I have done the same, but good examples of the BS11/LHI are very hard to find. The QC on BS11 and BSLHI seems to be one of the worst of all the BS's I have used. The variance in balance, stiffness and head stability/feel is much greater than the BS12, 09 or 10 in my opinion. And as I wanted one with a very specific set of qualities (headlight but good head stability with high sweetspot), it makes it even more difficult to find. I wasn't disappointed with the JS10 tbh, the quality was actually not bad, certainly not any worse than the BS10 but the feel was gone, it felt quite numb compared to the BS's. I'm not expecting the JS11 to be a perfect BS11 replacement, nor am I expecting the feel to be as good as the BS11 but as the JS10 is a worthy successor to the BS10 (bar the feel), it would be a crime not to give the JS11 an opportunity to please, even if its just to satisfy my curiosity! (And to finally have a racquet that matches my pink SH-LYD!)
Finally, Victor has managed to sign a new sponsorship with a popular player - H.-K. Vittinghus: http://www.victorsport.com/news/17337?pass=1 IMO a very good catch for Victor since he's a brilliant and highly respected ambassador for badminton in general. Now Victor has to prove that their rackets are robust enough to cope with dive after dive and being abused as a walking stick there. And yeah, I wonder which racket he will choose.
Probably Hx series. But I hope it's a thruster. Victor should get someone other than TTY to wield a thruster in advertisements.
What's this based on? His old sponsor was carlton and he was using a lot of kinesis rackets. Possible the fastest frame I've ever used, so I'll be surprised if it's not a Jetspeed. Unless carlton forced him to use it. Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
On Facebook Victor wrote than HKV will use TK-F. Now the guessing is over. But does the holes hold 29lbs + 25% PS?
It might..pretty quick frame once you find the weight that suits you. Took 30/32lbs like a champ too. Sent from my LG-H930 using Tapatalk
At least Victor has sent him a JS12 (can't see which color though...) and a TK-F in their starter-kit.
Great that Victor TW sponsors big european players. Should happen earlier, so Victor international has pressure and a chance to sell the TW stuff better. If they don't use it they would be stupid. I guess TK-F 5U, JS12N 4U are order by Victor International (They always pick the worst option ) and the new team kit is white, black, yellow.
Does Carlton even have other options? They're not really available here, and if they are it's usually leftover stock of some sh*t model from like 2008 or something.
Carlton re-release the vapour tour/elites almost every year with sometimes a minor non paint job change. This might have been an option? Sports direct (carlton owners) is primarily a UK company, so that's why we got access to it here. Not sure where these models that appear in Asia come from. Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
To be honest, lately the only good rackets Carlton has are the Vapour Trails and the Kinesis. Honestly both really good (I'd be happy to recommend). By the fact the Kinesis is a better version of the Vapour Trail, it's honestly the only option for a top-tier racket from them. With Sports Direct dictating Carlton's future, expect a slow death with cheaper rehashes of the Kinesis until it's irrelevant. Carlton grommets are also good, though hard to get ahold of. The Xelerate 67 is a great string for recreational players, but they have nothing suitable for pro players (or anybody who strings more than 10,5kg). Kit is meh. Nothing special. Shuttles are bad. GT1 flies well, but durability is rock bottom. Better value with any other shuttles.
I agree the Kinesis' are great rackets, but anything else...Some mid-end Carltons have thick frame around 12o'clock, so a normal loadspreader don't fit and work. Also some Carlton tend to have big share holes. 2.7mm grommets will fall out easily. The Prototype is one of the most horrible rackets to string. If I need to choose a Carlton the only option is the Kinesis, but the low top-cross...at high tensions prone to break more often than other rackets.
I tend to string the highest shared hole, and tie off the shared hole lower. Never had an issue with the Kinesis X90 or X80 at 12kg.
I had one for a while and it's pretty much a right-down-the-middle racket - not too stiff, balanced smack in the middle.
*fp. Vittinghus is a clown, IMO - never wins anything, only gets attention for dives and trickshots. Pretty much the Eddie the Eagle of badminton.
Any pro who had sunken holes switched to LN. The number of Victor sponsored players decreased rapidly. They can be happy to got somebody like him. Give Victor 2 years without a change of Quality and LN and Yonex will split the cake. Victor will become as relevant for pros like Dunlop.
He also has a sizeable following because of the obvious effort he puts into every rally and the admirable sportsmanship and fairness he displays every day. Its not that he chooses to play the way he plays, he even admits himself he'd rather have better footwork and play better than go for dives. Anyhow, even with their quality issues Victor appears to be a step up from Carlton to me. Haven't really had any experience with Carlton myself but going by what I see of them in the international scene they seem to be on quite the lengthy downwards trend...