Badminton Racket Guide

Yonex Voltric 70 Review

2011-11-29T19:36:00.008Z

I have taken the plunge and bought myself a Voltric 70 for the eye watering price of £140. This goes against all my principles of buying expensive badminton rackets, however, the fact that about 99% of all serious badminton players on the planet want to know if this thing is any good or not has swayed my better judgement. Having said that i also have an 8DX in my bag and that wasn't cheap either, although i will be selling it pretty soon if anyone is interested?

Ok back to the review. My Voltric 70 is actually a 4U spec, which is pretty rare to find in the UK, most Yonex rackets that come to the UK are 3U. This means it is slightly lighter than usual. I have strung it at 28lbs with BG65Ti string which is my usual tension. The 70 has a head heavy balance and a medium flex, and the Yonex marketing proclaims this racket is the best thing since sliced bread, it gives 5% more power, and although it is head heavy it is still easy to manoeuvre for fast reaction rallies and net play. So in essence you get the best of both worlds. Is this possible? Lets find out...

What Yonex have done is to add weight near the top of the racket with tungsten, and then balance this extra weight by adding more weight at the bottom of the head, on either side of the throat of the racket. One other thing to note is that yonex have added sound filters which are supposed to make the Voltric sound different when you hit the shuttle. Now we have got that out of the way lets get on to what it is actually like to play with it.

As soon as i hit the first shot i could tell the 70 was going to be good. There was no vibration, no distortion from the head, it felt solid as hell, which is what i always look for right away. This was impressive because you usually get some vibration when you string at 28lbs. As far as the sound filtering goes, well i have to say i am really not bothered at all. If you have higher tension you will always get that crisp sound from the racket when you middle that shuttle. I did a few shots with my lethal 70 which is strung at the same tension and the voltric did sound different, but it makes no difference to how you are going to play. A nice marketing gimmick i think.

The 70 is an easy racket to play with, it makes things easy, so for me it is a low work racket, which is the best kind to have. It is a funny combination really, to have a head heavy racket with a medium flex shaft and high string tension, but the main thing for me is that it works perfectly. I have had it for 2 weeks now and i have played with it about 8 times, so i think i have got a very idea of what it is like to own.

Around the net it is very responsive and easy to move around. It appears that Yonex have managed to pull it off by making it easy to work with for fast reaction shots. I also think the fact that it is a 4U helps quite a lot, perhaps a 3U would be a little more difficult for faster shots. Overhead it was also easy to use, exceptionally stable on impact, in fact i have never played with a more stable racket, and that includes my lethal 70, so that is high praise indeed.

I would say the Voltric 70 is a bit of an all rounder. Power players will enjoy the head heavy balance and the stable head on impact. Yet defensive players will enjoy how responsive it is on drives and net shots. It really does offer the best of both worlds.

This racket is probably more suited to intermediate and advanced players. The flex is stated as medium but to me it still feels stiff so you need to be capable of bending the shaft with your swing speed to get the best out of it. The recommended tension is a maximum of 24lbs, but mine is just fine at 28lbs, and it could no doubt take much more than that if you so wish.

The Verdict

I am going to stick my neck out here and say it is one of the best racket i have played with. It suits my game down to the ground, it is more stable than the lethal 70, but more impressively is just how much more responsive it is on defensive shots compared to both my lethal 70 and my 8DX. Yonex have made a future classic with this voltric 70. Next up will be the voltric 80, and i have high expectations for this as the 70 is a pretty fantastic racket.

Just a quick update, the Voltic 70 is selling for £117 from Amazon.co.uk for everyone based in the UK. This is just about the cheapest i have seen it advertised anywhere on the internet. The shipping charge is also very reasonable at £3.99. Click on the link below to take a closer look.

YONEX Voltric 70 Badminton Racket

Badminton Round Up

2011-09-24T18:58:00.004+01:00

Well the dust has settled on the world championships, and once again Lin Dan has bagged yet another world title, in one of the best finals ever seen. In my opinion it comes second to the 1997 final between Sun Jun and Peter Rasmussen. Lee Chong Wei was pipped again in a major final. I really wanted to see him lift the title, he lost with a lot of dignity, and i guess that says a lot about him as a person. Watching him through the rounds he looked on top form, his overall game is there, i just think he lacks the total belief that he can beat Lin Dan in the biggest games. Top level sport usually comes down to just a few critical moments, and i think Lee Chong Wei will learn a lot from that final. It would be fitting if he could win the 2012 Olympic title before he hangs up his racket.

I was also impressed with Peter Gade. To be at the top of any sport for so many years takes real dedication and mental strength. He may have lost a bit of speed and power, but his tactical play is second to none. Of course as a Brit i was astonished that we got a silver medal in the mixed doubles, so well done to Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier. That result must have secured more lottery funding for Badminton England, and i know that funding had been getting smaller due to a poor run of results in the past few years. English badminton has been going through a rough patch in recent times, we have fallen a long way back.

On a brighter note it is great to see the BWF and Google teaming up to stream live badminton via youtube. Here in the UK, we hardly ever see any live badminton. Sky Sports do cover the All England, and the World Championships when they are in the UK, but you obviously have to pay to see this. Now us Brits can see live coverage of all the Super Series events, which is like Xmas has come early. I think it is great initiative to promote badminton around the world. I have noticed that coverage does not go out to countries like Malaysia, and i guess this is due to tv rights. I don't know what the situation is in Malaysia regarding who covers live badminton, but if it is like football coverage here in England, then the Satellite companies like Sky and Espn have all the broadcast rights, and you have to pay to watch any Premier League football, which has been the case for the past 17 years or so.

There is delayed coverage of the televised matches for the events, which is fantastic for all badminton fans. I have already watched the China Masters event, and have seen some of the Japan Open today. Once again Lin Dan has withdrawn to allow Chen Long to go through to the final nice and fresh to face Lee Chong Wei. China are very good at doing this sort of thing, i remember Lin Dan being "injured" in the All England final a few years ago, and allowing Chen Jin to win (it was Olympic qualifying year and it helped China get 3 mens singles players into the Olympic draw) This kind of thing is not good for badminton, and especially not for the fans who have paid to see the best players compete. The BWF should take a close look at this.

World Badminton Championships 2011

2011-08-03T23:05:00.003+01:00

Next week the world badminton championships come to sunny old England, namely Wembley Arena. The last time i went there was to watch the All England, many years ago. I am going down to London on the wednesday, and staying 2 nights, so i will be watching 3 days worth of play, ending with both sessions of the quarter finals on the friday. The total cost of this little trip is looking at being about £350- £400. Is it worth spending that much money to watch badminton? Of course it is! I have been watching this sport for about 20 years now, and there is just nothing like watching the best players playing live. You get to hear the sound of the shuttle on the racket much better than watching on television. You also get a much better perspective of movement and footwork.

I have just been looking at the draw, and unless i have missed something, there are no Korean entries for the mixed doubles. I wonder why this is? As far as mens singles goes, well i think it will be Lee Chong Wei vs Lin Dan in the final. Yeh i know i am really sticking my neck out with this prediction, but those 2 are in a different class to everyone else, and have been for many years now. Lin Dan has been a bit up and down during this year, whilst Lee Chong Wei has been winning virtually every tournament he has entered. As soon as he started being more aggressive a few years ago, he became a much better player, and the results started to come. He will have a lot of pressure to win his first world championships, but it is about time he did win it.

Looking at his section of the draw, he could face Park Sun Hwan in the 3rd round, and probably Chen Long in the quarters. These are the matches i will be looking out for when i go watching.

The mens doubles is a much more open tournament for me. We are blessed with some very good pairs who can all beat each other on any given day. You have Cai and Fu, TBH and KKK, Jung and Yong Dae, The danes, and Kido and Setiawan. Take your pick out of any of those, i can't predict that one.

Womens singles and doubles should go to China, they are usually the winners at the major championships. The mixed doubles is also pretty open, so that should be interesting to watch.

Yonex Voltric 80 Price Fixing

2011-06-27T16:25:00.002+01:00

Ok i actually managed to get a reply from the office of fair trading in the Uk about the £160 price point for the Voltric 80. The e-mail said that they had looked into the pricing and that it did not consider Yonex to be fixing the price. They mentioned something about price maintenance, but that price fixing was not going on. They also stated that they would keep an eye on Yonex prices in the future.

The result is that all of us in the UK will still have to pay £160 for the voltric 80, and no doubt for any of the future Yonex rackets that come out. This sucks big time in my eyes, and there is nothing that can be done about it i'm afraid. All the online retailers can do nothing about it either, and i am sure they would love to sell at a lower price. Yonex have tied their hands and the badminton players suffer for it.

Rest assured that when the latest top end racket does come out, the prices will all be the same, and i will send off another e-mail to the OFT and see what happens. Understand that it is not just yonex who do this sort of thing. All of the big name players in the racket industry do this. The same thing happens in the tennis racket world with Head and Wilson, and no doubt Yonex as well, as they sell quite a few tennis rackets. Funnily enough yonex do not manufacture squash rackets yet. This has always baffled me, as there is a pretty large market for squash rackets in Europe especially.

I think i will send an e-mail to the guy who owns the racket doctor website and store, and see how far he got with the price fixing in the USA, i am sure he will know much more than i do at the moment. This practise is legal in the USA, and it looks to be same story in the UK now as well.

