Flashboost vs. Adizero Pro. i am afraid i don't have such thing planned. the problem is getting a FB that i can restring and test for a period of a few weeks. if someone in Yonex wants to get me one, i will be happy to do it. as for durability, granted that there are quite a few FBs out there, way more than AZP, we have seen a lot of "WTF?" type of breakage for the ARC FB. a friend of mine broke one on a very light clash. will it happen to AZP? well we haven't seen a broken one yet, but only time will tell.
Of course; it's pretty normal that lighter rackets will be easier to break. It's one of the risks of playing badminton.
Kwun, I have already ordered the Duoforce and am waiting for the mailman to deliver it to me. I'm still thinking of buying the Adizero Pro and see how it performs, but I'm not sure if I should since I have a Duoforce coming. Is it possible for you to give us your impressions on how the Duoforce and Adizero Pro fare against one another especially in terms of strength and weakness? This will definitely help people decide which racket to go with and whether I should buy the Adizero Pro to try for myself. Unfortunately I'm not as well connected as you and I can't demo the rackets for free.
Earlier in the evening, I made a trip to gala sports at queensway shopping centre to check out the specimen rackets of adipower and adizero pro. After a few swings, adizero pro had the best feel. I fact, I can hardly feel any weight disparity between the 2 rackets. Somehow, the adizero just felt right. And so, I placed a deposit for it, the yellow variant. Final price should be a shade under s$200. ETA for the adizero will be late may or early jun. I intend to tryout the Adidas strings and grip as well. And the BT feather, once it is in. In yellow, no less. And now for the negatives. The build quality is....kinda disappointing. The design and colour scheme is what I liked; understated. But the yellow variant of the adizero pro had dry remnants of glue or silicon oozing out of the tapered cone. No such issues with the black variant though. Besides, the design scheme was inconsistent to say the least, with disparity in tonality and paintwork gradient. If i am a beginner to badminton and a first time buyer, I will probably give it a miss cuz it doesn't ooze quality nor provide a wow factor...I mean, using fb and arc11 as a comparison, both are rackets in the upper echelon of yonex racket lineup, and for the price tag they command, it gives a premium impression and feel. all in all, I believe the actual batch of rackets for the market should be better. For Adidas's own sake, it better be, else it will not do their virgin foray in the badminton market any good. The hype Adidas had generated mandates success on and off the field. It will be a real slap in the face for them to place a premium pricing for mediocre quality. well, the proof is in the pudding, they say. Once it is here I will definately give my amateurish review of FB vs Adizero Pro. And thus the waiting begins...
An interesting statistic for you, regarding the Adidas hype. This website has been in existence for over 10 years, and as a bit of research for my Masters, I had a look at the website to try and find out what brands of equipment (rackets) are talked about the most. No surprise that Yonex takes up 48% of that discussion time/bandwidth, but literally in a matter of Months, Adidas commands 3%. Now that doesn't sound like a lot, but If you consider that the rackets aren't really on the market in any considerable way, that's a fair achievement. And when you consider Li Ning rackets only have 6%, you can really get a picture of how significant it is. Back to our regular scheduling......
Can you gives a compare to Kason F9? I am interesting in both but could only buy 1 Thanks for your share
I'd like to know the subject of your dissertation. The whole of BC the subject of a dissertation? Sounds amazing!
Adidas adizero pro Badminton Racket Review Author: Cheung Preamble I received an Adidas adizero pro Badminton Racket, courtesy of MBS ("Mybadmintonstore") for testing. This review will borrow Kwun's earlier review using common facts. In this review, I will adding my personal impressions. Adidas is a newcomer to the badminton equipment scene. 2+ years in the planning Adidas is finally ready to reveal their badminton lineup to the world. The Adidas adizero series of badminton racket is characterized by their fast swing speed, light 4U weight well suited for players who love a fast doubles games. There are 2 models in the adizero series that is designated as “advanced pro” models, basically these are the cream of the crop of the adizero series and have the most technology and advanced materials behind them. Design The adizero pro is rated as a medium stiffness singles/doubles racket for fast attacking player. The spec weight is 80g +/- 2g with a balance point of 295mm +/- 3mm. The shaft tapers from 7.5mm near the cone to 6.5mm near the T-joint. While the balance is a highish 295mm, the light overall weight of the racket give it a very fast swingweight. Like the head heavy adipower series, Adidas incorporated some unique technology for the adizero pro’s racket head. A “Dual Force Frame” consist of both titanium mesh at the 4 corners and Zylon fibers to reinforce the frame structure. Zylon is a material made by Toyobo company in Japan and is supposed to be 1.6 times stronger than Kevlar. More Zylon is strategically placed around the frame as part of the adizero pro’s “Vibration Control System”. The adizero pro also utilizes Adidas’ unique 78 holes stringing pattern. The 78 holes pattern is similar to the popular 76 holes pattern plus an extra pair of shared holes in the 4/8 o’clock positions. This makes it much easier for the stringer, as well as letting the engineers align the outermost main string to be completely parallel with the rest of the mains, resulting in a tidy and uniformly laid out main strings across the frame. As with any modern rackets, single and