besides the color) is the the rounding of the top frame. The NS9900 is round, whereas the NR800 looks a little like the Power Armor System frame on the top.

After a few strokes with the NS9900, it was time to hit the birdy with the NR800. The first thing I noticed, was that my clears were not as far as the NS9900. It was easy to correct, but powerwise, it was not on the same level as the NS9900. The NR800 did feel stiffer and there were no vibrations, which gave the NR800 a solid feel. Compared to the NS9900, the NS9900 still has some flex were the power can be generated. The NR800 is more like a straight on racket. Not a lot of flex and not a lot of repulsion from the shaft or frame. Can you imagine, it was already strung with a higher repulsion string BG66 Ultimax? So to me, the NR800 did not had the same power as the NS9900. In terms of speed, they don't differ a lot. They had about the same balance (NR800 a little head heavier in my case) and the stiffness was about the same too with the NR800 a little stiffer. Both rackets has more air resistance than the NR700 series. What I absolutely had to admit, was that the control at the net was better with the NR800.

What is my opinion about the NR800? It's a good racket, but it's currently not the replacement for my NS9900. First is the power, but also the feeling I have with the NS9900 is not the same. It's a modern version of the Nanospeed range with less vibration and stiffer. I think the NR800 will be more suited for the more swing type players where the power has to be fully transferred to the shuttle without any bending of the shaft for repulsion. The NR800 would also be a better choice when you are strong at the net, demanding a racket which can give you accurate net play and interceptions and hate vibrations in a racket, whereas the NS9900 is stronger for fast play with power at the backcourt and gave me more feeling. But given the higher price compared to the NS9900 in the Netherlands, I would have expected a clear win, which is not the case for the NR800, and that's why I would say, the NR800 is just a different racket...