The Yonex Voltric 80

2011-05-21T18:00:00.016+01:00

I have noticed something a bit fishy about the new Yonex Voltric 80 and it is the pricing for it here in the UK. Funny thing is, the racket is almost exactly the same price at every single online store i have looked at. This price is £161 GBP. Is this price fixing? Oh yes it is, and many major racket brands, not just yonex, have been at this for years, not just in badminton but in squash and tennis. I did a little searching on the internet and found a very good story of this price fixing from a very successful racket store in California called The Racket Doctor and if you follow the link it tells the story of their battles with the big racket manufacturers over the years.

The sad part is that those of us who buy rackets are being ripped off by the big companies. The retailers have their hands tied because they have to sell the latest offerings at a certain price, or else they will find their supply being cut off and therefore will not be able to sell any rackets or other equipment. The guy from racket doctor actually challenged this in court, as he believed he should be able to sell rackets for whatever price he wanted to, the free market is what i am talking about. He lost, so we all get ripped off legally.

This price fixing means that the voltric 80 is the same price no matter where you look, or at least it has the same minimum cost, some retailers may take the piss and sell it at £170 or £180 for a short while until they realise they have failed to sell any because they were greedy. So what we are left with is about 50 online stores all selling for the same price because Yonex will dump them if they try to go below this magical £161.

This forces the online badminton retail stores to be more creative, or at least it should if they have any sense. Being creative means offering little extras to the deal so the customer gets something more than just the £161 Voltric 80. This comes in a few different forms such as free delivery, free stringing or free grips, or a free t-shirt, or free towel, or free whatever they can think of. Ok, so lets take a look at what deals there are out there in the UK online market for this Voltric 80.

Of the main players in the Uk market we can take a quick look at who is advertising on google for this racket, and who ranks on the first page of the organic listings for "yonex voltric 80". Here are the main retailers..

central sports
uk rackets
direct sports e shop
sweatband
pwp
tennis nuts
millet sports
advanced rackets
maurice robinson sports
pro sport uk
badminton warehouse

The last on the list, badminton warehouse is a US based retailer that appears to be advertising themselves in the Uk market, and after looking at their site they do ship internationally. So lets see what their price is for the voltric 80, well it says it is on sale for $229.95 and when you click through for more details they also offer a stringing service, however this is only free if you choose yonex BG65, all other types of string will cost you extra. If we take todays pound dollar exchange rate which is 1.62 it works out that the price i would pay in GBP is about £141.94. This is about £19 cheaper than the £161 price from the UK retailers. Great, so i can save almost £20 if i buy from the US right? Wrong. You now have to look at the shipping cost as well. Badminton Warehouse do offer free delivery if you live in the US but after entering my post code and country it turns out the shipping cost is a whopping $66.50 for UPS global express, or an extra $89.95 for UPS mail international. WTF! So now my bargain racket is no longer a bargain at all, in fact if i choose the cheapest delivery option of $66.50 or £41 in GBP, this puts the total amount payable to £182 GBP, which is an extra £21 more than i could get it for here in the UK. This begs the question of why the hell are badminton warehouse advertising for this racket here in the UK market? Those of you in the US are going to paying about £20 less for the Voltric 80 than us here in the UK.

Going back to the list i will take the first retailer which is central sports, the biggest badminton racket retailer here in the UK. If you go to the All England championships you will see them there, in fact they are the only retailer allowed to actually sell anything there as they are the approved yonex retailer for the All England. Yonex sponsor the All England and have a monopoly on all the retail equipment as well, as they do not allow any other merchant or brand to sell anything there. This is nothing new, and in all honesty without Yonex there would probably not be an All England championships, so i guess we must be grateful for their support. Central Sports have a great time every year at the All England, and they get lots of exposure as well so all the badminton players know their name. They also have a close relationship with badminton england, and if you are a member you can get a discount at central sports.

At the central sports website the advertised price for the voltric 80 is? Yep its £161.50, and rather annoyingly you have click a few buttons to actually see the price. Why do all these retailers do this? They all sell it for the same damn price! Ok so we have the price, but what about the little extras? Well this is where central sports raise the bar from the others because you can customise this racket, which gives you the choice of a free yonex grip and a free stringing upgrade at your chosen tension. There are 7 different yonex strings to choose from, and more importantly you can have the tension up to 28lbs. Central Sports do tell you that they cannot guarantee any tension that is above their recommended tension, which for the voltric is about 24lbs. We all know that the voltric can be strung above 30lbs without too much trouble, but they have to have this disclaimer to avoid returns from customers who may very well snap the strings after a few mis hit shots at 28lbs tension. Still, credit to central sports for stringing to 28lbs, which is my own preferred tension. They also offer free delivery on 2-3 working days. So with central sports i get the racket, free grip which they also fit for you, and my chosen string at my chosen tension, all for £161.50. In addition, they have an offer of another 3 free grips with this racket.

Next up we have UK rackets, and their price is also £161.50, with free delivery. Unfortunately there is no mention of any extras with the voltric 80, no free grips and no stringing upgrades, so the racket would come with the factory string and tension. Oh dear.

Direct sports e shop are next up, and the price is £161.50 funnily enough. What extras do they have? Well they offer a free grip upgrade, and also they offer 3 free grips, which is identical to what central sports offer. You can also choose your string and the tension up to 28lbs, and this is also free, and is the same as central sports. You get free delivery as well, so up to now the best deal is with direct sports e shop and central sports. Both have an identical offer.

Sweatband are next up, and they are selling it for £161.49 which is 1p less than the others. You also get a free yonex grip, but sadly they do not have any restring offer so you will get the factory strings at factory tension, which is just fine if you are not bothered about the strings, however i suspect that most badminton players who are going to buy the voltric 80 are pretty serious players who will be concerned with the strings so they will be looking for these upgrades, i know i would be. Sweatband also offer free delivery, so they only fall down on the strings.

PWP come up next, and they advertise quite heavily in the badminton magazine that gets sent out once every few months. Once again the price is £161.50 however we soon run into a problem. There is no free grip offer, and whilst they do have a string upgrade, you have to pay for it. PWP offer yonex BG65 for an extra £3.99, or £4.99 for BG65Ti. Worst still they will only string up to a maximum of 24lbs, so i would be out of luck if i wanted my usual tension of 28lbs. You do get free delivery, but this offer is not as good as the others.

Tennis Nuts are next on the list, and again, they advertise in badminton magazines, but obviously their main focus is on tennis rackets and equipment. Still, they have all the latest badminton rackets on sale at the website, and after a quick look we find the Voltric 80 on sale for £161.49. The extras are either 3 free grips or a string upgrade in yonex string at a max tension of 26lbs. Delivery is also free, so their deal is just a little short of the best so far.

Millet Sports are a more general sports retailer, but they are currently advertising on google for the Voltric 80. The price is once again £161.50 but there are no extras, just free delivery on orders over £79, so Millets are offering less than the rest. I suppose that Millets are not badminton specialists, so their focus is on other sporting equipment.

Advanced rackets are also selling for £161.50 and you get a free grip and restring option with a good variety of yonex strings, with the max tension at 28lbs, so this deal is right up there with the best so far. Delivery is also free.

Maurice Robinson have the Voltric 80 at £161.50 with free grip and free restring upgrade, but the max tension is set at 24lbs, so not ideal for those who like their tension higher. Free delivery is also included.

Pro Sport UK surprisingly have it on sale for £161.50, but have no other upgrades so they are down near the bottom of the list for extras. One thing that made me laugh was the little comment box that came up when i had to click to see the actual price of the Voltric 80. It says "It is important to ProsportUK.Com and Yonex that as much technical information about the product is available, so that an informed decision can be made when choosing a racquet that will suit your technique and playing style rather than just on price". How daft is that comment?

So there we have it. It is impossible to buy the volrtic 80 for less than £161.49 in the UK. The best deal comes from central sports and direct sports e shop. I suspect that central sports are buying more voltrics than any other UK retailer as they have the most customers. The exposure from the All England and from badminton england means central sports are well known here in the UK. Of course when you buy more rackets you can expect to pay less for each unit, so central sports will making more profit on every voltric they sell. They have got very big, so they can offer a free restring and extra grips, and still make a decent profit on each racket sold. Credit to direct sports e shop for matching this deal. If i ran an online badminton store i would be looking to try and match this deal, especially if i was paying to advertise with google for this racket. To me it just makes sense to have the best deal if you want to actually sell more stuff. However, you would then need to buy a stringing machine and a stringer to upgrade the rackets sold, adding extra cost to your bottom line.

There is one more store that i have not mentioned yet, and that is my badminton store.com who are based in Hong Kong and have been trading since 2004. The big deal with this store is that they offer free delivery worldwide, so i went and checked them out about the Voltric 80. First of all the site looks a bit jumbled up and the layout is a bit messy, but what i am looking for is the price. I clicked through to the page on the voltric 80 and was confronted with 3 results. The first offer was for a JP version which costs $239 US dollars. Me being from the UK i want to see that price in GBP, and there is a currency converter on the site, so after pressing this i get the prices in GBP, and the JP voltric 80 comes in at £147.52. Hmm this is cheaper than in the UK. However, further down the page is an SP version which is only £122.83 which is a £24.69 difference. Why is this? Why does the JP (japan) version cost more than the SP (singapore) version? Is there a difference in quality or something? After digging a little deeper i found the answer on the site which states that JP country coded yonex rackets are more expensive in Japan than the rest of the world, and my badminton store.com (MBS) import them to Hong Kong to their store at this premium price, hence they retail at this higher price. Now who on earth would pay extra just for the JP version when, as MBS state on the site, that yonex themselves claim there is no difference in quality between the JP and all the other country coded rackets? Why would MBS even bother to import them in the first place? I have no idea either, but it seems to add extra confusion for no reason.

