Browning racquets (From Ebay) are the best you can get!

[jonnyboy]

Thought that might grab your attention.

I have just purchased two Browning Stealth CTi from ebay (UK supplier).

OK - I know its not the best make but for £22 a piece I thought it was worth a try.

Has anyone actually used these - any feedback?

Also does anyone know who manufactures these? I can't seem to find a Browning home web page anywhere (that doesn't sell guns).

Anyway - I will post a review once they arrive.

[wood_22_chuck]

According to CentralSports it's IDEAL for you!

-dave

[xofrevlis]

I'm also quite curious as to how these rackets perform considering they're practically dirt cheap for models on the higher end of the Browning scale. Looking forward to your review.
Cheers.

[nickread1]

I've just received my Browning Big Gun TI from ebay which i got for a mere £21! Yes i did wonder why a racket with a supposed RRP of £160 was being sold for so cheap, i assume that RRP is some what exaggerted, but i needed a spare so why not?

It arrived today and first impressions are that it looks and feels pretty good.
Will get a chance to try it out tonight and will post back with a review.
Im a county standard player so feel i can give it a good once over for you!

But come on, for £21, it's gonna have to fall to pieces in the first rally for it not to be worth it. There almost disposable at that price.

Anyone else had any experience with the Latest Browning rackets??
And yes jonnyboy, neither can i find any official supplier or manufacturer website on the net.

Nick

[Azwok]

Hey Nick,

I see those rackets all the time on ebay, going for really value for money prices. Just one question though, are you sure it's real? I know they sell a lot of fake rackets on ebay, especially yonex, and normally if you can get such a discount on a racket it's likely to be fake. (Didn't mean to rain on you parade- not that I have really- for that matter not that I can, haven't even seen the racket ).
(apologies for above rambling )
What do you think?

Azwok.

[Neil Nicholls]

I know someone who's been using a Browning Big Gun Ti for several years without any trouble. Good player as well. Could probably play county if he had the desire.

[nickread1]

Hey Guys,
Well i gave the Browning Big Gun TI a good testing tonight and impressions are that its not bad at all, and definetely worth the money i paid.

One thing i will say though is that it is quite a head-heavy racket, much more so than my current racket (carlton airblade), even though the racket itself is pretty light (78g). This meant that it wasn't great for playing doubles as it didn't lend itself to short, sharp rallies to well, but for singles it performed well.
It certainly has the power to smash from the rear of the court and i could feel an improvement in my drop and net shots. It felt as though the extra head weight stopped me from making clumsy mistakes by adding control to the shots.
I guess it all depends on what kind of racket you're used to already.

To give you some comparison, the center of balance (ie, try and balance your racket horizontally on your finger) on the Browning Big gun is about 2 inches away from the head of the racket, where as on my carlton it is nearly 4-5 inches(approx) away, So quite a difference, and i definetely noticed it.

So to summarise, this racket isn't particularly great for doubles , but is good for singles (my opinion only!) and for £21 is definetely worthy of a space in your racket bag as a decent spare, or even your main racket. Check how head-heavy your current racket is - it may be no different.

With regards to them being fake or not, well yeah i suppose they could be, but it's not likely. They're not a popular brand so can't see a reason anyone would bother making fakes. Where as making fake yonex's is probably big business, fake brownings can't make for rich pickings!
Anyway, the seller on ebay that i bought mine from has sold somewhere in the region of 9000 rackets (going by his feed back), and i imagine if he was in to selling fakes someone would have collared him by now!

So, all in all, if you find one for the £20-£30 mark i dont see a reason not to get one!
The racket actually looks pretty cool as well, its finshed in a mat black with black/silver/yellow graphics on the head and shaft.

If anyone has used the Stealth CTI, Graphlite, or any of the other versions would be good to hear a review from you, as i may just be tempted!

Nick

[xofrevlis]

Hey there, Nick.

Thanks for the review, it was very useful to me. And I believe that the seller is Racketworld? I've been a customer of theirs on a number of occasions and I would recommend them over any other UK-based ebayer.

I do have a few questions though.
What's the full length of the racket?
What is the string gauge and tension like?

As currently, I'm using a Yonex MP30 bought from Racketworld and I like the power and swiftness the even balance gives me. However, I'm tempted to experiment with head-heavier rackets. I do have fast hand-speed and regularly cross-train in my forearm area so I'd like to think I'm well prepared for the change. And if they come at a price as remarkably low as what you paid for, then I'm all for it. I just don't want to spend extra on a restringing job if the strings on the racket lack substantial playability which I'm accustomed to in order to make it a fair test.