double pass grommets are used in the appropriate locations to maximize frame strength. Aesthetics The adizero pro has a black base color scheme with yellow dominating accents. The model name “adizero pro” is found at the bottom of the shaft near the cone, and the Adidas signature triband at the racket head which forms part of the asymmetric design of the head. The adizero pro also has a version with a yellow base colour and black accents. This is the version I received from MBS. The silver lines are still on the side of the racquet but are barely noticeable on the yellow. The racquet is make 'sample' indicating that it has probably been used before. Examining the paint very carefully, I do notice one small racquet blemish at the top of the head probably indicating a racquet clash. It's very superficial. Furthermore, at the T joint, there is a very thin crack at the T-joint. This crack is even more superficial and more consistent with paint drying and then being subject to some flexing. The Adidas logo is only subtly found on the cone and the handle base. Looking at the yellow version, I can't help the feeling of it looking rather garish. It's rather like looking at a yellow Porsche. Who would drive a yellow Porsche? In my opinion, it's a step backwards in trying to market the racquet as a professional racquet. Stringing MBS kindly put a fresh set of strings in the raquet. I asked for white BG66 at 26lbs and it was strung using ECP. The racquet came with a one-piece stringing method and strings have a nice higher pitched 'ping'. Performance Just swinging the racquet around, it feels very fast and nice whip to it. I just can't wait to try it out but it does feel flimsy - don't all lightweight rackets have that same feeling? Start off with practicing drives. In short, I am impressed. The racquet is very responsive and I get a nice flight of the shuttle off the racquet. On normal drives, the shuttle just bounces off the strings really well. The racquet is not too flexible but not too stiff either. My impression is the flex just adds to the speed in just the correct manner. Other users may find it works slightly different for them. For instance, this test racquet was strung with BG66 - a thin gauge string. I wonder what difference would a wider gauge string have. What I found very encouraging is even for those drives when I am slightly off position or suboptimal racquet positioning, quite a number of times I still am able to get a nice return back. Going on to clears, I anticipate it's going to be difficult hitting them with a head light racquet. Surprisingly not. The racquet cuts through the air very fast. It's very easy to accelerate the racquet swing just before impact by using the fingers. Moving on to smashes, this is one area where I was not able to fully test the racquet. I have some Golfer's elbow which restricts the power I am able to impart on a smash to about 70%. It does need readjustment of my timing as it is lighter than my regular 2U racquet. The racquet won't give you that feeling of a 'thud' as you strike the shuttle. But it will make the shuttle go downwards under your control. Vibration is under control not being noticeable nor affecting my elbow. Netshots are very interesting. For ordinary net play, there is no difference between different racquets. It did take me a little while to get used to the racquet for timing netkills. When it comes to playing netkills and downwards shots, forecourt doubles players are going to have a field day. Because it is so easy to swing using the fingers and thumb, you can hold the racquet head even later and still get a swift swing in the racquet head. That makes the opponent wait a split second later before being able to react to your shot. Initially, I was missed the shuttle because the racquet swung too fast! Netholds and fake shots become easier. Defensive shots were enjoyable to perform. A counterattacker is able to control the shuttle on placement and last minute injection of pace. I didn't have any problems lifting the shuttle to the back of the court on returning smashes. Cross court lifts from the net were not a problem either. I definitely agree when Kwun writes about mid court drives. This racquet excels in this area. There were number of times when I know I am out of position and my hand is late going for the shot. However, I was still able to pull off pretty decent drive returns. When in position, I feel pretty confident about trying double action drives as well. Remember when I said initially the racquet feels flimsy? It doesn't now. As I use it more, the more confident I feel that it is a sturdy racquet. Final Words In conclusion, the Adidas adzero pro is lightweight racquet that has a very fast swing speed. New users are going to experience some timing issues but once you get used to the swing speed, these should lessen with time. I see it being used by control players who like to pull the opponents around court by being unpredictable with a lot of shot variation and disguise shots. With a thin gauge string such as BG66, the racquet does feel very light. Additional information on 1 July 2013. Please refer to http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/123804-REVIEW-Adidas-adizero-pro-badminton-racket?p=2108407#post2108407
I'm sure Kwun has a lot of statistics but he's not sharing, so I had to generate my own. I thought about pretending to be Chinese but it seemed a tad disingenuous.
Hehe. Your methods and data should be repeatable by another person. In one sense, the data will be valid.
It is. Doesn't mean I have to share it, though It isn't easy trawling through that much information. Anyway, back on topic. Where's the cheapest place to buy the Adizero Pro? Had a better look through the spec sheets and it's definitely on-paper the pick of the bunch for my style of play.
same here, i think that's the one i will be getting but there's nowhere to buy them yet in the UK and Europe. I have to wait until August for them to be launched in the UK
