Okay so Gosen is finally available in Australia, so I'm thinking of giving one a go. Originally I thought the Issen might be the way to go, but even dry-swinging the thing, I'm pretty convinced it's too much of a singles beast and probably not my thing. My 'golden spec' racket-wise is.... Weight - 86g Swing Weight - 89g BP - 304mm That's with BG66 Ultimax and Karakal PU Super replacement grip. The Gosen range here is fairly limited I think, with just basically the Ryoga series and a model called the Roots Aermet Zeus. There's an Ougi here as well, but that's big dollars and seems a bit stiff and headlight, but does feel good in the hand. So, Gosen fans.....what model should I be looking at?
Personally I really like my Shiden. It's the predecessor of Ougi. I have it strung with BG66 Maxima at 26lbs with original grip removed and 5 layers of electrical tape and 2 layers of Pacific overgrip.
Any of you guys take any measurements of these rackets? I mean, I love the fact that you like them, but that doesn't really help me.
Most of the Ryoga series are quite stiff and are dry weight around 88.2g to 88.8g... Their weight consistency is much better compared to Yonex SP rackets. Since you do not have a strong young shouder, I think you should check out the Gosen Trivista 800 racket. It is very nice racket and easy to generate power with (due to mid stiff and slightly head heavy). I love my Ryoga Issen (I have 3x) for singles and doubles. It is very fast head heavy racket, even faster han the VTZF, VT80, VT70 in my opinion. I can counter smashes in doubles effortlessly. But the stiffer shaft and overall weight might out you off though. It will aslo helps if you use a towel grip to make the head less heavy for even faster defense. I still need more play time with my Ougi and Shiden to make a good comparision
I have the Issen but somehow it felt light and not as head heavy as the specs indicate. I have a few Gosen racquets but I never really took a shine to them. The best amongst them being the Gosen 6900 Boonsak model. One thing I love about the Issen is that the paintwork is gorgeous ! I believe Adidas is now available in Australia ? I would recommend you trying it. Both the Adipower Dualforce and the Adizero Pro are fantastic racquets.
Yeah to be honest I'm probably more keen to try a Aermet Roots Gavun model because they're more what Gosen is about - the flex piece thingy and the diamond shaped t-joint. The Zeus seems to be the most current iteration but it's a bit more even balanced than I'd like with a SW of 88g. Yeah Adidas will be available here in 2 weeks. I liked the Adipower Tour the most when I had a hit at the demo day.
When Eric designs his own rackets and they look as good as a real brand, I'll buy some more. But until then? No.
: smacks own forehead: Oh right... I forgot you're a product designer who places looks on a higher priority than performance. That's OK... everyone has different priorities. For me, I care not one bit how it looks as long as it gives me an edge to win my games.
They would be better off with nothing but a satin black finish than these "designs" ... At some point, unspectacular turns into simply ugly. I doubt anyone would pay the full $130 for these ...
That'd be the Panda Power Precision Pro. No clearcoat, no design, just black matte paint. I have that and Revelation too. Full $130 for the XP? Hah... I can get 2 XP's for that price.
Indeed, at some point may have to work out a trade with Mark for Ti-10 II in exchange for a Rev or two . Too bad the Precision supposedly chips very easily (and could be toned down even slightly more on the decal front) The RKEP XP series is not all that bad, looking at it again and the Pro seems to have an update as well. Could still do with a better logo however, maybe rip-off the Dunlop logo and change the D into an R . On the Gosen front: some new TriVista's were released in Japan that from vague memory might be in the spec preference.