Also, I'm used to long isometrics. I was using an oval head a little while before and found that I was getting an awful lot of very off-centre hits. Maybe I'm just that bad.
I've used 674mm rackets forever now, so I'd prefer them to be the same length but the normal 664mm isn't exactly the end of the world. It probably makes no difference, but I don't have the money to afford more than I really want to.

Cheers.

[ribroy]

My badminton buddy has just brought a Browning Graphlite Ti from the same ebay seller (£25 all in). I will try to give you some balance info etc when it arrives.

woohoo first post

[Neil Nicholls]

I recently strung a Browning Stealth Cti at 28lb.
Seems to be OK (so far)

Now I've had 2 Browning Oxylite Ti80 come in for stringing.
These are on eBay for about £20 each (with an RRP of £190 !!!)

Central Sports appear to have stopped selling Browning
Anyone have any links to a Browning website.
I'd like to know what the recommended tension range is

[george333]

Just a thought, browning rackets do not come with warrenty, if you break it,oh well.

[Brown Bear]

Hi, I'm new here and this is my first post!!! I've just bought a browning racket from racketworld (the brand new 2007 oxylite Ti75) but beforehand I spoke to the owners of racketworld (Mick and Dave) and asked them how they could offer these rackets so cheap when the RRP prices are so high. They assured me that all items are genuine, but because they are the ONLY main importers of Browning Rackets (and golf gear which I didn't know they did) they cut out the middle men and retail hikes you often get which is why they can offer these huge discounts. I'm getting my racket tomorrow and testing it on Monday so I'll let you know what I think!!!

[Smichz]

u havent really tried it,yet u said it's the best we can get?..btw,from which point,the price or the playability?or even both?

btw..i just realized that this thread is 2 years old..

[colekwok]

You know, these Browning rackets may just come from the same production line as those fake Yonex rackets, or real Yang Yang, Carlton as well. Producing clones are just dirt cheap in China. All they need to do is to spray the racket into a different colour and then stamp another brand name on it. So I won't be too worry about the quality of Browning rackets.

In fact, I think the RRPs in the UK are just way too high, and I have no idea why shops sell things which price as the same of the RRP, nobody will every do that either in Asia, USA or anywhere of the world. Don't think that 10pounds off of the original RRP of 60pounds is a lot, for example, you usually buy top end Carlton rackets for GBP60-90 with RRP of around GBP90-120, don't think that you are having a bargin, because you can get the same racket for around GBP30 in Hong Kong. VAT is not the excuse, just imagine how much money the UK importers and dealers are making.

[CeeML]

Hey everyone,
I am new to this forum so just bear with me. I bought a Carlton AB Rasmussen Titanium from Racketworld too. It says on the amazon.co.uk and ebay website that the racket weighs 75g! It also says that the strung weight is 88g! How is that possible? the strings weigh 13g?! Does this make any sense? Are strings that heavy?

Anyway forum members have said that there are no known imitations for Carlton and that Racketworld is legit. So i placed an order and the racket came really fast. That was good. But it felt abit heavy. So i decided to compare it with a Yonex MP25 with factory strings. MP25 is supposed to be the same weight at 85-88g (i think that's unstrung weight), but the Carlton AB Ras seemed noticeably heavier.

On weighing it on a normal kitchen scale (no decimal places), it read in excess of 100g! Due to the inaccuracy of the scale, i would say maybe 100-105g. Now this is a pretty huge deviation from the advertised weight (>10%). The racket came with a 'quality control' sticker stuck onto it. But then again we all know its also made in China.

Anyone has any comments or opinions on this matter? Would be glad to hear from anyone at all, especially the thoughts of the more experienced members of this forum.

[nickread1]

Well it's been 2 years since I wrote the review above of my Browning Big Gun that I bought from Racketworld, and I have to say that it is still going strong and I still use it on a regular basis. I've certainly had my monies worth thats for sure!

[Nezcaro]

Browning do make badminton rackets and they also make tennis rackets and golf clubs. However to find any details about the rackets on their website is not easy but it does exist!

Here it is Browning Racket Sports --> http://www.browning-golf.com/rackets/index.html

In case they decide to move it in future this is how I found it. Went to www.browning.com and selected the international option. Then navigated to Services then Links and choose Browning Golf which leads you to the above website where you need to navigate to Racket Sports. Note that I could not find any links from the North America site.

I have used Browning rackets for years and find they suit my game.