VT80 review Well, the Liverpool Bonanza is over, and so is my time with the VT80, so here's my tuppence: 3UG4, dry balance 303; Ashaway Zymax 62 @ 24/26, RKEP Elite on bare wood. My thanks to BWS Sports for lending it to me. Looks/impressions: You all know I'm not a fan of white, but it works here (and not that much of it is white, to be fair). The VT70 was nicely executed, and so is the 80 - that excellent shot-peen tribal relief is less prominent, but those grotesque bulges at 2/6/10 are thankfully more restrained. Dry balance was a surprise - I was expecting 310+ before I measured. The hoop - what little there is of it - is very strong indeed both before and after stringing, and the thin-yet-stiff shaft is a good fit for it. Power: There are several caveats to follow, but this is probably one of the hardest hitting Yonexes I've ever tried. Any shot with sufficient wind-up (smash, clear, high backhand [very much so, I'm happy to say]) came off with brutal pace, and full depth was no trouble at all. The head is very quick through the air, and the thin shaft helps it go even faster... but... There is a pronounced "carry" to the head: when I swung through with 100% commitment the head just kept going, and with a significant "jerk" on the end. This wasn't too much of a problem with the aforementioned shots, but anything needing a fast recovery became awkward - wristy shots (net drives, mostly) made the head feel wild. RSL X2 days all over again - extra weight leaping into the head from nowhere; my 308 SW35 felt more controllable. Defence: Dee-fence? Forget it! I will temper this by saying I'm used to the Nanospeed (and shorter) end of the spectrum, but I had real trouble turning the shuttle off line - it was straight block or straight lift all the way. I really had to "plan" the shot; the wild head made any attempt at reflexive responses dangerous. If the opponent switched his attack from one side to the other, the rally was almost certain to be over. Feel/Stability: As mentioned before, the swing had a decidedly "jagged" feel, but contact with the shuttle was nice and punchy, and the head stays in line. The sweetspot felt deceptively large as well. I found it quite communicative, perhaps because it was both heavy and slender. It also serves very well indeed - I think I put a grand total of two into the net across 36 points. Conclusion: I borrowed this with the intent of using it only for singles, but I couldn't resist trying it in doubles as well. For doubles it was simply too much work - for the power I gained on smashes and the like, I lost relatively more on everything else (and since I'm not a smasher, that pretty much spelt doom). For singles, however, I found it much more to my liking. I used to own a 900P, and the VT80 is a 900P on steroids: more of everything (but this includes the bad stuff as well). In back-to-back rallies it was a joy to use, even on the backhand side. Despite the paper-thin frame there were none of the timing issues as with the Clown-Slash. If the other guy gets the attack off you, however... Finally, is it worth the sticker price (£160)? Even if I were a singles player I would say "no". £120 to £130 would be much more like it, but that's undercutting the inferior VT70. It's just not a "complete" enough racket to warrant that kind of outlay.
... and yet I didn't get paid for it. Thanks anyway. My money would be on YES - if I were YY I'd save any serious tweaks for the VT90. IMO there's room for a good 0.3-0.5 of extra stiffness before we're into the roid rage zone... cue the VT90.
But what will Taufik have to play with? Is VT80 (still) selling at £160 in UK? Well at the current exchange rate 160 in euro isn't that much cheaper although there is the one place selling at €140. Well if you are stuck buying retail locally anyway ...
Mark A, good review. That's pretty much how I felt about the 3UG5 VT80 in my first couple of sessions (except the negative aspects weren't for me nearly as bad as you describe it). I've had the VT80 for over 2 weeks now, and my impression has changed dramatically. Initially, it was a decent racket swayed towards tremendous power and slightly lacking in defense. Now, I feel it's an excellent all round racket with the bonus of having tremendous power. I was playing an advanced level game of doubles yesterday (my opponents being better than me) and we had some crazy fast drive rallies - happy to say that I won most of these rallies. Drop shots at the net for me were majestic - probably because I've been working on my net drop shot technique though hehe. Smash defense was difficult (they have incredible smashes), but pretty much as good as or better than any other racket I've ever used (including 5U and/or less head heavy rackets) - I was generally returning high and low with no problem. By the way, won all three games against them, keeping in mind that my partner is also better than me! Oh yes, I bought my VT80 for around 135 pounds (strung with Yonex string of choice, delivered and with free Yonex over-grip), so you can definitely get it much cheaper than 160 pounds.
AS I've said many times, choosing a racquet is very personal. I didn't have the issues with the racquet Mark did, but there again, i really liked AT900P. Yes, the racquet is a little slower in defence, but I sorted that out. A few additional armchair exercises was all it took for me. I can understand why Mark feels the way he does about the racquet. After all, his preferences are completely different to mine and yours too. Very soon I'll be meeting up with Mark to test a number of racquets. I'm really looking forward to it! Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Agreed, although sometimes it's just a matter of adjusting/adapting to the racket spec. What level of player is Mark? Not really, it's still one of the best rackets I've ever used.
I've been told C-/C, but I'm an inveterate doubles specialist (and control doubles at that), so the VT80 was just a bridge too far. In 4U, who knows? I did OK with my 900P in 4U, after all. The "hammer" exercise is a good one - there's literally no other way to stress the pronators and supinators. I use a pair of branch loppers, though- they weigh a good 4 lb and have extendable handles (good for "pyramid" sets). Threadjack over - back to the VT80...
ssj, i noticed u like to use the word "advanced". I presume that u are a pretty advanced player urself, I would like to see a video of u playing a couple of rallies if it is possible. Would like to see how advanced u are in my level of play.
Or should we ship one to him and once done, he will ship back to us....just to ensure the source is raw and no compromise
Panda is holding off on reviewing the VT80 because his personal VT80s, 4UG4 was BP321 dry! The dry weight was 86.1g...so doesn't that make it a "3U". Others with 4UG4 VT80s: what is the BP?
WOW The 4UG5 SP I measured in a store sometime ago is about 306mm only. Not sure about the weight. PS When you're done tesing and have gotten bored with the insanely head heavy VT80, don't forget to sell it 2nd handed to me
I've had a few 4U and 3U VT80's. The 3U's tended to be around 305mm to 310mm strung with no overgrip, and the 4U's tended to be 310mm to 315mm same set up. Again, this is just going off of the one's I've personally tried. 321mm is INSANE. Though I did read the other day someone had one that was 320mm. For me I reckon 320bp dry might be a bit too much, but without trying I wouldn't know.
Yep, it is not good. If Panda were to review this specific racket, it would get very bad ratings all around. Seeing it's most likely off-spec, will hold off.
Could anyone please tell me what "BP" stands for in badminton terms? What's so insane about 321mm "DRY"?
BP is the Balance Point. It's the point where the frame balances itself to the handle. If that's unclear then just put the shaft of the racket on your index finger, move forward or backward until the racket balances itself. The higher the BP the more head heavy the racket is. I'm not sure on the number, but usually anything above 300mm is head heavy, I think it's 280-300 is an even balance racket. Again, I'm not sure on that number. So 321mm BP with no string is really head heavy, considering most VT80 BP is aroun 305-315mm.
