They are about to launch, seems like their distribution network still needs some work. They want to start this or next month! If you cannot find anything online in August, write back here or drop me a pm....
Teaser... Spoiler: It felt better than Christmas.... I had one session with the Kalkül A3 so far and the first impression is very positive. I prefer some more head weight, but I will certainly give it some more time.... but that won't be possible before next week. I really really like that Adidas prints all the specs on the racket! For the Kalkül A3 that is...
A few more words on the Kalkül A3. The Adidas specs from the catalogue are slightly more detailed than the specs on the shaft: What's confusing is that some rackets with a balance point of 285 to 290 mm are considered head light, while others are still considered even balance which seems contradicting to the graphics on the shaft of the racket showing the A3 to be on the head light side of the even balanced rackets. My measurements were total weight 85.2 g including the plastic wrapper (that's 1.5g for all the Adidas rackets so far), so that makes it 83.7 g (± 0.2 g at most) head weight 36.5 g (only really makes sense to compare to other measurements I made since there might be slightly differences; I'll get to that) Also. I did have the same issues that @s_mair had stringing the racket, since there was no way to string the top most cross string they want to have for these pattern. I'll get back to this as soon as I have more information. Stringing the Wucht P2 was not a problem at all. I'd prefer to tie off the mains where Adidas starts the crosses, but coming from Babolat, i can live with that. Other than that, it's a basic Yonex pattern. On both rackets, I didn't have any issues threading the shared holes, they're not bigger than on other rackets, but it just worked. I did have more issues with some single grommets, because some were very tight (A3) and one was blocked (P2). Color wise, the P2 could pass as a Spiderman racket, but color doesn't matter to me. There are grommet strips at the three and nine o'clock positions with oval holes on the inside of the frame, this means that the entire holes have to be oval. The head is slightly larger compared to the Kalkül and Überschall rackets. While the Kalkül A3 has a box shape with a more rounded edge towards the top, the Wucht P2 has a hexagonal shape with a sharper edge, but far from some Forza I've seen. Let's look at the specs... My measurements for total weight 87.9 g (including 1.5 g plastic wrap -> 86.4 g) and head weight 37.7 g That's all I can say so far... edit I can say more! Spoiler: Price... and more the RRP is Kalkül A3 115€ Wucht P2 100€ Cannot say anything about the P2, but the price point for the A3 seems to be fair at least. Some part of that racket reminds me a lot of a Babolat Satelite 6.5 Essential, that sells around 110€ in Germany, iirc. I thought that was quite fair, considering the quality. Assuming that at least some sellers will charge less than the RRP, that's even better than fair.... but that's just my first impressions and probably some enthusiasm. I'll give the racket to others, too. They're test rackets not only for me anyway, but I'll ask them for their opinion, including someone playing with the Satellite Essential.
*I've already tried the Wucht P68 for about 2 hours (3 times in a span of a week). It was an extremely impressive string, among the best I've tried. I didn't get to test the durability (of course) and the tension loss. If the tension loss is minimal and the durability decent, it may very well be my go-to string. Dear Aerosonic, I never thought I would utter those words. So, stay tuned. [/QUOTE] Dear friend. It's already almost 1 year.. how about the wucht p68 string durability. Did you still play with that string? Thanks
I got to play again today and I tried to give the rackets a chance that I did not try before. I did give the Überschall F1 to another player though... and didn't get it back for the whole three hours. She was very sceptical (Yonex biased), but now she wants to buy it. She had tried other rackets before. I got to give some time to the F2, the Wucht P2, and a tiny bit to the Spieler A09.1 though. It's a first impression at best, but maybe it helps somebody. Let's start with the Wucht P2, which already got the nickname Spiderman-Racket due to its design. At first, it was weird and I didn't know what to think about it. It certainly has enough head weight to know what you're doing and to feel where the racket is. When trying to find out why I didn't click with it immediately, I noticed that it performs extremely well for all relaxed shots, clears, neutral shots, ... but when I really accelerated the racket quickly, it just felt off. Full smashes? Not so good, often landed in the net, felt like hitting the shuttle late. When I wanted to play a not only long, but also high defense, it was similar. I couldn't get the timing and power right without slowing down my motion. This sounds like it's too flexible to me, which would match my bias towards stiffer rackets. It would also match the noticably larger head of the P2 compared to the other rackets at a similar price point (RRP is 100€). It's a more easy racket. Easy power, easy to use, but probably not the best for me. It did not feel slow, keeping in mind the higher head weight and the larger head, slower than the Kalkül A3 certainly, but that was too be expected. Speaking of the Kalkül A3, I didn't try it again today, but I gave it to someone who likes even balanced rackets. She liked it a lot. She was impressed by the speed. Then I tried the Überschall F2. It has only 20 crosses, so the strings are way less dense compared to the Kalkül (for example). I strung all the rackets with G-Tone 5 at 12 kp, but the P2 which I did not want to see orange strings on (it's G Pro 66 @ 12 kp), so they fit my needs better than other people's. I played the F2 the most