I know... That's why I said that it's to put pressure on me. Covid, followed up by plenty of many other little infections didn't help, followed by an elbow injury while trying to get back into training. It took months before I could hit a shuttle (or even throw a ball) again. Not fun. Let's please all stay healthy from now on. Now, I've been back on court and healthy enough that it may have made sense, but I was too lazy to string more than 2 rackets this weekend. I definitely take the blame for that.
I know a few BC members who would support you with stringing and testing. So I will sell a kidney and place an order at Li-Ning Europa. A set N61 and a set N63 for 30€ incl. shipping. I must be nuts.
@speCulatius sent me two test sets each of N63 and N68 (along with some very nice greek local specialties… never expected a simple glass of honey to taste sooo good…you’re s hero!) and now I’m waiting for my current N65 (yellow) to snap. The problem: It just doesn’t. Significantly knicked all over the sweetspot but it still holds up well and feels good. And I think it’s safe to say by now that durability and long term usability is at least on par with No.1. Phantastic string. I’ll give it another week or two until it will be cut - I’m a patient dude, but everything has a limit. First test candidate will be N68. You can see the rough surface with bare eye through the packaging foil. So I’m expecting something interesting.
Bye bye N65: Hello N68: Very rough structure but no grippy/rubbery surface. IMO it’s even rougher than BG80. And it a makes weird sound during stringing. It’s hard to describe the sound, it kind of sizzles when the tension is applied and it stretches. Think of white-hot charcoal for barbecue. Most pronounced when stringing the long middle main strings. I’ll be playing with it on Friday and I’m very curious to see how it performs on the racket. But just going by the impressions during stringing, this is a completely different string than the N65.
Yeah, it's insanely rough and even harsher than BG80 IMO. There's just so much feel.. anyway I'm going to switch away from it cuz it's a bit too much for me lol. I tried BG80 at the same tension after using N68 for months and the first thing I thought was, dang this stuff is bouncy
Now brace yourself for a major disappointment. Went on court with it on Friday with high expectations but had to find out that at least freshly strung, it's not my string. It feels very harsh on harder shots and I just couldn't make it "work" for me. Felt like it was stealing power instead of adding it. The repulsion on touch and short swing shots was incredible though. Resulting in my net shots being all over the place and handing the opponents a number of easy net kills. I hope that it will get more user friendly and easier to control once it has settled. Props to Li-Ning for releasing such an extreme string.
I'm not disappointed. I guess, that I compensated the harshness and lower power by lowering my tension by 0.5kg. Nevertheless it was also too harsh and unforgiving for me. Especially on late backhand I felt like I need to hit harder and the harshness didn't worked well with my arm. The sound was impressive, right? Was it for you at the net too bouncy or was the grip on slices too much for you to control?
hard to pinpoint the exact problem. It was definitely too bouncy - or maybe there was just a huge difference in bounce if depending on the spot where the shuttle is hit. And additionally, the slightest spin-movement of the racket creates a huge effect on where the shuttle is going. Feels like I'm missing the needed fine motor skills to be able to actually benefit from it. The sound was really nice, but imo not more impressive than the N65.
It took me three sessions to finally break in the N68 and to make it somehow manageable. I could achieve more consistency in terms of power and more control around the net. However, I still have massive issues controlling the roughness - meaning that it only takes the slightest bit of slice or angle of the stringbed during the stroke to achieve a massive effect on the shuttle. For me resulting in shots that went 1 meter off the sidelines by what felt like a fine contact - especially cross court drop shots from the round-the-head position. So imo it is still a very unforgiving string. Everybody who has the needed precision and consistency in their shots might benefit from the roughness, but for me this is just too much to handle. Same goes for the hardness/harshness.
While browsing badmintoncn, I was looking at the overall scores (probably average user scores) of their strings. LN1 - 7.8 LN5 - 8.0 N58 - 8.7 N61 - 7.7 N63 - 8.8 N65 - 8.3 N68 - 8.6 N70 - 6.7 N9 - 8.1 Take it with a pinch of salt, I'm ignoring sample sizes because some strings have more reviews. I totally forgot N58 and N63 existed, doesn't seem as widely available and for me that's just if it's not on E78. Also N68 seems popular. I personally have been using N61, one of the lowest scores. LN1 score is lower than N65 and I've just brought 2 extra reels of LN1. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
seriously, I couldn't care less about scores or ratings given a bunch of random people. The correct string is a massively personal choice and depends on a lot of things. There is no "best string" for everybody. For example, I already know from previous tests that I just don't like the flimsy feel of those ultra thin strings like 0.61 or even 0.58. I wouldn't put those on my racket even if somebody else scored them a full 10/10.
Just thought it was an interesting comparison and I would personally agree with your statement. Like all things on the internet, never take anything as fact. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
@DinkAlot string charts were always top notch. He also pushed anything to a limit, that you can be sure if it is durable for him, it is durable for you. Hopefully he is alright and can't post here due greatness in life. I miss him.
How does it feel hard or medium? Compare BG 80 and vbs 68 with repulsion, hitting sound, durability, and control
I will have the spring rolls for starter and the baked crispy chicken with fried noodles as main course.
Bye bye N68, hello N63: Color is somewhere between red and orange and matches nicely with the P8 decals. I got one session done with it so far, I’ll wait another 2-3 sessions before I give some feedback. A final word regarding the N68. It got more user friendly over time and felt really nice and crisp until I cut it. Overall it’s just a tad too hard and rough for my liking but I can imagine that there are a lot of players that will love it because of that.