Ok so now i go and click on the buy button for the SP voltric 80 which is the cheapest option. I am now faced with a few things to fill in. The first is the shipping option. Here is where things get a bit confusing. You can get free shipping, but MBS recommend taking out the EMS shipping option if you are buying expensive rackets, which the voltric 80 certainly is. I have never used MBS before so it would be a bit of a guess as to whether i should choose this EMS shipping option. If i do choose this option it costs an extra £7.41 for tracking and 3-5 day delivery. However this is what is recommended so i would choose it to be safe. I can also choose my string and tension, so i would choose yonex BG65Ti which adds another £6.17 to the price. I can choose the tension by leaving a comment in the box at the checkout. If we add all this up the price is now £136.41. Look at the shipping charge of just £7.41 and compare that to the whopping £41 shipping charge from badminton warehouse in the US. How can there be such a huge difference in price? Are badminton warehouse overcharging for international delivery? It certainly looks like it from these figures. So what we are left with is a total price of £136.41 with strings and my chosen tension, and tracked delivery to arrive in 3-5 days, which is a saving of £25.08 if i import this racket from Hong Kong. If i choose free delivery i would save an extra £7.41 on top of that making a saving of £32.49.

If i was to go and buy this racket from MBS i would email them and find out what the best delivery option was and how reliable the free shipping actually is before deciding. I do know that they are legitimate and sell authentic goods. So basically the best option of buying a yonex voltric 80 in the UK is to get it from Hong Kong. If i was the owner of MBS i would be advertising on the UK google results just like badminton warehouse are doing. The difference is that MBS are the cheapest option by far.

The Evolution of Mens Singles Badminton

2011-05-07T21:05:00.022+01:00

You may want to grab a cup of coffee for this post because it is going to be very long. I have been playing badminton since i was 14, and i began watching professional badminton, by going along to the All England Chamionships a few years later. This was when the All England was at Wembley Arena. Living in the UK, there was hardly any badminton on television, unfortunately badminton is a minority sport here in the UK, so coverage of it back in the late 80's was restricted to one hour shows at midnight, and this was for the All England Open only. If you were lucky, you would perhaps get some coverage of the English Nationals and if you were even more lucky, you may get coverage of the Grand Prix Finals on Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon. So for me, and all us English badminton fans, television coverage was virtually non existent back then.

My first taste of live badminton was when i went to watch the Carlsberg Classic in Preston in 1988, just 10 miles from my home. The main man at this time was Morten Frost, so i was keen to see him play live. I went to all the sessions on all of the days, and i can tell you that watching badminton live is so much better than watching on television. Frost just glided through his opening rounds, dropping hardly any points in the games. I remember watching one match and his opponent had played a nice tight spinning net shot, and Frost was moving to the net with his racket back, ready to lift the shuttle to the back of the court. His opponent was already anticipating the lift and was inching back into court and at the very last second, after this huge back swing, Frost stopped the swing and played a return net shot, with his opponent totally baffled by what had just happened. Everyone watching was also amazed, i had never seen anyone do this shot, the racket head control to pull off a shot like that was unbelievable. To this day i have still not seen a professional player do this.

Frost went on to win the final against a young Indonesian by the name of Ardy Wiranata. I actually sat next to him and his mother when we all got evacuated from the hall after a fire alarm went off.

So what made Frost so good? He was as steady as a rock, had fast feet and smooth footwork, superb fitness, excellent net play and one of the best defences of any badminton player. His weakness was probably his lack of a winning smash, but he could move his opponents around the court to wherever he wanted. I also watched Frost lose the 1988 All England Final to Ib Fredrikson, and no-one predicted that outcome. I then wanted to see what Frost had done previous to this, as he had already won the All England in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1987. I managed to find a video if him playing Liem Swie King in the 84 final. What a great match that was, Swie King smashing and Frost defending. At one point Frost had his arms in the air, getting frustrated at not being able to get Swie Kings smashes back. Another great moment in that final is when Swie King took a towel down break and he had a flask to drink out of. This was when play was continuous, so there was hardly any towel downs, which is spoiling the sport these days. Too many interruptions and gamesmanship goes on in modern badminton.

I also found a video of the 1987 final against Icuk Sugiarto, and i remeber one of my friends telling me to watch this final as there was a 100 shot rally in it. The first game was 15-10 to Frost, and some of the rallies were brutal, with Sugiarto just clearing with his backhand on many points, trying to wear Frost down. It didn't work like he used to do when they played in Asia, with the climate being much cooler in England, and after winning the first game Frost battered Sugiarto 15-0 in the second. The 100 shot rally was great to watch, and right after that rally was another epic one, and Frost won it with a simple block to the net off a Sugiarto smash. What most people don't realise is that Sugiarto had broken a string in his racket, so he had to try and win the point with a smash, which had less power than normal, hence the easy winner for Frost.

I then wanted to see the video of the 1985 final which Frost lost to a young Chinese player called Zhao Jianhua. I had seen some pictures from this match in one of the badminton magazines from that year and i could not believe the action shots of this Zhao guy. I never got to watch that game until many years later, this was after i had seen Zhao play live at the All England in 1990, 1991, 1992 and at the world championships in Birmingham in 1993 playing mixed doubles only. I have also seen coverage of him playing and winning the 1991 world championships, and i have seen footage of him playing in the Thomas Cup losing to Rahid Sidek in the semi finals, and losing to Ardy in the badminton World Cup i think it was called. There is also footage of Zhao beating Yang Yang in the Asian Games in 1990 on youtube.

In my opinion Zhao is the best badminton singles player to pick up a racket. He was a badminton prodigy, with the best technique of any player then and since. If you want to see the perfect badminton match then watch the All England 1990 final against Joko Suprianto.

So what was so good about Zhao Jianhua? On his day he could beat any player, make them look like amateurs. The only person who could beat Zhao was Zhao. It has been reported he didn't like training, and his mind often wandered during games. He did not win as much as he should have with the talent he had because his mental approach was not good enough. This does happen with prodigious people, everything seems to easy so they don't seem to put in as much effort or have to will to win, like lesser players do. Having said that, when he was in the mood, like in that 1990 final, and in the 1991 world championship final against Kusuma, then the shots he plays are out of this world. His overhead technique was the most deceptive i have ever seen, and you can tell how good it was by watching his opponents movement. I remember sitting in the front row at the 1993 world championships when Zhao was playing mixed doubles against an Indonesian pair and the shuttle was up in the air about 3/4 court length. Zhao got behind the shuttle and i was at right in line with him at the other end of the court. His whole body and arm was in a perfect line with shuttle before he hit it. I guess i had the perfect view of what his opponents were seeing. He played a drop shot and nobody knew what shot he was going to play until the very last second. His opponent just stood rooted to the spot and i remember smiling and shaking my head in disbelief at how good this guy's technique was. They always had to wait until the last second to move as they didn't know where the shuttle was going.

His speed around court was smooth and came in bursts, much like how Lin Dan plays. Frost used to describe him as "a ticking bomb" and when he went off there was not much you could do. His smashes were pin point accurate, from both forehand and from round the head. His jump enabled him to find angles that no-one else could. He is the most talented player of all time, but his inconsistency let him down. Still, when he did decide to play he could beat anyone. When Zhao played, all the other badminton players would come out to watch, and i think that is the biggest compliment you can get. Some people say Zhao would be no match for the likes of Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei. I doubt that, i think on his day he could hold his own against them, but i guess we will never know, however it would be a fascinating prospect.

Zhao was the successor to Yang Yang in a way. He carried on playing for a few years more than Yang Yang, although their careers were around the same time. Yang Yang enjoyed more success because he was much more consistent, and he won the world championships in 1987 and 1989. I remember watching the video of the 1987 final against Frost, and the drift in the hall was crazy. Yang Yang won in 3 games, and his attack eventually got the better of Frost. The 1989 final was against Ardy on his home court, and again Yang Yang won in 3 hard fought games. It looked like Yang took the edge of Ardy, who won the first game and came out of the blocks on fire, but slowly got more tired as Yang upped the pace. It seems the best Chinese players have been lefties, with both Zhao and Yang Yang, along with Lin Dan all being left handed. Yang also beat Frost in the All England final of 1989 in 2 straight games, with Frost making all sorts of unforced errors, probably due to the pressure he felt when playing Yang Yang. What was so good about Yang Yang? He had a very powerful jump smash, especially from round the head, excellent stamina to keep playing a fast pace, he also had a great wrist on him. After the 1989 final, Frosts career came to a virtual end, and a new Dane, Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen was now improving rapidly to take over the mantle for the Danes.

