skill or racket?

No.
And no.

Good choice.

Shoes are more important! They help preventing injuries and you only have one body. Badminton is a hard impact sport. That's not good for your body, so do what you can to stay healthy. Good, not worn out shoes are more important than an expensive racket.

Cheap is not bad. And you have three rackets already... that's a lot.

But if you really want to go for another racket, lets talk about it...

True. You already have three different rackets. Do they all have decent strings (read as "no factory strings"), possibly even the same string at the same tension? Then you can see which of those rackets you like best and what you are still missing. Going from that, you can try to find a racket that you like better, going from specs and then trying on court. If you found a racket you like and you're getting more serious, just get two or three of the same rackets and stop thinking about it! Get used to one racket and stop switching around. Invest in a coach rather than rackets.

 

How much does the string/tension/stringing affect how well the racket play?

Brand, technology and price doesn't matter. Your hand decides which racket feels the best. Find what racket specifications (weight, flexibility, balance point) you enjoy playing with by trying different rackets. See if other's will allow you to play with their racket for a bit just to see how it feels.

String and tension can have a large impact on how it feels when you hit the shuttle, so if you are trying rackets, take into account the difference in string and tension.

 

In simple
racket regardless high end or low end had their own characteristic due to its tech & material used. So the feel would be different & as long your mind & body like it & enjoy it, why bother if its cheap low end racket.
Then high end racket generally more demanding. In term of power those demanding racket had higher max power but at the same time require higher power from player to unlock it. Also it had better control due to stiffer shaft or stable frame. The question, do you need those even harder smash & 1mm tight close net shot? If its a battle between GOD (the pros) yes you need a GOD class weapon. You dont want to put handicap on yourself right. But if (let say beginner) the opponent cant even kill 30cm high net shot or your current smash are already deadly enough to break your opponent defense, why need those expensive & demanding racket.
Also even if you get the expesive racket, would your net shot instantly become tighter? No, does your smash getting harder? Probably if you had the power to unlock it, but would be more tiring than your old one.
& remember its expensive racket & racket clash commonly happen even on the pros. If your friend use cheap racket & clashing with yours, well.... Its more painfull in your hearth when yours broken. So do you really need those or you just want 1 expesive racket to feel like a pro or you are fans of KM & want to own his racket?

So come back to the subject racket or skill? I would say skill. Spend the money for coaching if you are seriously want to get better rather than getting new racket.

 

If you're like me, who finds faults with every product you buy. (e.g. This stupid midrange Galaxy phone is a bit too wide for my hands. I don't like how it feels in my hand! And the processing power is freaking slow! It takes a full 2 seconds longer to load apps. I don't have time for this crap. That's 30 hours extra a year when I have to start X amount of apps every day. And the finger print scanner can't even get it right on the first try 4/10 times. What a piece of junk. Ugh, I'm returning this. I don't care that I have to spend an extra $400 and transfer all my data over, and do the 2 factor authentication for every single thing again..... *True story by the way*), then you're someone who is really sensitive to products and User Experience and needs everything calibrated to the way you like them. For people like that, then you will benefit from a high end racket that is suitable for you. For me, I still haven't found anything that beats the 88S. Just know that the grip size, grip material, and the strings make just as big of a difference for the feel as the racket does itself, if not more.

Having said all that, advanced players tend to be more picky about things because if something helps their game even 0.1%, it's a pretty big margin when you get up to the professional level. But I find that there are plenty of people who are better than me are far less picky than I am, and frankly can't even tell the difference between 21lbs of factory string tension versus 26lbs of tension of BG80 Power (*also true story*). So if that gives you any kind of reference point, I think you'll know the answer whether it's worth spending money for a high end racket.

 

Consider selling your high end racket too if you don't like it. It's very easy to find a buyer on this site and I've sold 4 high end rackets so far, $40-$50 below what I paid for it. I think that's pretty good considering I was able to try it out for a few weeks. After all you'll never know what you like unless you try them.

 

The main thing for me is to have 1 racket that I play with all the time, so whenever I buy rackets I will buy 3 or 4 of the same. Whatever racket you have you will adjust to over time.

A couple of decades ago I went through MP99, Ti-10 etc. high end yonex, I could never settle with them and bought a few lower end karakal rackets as I knew the manufacturer. I played on the national circuit with these and loved them. I was still playing with them until a few months ago and I wanted to carry on but I've only got a couple left and so I need to make a switch sooner or later. I have bought some similar spec apacs rackets which were on offer and they are just fine. When factoring in the fact I need my rackets restrung they work out about £30 each, so for the price of 1 yonex I got 4 rackets, they are fine by me and will give me a good decade of service.

It's what suits you, not what costs the most. And usually what suits you is whatever you stick with and keep playing with. All rackets have advantages and disadvantages.

It's really not going to make much difference unless you are playing as a pro and need the extra 1 or 2% difference to your game. That said I remember a pro a while ago playing with one of Karakal's bottom of the line rackets.

As long as the racket can be strung to a decent tension and feels ok the main thing is to practice with it a lot. For example I know with the same racket, string and tension, my strokes are going to be predictable and this consistency is what makes the difference.

Shoes on the other hand I will spend on.

 

So you wanted to upgrade your game with buying highend rackets. And yet you end up ordering obvious fake rackets which -I hate to break it to you- are nothing but some standard low-level OEM rackets underneath the paint.

This is most likely the worst possible outcome of this whole thread.

 

Why would you ask for advice about buying high end rackets and have people dedicate time explaining to you the difference, and then knowingly buy fakes? What an insult.

 

The first question was skill or racket & majority answer are skill.
Now the next question skill or brain

 

As Gillian Clarke would’ve said “I don’t believe it … I’m absolutely gobsmacked!”

 

Trying out fakes? As long as you know they won't be representative of the genuine racket!

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