Let a friend try 85g bp 289 and he told me it played like a VT80 so I let a friend try it who owns a VT80. He played with it and bought it on the spot. He is restringing UK to 27 lbs to match VT so will see which he is using 2 weeks from now lol. Definitely liked the price compared to buying at VT here in Canada. Will update when I get his review.
Good job I ran out last week. Think Noah in British Columbia has the last few in Canada left. USA are sold out I believe as well. Nice to see the UK well received hopefully get some more reviews up.
Had few top coaches try the Ultra Kevlar and here are some of their responses: "Wow, so solid." "Nice but the string is a bit too tight." (First tried ZM62 @33lbs.) "Ahhhh, [the tension is] much better, this is so good." (Then tried ZM62 @30lbs.) "This thing hits bombs!" "If 'You know who' made this, I would use it."
Update - my deal with the last buyer has fallen through, so the last UPK is now for sale again. I'll be away at the All England next week, but I'll be checking my emails and PMs.
A durability test, then? Unless you have access to a high-speed camera in which case you could see how stiff it really is, as we're talking about the man who bent the Sw35 like a wet noodle with his smashes
Hey Mark, will you be at the All England all week? I'm there Thursday night through till Monday morning playing journo. If you do bring the racket I'd love a look at it
Just tested out my brother's new UPK (85.1g 295mm, original grip removed and replaced with karakal PU super grip). I didn't get to play with it much, but all I can say is that this thing hits BOMBS. I had to readjust my power as I was hitting shots long so easily. This is compared to 84.2g 297mm revelation.
Depends when the Victor players get knocked out (or don't need any more stringing done). I'll be there Monday through Thurs at the very least, I should think.
^ I'd say the revelation has the upper hand in anything that requires more speed. The Revelation was definitely better at drives and defense. Both were equally good at blocks and accuracy in my opinion. For me, the UPK has noticeably more overhead power, but also swings slower. In the end, both the UPK and Revelation are great rackets that play well in all fields. Each just excels in different aspects of the game.
Just strung three UPKs at 34lbs (maximum warranted is 35lbs if I'm not mistaken). Compared to the Precision Pro strung at the same tension and string, the UPK feels more lively and solid. Looking forward to playing them soon! Average spec: 86g, 295mm (reminds me a little like a cross between the first batch AT700 and MP100).
PandaPower Ultra Kevlar Review Well, the short review of the PandaPower Ultra Kevlar... this thing is a TANK, a beast, solid, powerful, and the most stable racket I have ever held.Specifications: Mass: 84.7g Balance Point: 292mm String: Ashaway ZM62 Red @ 30lbs Most outstanding feature: Stability of the Racket Frame The first thing that reminds me of the this racket is Marvel's Hulk. This racket is the epitome of what it means to have a stable frame. The stable frame provides tremendous power and feel/touch to the user. Of course, this assumes one can flex the shaft and generate power to begin with. This racket is relatively stiffer than most rackets, I have used. General shots: Smash/Clear: Very rewarding, again only if you can flex the shaft. Oh boy if you can, it does not disappoint at all. Drop: Stable frame gives great feedback, in which makes it an ease to touch/hit the bird over the net. Drive: A little slow to those are used to fast narrow frames. But not significant enough for me to notice/care. Conclusion: Very rewarding racket to those that can wield it. 10/10 for me. Your mileage will vary per user/player.
Had a short trip to singapore and happened to meet Derrick. He had just one Revelation with him. I decided to buy it. Met him on MRT station. He had carried his UK to show it to me, which he used personally. Then I asked him to sell it too to me. After a little hesitation, he obliged. He had strung it with Nanogy 98 @26 And boy!! What a racquet it is. I have been kicking asses since last couple of days with UK. I never went beyond string tension @21 for my yonexes and li nings. Because even 23 used to be too stiff for me. But UK at 26 is a bomb. I have heard rumors that people have decided to buy shields, which they would hold in other hand while playing against me. And I was never a good smasher! But what I liked most about UK were the effortless clears. I build up my game on clears. And this one's a winner for me. Havent tried Revelation much. But again, from what I have judged from couple of games I played with it Revelation = UK + Better net placements and tumbling shots But yet to reach conclusion on revelation. Cant wait to buy UPK. I dont think I'd go back to my Yonexes and Li nings in near future. I even asked Derrick whether he'd like to buy them. He denied.
Panda Power Ultra Pro Kevlar 85g, 295mm bp Zymax 67 at 28lbs. This is a review still in progress Looks Love the golden buttcap on the racket. Aesthetically I love the look of the racket! I’ve had two opportunities to try out this racket. I got the racket used from Panda so it came with the string at 28lbs (originally ~30lbs), though the highest I’d ever previously used for 24lbs. So I had to get used to the racket and the string tension, but I handled it quite well. Clears, Smashes, Drives My serve, backhand overheads, and drives took a huge dip when starting out with the racket. I served quite high in the beginning (higher tension and racket), though I quickly adjusted the finger strength needed for the serve. I haven't got the timing down yet for the backhand clear or it's possible I haven't quite been able to flex the shaft on the backhand to get the power for a good clear like my previous rackets. It probably means my backhand technique needs work. I’ve also missed a lot points recently by driving just at or barely below the net tape when I get an opportunity for a very good and aggressive drive. But when I do get them over with a solid hit, very satisfying results. It's a little harder to swing around in fast driving, but it will get the job done if you have the speed and strength to wield it. All in all, I think I just need to get used to the racket’s swing speed and timing though. Clears: Like my TrinityPro, clears aren’t much of a problem with decent/solid technique and timing. Then again I think that applies to any good racket. The solid feeling definitely is quite rewarding as you see the shuttle sail to the backline on a clear. Smashes: Once I adjusted my timing, I really felt some extra oomph once I started hitting smashes on the sweet spot. Half power smashing during drills definitely felt more solid and flew noticeably quicker than before while retaining good steep angles. Then when it came to full smashes during the game, wow this thing can produce some power! Tried the racket on both plastic and feather smashing felt quite nice on both! I had a doubles game and it was my first time using the racket with minimal warm up. We lost pretty badly 21-11 with my numerous botched overheads as I tried to adjust to the racket. We played again an hour later after I had some time to get a feeling for the racket. I must have hit at least 6 unreturned booming smashes and a few more with weak returns that was put away by my partner. I think my opponents were quite confused after we won 21-12. That definitely put a smile on my face. It really feels solid and satisfying when you heat the sweet spot on the racket, more so than it does on my TrinityPro. Although my Tpro is head heavier (305 bp) and is the same weight as my UPK, I feel that the UPK definitely swings with a lot more weight behind it if you have the strength to bend the shaft. Stick smashes aren't as easy with this racket than my Tpro. Many of them flew flatter in trajectory than what I was used to. It's not a whippy racket. I need to adjust the strength I need to put into my stick smashes to reproduce the results I want. Additional review will come on that when I get the chance to play again. Delicate shots I haven’t had as much time to test the delicate shots on the racket like net shots and drop shots. The few times I did do drop shots, most went little long, though I recall hitting some nice straight slice fast drops that caught my opponents off guard. Most of the time I was playing a power game and I didn’t have much time to do drills and just hitting around. I didn’t have any problems with net kills. I was able to transition between rackets seamlessly in that aspect. This isn't a very comprehensive review yet because I was mainly testing the racket's power and see if it was really matched the fantastic reviews I've been reading. I was also looking to get a dedicated racket for just good smashing as a contrast to my previous rackets. So far though, I'm a very satisfied customer and I will continue to see what the racket has to offer! I will try to post more about the soft shots next time.