The Indonesians were also beginning to come to prominence, with Ardy leading the way. This was the start of a golden era for Indonesian mens singles, and other players were also coming up the rankings including Alan Budi Kusuma, Joko Suprianto, Bambamg Suprianto, Hermawan Susanto, Fung Permadi, and a young Heryanto Arbi. The Malaysians had Foo Kok Keong, and Rashid Sidek. The Chinese had Zhao at his peak, Yang Yang, and Xiong Guobao. And what about the English players? Well we had Darren Hall and Steve Baddeley. Hall had already had the best win of his Career, beating Frost in the final of the European Champs in 1988, when Frost was in his prime. He used to train with Frost every day, so that may have helped him, and it certainly brought his game on leaps and bounds. He regularly reached the latter stages of important tournaments, and he always used to play at 100 miles an hour, with a very good net game. Sadly, Hall has been the last truly world class singles player that we have had. The results for English mens singles players since he retired have been dismal to say the least. I don't think we have had any male player reaching beyond the first few rounds of the All England since about the mid 1990's.

So onto 1990, and that All England final with Zhao and Joko. In his semi final. Zhao beat Rashid Sidek, who was now challenging in all the major tournaments. I sat there and watched Rashid dismantle Frost in the quarter finals, and he gave Zhao a great game in the semi final, going to setting in the second game. The 1991 final saw Ardy beating Foo Kok Keong in the final, with Foo beating Zhao in his semi final. Ardy had a little bit more attacking flair than Foo, but the final was a war of attrition which Ardy won and took the title. The 1991 world champs saw Zhao at his best again, beating Alan Budi Kusuma in the final, with the second game being very much like the 1990 All England final, with Zhao hitting top form and playing some brilliant shots to beat Kusuma. You can see the second half of the second game here, enjoy..

1992 saw some great matches between all these great players. The one that sticks out in my mind was the Thomas Cup Final between Malaysia and Indonesia. I manages to get hold of a video of that final from the IBF many many years ago, and what a match it was. The crowd was going totally nuts all the way through, with the prime minister leading the way.

Rashid beat Ardy in 3 games, and after looking like he had run out of steam in the second game, he came back even stronger in the 3rd game to set Malaysia on their way. The match ended with Malaysia winning 3-2, and the crowd going wild.

The All England final was between Zhao and another Chinese player called Lui Jun. I was sat there in the crowd watching this final, and as everyone knows, it was fixed. With 1992 being Olympic Year, and the first time badminton had been included as a full Olympic sport, ranking points counted, and China wanted Lui Jun to be competing in it. Basically he had to win the All England to qualify, and that is what happened. The reality is that Zhao was denied another All England Championship because he was by far the better player. He looked like he was messing about in that final, and he was. He did play all out for a few rallies, then made simple errors to give Lui the match. The Olympic final was between Ardy and Alan Kusuma, with Kusuma winning in 2 straight games. Hermawan Susanto beat Zhao in the quarter finals, and effectively ended his career. Zhao was top seed and expected to win the whole thing, but things don't always work out to plan do they? Rashid Sidek also went out in the quarter finals losing to an up and coming Danish player by the name of Thomas Steur Lauridsen. Indonesia were the big winners, taking gold silver and a bronze. This was when there was no bronze medal match, with the losing semi finalists both getting a bronze medal. Also, there was no mixed doubles in the 1992 Olympic event, a bit sexist i think.

Onto 1993 and this was the start of more Indonesian domination in world badminton. China began a lean period for the next few years as they had up and coming stars who were not yet internaional class, most notably Dong Jiong and Sun Jun. The All England final in 1993 was between Heryanto Arbi and Joko Suprianto, who was back in the final after that 1990 hammering. I had seen Arbi play at the previous All England and you could see his potential. He played very much like Liem Swie King, with an attacking game and a big jump smash. He had a good semi final win over the improving Steur Lauridsen, whose tricky style always caused the Inodnesians problems. He was very good at flat clearing to the forehand corner, and this caught out many opponents, but in the end Arbi won the tight points and went on to win the final. This win set him on his way to many more big victories, usually against his fellow countrymen, as the Indonesains were so strong with good strength in depth.

The 1993 Workd Championships were in Brimingham at the national indoor arena, so off i went on the first 3 days. The All England would move there in 1994, and has been there ever since. On the opening days the entire arena was used, and at the All England you never see the whole arena as half of it is closed off with a big black curtain, although last year they did make the viewing area a bit bigger. Joko won the 1993 title beating Susanto in the final. The quarter finals featured 5 Indonesians, and the semis had 3 out of 4 being Indonesisan, highlighting this strength in depth.

Arbi won the 1994 All England as well, beating Ardi in the final. His attack finally got through against Ardi's defensive play. Ardi used to just grind opponents down, wear them out and then play winners. He had great court coverage and steady shots as well as the ability to inject pace and power when he saw the chance. Arbi then went on to win the World Championships in 1995 but he lost the 1995 All England to Hoyer Larsen, who was beginning his remarkable run of form somewhat late in his career. I used to enjoy watching him play because he was so good at the net and also being a leftie he was very deceptive overhead. He used to dominate his opponents and force them to play his game. His tight spinning net shots were the best of any player, and from the weak returns he would play his winners. He wasn't the fastest mover around but he had great stroke production and was very accurate, so he usually had his opponents running around and not them moving him. Singles is very hard when you are chasing the shuttle all the time, and sooner or later you run out of steam and start taking the shuttle a little bit later.

1996 saw Hoyer Larsen take a second All England title, this time beating Rashid Sidek in the final. Rashid had sufered with injuries in the past few years, but he came into some great from in the 1996 chamionships. I think without the injuries he suffered from he would have won many more tournaments than he did. You could see he had problems moving in the final, and Hoyer Larsen always made players twist and turn all over the place. 1996 was also Olympic year, and Hoyer Larsen took this title as well, beating Dong Jiong in the final. Joko Suprianto was the top seed, with Hoyer Larsen seeded 2. The semi final line up had Rashid Sidek playing Dong Jiong, won by Dong Jiong. Rashid had earlier beaten Joko in the quarters, but Dong took him out in straight games. In the other semi Larsen beat Arbi in straight games. The bronze medals now had to be fought for in all play off match, which Rashid took after beating Arbi in 3 games. In the final Larsen used good tactics to stop Dong Jiong attacking, and frustrated him throughout the match. Dong had a very powerful jump smash, so Larsen hardly ever lifted to him, and Dong tried to take him on at the net, which Larsen won and subsequently the gold medal.

1997 saw Dong Jiong win the All England, giving Sun Jun a lesson in attacking badminton. And then we come to the 1997 World Championships in Glasgow, which i went to for 3 days, watching the round of last 16, quarters and semis. I watched the finals on tv. That week in Scotland was roasting hot and it was even hotter inside the venue. Hoyer Larsen was the top seed, with Arbi and Ardi and Sun Jun the other highly seeded players. The first semi final had Hoyer Larsen playing Sun Jun, and i was right at the court edge for this match. Sun Jun eventually beat Larsen in 3 games, and when i say tough i mean really tough. Sun Jun covered more court in that semi than i have ever seen a human being do. His retrieval during that match was unbelievable, and Larsen seemed to run out of ideas. The seond semi had Arbi up against Peter Rasmussen from Denmark. I was court side for this match as well, sat in the middle of a load of Malaysian fans, who were banging the seats and making loads of noise. The atmosphere was superb, and they were all waiting for Cheah and Yap to play Ricky and Rexy in the mens doubles semi final. Arbi won the first game after being about 10-1 up, with Rasmussen looking very nervous indeed. Rasmussen did get some points back near the end of the first game, and then took control of the match. He had a very deceptive overhead forehand slice and straight smash, and Arbi just could not read these shots.

So the final was Sun Jun playing Peter Rasmussen, and it will be remembered for Sun Jun cramping up in the third game after leading about 10-3. It was a brutal match all through, with very long rallies played at a very fast pace. I know why Sun Jun cramped up, it was that brutal semi final, and those first 2 games in the final which both went to setting, along with the heat in the hall. The rallies went on and on, and Rasmussen just kept on going till Sun Jun cramped up in the third. It was live on tv and you could see his thigh muscle all cramped to hell. A great final, and a great win for Rasmussen, who came out of nowhere to win. I felt a bit bad for Sun Jun, but professional sport is brutal and cramping up is just tough luck i suppose. He did learn a valuable lesson from this match though, which was to improve his attacking game so he could finish off rallies quicker.

The new improved and rested Sun Jun came back to win the 1998 All England, by demolishing Ong Ewe Hock in 2 straight games. He hit top form all through this tournament, hammering everyone through the rounds, culminating in a great performance in the final. Ong tried his best but was outclassed on the day.

1999 saw Peter Gade claim the All England, beating a precocious young teenager called Taufik Hidayat in 3 games in the final. I watched Taufik beat Hoyer Larsen in the semi final, and everyone could see we had a new star being born. Gade was also coming into his own and was now a top singles player. Going into the 1999 World Champs he was one of the favourites along with Sun Jun and Hoyer Larsen. Sun Jun took the crown against the suprise finalist Fung Permadi. Sun Jun was probably at his peak at this time, and he hammered both Steur Lauridsen and Hoyer Larsen in the quarters and semis. He hung on to win the final in 3 games, as Permadi tried to wear him down. His better attacking game saw him win through, and Sun Jun was great to watch, with a great overhead action and a very accurate smash.

I think this post has gone on long enough, so i will pick up the story of mens singles from 2000 to present in the next post.