today and I still don't know what to think of it. It was very nice for quick movements, so it was good for flat, fast games. Other than that? I cannot say yet. It felt lighter than the specs suggested. Feedback? Far from the Kalkül, worse than the P2, I think. I really want to give this racket more time, because it did confuse me. I think s_mair said that he felt like the Überschall didn't feel as complete as the Kalkül. So far, I can see where that comes from, but I don't think that's the true point. A lot in that racket seemed to fit together, just maybe not fit me. Obviously, there are people who click with the Überschall immediately... one more reason to give it another try. Last, but not least, the Spieler A09.1. By far the cheapest racket I got to try. The RRP is only 55€. I could play with it immediately. It did what I wanted. It did not excel in any way and it does feel much more numb than the others. This showed at the net especially. Still, it was a pleasant surprise and much better than other rackets I've tried that are more of an entry level price (assuming it sells at slightly below the RRP). Didn't play with it must. The feedback just isn't there compared to the other rackets. It's better than some 40€ Yonex I've tried though (changed the strings on that one as well, of course!). At the price point, not much to complain. I will give it more time, too. I hope this helps and I'll get back to this thread when I know more. If you're interested in more descriptive information like I did in the posts before, just let me know. The same for specs comparison. If nobody is interested, I might not take the effort to write it down, but if there is some interest, I'll happily do it.
Any chance that you will get your hands on some more higher end rackets? I'm a bit surprised about the RRP of the P2 which, given the naming, should be more like a low/mid-end racket. Regarding the Überschall, you must have mixed up something there. I haven't played an Überschall so far, but I remeber @DinkAlot being very excited about one of them. I'd definitely be interested in getting some further info about the rackets, but as with all other brands, it's most likely the higher end rackets that will get most of the attention in our little nerd community.
I was too lazy to look for that quote yesterday, but I finally found it. There is a chance that I'll get to test the P7 and P8 (maybe even the A5 and F5, if I'm interested in them), but I have no idea when that will be. So far, I'm still missing some head weight, but I'm one of these weird guys who like the ZF2 and other rackets like that. Regarding the price point and the classification into mid range/high end rackets, that's what Adidas says about it... It starts with "good" because all the Spieler rackets have lower price points and are not included in here. Compared to the P7/P8, the P2 has a mid range RRP. Considering the thought they put into this racket and quality of this racket, I would say the RRP is justified (compared to other brands, it certainly is), they made a very easy to use racket, combined a slightly larger head with these grommet strips to get even more of that head size, but went with a more aerodynamic frame shape (to make up for the size?). The shaft is slightly thicker than the Kalkül's shaft with some flex. In addition to that, there is some head weight to help with easy power. Overall, easy power seems to be what this racket is designed for and all of that seems to fit together. Most likely, it will not be my favorite racket, but I can see many people liking it a lot. It's a well thought out racket at a mid range RRP (for Adidas and other brands). To me, it's a much better racket than the Voltric 50 E-Tune was when I tried that. What was the RRP of that? I might want to compare the P2 too the Voltric 70 if I get my hands on one of them... Would that be a match specs wise? AX77? I'll try to get my hands on one of them. I know it's a very late answer, but I just saw this again. I gave the Kalkül A5 to a NR900 user. Since he just went through an ACL surgery, he cannot play, but he liked it dry swinging. I have less issues noticing where the head is on the A5, but considering it's the heaviest head of the Kalküls, I think you should look at those of you're looking for something comparable to a NR900. Maybe the Überschalls? First impression is that the Kalkül would be a better match.
So now that Adidas has finally come in European market and some of you have been testing these rackets I would have questions. As I said in #120 in page 6, I have Uberschall F1 which I bought from Hong Kong, I don't know if there's difference with rackets between Asian and European markets. I have also Adidas P800 which I like and does anyone know which of the current lineup of rackets would be most similar to that one? From my experience Uberschall F1 feels more stiffer than P800 although for what I've read both should be medium flex. Do rackets get more flexible over time by losing stiffness or what could possibly explain that, since I've had P800 for several years now and it is taken some damage on upper part of the racket. I can provide picture of the damage if deemed necessary as I don't have it right now in my fingertips.
Well, first of all, comparing the old Adidas rackets and the new ones using manufacturer's specs is like comparing rackets of different brands. Also, I've never tried the P800, but that's what I found So it's a slightly head heavy mid flex racket. The F1 has a lower balance point and is 5g lighter, that's at least 2g, but probably 3g (or even more) less head weight. Maybe give one of the more flexible Wucht rackets a chance? Maybe the F5 is an option. It says "medium stiff", but compared to the F1 it might feel less stiff due to more head weight. Sorry I cannot really help since I only got to try the F1, F2, A3, P2 and one of the Spieler rackets so far, but specs wise, the P800 and F1 are quite different already.
