Hi everyone. I'm planning to treat myself and get a new racquet since my sister is going to Hong Kong and they are much cheaper than UK. I currently have a Voltric Z force Ltd Ed to get back into badminton and only played with it twice before i couldn't play anymore since i had De Quervain's Tendinitis. Since my shot of sterioids i am now much better and would like get back to badminton. I understand the voltric i have is head heavy and so i'm considering either getting the arcsaber z slash or nanospeed 9900 as both racquets are meant to be much lighter and so in my head i feel it would be a better racquet to use to get back into badminton. Since my wrist is weak and i don't want to over work my hand. I like the idea of the z slash with all the hype and since its a smaller head i think i be used to it as i used to play with the slazenger pro contour and mystique so hopefully timing wouldn't be an issue. But back of my mind i keep thinking i should get the nanospeed as its meant to be a better all rounder? Or shall i be looking at the arcsaber 10 or 11 instead? Can anyone advise which i should get? I know the racquets are way over my abilities but i thought i treat myself as i feel that i might injure myself more using the voltric. Thanks Alan
I wouldn't get any stiff/extra stiff racket. You don't mention you ability, but you say the rackets are 'way over my abilities', so I am going to take that as implying you do not have great technique. Therefore getting a stiff/very stiff racket is not going to help you at all, in fact it will hinder you. Look at vt70 for heady heavy, or arc7 for control or nanoray500 for better defense/net play
cheers guys - now i'm looking at the yonex catalogue to check out the models advised. I would say my ability is is way better than a noivce/beginner and i feel i'm more of an attacking player. I do lack technique and so will be looking into it and probably start to take some lessons to start improving, once my thumb/wrist injury is all clear. Why is it so hard to pick a racquet? its confusing with all the models and then the characteristics of racquets aswell. To be honest i think i need to research what you mean by stiff/very stiff racquet so i know what is meant to suit me. Even the strings are compliacted aswell so when i brought my Z force i just let the stringer decide what to pick for me and also asked if i play with plastic of feather. I know its also stupid as getting the top of the range racquet isn't really going to help if it doesn't suit me. Probably knowing i can get another good racquet cheap i thought i just try and get the best.
and there is not much difference between EU price and HK price. I just checked arc11, they are within £3 not including postage
Its a difficult choice and I understand what you mean by 'the best' You mean the best for you. I would go for an even balanced racket and stay away from the z-slash. It's small sweet spot is harder to hit. Find a racket that is more forgiving especially since you are coming back from injury. Victor BS series could be worth a look and maybe the BS12. It's a popular choice. Another way of trying rackets is to trade on BC to find the best one. I did this a few times and found a racket I like. You could try trading the z-force for something else? String and tension is a little easier. Start with a string at a tension and work up and down in 1lb or 2lb increments until you find the right tension. Then you can play around with the string until you get the best combination. I would say around 22lbs is a good starting point with Yonex BG80. Good luck and happy hunting
Can you tell me the websites you used to check the prices? And you are right its a personal thing so i can't generalise by saying i want to get 'the best'.
E-commerce has really changed things (and not to forget online communities like these). Can't deny that in the past if someone went to Asia, they simply were told to just to bring back the latest greatest (incl. for me) , usually well before they were released or even heard about here . If you want to buy withing the EU/eurozone Holland, Belgium and Germany have pretty decent pricing considering VAT is included already unlike the HK prices. But since someone would be bringing it with them that shouldn't lead to extra costs for you and you can still make a decent saving by getting it in HK (if finding the best price)
Read up on stiffness a bit here: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/40187-Shaft-stiffness-flexibility-explained
I would recommend the Victor MX 60. It is a little bit cheaper then top Yonex, very forgiving, and suitable for attacking play. It is medium flex and slightly head heavy. It is about 1100 HK$ with strings here in HK - that is 110€.
The stiffness link was great and made me understand more but also now i know a bit more which makes it more confusing I think i need to get it out of my system and so i'm going to for the arcsaber slash z since its only going to be about 1150 HK$ which seems like a fair price. If I find its not right then i'm going to use the forum and trade it for something else as recommended in this thread.
I'd say your sister has a 75% chance of bringing you back a fake racket I get someone different every week telling me "HEY! Look at this shiny racket my friend/parents/cousins/etc brought me from China!". And then I burst their bubble saying it's fake. And then they proceed to argue with me saying it can't be fake because they bought it for 30$ and it's much cheaper there and it plays good and it doesn't break if you look at it and it looks the same. Until I explain to them exactly why it is fake, show them the real thing, compare it, and yet, SOMEHOW, they still doubt that it's fake.. lol TL;DR: Make sure she buys it from a reputable store, make sure the price isnt less than 70% of the price you'd pay where you live. For instance, a VTZF goes for ~230$ USD, if you find it for under 160$ in HK/China, it's most likely fake.
Yep I was afraid of that so managed to get a relative who knows some people who are really into badminton to help me get the racket from a reputable store. Hopefully it will not be a costly mistake.
Yan, there are many things you do not understand. One is that HK market ans China market are not the same. Not the same currency, not the same customs, not the same distributors, etc. HK is very strict with fakes and you won't find copies easily here. That is one of the reason why so many mainland Chinese come to HK for shopping. Another thing you need to know is that countrieshave different taxes. That is why in France an arcsaber 10 is 180 €, and it is 1150 HK$ - that is 115 €. a third thing you might be interested in learning is exchange rates between coutries are fluctuant. And many European are angry at their monetary policies because the Euro is way too highly valued, thus making the badminton rackets much cheaper in HK.
tennistown.de (german) http://www.mybadmintonstore.com/shop/ (hk) http://www.badmintonshoponline.us/unlimitshop/index.php?language=en (hk)
tax isn't the reason there since France and Germany's VAT is within 1%, yet German stores sell arc10 for €129
With a note that mybadmintonstore's prices include worldwide shipping and the actual store price is less than posted .. And like renbo said, HK is quite different from China, have hardly heard of fakes being sold there. Lucky for you a HK shopping guide was recently updated in the Market Place's sticky topic section further down in the forum. But outside of someone physically visiting and bringing back something from HK, thus (potentially) saving on VAT, European pricing on the continent is pretty competitive in the right markets (like Germany, Holland); France and UK definitely not being one of those ...