Apacs Slayer 95 Review

2011-05-01T09:05:00.002+01:00

The last of the test rackets is the Slayer 95, so here is my review of it. I didn't take any pictures of it, but in the future as per Dave's request i will add photos of the rackets i review on here. Having been impressed with the other two Slayer rackets, namely the 88 and the 99, i had high hopes for the 95 as well. I didn't have a spec for this racket as it is not yet on the Apacs Sports UK website, so i have nicked one from another Apacs site that already sells it outside of the UK.

Frame : 30T HM Graphite + 3K Woven + Carbon Nano Tube
Shaft : 40T HM Graphite + 3K Woven + Carton Nano Tube
Head Shape : ISO, Extremem Power Frame, 72 holes
Length : 670mm
Weight : 82 ± 2g
Balance Pt. : 285 ± 3mm (Even balance)
Shaft Dia. : Ø 7.0mm
Max Tension : 33/36lbs ( Main/Cross )

The weight was not 82g i can tell you that, it was around 85g. As usual the tension was 28lbs with Apacs slayer string. The balance was even, and the flex was medium/stiff. I have to say with the grip added it felt a little head light.

First impressions were not that great at all. The racket felt unstable when i hit the shuttle. The head seemed to move around a bit on impact, and this is something i do not like or want from any racket. I also felt more vibration than with the other Slayer rackets. The overall head light balance meant i had more trouble performing basic shots such as clears from baseline to baseline. I am only talking a slight difference here, i could still hit the clears, but it just felt like this racket would be a high work racket.

I had the same feeling when smashing as well. The head moved on impact much more than the 99 and 88, and it took a bit of getting used to. Where this Slayer 95 is best is around the net and for those fast defensive shots. The head light balance made a difference as it should, so i would suggest this racket is more suited for defensive players, or those like to play at the net in doubles. From the rear court it is not that great, so the choice is yours.

In conclusion, i was not impressed with this racket. Unstable is not good for a badminton player, and by far the most important point for any badminton racket is how it feels to you. For me i didn't connect with it, i didn't get that feeling that i look for. Others may well disagree, and that is fine. If you choose the Slayer 95 and feel comfortable with it, then great, the racket has done its job. I will give it 7/10.

After testing this latest batch of Apacs rackets, i would give top marks to the 88 and 99, followed by the Lethal 100, and in last place comes the Slayer 95. The 88 and 99 are very good all round rackets, the 100 is very head heavy so i would say it is better for singles players, and the 95 would be best around the net in doubles.

I have also noticed a new racket from Apacs called the Lurid Power. There are 3 rackets in this range that i have seen so far, and the important point with them all is that you can change the balance of the racket with end cap weights. Right at the bottom of the handle is where this magic happens, and you get 2 weights, one is the default weight of 1 gram, the other is 3 grams. The original blance point is for a head heavy balance with the 1 gram weight in place, but add the 3 gram weight and you turn head heavy into even balance. This is the same effect as adding lead tape to the bottom of the handle, which i have done quite a few times in the past, but obviously it makes this process much easier and less time consuming. I would quite like to get my hands on these rackets to see if they actually do make a difference.

I am now on the hunt for more test rackets, so i will be sending a few specualtive e-mails to some retailers to see if they will loan out some rackets. I won't hold my breath on this!

Apacs Slayer 88 Review

2011-04-18T19:34:00.002+01:00

Next up is the Slayer 88, which is a UK spec, although i have no idea what this spec actually is, as there is no information for it. Not too worry, i will go off the info printed on the racket, and from playing with it. The weight is 85-87g, balance is 290mm (+-5)flex is 8-9, and the max string tension is 30lbs. I had this 88 strung at 28lbs with the slayer 66 string as per the other test rackets in this latest batch.

First thing to note is the flex, which i would rate as medium with this UK spec racket. The balance was even after i added the grip to the handle. So basically it was very similar to the slayer 99 apart from the flex. One other point is that this slayer 88 did not have the reinforcements on the head that the 99 has.

First impressions were very good. The extra flex made the 88 very easy to perform clears and smashes, very low work racket i have to say. The good thing was that this extra flex did not have any noticeable difference on control from the rear court and with over head shots. The head was very stable on impact, just like the 99 was, despite not having the extra stability points on the head. The 28lb string tension would have been a big factor for the control i felt, but i like control hence the higher tension.

I would say the 88 offered a bit more power than the 99, which was a big plus point. The only time i felt the extra flex was around the net and for those defensive shots, such as blocking to the net off smashes. The flex made it more difficult to control the shuttle when compared to the 99. The difference is only small, but when you start blocking to the net you need all the help you can get or else the shuttle will get picked off, especially in doubles. It was the same for lifting to the back off smashes, a little more difficult to get an accurate return.

All in all, i was impressed with this slayer 88. I will give it a 9/10 which is the same as the 99, although for my game i would give the 88 the nod. If you enjoy smashing you will be a bit happier with the 88 compared to the 99. If you enjoy playing at the net, then you would probably be happier with the 99. Both are very good rackets, all rounders that are very usable, consistent and stable on impact. I imagine the slayer 88 will be a bit cheaper than the slayer 99, so that may be a factor in deciding which to go for. The Apacs Slayer 88 comes highly recommended. Next up we have the Slayer 95.

Apacs Slayer 99 Review

2011-04-09T08:21:00.006+01:00

Next up for review we have the Slayer 99. This series of rackets is new to me, so it will be interesting to see how this one matches up to the other rackets i have tested on this blog. First of all this is a UK spec version, and the technical details are as follows.

Specification :

Frame : 30T HM Graphite + 3K Woven + Carbon Nano Tube
Shaft : 50T HM Graphite + 3K Woven + Carton Nano Tube
Head Shape : ISO, Extremem Power Frame, 72 holes
Length : 675mm
Weight : 90 ± 2g
Balance Pt. : 290 ± 3mm (Even balance)
Shaft Dia. : Ø 7.3mm
Max Tension : 33/36lbs ( Main/Cross )
3 Structural Reinforcements at 12, 4 and 7 O'clock.

The racket is a 2U version so it weighs a little more than the 3U, and the flex is stiff. Apacs have their own flex ratings, where 9 is flexible, and 7 is very stiff. This Slayer 99 has a rating of 7.5, so it is stiff. It was also strung at 28lbs with Slayer 66 string. What can we tell from the spec? Well straight away we see it has an even balance and a stiff frame, so i immediately think it is designed to be an all round racket, but we will soon find out.

The Slayer 99 has the same reinforcement points on the head as the Lethal 100 has, and these are designed to make the head more stable when you hit the shuttle. Do they work? Yes is the answer, i found both the 99 and the lethal 100 to be very stable on impact, with less twisting of the head because of these changes. A few clears to begin with, and straight away i could tell the Slayer 99 was a decent racket. It felt easy to play with, and although it is stiff, it is not as stiff as the Yonex Arcsaber 8DX, i would compare stiffness to the lethal 70 or lethal 90 from how it behaves.

What we have is a very solid racket, very consistent, and easy to work with. Power is also pretty good as well, it is a low work racket, which is always a bonus for me. The even balance also helped around the net and for fast drives and defensive shots from smashes. I think the tension of 28lbs was just about right for the Slayer 99, it complimented the frame stiffness very well. Overhead from the rearcourt, it felt more powerful than the lethal 100, and this is despite it being an even balance, which is why i marked down the lethal 100 in the last review, it should have been better overhead but wasn't. As with any even balanced racket, you will sacrifice a little power from the back compared to most head heavy rackets, but the difference is very subtle. The advantage of even balance is around the net and for reaction shots, and the Slayer 99 proved this. The stiff frame and higher tension all help to control the shuttle better as well, so if this is where your strengths are, then a racket like this will compliment your style of play.

I was impressed with this racket i have to say. It offers a great all round playing experience and was very easy to get used to. I think the 3U version would suit those who like to play around the net or be more defensive, and the 2U version would help out the power players a bit more, whilst sacrificing the net play a little bit. Once again it will depend on the type of player you are, and what your style is, and the difference is only very slight. The maximum string tension is over 30 lbs for the Slayer 99, and i have no doubt it can take that kind of tension. I had mine at 28lbs and had no problems at all. My conclusion is that the Apacs Slayer 99 is a fine all rounder, it impressed me with its consistency and its stability on impact. I will give it a 9/10, one of the best Apacs rackets i have tested to date.

Next up is the Slayer 88 review, and i am hoping for good things if the 99 is anything to go by.

For a little fun have a look at the following video featuring Lee Chong Wei and Kenneth Jonassen.

Take a look at the video at 2.35 4.26 and 7.01 if you want to see some high quality backhand shots. The video quality is excellent so you can see very clearly what is going on. And for all you singles players out there, have a look at Lee Chong Wei in the rally at 0.58, this is a great example of movement into the deep forehand corner, and how to get back to base. He makes it look effortless, but this is one of the most difficult movements in singles.

Apacs Lethal 100 Review

2011-03-31T21:10:00.003+01:00

I have been testing the new Lethal 100 for the past couple of weeks, along with 3 other Apacs rackets, so now its time to post my review of the 100. The specifications are as follows:-

Frame Material 30T HM Graphite + Chrome Braided Graphite
Shaft Material 50T Japan HM Graphite + Chrome Braided Graphite
Flex Stiff
Weight 3U (86-89g) G2
Length 675mm
Balance 290 ± 3mm (Head Heavy)

Max String Tension
33lbs Main, 36lbs Cross

Special Features :-
ISO frame New shaft and t-joint design for lower torsion.
Ultimate stability racket
All New Chrome Braided HM Graphite frame

The racket was strung at 28lbs tension with Apacs 66 slayer string, and i stuck on an apacs pu grip for good measure. The key things to note are the balance, head heavy, and the flex, which is stiff. String tension can also go above 30lbs if you want this.

