First impressions Just got two of these in 4U, unstrung. At first glance, the racket looks great. Its paint job looks like what would happen if the Z Force and Z Force 2 had an offspring... And the paint and decal quality is probably the best I've seen on a Victor racket - a nice matte without too much of the chrome sticker that gave some of the previous Victor rackets a cheaper feel. It certainly is a far cry from the paintwork on the BS12 that I have. Feels weighted towards the head, so it comes as a surprise that its labelled head light on the racket shaft! No diagrammatic indicator of how headlight it is though, as Victor has gone the "Yonex" route of indicating weight and maximum stringing tension on the cone instead of the racket specs. Speaking of the cone, it's an interesting shape, which is chamfered towards the base of the cone at four corners. Probably helps in greater thumb control for folks who hold the racket closer to the cone. A nice design touch in details. Swinging it back and forth multiple times, it feels like a - dare I say - Z Force 2, certainly in its stiffness, albeit less head heavy. Swings through the air sound higher-pitched as well, and the frame architecture does make it seem faster. The frame size itself is smaller than the BS12 and MX90 that I have; it's just a bit larger than the Yonex 'Z' series frame size. All in all, am a bit curious why it's a Jetspeed, seeing that it's certainly not as head light... but then again, maybe the Jetspeeds are defined more by speed than headweight. From dry swinging, it feels like a 3U SW37 but slightly faster... although I'm sure these perceptions might change once I have it strung. And yes, as described earlier in the forum, the 4U does feel like it's got the heft and solidity of a 3U. Or the solidity of a ZF2. I'm sure this will be a fast racket, and I'm looking forward to get it strung (in turquoise BG66 UM, which I think would match perfectly!) and having a go.
^ Agree with everything, except for the matte paint... which scuffs up easily and the black parts at around 10 and 2 o'clock show them very easily from picking up birds even on mat floors... even worse on hardwood floors... Play with it a couple times, pick up some birds, and you won't be able to resell it in mint condition...
Mine is in transit..but I still have to wait til Saturday to put it through its paces for dear visor's sake I will not be pulling off the original grip so that I can take proper head weight measurements when I eventually cut/break the string. Fortunately I get a free super grap with it so I don't have to go over grip hunting
Mine was strung with BG66Force JP @27lbs. 4U/G5 total weight of 92.5g (factory grip and double plastic wrap is still on). BP around 290....
That would make it about 82g/very near 300mm dry roughly..not very even balanced as the paper spec says sounds like an MX80 on a diet. [MENTION=57143]visor[/MENTION] what's your take?
Any racket with BP of 296mm n above is considered head heavy... this is definitely not even balance... getting intrigued by it...
Well, to anyone like Paul who normally plays with VTZF2 and VT80, JS10 would be considered even balanced to them...
Just back from my second session playing with JS10. On this occasion, I did some work on the handle and brought the original balance point of 293 mm down to 285 to lessen the demand of using this racket for an entire session. Needless to say, it worked as intended and I was nowhere near as fatigued in using this racket compared to when I was using the head-heavier configuration. I was surprised how little it affected my play in the midcourt area though. Drives and pushes only had slightly less speed to them. What it lacked in racket-head weight was probably made up for with racket-head speed. Lifts were a problem for me. On many occasions, I didn't get enough height and/or length on them. Likewise when defending against smashes. At the backcourt, clears were easy as usual. Drops were still very good also although the loss of head-weight makes it a little bit more difficult to time. Unfortunately, the problem with smashes still persists for me. Unless I put absolutely everything into it, I can't get to seem any decent power in my smashes. I feel like I can't get the shaft to bend sufficiently to unleash whatever potential it has in the power department. Did you have this feeling at all, visor? I smash fine with the SW35 and BS10, rackets which many people say are stiffer than the JS10. I'm going to take the balance point up to around 289 mm for my next session and see if I can get any benefit out of it.
Oh, I neglected to mention that someone at the session had a JS Ahmad strung with BG80P at 25lbs and I had a few hits with it, including smashes and it felt so much better than my JS10. Flexing the shaft with my strokes was really easy compared to the JS10 and therefore power was much more accessible ... and there was quite a lot of it too. The other thing is that although it was strung at the same tension as my JS10, the the softer feel of the BG80P as opposed to my usual go to string of NBG95 may also have had a hand in its easier handling. It's probably a little bit too flexible for my liking even though it's an 8 on the RRI for the JS series. I wonder if a 9 RRI-rated JS will come out sometime in the near future.
You do realise that changing the BP by altering the handle makes next to no difference to the racquet head weight, right? If the racquet head weighs x, modifying the handle will change the BP and the overall weight BUT, it will not change the head weight which will remain at x. So whatever you are doing to the handle to change the BP, don't. The change is just a wrongly perceived effect/in your head.
Not so, for me at least. I see where you're coming from with the weight of the racket head being x pre and post handle modification. But putting a bit of weight on the bottom end of the handle creates a bit of force that helps with the swinging the racket. I suppose it's not so much making the racket head lighter as it is making it easier to swing. When I was transitioning from cheapish mid-flex (Gosen, so probably more flexy that others ) rackets to the SW35, I was having a really hard time of it; much stiffer and more head-heavy. But I used the same handle modification method as I have done with the JS10 now and that's how I slowly but gradually became accustomed to it. I don't think that it's placebo effect; no reason why I was completely knackered with the 293 mm configuration by the second hour of a session but got through all three hours of another with a 285 mm configuration. I don't think I can adapt THAT quickly.
I agree with [MENTION=4876]R20190[/MENTION] The gripping will only fit your hand but won't change the physics of swinging to none. Maybe you are comfortable with a thicker handle, but swing speed and swing weight will be the same. The additional weight at the handle will only have a slightly effect when you grab the handle high and use only finger power for a net kill. But this is the only exception. I don't measure BP since years because it's a useless value.