Thanks for information. I looked for Wucht rackets and Uberschall F5 from directbadminton and they listed Adidas Wucht P3 to be flexible. It still says it's medium flex, so were you preferring to that one when talking about Wucht lineup? Wucht P1 and P2 did not have any mention of being flexible in their description, even though those two are cheaper than P3. Would it be right to assume based on flexible description etc that Wucht P3 is indeed more flexible than P1 and P2?
It was more of an idea since that's the line of rackets that's probably closer to the P800. I've only tried the P2 so far and that was only one hour on court, so I cannot say too much yet, but it does have a bit of head weight and a bit of flex that seem to make it easy to use and it looks like it's too flexible for me. That's what gave me that idea, but I cannot quite tell yet. Here's a review of the F5 by Cheung. Maybe also have a look here and around that post. It might help you. I'll try the P2 some more, but I cannot promise when that will happen since I don't get to play as much as I'd want to at the moment. Or you just visit Germany and I can give you some rackets to try! Drop me a PM when you made the plans!
Got my P8 today, and will test it soon. First look are very compareble to ZFII. Compact and massive headframe...dryswings feels also like ZFII very HH, but smooth to control! Can’t wait to test it!
As compact we the ZF2? Can you compare those a little more? Can you measure the head weight and overall weight, maybe?
Its a 4U, and I’ve allready strung it an ungripped it with towelgrip and some extra tape because I want to buid up the handle to G4, so weight it would give incorrect numbers. I compared the headframes with my unstrunged ZFII and they looked almost the same...P8 was a little bit smaller, but it was also strunged.
Pulled the trigger on the A5 and F5. I've got too many rackets already, but couldn't resist the 10% off eBay UK. (Expires midday today, so hurry!) I've had quite a few of the old Adipower range, so I've got a soft spot for them. I did manage to resist buying the reel of P68 string, since there's not been any newer reviews on them. Side note: Does the F5 come in lots of colourways? I think I've spotted at least 2 and possibly a yellow one from Dinkalot photo.
A short review, since everyone else has covered it in more depth (and probably better too) First thing, a short tale of heartbreak of my Kalkul A5. Lovingly strung with aerosonic @ 27lbs, only to come home one day to find the strings snapped and the racket was warped and cracked. So the frame's compromised, but I'm not sure how or if it affected my opinion of it. I managed to put AS @ 24 lbs in it. The frame looks normal, but I think the crack is getting bigger during my 1 hour of gameplay. Pros of the A5 is of course the solidness. I could especially feel this in my short punchy shorts. Cons (for me) were I couldn't extract power out of it. It's not bad, but comes up short against the F5. This racket really reminded me of the meteor range of Victor. Extreme solidness. Now onto to the F5, strung at 26lbs AS. This was the one I singled out originally, but I didn't want to get 2 of the same racket to try out if I could help it. Pros, that ease of power generation. I swapped from the A5 to F5 and I could immediately tell that I was gaining an extra level in power. I'm not sure if it hits harder than my current main Li-Ning 7000B, but it's definitely a notch quicker. The 7000B currently has LN1 in it, although a powerful string, probably not as powerful as AS. I was a bit sceptical whether this would deliver in the feeling department, because the frame looked thin, but it's not too far off the 7000B. Cons, that string pattern. I'm not a big fan of it, but at least this has been done properly. I've seen a carlton racket with the same mains tied off at top, but on the carlton they've condensed the middle and spread out the outer strings. The outer gaps makes it look like you've skipped some mains and crosses. During gameplay with the F5, I would get a weird ping sound (cue quick look to see if AS has broken), where I've not hit the sweetspot. I can only assume this is made worse by the the density of the string pattern at the top. This in turn affects my serve, where. I usually try and hit it on the top of the frame for more control (Cai Yun tutorial video somewhere). But with this string pattern, I lose a lot of feeling. Final thoughts. I can't help but feel what this racket could've been with a normal string pattern in it. Would I still get that odd mishit feeling or would I lose too much speed/power? Would I make it my main? I've tried a few rackets since the 7000B and the F5 been the closest one yet. I probably need to restring my 7000B with AS to make it a fair comparison. I'm gaining some speed at the expense of some feeling, but I'm not sure if I'm gaining power in my smashes. Interceptions at the front might be better too, but I need to give this more time. If I was taking into account value for money, then the F5 wins full stop. For some reason the new adidas range in the UK is coming in cheaper than Europe, which is a shock to me. UK is usually the last place you would look for the cheapest rackets.
Urgh.. I hate myself sometimes. Had another session with the A5 and had a great hit with it. Tried swapping to the F5 midway through and couldn't get the power this time... Swapped back to the A5 and had the power along with the accuracy. The A5 is now contender to my main racket 7000B.