I will get right to the point here and say the lethal 100 is by far the most head heavy racket i have tested from Apacs. The head also has extra stability on each side and at the top of the head. This tells me this racket is designed for power. It is like a sledge hammer when you pick it up and start playing with it. If you don't like a head heavy balance then this is not for you. Clears and smashes required a bit more effort than i thought i would need. This is mostly down to me getting used to such a head heavy balance, but there was something missing. I would have expected to be bale to hit these overhead shots very easily, but the racket did not feel responsive for some reason. The stability points on the head did do their job, and combined with the heavy head the control was there, but again, not as much as i expected.

Around the net, hitting fast defensive shots, and drives, well the extra weight made this a lot more difficult to handle. It is not an easy racket to manoeuvre around the net, so i would suggest the lethal 100 is more suited to players who like to smash and play at the rear court. In time you could get used to the weight, so all is not lost, but it is hard work. For singles it would probably be best put to use. What let me down was the lack of power. It is not as responsive as the lethal 70 or the tantrum 300, which i have tested in the past.

I will give the lethal 100 a 7.5/10 It gets this mark because it lacks response and power from such a head heavy racket. Use it for singles or from the rear court if you play doubles, but you will need to put in some effort to get the power.

Next up is the Apacs Slayer series, i have the 88, 95 and 99 to review.

Yonex Arcsaber 8DX Review

2011-02-20T13:15:00.002Z

Well, the Acrsaber 8DX caught my interest as it uses a bit of an ionic name, ie the 8DX, which as any older players know was the name of one of Yonex's most popular rackets. I used to play with an Cab 8dx many years ago, and it was a great racket at that time. I used to string it as tight as could be, and in time the actual head would deform and twist, but it still played just fine. So, to bring back the 8DX name for a completely different racket is a clever marketing ploy by Yonex.

The spec for this racket is as follows-

Flex:
Extra Stiff

Frame:
CS Carbon Nanotube
H.M. Graphite

Shaft:
Ultra PEF
H.M. Graphite

Weight/Grip size:
3U (85-89.9g) G3

Colour:
Copper Orange

The key point to note from this is the "extra stiff" flex. The balance is even by the way when you add an overgrip. I had BG65 string at 28lbs tension, which is just above the recommended tension. Yonex do appear to be moving with the times by recommending higher string tension, even though we all know you can string rackets much higher than they suggest.

First impression was that i noticed just how stiff the racket was. Clearing required quite a bit of effort, and the even balance, with little weight in the head added to the effort needed. This is not a "low work" racket at all. The head was pretty stable on impact, but in the same league as my Apacs lethal 70. So i was a bit disappointed to begin with. However, the way this racket is designed points to it being a more defensive racket, with an even balance and little head weight. Perhaps it would start to make sense around the net area, and for some fast flat rallies. Wrong again, i had trouble getting a good length on smash returns, i really had to force things to get a good length, and this was suprising to say the least. Power wise, the 8DX needs more force, so it is not the best racket for those who enjoy smashing all day. The extra stiff flex will eventually make your arm ache. So, it is not the best for power, it is hard work to clear the shuttle, it takes more force to get a good length on smash returns, so the question is, what exactly is this racket for? I don't really know is the answer. It is a huge disappointment in my eyes, and just a clever marketing exercise from Yonex to sell a few more rackets. For the price tag, i was expecting a lot more.

I am sure many will disagree, and say the 8DX is the best thing since sliced bread, and that it has loads of power and so on, but for me it didn't live up to expectations. I mean if you have an extra stiff racket with an almost head light balance, then it will always be lacking in power unless the technology is out of this world. This then means it should be better around the net and for defensive shots, but it didn't perform here either.

The 8DX name will still be remembered, just not for this racket in my opinion.

Apacs Tantrum 300 Review

2010-08-17T22:09:00.003+01:00

The second test racket i got my hands on was the UK spec Tantrum 300. I will get straight to the point here... this is the best Apacs racket i have had the pleasure of testing by some way. It is better than the lethal 70, my current racket, and the lethal 90. When i say "better" i mean better for my game, better because it suits my style of play, and better because it helps me play my shots more efficiently, and effectively. The racket makes things easier for me, so i like it, pretty simple really, but very important. I judge any racket by this, and so should you. It often takes quite a few rackets to find one that feels this way, and i am no different. For example, i really liked the superlight i tested last year because it was so good at the net, and for defensive shots. The problem was that it took away a lot of power from the rear court, so what i gained at the front of the court, i lost at the back. If i was a power player, this racket would not have helped me to get the best out of my game. If i was a defensive player who liked to play at the net, then this racket would have probably helped me play the majority of my shots. As with many rackets, there is often a trade off, depending on what type of game you have.

Ok, back to the tantrum 300, here is the spec for it...

Frame Material
30T HM Graphite + Nano (Japan Mitsubishi M30)
Shaft Material 40T HM Graphite + Nano (Japan Toray M40)
Flex Stiff
Weight 3U (86-89g) G2
Length 675mm
Balance 289 ± 3mm (Head Heavy)

Max String Tension
35lbs!

When i tested this racket, the spec said it was "even balance", but i could tell immediately it was "head heavy". I sent an e-mail to Steve at Apacs and he agreed, so the spec on the Apacs Sports UK website now says "head heavy" balance. You may also notice the max stringing tension is at 35lbs. The test racket i had was strung at 28lbs with Apacs string, with no problems at all, so i have no doubt you can go up to 35lbs if you want to break your shoulder! The flex is rated as "stiff", and it is just that.

I put an overgrip on it, so the head heavy balance was not as apparent, but i could still feel it. The first impression was very good indeed. It felt extremely solid, with very little vibration or distortion on impact with the shuttle. The best way to describe the tantrum 300 is that it makes everything easier. It takes less effort to clear and smash, and to generate power. I prefer rackets that make my life easier, the "low work" type of racket i have gone on about in previous posts. The bit of weight in the head helps with control because there is more stability, and the high string tension and stiff frame adds to this effect. The lethal 90 has similar characteristics, but because there is less weight in the head, it is not as stable as the tantrum 300, or the lethal 70 for that matter.

The tantrum 300 is a clear winner for me, it simply comes down to how it suits my own game. It feels "spot on", better than anything i have ever played with, and that includes all of the latest Yonex offerings, such as the Arcsabers and the Nanospeeds. It is better than all of them, by a long way. It also shades the lethal 70 because it has more power and more stability. I honestly didn't think the 70 could be topped, but it has been. As a result, i will be buying this test racket from Apacs Sports, and will be using it for the coming season. I suppose i cannot give it a higher recommendation than that. So, for all of you who liked the lethal 70, the good news is that the tantrum 300 will exceed your expectations, it certainly exceeded mine.

Lethal 90 Review

2010-08-10T14:18:00.005+01:00

It has been a while since my last post, but since i have not had any rackets to test it seemed a bit pointless in posting. However, i now have some rackets so here goes:-

I have had the lethal 90 and the Tantrum 300 for around 2 weeks now and given both of them a good thrashing. The first up is the 90, a UK only racket, and is the successor to the lethal 70. The 70 has been the best racket made by Apacs in my opinion, and the one which i currently play with, so the 90 has a lot to live up to. The technical details are as follows-

* Carbon Nano Tube technology
* Internal Muscle wave frame for improved stability and power
* Hollow shaft with all NEW T-joint design giving excellent power generation and super stability
* Rapid shaft recovery after every shot

Frame Material
30T HM Graphite ( Mitsubishi M30 ) + Titanium Mesh
Shaft Material 40T HM Graphite ( Toray M40)
Flex Stiff
Weight 3U (86-89g) G2
Length 675mm
Balance 290 ± 3mm (Head Heavy)

Max String Tension
35lbs!

Special Features :-

* New high speed frame design
* Head heavy balance
* Unique UK specification
* Special apacs internal muscle wave frame

My test racket was strung at 28lbs with apacs string. Looking at spec it looks like it is very similar to the lethal 70, ie stiff frame, high string tension and head heavy balance, all the ingredients for power. Comparing it with the 70, the balance seems a little bit less head heavy, but it is a very small difference. After picking it up and playing a few shots it felt very similar to the 70, very solid on impact. This is what makes a racket in my opinion, it has to feel solid, and you can tell this from the very first shot you play. Stiffness is the same as well, but the one difference is the frame design on the head, with the lethal 90 being a bit more aerodynamic. Do you notice this when playing shots? Not really, no. With it feeling more even in balance it means you lose a bit of power from the rear court, so in my opinion it is not as powerful as the 70. However, it feels a whole lot better at the front of the court because it is easier to swing around for reaction shots, so net play is improved, as are defensive and reaction shots.

Having said all this, the 90 does feel more responsive all round, especially with higher string tension. This racket is designed for this, so to get the best out of it, you need to experience it with tight stringing. Overall, i would place the 90 on equal terms with the 70, and that is high praise indeed. It does the job as good as anything else currently available. It has slightly less power, but makes up for this by being more responsive and better around the front court. It is not cheap, at around £89, but trust me, it is one of the best rackets you will get your hands on this year. Apacs have raised the bar again, and it is good to see this. Buy one and you will not be disappointed at all, it has been worth the wait.

