I think you guys are giving too much credit to the racket's impact on the players' play. These guys have had weeks, if not months to accomodate to these new rackets, and they probably have the choice to choose from the recent rackets (I don't think they'd force VT users to switch to ArcS...). I'm also not sure Yonex is so evil that they'd prevent these players from using the rackets they like. I'm sure the racket can have some impact, but to say that these players lost or could not play because they changed racket might be a little exaggerated..
I agree - Tan, for example, was using the Ti-10 right until he switched to the VT ZF, even though it wasn't available anymore in most parts of the world. The marketing department won't force a player to change, but will probably give the high-profile players an incentive to do so by offering some kind of bonus for using freshly released models. Personally, I don't think Ahsan was put off by the racket - he was obviously very nervous, and started making bad choices and -as Clark observed- often didn't move his feet well enough to play the shot he wanted to. In a pressure situation, a new racket can throw you off. If you're not intimately familiar with it, have used it for hours on end, it can really put you off when the pressure rises and you might play some shots like you would with your previous, more familiar racket. However, in my eyes that's not why they lost the match as quite a few of Ahsan's errors were just the wrong choice of shot anyway.
thats true.. using the same analogy maybe LCW should have used an AT700 or a li-ning N90 because what he was wielding caused his losses against lin dan etc.. -_-...
A little follow up on this racket. I've had the occasion to play this racket a lot this week, and I can confirm my initial feelings, which are that I LOVE this racket. Singles, doubles, plastic, feather, this racket is way better than I expected. It was so easy to get used to and I feel comfortable doing every shot with it. I've lend this racket to a couple friends of mine, and most of them said (as a joke) that they'd buy me 3 of them; they really liked it (most of them are MX80 users, but got people with all kinds of rackets making the same comment). I did get the usual "wtf, too light" comment from some people, but most of them retracted after they tried it. I don't think it's a racket for everyone, but it does seem like it is a racket that can suit many people.
I second the above statement pretty much the same experience Gives shuttle smacking a whole new experience haha. Problem is shifting between rackets that has huge weight difference. Now im mostly on ArcFB 82g and MX80 91g. N80 is currently "retired" in bag
I used ArcS FB... Its a wonderful racket... I loved it. Gives an instant power while hitting shuttle... Clears-Excellent. Defence-Awesome Control-Amazing Drives-Surprising Hitting sound-Hardcore After using VT Z-F... I find this racket effort less... good for doubles, singles..and even good for wrist... Well I not an very advance player... but an intermediate player.
A FB is for winning friends, and "Likes" and hearts But.... I thought you'd be asking for dry weight and BP! (back to work, cobalt...
Yeah-- didn't perform in All england--Sad.. Well I don't believe that players are totally depend on racket.. whether they win or lose... It's also depends on presence of mind, pressure from opponents and unforced mistakes..
ArcFB will sell like hot cakes if players won All England with it Juz like how the BS12 (blue) fever starts hahaha
I got the bare racket data on this racket from the store last wk, was already posted on the head wt thread... 73.1g total wt 32.6g head wt 301mm bp Bottom line, the racket's total wt and head wt is 3 shuttles lighter and 1 whole shuttle lighter than my preferred wts, respectively. Also just watched Ahsan and Moe playing with it against Qiu/Liu ... both of them were not generating much devastating power nor incredible defences and drives with it. Ahsan especially was making lots of errors with it, blocking, smashing, driving etc... and he kept looking and shaking his racket after each error.
I have an apacs featherwieght 200. I find that despite its light weight (71gr strung with replacement grip) its easy to clear with from baseline to baseline and actually i would say it had quite a powerful smash. Drives were also excellent. However i found dropshots and netshots to be poor. When you played netshots i always found them falling short of the top of net. imo this was either because of the flexibility or lack of head weight lead to a lose of momentum. I would really like someone to do a comparision of these similar rackets or review the fb at the net.
it may play stiffer, but only because of the crazy low head weight ie. swing weight if you bend the shaft in your hands and compare it to say arc11, it feels flexy in comparison
The FB feels stiffer, more solid and more powerful imo. Comparable in defense and control. BUT, I did not like the BS12, I found it quite dull. Might want to have someone who actually liked the BS12 to compare for you
I found it to be quite stiff, maybe a little less than Arc11, but really not much. (bending the shaft with my hands, not actual feel while playing )
Sent an FB through the machine at 26, impressed how well it stood up. Low 30's shouldn't be a problem.
