Normally, I recommend that people demo a racket to find one that suits their style. But your style is not developed yet, and you're being offered a free racket, and you have to choose it really soon. Given that, I'd recommend either a 3U Mp99 or a 4U At800-def. Both of these are hard to go wrong with. If I had to choose one, it would be the At800-def. Now, it IS the racket I play with, but the reason I recommend this is that so many people have said it is a very forgiving racket (I agree). It will suit pretty much any player, although for many it will not be the best.
Why 4U? And why the defensive one? I think I will be playing more singles than doubles and I could use a racket with some power to it, so I am just concerned it will be weak. I feel like I want something stronger than what I already have, which is the Iso 75 MF light (3U).
Like I said, because it's a very forgiving racket. But if you want something a bit "stronger" (since when did rackets give you strength?), the mp99 might suit you. At least that would get you over the mental block engendered by the word "defensive" on the shaft But hey, if you have something in mind, go for it. It's your racket, after all.
PM LazyBudy and ask if you can meet him in NY and try out some of his racquet. May be buy him a dinner after that.
By "stronger" I meant "having more power". Even though rackets don't have power either, that seems to be a more acceptable phrase in the badminton world I guess. The point is I don't want to have to swing it at a million miles an hour to get the shuttle to go anywhere. Oh and I just asked about the defensive characteristic because I figured it translated to something like lighter or differently balanced, since I am assuming the 800 offense and defense aren't the exact same racket with a different paintjob. I know you could use it for something other than being defensive, it's just that you would think there must be a reason they called it defensive in the first place. I won't be able to make it to New York since I'm going back to college in Chicago in a few days, but thanks for the suggestion. Anyway, I got my boss to give me the money instead of a racket on the condition that I get a racket sometime with it. So that's good news. I can hopefully try some out at school and find something I actually like. So that's that. Thanks everyone.
Well the real point is that any racuet will be powerful with the right technique. Head heavy and stiff is harder to use good technique while flexible and even balance is easier to use good technique. A headlight and stiff racquet is very easy to control your good technique and can also be powerful as shown with the ns8000. Head heavy is harder to control but easier to get power with. The question is do you want to be powerful cause of good technique or cause you have a powerful racquet? I bought an mp100 when i was still a beginner and that was a mistake. I have had to correct my stroke because of that. Now after using a racuet that suits me, and i corrected my technique, i go back to my mp100 and it's way way way more powerful than I ever thought it was. I can now also use that power more consistently. If i had only kept using such a stiff racuqet, i never would have gotten past that point because then, i couldn't even feel feedback from the racuet. Now i can play with it better than ever before and i know how to cope with it's weight and stiffness. I must say, that singles isnt all about power either. You need a relatively fast racquet to be consistent and to give you room to be deceptive.
Heh, I've had a similiar situation, my first racquet was a MP-44 and while using it I didn't generate enough power in my shots, and not too long ago bought an MP-100, thinking it would improve my power, was I wrong! It was a very stiff racquet, hard to time and swing if not used to it, or even harder if your technique isn't well trained (like mine was). I found my shots either too weak, or too powerful and I couldn't control them, always went out. Several times I wanted to smash but couldn't adjust to the stiffness and head heaviness, instead it came out a drive or didn't make it above the net. I've also had a lot of mishits, resulting in shuttle marks all over the frame(luckily not permanent). In the end I put it away until I could properly use it, and went back to technique training with the much easier to use, and cheaper MP-44.
Interesting stuff. I never thought about a really good racket hurting your training. I just figured you wouldn't be able to use it to its full potential, not that it would teach you bad habbits. I don't understand why that would happen though. Don't you need better technique to be able to hit hard with a stiff racket than a flexible one? So wouldn't it be advantageous to use a stiff racket to force yourself to learn it right? What am I missing? What do you guys recomend training with to get very good techinique anyway? Should i just stick with my iso 75 mf light? I don't mind buying something else, because it would be nice to have a backup racket.
You could learn it the hard way...or learn it the easier way, saves more time(in my opinion it does), if you take it one small step at a time, improving more and more, rather than take a big jump and hope you get the racquet quickly. Plus you'll do a lot better in matches against friends, and have an overall more enjoyable time. Plus you may injure youself with a racquet you can't fully control, or worse yet, break a high class racquet without properly knowing how to use it. (I didn't know how my MP-100 felt during the first time, and clashed with another racquet, luckily no permanent damage, and it was a very light clash).
Lol... I am more than willing to help. However, most of my current collections are Cab30ms. Even the others are all Oval shape, which not fit for his description.
That's the idea, however, by the time I realized, my mp100 was not too stiff, but too heavy. I was using too much arm to aid in moving the weight. It jsut became natural. What fixed me is using an nanospeed 8000! with the light weight and coaching, I easliy corrected my stroke in a month. So i was strong enough to use stiffness, but i practically had no control. After using the nanospeed, my control started to re emerge from before i had the MP100. My wirst was strong enought to handle the stiff nanospeed and the stiff mp100 because i used the mp100 so much that i felt natural with stiffness. In the end, i found that I need more controllable (but still really powerful) shots from the nanospeed andi can keep my bleoved mp100 for offensive doubeles where i have more oppertunity to really shank it!
There is indeed an IP code. btw Mike1234 did you manage to get your racket already? Or you still have no decide what to get.
I didn't get anything yet, ants. I got money to buy something isntead, so I can wait till later. I'm hoping some people I'll be playing with will let me try out some of these rackets (if they even have them), so I can have something to go off of. I guess that armortec 800 DE sounds the best. I know you like the armortecs...do you like that one? What do you think? I mean, I guess I want something pretty versatile, maybe a little more on the singles, offensive side. It should be something that has a lot of potential, but not something that will make me develope bad habbits like people have been talking about in this thread. Or maybe I should just try to delay getting something as long as possible and maybe get some fresh strings on my iso 75. I really ought to have something by Christmas time though, when I might pay my old boss a visit and he'll want to know what I got.
