Sorry for being a bit grumpy here, but after spent thousands of dollars on many newest Yonex rackets last years I’ve managed to start tying myself to not go for the next last Yonex hype. They want us to buy the 700 then the 800 and then the 900 like what they did with the Nanorays. What can you do with a Nanoflare that you can’t do with a Nanoray? Don’t take me wrong here, I love Yonex rackets, and they produce some of the highest products...buy Yonex if you need a new racket, but don’t expect that the newest Yonex racket will improve you game from you previus model. I understand that Yonex have to do this to keep on be the biggest on the market, but just also want ourselves to save some money and start think again another time if we have to buy and test the newest all the time? This is just my personal inputs on Yonex marketing, and I see a big differens here between them and other brands...I think Yonex are a bit to offensive on their marketing on new rackets and always promises gold and green forests (another part of me thinks at the same time that they are really good on marketing).
In my opinion, the difference in performance between a good low end racket and a good high end racket is maybe 3-5%, doesn't matter what the brand is. Pretty negligible. So, I think expensive racket is more about self satisfaction and personal enjoyment. It's like having an expensive watch, do you tell time better? Not really, but there's a joy that you get by owning it and that's what matters. After all, most of us do sport only for health and personal enjoyment. However, I have to disagree that there's a big difference between Yonex and other brands in terms of 'offensive marketing'. If you look at the other two big brands (Victor and Lining), they all promise 'gold and green forests', as you put it so eloquently.
Yonex Voltric 5 & 7 famously comes to mind. But as long as the low end racket is well made and suits you, it will perform well.
Funniest moment in Yonex‘s marketing for me was when they announced the Voltric Z-Force II, saying it‘s gonna be the holy grail and an unenthusiastic Lee Chong Wei saying „I think this is a good racket“ to the camera. But in the end that‘s just what all the high end rackets are. Good rackets, nothing more, nothing less.
Lol, I don't think there's anyone deep down that thinks rackets are gonna transform you into superman. That being said, the difference between a low end and a high tier is still fairly obvious. ZF II did turn out to be (imo very good and) one of the hottest items 5 years back and I don't think there has been one that's sold more than that in any brand in a reasonable time frame. I do realize at a higher level the sledgehammers don't work for MD, but pretty much all other disciplines it's absolutely fair game. Generally if the people around you are all buying the same racket, then it's probably good. From what I know, none of the astrox turned out spectacularly and it's directly reflected in their sales. Every other person that plays tournaments that I know of has had a ZFII at some point, so following the herd is probably the right idea.
I don't know the global sale of astrox series but from where i am (I play in a club in Paris), Astrox is very popular.
Same here. If anyone showed up with a new Yonex racket in the last couple of months, it was an Astrox. The Duoras (except Z-Strike) seem to have disappeared completely though. But if there was any data available regarding sales figures of different Yonex lines that would be so interesting to have a look at.
I agree. AX88S in particular has been selling like hot cakes, everyone went from owning an arc11 now showed up with an AX88S in my uni here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This morning I woke up trembling and was sweating profusely, it felt like I was awaken from a bad nightmare. I looked carefully around my room as if looking for that strange something that haunted my sleep, and my attention was taken to the pile of high end rackets that I've bought for the past few years. And then I realized, it was that I've finally grew some sense in me to stop spending on rackets and instead spend more for my future. I'm now thinking what would be a good title for my memoir Sent from my JSN-L22 using Tapatalk
Here is more poison for those who are considering these rackets http://yonex.com/company/news/badmi...lare-700-at-the-barcelona-spain-masters-2019/
in 2019 catalogue, in the chart, the nf700 is named as intermediate, not advanced model, so it clearly hints on following nf800 and nf900 for advanced er... usage btw, what is currently king of the thinnest frame, is it a known fact?
99% of people on this forum are noob anyway. Noob tend think to racket play an important role in their games. When they could spend more time doing footwork, strategy, and even attitude.
I sees high end rackets like those expensive Rolex watches. They don't tell time better, but they look cooler and make looking at the time more enjoyable.
I certainly feel that a good racket also makes your game much more better , provided you understand and can weild it. I for one never could use ZF2 no matter how much I tried . Got astrox 99 to play with and instantly gelled with it. Maybe a lower racket could have done the same for me .
I agree partly with @hieu nguyen. IMO there a lot people out there and here as well which buy rackets because of their idols or think that they get with a 9x, 9xx or 9xxx or a Z-version a much better racket. If you want an expensive racket, you can buy any Made in Japan Yonex and find all a cross them a decent racket regardless what level you play. IMO the percentage of people who can wield a ZFII or DuoZS is really low, but these racket are very popular here. The main reason why I buy expensive rackets is that they are longer available (I play a found model a few years and stick with it) and normally take my tensions much better than cheaper rackets, but thats it.
Just like in photography, latest cameras and lenses will not help to improve photos, many people still buy them. Anyway, if the buyers are happy with their rackets (not their games) and the manufacturers are happy with their customers, let them be.
