I play regularly in the Tai Po area, typically Tai Wo Sports Centre and occasionally Tai Po Sports Centre. I have another group of people whom I play with out in Kowloon but the location varies from place to place. Same here, I play for fun too. I don't enter competitions but we like to be competitive. I'm all for meeting up to play some time and testing out rackets but I'm pretty sure that the SW35 is the only one of my bunch that you'd be even remotely interested in.
Finally, i play with SW35. -- I LOVE IT -- Clear, smash and drive is very good. For power smash TC700 still win, but it's more easy to make rapid smash with SW35. And i feel sw35 more quick & sharp than TC700 and W7. Great racket
It took a few games for me to get used to my SW35 too... And I was using a VT80 3u!!! But after I got used to it, I fell in love with it! It's forgiving when I make mistakes. It packs a wallop for power. And the most important thing was that the shaft is predictable. That was my BIGGEST issue with the VT80... The shaft flexes at the worst time.. My shots goes flying wayyyy out!!! Sold the Vt80 and kept the SW35 as my head heavy racquet
I play now with a Sotx Woven 9 and I'm searching for a replacement. Which would be better Arc10, VT70 or SW35?
Lukasy, my neighbour (I'm from D), actually you can get 2 SW35 for the price of a VT70 or an ARC10. Based on specs, a 4U or a light 3U will match in terms of weight. Something slightly headheavy balance and a midstiff shaft. Maybe SW35 too stiff for you and arc10 too heavy overall. 4U VT70 or 4U At900 Technique should be close to your Woven 9, but this is the SW35 thread, so I would recommend the SW35 3U if you can handle something stiffer and a tiny bit heavier.
But I want something a little heavier. I don't know if I could handle something stiffer and head heavier
For something 85g+ you can try VT70 (3U) and ARC10. ARC10 is stiffer while VT70 is head heavier. ARC10 is a superb racket. For less head heavy feeling you can add some athletic grip under your normal grip of the VT70. In this case a 4U would be better if you want keep close to the weight of your current racket. BTW: More mass in the head helps to flex a stiff shaft. In terms of flex you can take a look at BS11 and SW 36.
Thanks for the info. I will try a VT70 Friday and I already tried a Arc10. I can't demo a Victor . I really want to try some Victors like the BS09 and the SW35
Don't worry, many people experience the same thing, especially in mid-court area where you need to generate faster head speed for those fast stick smashes and drives. Take my advice and wrap some athletic tape underneath the grip; your swing speed will increase dramatically and you'll find that your defence will improve, and that your smashes will become really easy to execute. It worked like a charm for me. Let me know how it goes
Take my advice and wrap some athletic tape underneath the grip; your swing speed will increase dramatically and you'll find that your defence will improve, and that your smashes will become really easy to execute. It worked like a charm for me. Let me know how it goes [/QUOTE] What do you mean by athletic tape? How do wrap it underneath the grip? Would help greatly if you have a picture to show. Becos Im keen to give it a go too.
[/QUOTE]What do you mean by athletic tape? How do wrap it underneath the grip? Would help greatly if you have a picture to show. Becos Im keen to give it a go too.[/QUOTE] I don't have my athletic with me at the moment as i left it at university, but if you go onto ebay, its just the white zinc oxide tape (although another thick tape could work ie duct tape etc.), its thin so it wont make your handle any thicker, it's light so hardly adds anything to the overall weight of the racket, and it won't change the balance point too much. It will however make the head swing faster as the tiny extra weight will make the pivot point (if i can call it that) a little lower down the shaft. To apply it, you simply take off the base grip so that it's just the wooden handle, then you simply wrap the tape around as if you were wrapping a grip over the handle. I usually wrap it until it reaches around 3/4 of the way up, but you can vary the amount depending on what feels best. After that, simply put the main grip back on and you're ready to go. Your racket should now swing a lot faster, but there's no worry that it may feel headlight and powerless because the weight in the head hasn't gone anywhere, it's still there, but just goes faster without you having to put more effort into your swing. From my experience, its more powerful, relaxing and fun to play with. I especially like the backhand clears with it, as I only have to flick my wrist without any help from the rest of my body and it flies to the baseline Give it a try and let me know what you think
It doesn't become more headlight, it becomes more handle-heavy, I'm afraid the faster swinging you are talking about is a placebo effect. The weight in the head stays the same, so it can't become more headlight.
I know it doesn't become more headlight, it just feels more headlight because it swings faster. As for it swinging faster, it definitely does and I know thats a fact because when I defend without the tape, its really hard and sluggish, but with the tape, it's just sooo much faster and easier. The same with wrist smashes, without the tape, it's really hard to do because of the long shaft and head heaviness. The same thing happens when you add an overgrip, but I was just suggesting this to the guy from hk because he said that it will make the grip too fat. It's just an alternate solution
I think all this has more to do with grip size. I don't believe that by adding weight swinging will be easier. it's just a placebo effect I'm sure.
I just explained that it's not. It's not like putting jjs' signature on the handle so it makes you think you can play like him. Now that's what a placebo effect is. By adding tape to the handle, you're actually adding weight to a part of the racket which will make it perform differently. For example a golf club. Swing it around in the air, it's hard isn't it? now grab the head then swing the handle around, easier isn't it? Although it may be a little bit exaggerated, the tape works on a badminton racket because it's light and that little bit of weight does change slightly. There's many things that I can do with the tape that I can't do without it, for example backhand clears with just the wrist, wrist smashes, fast drives etc. Without it, it's just too heavy and hard to do fast shots with.
Ok, I appreciate that you've actually tried this and felt nothing different, instead of just saying it for the sake of an argument. I've played badminton for quite some time now experimenting with many different rackets and tweaking the balance like putting lead tape or normal tape on the handle or head, and i'm experienced enough to be able to tell that there's a difference, even if it is slight. It's just a suggestion to one of the forumers, if he feels that it works, then i'm happy that it has helped him. Unfortunately adding weights may not have changed anything for you, but it has with me and many other badminton players (in different forums talking about lead tape etc.). That is all, thanks for your input though
I Like that, I've been tweakin my rackets a lot. I'll probably try the tape thing again any time soon, you made me wonder a little bit haha Thanks for the conversation.
Haha anytime, I think you should give it a try, maybe you weren't wrapping enough tape on, although it works best with head heavy rackets if you want to speed it up for doubles
