4U. I'd go 3U but my shoulder condition is poor enough that I have to stick to even balanced to head light when it comes to selecting 3U. Sent from my LG-H930 using Tapatalk
I just picked up a used 4U 88D 2 weeks ago and been playing with it. Bare weight 82.3g, head weight 38.1g. Very nice for fast and powerful doubles. Stiff enough to be accurate for hard drives, but yet flexy when you need it for solid smashes and good length forehand and backhand clears. This will be replacing my 4U TKF! Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
It's fantastic isn't it? I've found personally that the 88S is way too flexible. They made the shaft too thin. I was swinging it and flexing it side by side with my AX77s and I found that the 88S although was stiffer on the static hand flex, I felt that it flexed more on the actual hard shot in comparison. It's a formula that works well for the way the 88D is designed but not the 88S. I'm sworn off the 88S now after discovering this for myself. It just doesn't work for me. It's also the major reason why I dislike Victor's 6.4mm shaft rackets. They behave similarly and just don't work for me. Give me my conventional normal thickness of shaft any day. Sent from my LG-H930 using Tapatalk
Totally agree. Goin from vt80 to dzs to 99 to 88s4u->3u to 88d 4u. Its like balance between power and speed. Similar to dzs but more forgiving and faster recovery. Tempting to go 3u
So finally, today i go to the badminton shop, and tried to swing both 88s and 88d 3u 4u...after swing2 it a lot.. decided to get the 88s 3u..hope i can maximized it well... anw, as i didnt speak the local language well, the guy kinda tell me to not remove the plastic wrap..do you guys know why? he said that it can damage the racket string...doesn't it will be okay if i just put it in the badminton bag?
I am playing with AS11 3U and gave a try to 88S 3U for about 2x2hours. My goal was to upgarde my AS11 (more and more difficult to buy in France) to something with the same maneuvrability and speed in front court and defense (thx to RGS) while getting more power in smash thanks to HH of 88S. I have been quite disappointed. The shaft of the 88S is much more flexible than the one of AS11. It is not so problematic in front court but I feel that my mid court was much less precise. I found that the maneuvrability was quite good and similar to AS11 but was very disappointed by the smash. I put lot of them in the upper part of net (which is nearly never the case with my AS11), which can be due to the shorter racquet size (?), but moreover I didn’t feel any more power in my smash and due to more flexible shaft, I even feel my smash were not dry as usual.... Not saying it is a bad racquet, but not adapted to replace the AS11 in my opinion. Should give a try to 88D may-be?? Please note that in France racquets are available in 3U only (more difficult to get 4U)
The 88d will definitely give you more power and steeper smashes. I find the control of the 88d to be very good also at a small cost to speed. It's hard to say how difficult it will be for you to use but I'll give you my experience. My last racquet was a low end nanoray, I've been playing for 2 years and have never used a head heavy, stiff flex racquet before. It took me around 6 hours to adapt to the new racquet, a bit of a sore shoulder at the start but that only reminded me to be mindful of my technique. I'm not a skinny person but personally I don't find the 88d to be very difficult to use, at least compared to the voltric 80 which I find to be stiffer.
Played with my 88s 3u for 3 hours today, so far i really like the feeling..the drive, net, defence superb! i just need to adjust my smash...as i keep smashing to the net...so far so good!
Hmmm, I'm having a problem with this 4U 88D. Although it's a nice problem to have, I'm hitting my drives and clears about half to 1 ft further than compared to my previous 4U TKF using the same amount of power. The shuttle just seems to explode off the stringbed more rapidly for some weird reason. Must be some magic happening with the NAMD in the shaft... @Ch1k0 Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
I wish that were the case for me hahaha but I don't got that magic. But the 88D to me is engineered way better than the 88S at the very least. Don't forget the top half of the head having NAMD too Sent from my LG-H930 using Tapatalk
Can someone give me a recommendation on which one to get? I used to have a 3u Duora 10 and I really liked that for doubles, but I wished it was faster and with a bit more pop. Should I get the 88S 3u or the 88D in 4u?
I'd say 88d 4U. Although the frame isn't really any more aerodynamic tbh... I'd say it would probably match in speed but definitely more pop. Sent from my LG-H930 using Tapatalk
I was thinking about that too bc I use 3U AX99 in singles and I've heard that 88D was quite similar, but I've tried my friend's 99 in 4U and I still wanted more speed/quickness(this wasn;t one of those jacked up 99's that some people got). My issue with the DUO 10 I wasn't in power, if I got my feet under me it was gonna go fast, but more in "control/handling" in the mid courtish drives/blocks/nets and things like that. I know control/handling is an arbitrary term and that it is different to everyone, but I don't know exactly how to put it other than that. I looked more into the even balanced category and that got me in the JS/BS 12s, the 88S. Pretty much if the 88D(even in 4U) isn't that much quicker than the DUO 10, I don't think I want to pull the trigger to get it until I play with it or talk to one of my close friends who uses it. EDIT: I've tried a 4U JS 12 and that thing was way too little power for me. The speed was good, but I needed to swing so much faster to get the same power smash. The lifts and defense was also quite weird as well, I needed to be super precise to get lift in back court and defense wasn't going as far as I would've hoped.
I've tried a Duo 10 before... 3U 88S is much faster but less powerful, whereas 88D more powerful and a tad faster. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Can I still expect to get a good smash with the 88S? I'm from the branch of thought that the racquet doesn't affect the shot nearly as much as timing and footwork, but I've heard that the 88S flexes much more than its "stiff" rating would indicate.