I also have the Tantrum 300, which will be reviewed in the next post, and all i will say is that it is unbelievable.

Badminton Coaching

2010-05-29T09:00:00.003+01:00

I wanted to give a shout out to a guy who is a badminton coach, and lives in my neck of the woods. His name is Paul Stewart and he has recently begun his own badminton coaching and racket review site at http://badminton-coach.co.uk/ He is as keen as anyone, and very passionate about badminton in the north west of England. His site is full of racket reviews and solid coaching tips for beginners and advanced players alike.

He is a yonex sponsored coach, so all the reviews are on the latest yonex rackets such as the z-slash, 8DX and the nanospeed range. What he does do though is try to remain impartial in his reviews, and what he does a hell of a lot better than me is to have videos of the reviews. His latest video is of the Arcsaber 8DX, and you can find it from his website. He does a pretty good job as well, with a well laid out video that is very clear and specific.

The only problem is that it is difficult to be totally impartial if you are sponsored by a company and you are reviewing their rackets. It would not do much for your new sponsorship deal if you give bad reviews would it? However, Paul does mark the rackets down on price, because we all know just how expensive yonex rackets are, so no matter how good they are there is always the question of "is it worth the money?"

He is as honest as they come, and is putting a lot of effort into promoting badminton via the internet, so good luck to him, and i hope his site goes from strength to strength, he deserves it.

On another note, i think it is time to do a few more reviews myself. My 2 Carlton Airblades have died, the heads on all of them have snapped. They have given me years of faithful service so i cannot complain. Stringing at a higher tension will eventually take its toll, and this is what has happened to these rackets. I would like to take a closer look at Victor and Li Ning, just to find out what they are like, and if they are worth the money. I will be looking for someone to send me some free rackets, so some e-mails will be going out very soon. Frankly, if i was the boss of a badminton racket manufacturer i would jump at the chance of some free promotion.

Yonex

2010-05-07T20:48:00.002+01:00

Yonex have taken quite a hammering over the past year or so. First they either lost or decided to stop sponsoring both the Chinese and Korean national players. They lost out to Li Ning and Victor. One thing yonex had going for them as far as advertising went, was that they could always rely on showing a few action shots of the best players in the world using their rackets. They have used this tactic since time began and it helped to make them the dominant force they are today. Today they have a new tactic to shift all those rackets, and it is a focus on what the rackets are capable of.

Case in point is the ArcSaber Z-Slash, which is the most powerful racket ever made, achieving a world record smash speed of over 400km/hour. In the right hands it is i suppose, but it would be interesting to have the same player use other rackets and see what results we get. Yonex have pulled a master stroke with this marketing, but it is a one off unless they aim to get the same pkayer to smash with all the new rackets they bring out, and create new world records. You can imagine what the average player thinks when they see that the ArcSaber is the most powerful racket ever made. They think they can achieve somthing pretty spectacular as well, and hey, even if it isn't 400 and odd kilometres an hour, it must still do something for my smash, and make me more powerful. The answer is- forget it, you will come home with a sore shoulder or even worse, an injury that wrecks your shoulder because you put everything behind that smash to obliterate the shuttle in one glorious moment.

All the online stores that sell this racket (all at exactly the same price in the UK by the way- something wrong there i feel) have this great big slogan that the z-slash achieved this smash speed. The ArcSaber range has also grown, and they now have an ArcSaber 8DX. I can see why they have come up with that name. The Cab 8DX is an all time classic racket. I actually had a hit with one a few months ago and it still felt great, despite all the advances in technology. The 8DX name is very symbolic, so to name an extra stiff new ArcSaber after it is a bit false if you ask me. There is no way the new racket will have any resemblance to the old one. Perhaps we will see an ArcSaber 21, named after the old Cab 21? The point is that older players like me (38) remember the older rackets, so just the name sparks a bit of interest. Again, pretty clever marketing from yonex.

Yonex have gone back to basics by emphasising the quality of their rackets. The prices are still very high, and i did think they would come down a little as they took the hit from rivals such as Li Ning. The problem is that those Li Ning rackets are at stupid prices in the UK. Honestly, i cannot see how they are going to break into the European market with such high prices. I need to get my hands on some to test them out and see if they are any good. The top end Li Ning Woods N90 is selling for £159.99, which is more expensive than the z-slash, and no-one in the UK knows a thing about them, so why would they shell out all that money on an unknown brand with unknown rackets? They won't, simple. If some rep from from Li Ning UK is reading this then send me some rackets.

I am still waiting for a new supply from steve at Apacs, and i want to test the Tantrum 200 or whatever the latest version is. My lethal 70 is still going strong and i am still lovin it, best racket i have ever had the pleasure of wielding. More new posts to come by the way.

Apacs Edgesaber Z-Spark Review

2010-01-29T16:13:00.003Z

Ok here is the review for the z-spark. First off i will say that it is an all round racket due to its more even balance. The main factor i take into account when i rate any racket is how stable it is on impact. This is the be all and end all for me, and the z-spark is very stable, so it passes my test. The head is lighter than with the lethal 70, so it is better at the net and for fast reaction shots. Where it is not as good is at the back of the court when you need power. This is all because the head is lighter. However the difference is minimal, and i doubt you would notice much of a difference between the two. The z spark is slightly head heavy, just not as much as the lethal 70.

It sure does sound good when you hit the shuttle, especially at 30lbs tension, which is what i had in there. It is a stiff frame so it gives good control, and you can get very good power if you can swing fast enough overhead. I could tell after the first minute that it was a good racket that had control and stability. A nice consistent feel, which i what i look for. I think you can use it for both doubles and singles without any trouble at all. Better than the lethal 70 at the net because it is lighter in the head, but slightly less powerful from the back than the lethal 70. I have said before that the lethal 70 is my favourite, and although the z-spark comes very close, it just falls short in my opinion. This is only because the 70 suits my game better than the z-spark.

Others will prefer the z-spark because it is better for their game. This is just my own personal opinion, so bear that in mind. The most important point is that it is solid and consistent, which is all you can hope for in any racket, whether it is stiff, flexible, heavy, light or whatever. If you are a big hitter you will have no problem with the z-spark, and if you are a net player it will suit you as well. It is certainly more of an all round racket than the lethal 70.

I will give the z-spark 9.5/10. The test racket i had was a UK version made for Apacs Sports UK with the yellow shaft and t-joint.

APACS EDGESABER Z SPARK SPECIFICATION

Frame Material: Hi Modulus Graphite + CS Carbon

Shaft Material: Hi Modulus Graphite + CS Carbon

Shaft Flex: Stiff

Weight: 86 +/- 1g 4U

Lenght: 675mm

Max Tension: 30lbs (i strung mine to 30 without any problems)

Balance: 285 +/- 3amm

SPECIAL FEATURES

Isometric head frame

76 Grommets system
CS Carbon Nanotec

CS Nano Carbon + Hi PER HMG

Japan Troy 30M (30 tonne) for racket frame

Japan Troy T700 (24 tonne) for racket shaft

Apacs Edgesaber Z-Spark

2010-01-19T17:01:00.002Z

I have just received the test racket from Apacs Sports UK, the all new z-spark. I have just strung it to 30lbs with apacs spider string and i am about to begin testing it this week. From getting hold of it for the first time i can tell you it is slightly head heavy, just a little less than the lethal 70 in fact. I have high hopes for this racket, i expect it to be at least on a par with the lethal 70, if not better. It will have to go some to do this, so we will see. I will post my review in the next few days when i have given it a good thrashing. Stay tuned for more....

What Makes A Good Badminton Racket

2009-12-15T11:06:00.004Z

This the eternal question that all badminton players search for. With so many rackets available these days, all promising faster smashes, more control, more consistency for your game, more aerodynamic capabilities, lightning reactions and god knows what else, it can be very difficult to know what to go for. The truth is that the badminton racket is just a tool of the trade. Can it make you a better player? It can improve what you already have by a slight amount, that is the only truth in the hyped up marketing world we live in. It is exactly the same for other sports such as tennis, squash and golf. Golf is especially a problem, there are even channels dedicated to offering new technology and new clubs that will increase your driving length by 50 yards or whatever. People go for this hype, but is it all hype or is there some truth in it all?

Yonex have marketed the new Arcsaber Z slash as being the faster racket ever made. They didn't make the claim themselves they just allowed some players to test it for them by having a smash speed contest. The fastest recorded speed was achieved with the new Z Slash. It is a useful exercise in racket promotion because Yonex don't have the same marketing power they had a few years ago. When they sponsored all the top players they could just stick a picture of Lin Dan or whoever next to the product and casually mention that the worlds best player uses Yonex rackets. This is a big boost for any company to have because if the worlds best are using your equipment then it must be good enough for the rest of us. Yonex don't have this luxury anymore, so they have turned to other means. They now have to sell the racket as a stand alone product. Now that we all know that this new Z Slash is the reason behind the fastest smash ever recorded, does that make you want to go out and buy it?

It probably does for the less informed badminton players around the globe. All around the world there are novice players opening up their new Arcsaber trying to belt the cover off the shuttle. They are all very upset when they don't get the results they were after. Why does this happen? Because they don't even know if the racket suits their game before they buy it. They may not have the technique to generate the power they are looking for. If you have a suspect technique then no racket is going to make you play better, no matter how much it costs. You have to know your own game inside out before you can recognise how good any badminton racket is for you. You need a very consistent technique to be able to tell if there is a difference in what you are playing with.

The way i can spot if a racket is better or worse for me is in how much it helps me do what i do. I keep going on about low work and high work rackets, and there is a good reason for this. A badminton racket is designed to make life easier, just like a tennis racket or a golf club or whatever. If you are an advanced player then you will have consistency. This is the be all and end all in every sport, consistency. Beginners and intermediate players are those who are climbing the ladder of consistency. Without consistency you are erratic and unpredictable. You can hit a sizzling smash and then hit a slower smash on the very next shot. You don't really know why this has happened, it just has. The same applies to golf. There are millions of recreational players out there who can hit good shots and bad shots. Tennis players can hit aces and then double faults on the next shot. This happens because of faulty technique mainly. There are other factors such as footwork and positioning which play a huge part as well. All these small things combine to give you the finished result, and it all comes down to you, the player. This goes on before you have even hit the shot, the racket has not become a factor yet.

An advanced player has this consistency, they can hit the shuttle wherever they want to from any position on court. The shuttle will land in around about the same place most of the time. It doesn't really matter what racket they are using, they will always get similar results. Their technique is refined and grooved and consistent, and the game is so much simpler and easier. Their smashes will be around about the same speed all the time. This the amount of work they put into every shot based on their technique. The second you start trying to hit harder then that is when problems begin to surface. Your technique is not as consistent and the result is a lack of control and direction. Errors begin to creep in to your game. Buy hey, it can't be the racket because Yonex say it will allow you to smash at unbelievable speeds right? There is some truth in this because that racket has not changed, you have. You are now the problem not the racket.

A good badminton racket is a low work racket. If you hit a clear it should land in the back tramlines more often than not if you have the right technique and positioning. The difference between a good a good racket (one that suits your style of play)and a bad racket (one that doesn't) is how much it helps you. I can pick up a racket and hit a few clears with it. I will look and see where the shuttle has landed. Hopefully my technique is consistent enough for me to notice any difference. Where did the shuttle land compared to another racket? Was it shorter or further? If it lands short, then all things being equal, ie string tension, then the racket is less efficient for me. If the shuttle lands further away then that racket is more efficient for me. For the same amount of effort i have seen a different result. I did not try to hit the shuttle harder, or with more force, i just let the racket do its thing. In effect i have tried to isolate the racket from my myself so i can see if there is a difference to my shot with it. This is very difficult to be totally 100% accurate because there are always going to be slight differences with technique from one shot to the next. The better players have very little differences so they can tell straight away what is happening. They can then say to themselves, this racket feels good because i can now hit the shuttle a bit faster with the same amount of effort. Or i now find it easier to hit a clear because the shuttle is travelling further with the same amount of effort. You then have to make adjustments to compensate for this. There is not much point in having a racket that enables you to hit the shuttle further if the result is that you are hitting everything out of the back line.

I did my own tests with the lead tape on the bottom of the handle to see if there was any truth in the research that i looked into. Well it did work for me. For the same amount of effort the shuttle travelled further, about 6-10 inches difference. This was a very big difference for me. For about £2 i had just made my racket more efficient. The research was right for me. Not many players use lead tape on the bottom of the handle because they have never heard about it, most add it to the top of the racket. It still makes a difference but it is worse for your arm and shoulder in the long run. Adding any weight will make the racket feel more cumbersome around the net area, but you have to decide what is best for your game. It is just a balancing act, you win at the back with increased power but lose at the front of the court due to the added weight.

And so we come back to the Arcsaber Z Slash. No doubt this racket is a quality piece of engineering. I have not even played with one, but i know that it will be a very consistent racket. It will be stable on impact because almost every badminton racket that is on the market today has similar technologies that aid stability. The differences are only slight, which is why any badminton racket will only help you by a small margin. You are not going to smash the shuttle twice as hard with a Z Slash or any other make or model. However, there may well be a small difference which can make things easier for you. These small differences can make a difference to your game.

Take this as an example. Give an advanced player a £10 steel beginners racket with factory strung strings at about 15lbs tension when are used to playing with a stiff framed high technology racket strung at 30lbs. What happens? Well at first the player thinks, god this feels shit. Their shots are not as consistent as they normally are. The shuttle is not going where they want it to. However, after about an hour things are improving. The player has got used to the new racket and the string tension, and while it still does not feel right, the shots are becoming more consistent and accurate. They have already compensated for the difference. After two hours of play there is now not much difference at all. All the clears are landing in the right place, and the smashes are going where they intended them to. The point i am trying to make is that good players can play with anything and make it work. The racket will still feel hard to work with, it would be high work racket, but the result is around about the same. Perhaps a 5% difference?

The flip side of this is the beginner who has just gone on the internet and seen the new Z Slash yonex racket. They see that this racquet is behind the fastest ever recorded smash and they think, i gotta get one of those because it will improve my smashes. The result is that they have no idea if that racket has improved their game or their smash because their technique is faulty. They cannot compensate for the difference so their game just carries on as normal. Sure, they may hit the occasional great shot, but they could have done this with any other racket. My suggestion is that a novice player is going to find it very difficult to make an informed decision.

I play golf about twice a year, i am very bad, i have no consistency because my technique is all over the place. You could give me the most expensive golf club with the latest technology that promises to make me drive the ball an extra 30 yards. It will be a useless exercise because i have no way of telling if that club has made a difference to my driving. However, if you give the same club to tiger woods he would be able to tell the difference right away. Some golf clubs have been banned because of the difference they can make, so technology does make a difference. Grooves in the club head allow players to get more spin on their iron shots, so we now see balls landing on greens and spinning backwards by a considerable amount. The problem is you need to have the right technique to get this result. Most players cannot do this because their technique is flawed. The same applies to badminton and any other racket sport.

So back to the question of what makes a good badminton racket? The answer is you do. In most of my racket reviews i mention power and control, and that is a bit misleading because power and control come from technique, and yours is different to mine, so what i think is a powerful racket may not be the same for you. In reality no racket is "powerful" it just makes it easier to get some power that is generated by yourself. Same applies to control, you have to create your own control, the racket will be useful for making it easier to control the shuttle if the head is stable on impact. You can then get more consistency with your technique. Remember though that it is the strings that connect with the shuttle, and they play a much bigger part in terms of control.

I like high tension strings, i believe they give me more control over the shuttle. Some people argue that this is not the case, and that low tension is better for control because the shuttle is in contact with the strings for longer. The truth is that high tension does give more control and it comes down to the movement of the strings on impact. If you have loose strings then they will move more on impact. This means you do not have a totally stable base when you hit the shuttle, which equals less control. Tight strings will not move around as much so there is more control available. The racket simply holds the strings in place, so if you add a stable frame to all of this then you will have even more control.

If you are thinking of buying a new badminton racket then please experiment with the strings first. They have a real impact on your game. I would much rather have a cheap racket strung at 30lbs than a Yonex Z Slash strung at 20lbs. The strings will have more of an effect than the racket ever will. What makes me laugh is that in the UK the manufacturers maximum string tension for the Z Slash is 24lbs. This has been the case for many years now and it really gets on my nerves. Take central sports in the UK, the biggest authorised yonex dealer in the UK. It has taken a long time for them to finally offer stringing at higher tensions. They go to a maximum of 28lbs with the Z Slash but cannot be responsible for anything over 24lbs. Ok this is a fair point. But in the past you got a good racket with shit tension, which is a waste for me. The first thing i would do is take out those crap factory strings and throw in something better at higher tension, then i would see how the racket felt. Anything else is just a waste of time.

I could play with my cheap £20 racket with 30lbs tension and tell you that it has more control than a Z Slash at 20lbs tension. It has nothing to do with the racket and everything to do with the strings. So the next time you see some marketing that promises extra control on your shots, understand that the strings will be largely responsible for that.

A good badminton racket is one that makes things easier. I think next time i do a review i will base it on how easy it is to work with. I know i am givimg the new yonex racket a tough time here and i keep on referring to it. So far the most efficient racket i have played with is the apacs lethal 70. I consider that racket to be the best for my game. The Z Slash may be just as good, perhaps better than the lethal 70, i will not know until i have actually tested it. I also just bought the apacs nano pro tour 9600 because i liked that as well, and it was a good price. There is no way i am going to pay £150 or however much that Arcsaber is, just to test it out. If someone wants to send me one then fine, it will get tested and reviewed.

Can you compare one racket to another? I can compare it for my own game, not yours. For example, when i tested the Edgesaber 7 and 10 from apacs i said that to get the best out of it you needed to hit the shuttle right smack in the centre of the string bed every time. For me the Edgesabers are hard to work with, the head is not as stable as with the lethal 70, the tantrum 160 or the nano pro tour 9600. Or my old carlton airblade tour or the browning oxylite i used a few months ago. I could still play with the edgesabers but they didn't help me out as much. My clears where coming up shorter than with the other rackets, i am only talking about inches here, but over the course of a game it makes a difference because i was having to compensate that little bit by swinging me arm faster on impact. This leads to less control because i have changed my technique just a bit. After an hour everything is back to normal and control is much better, but when you compare this to the others it just means i had to compensate more for those edgesabers. So in my review i give it less control than the lethal 70, and less power because for the same effort i did get less power. This not to say the edgesaber is a less powerful racket for someone else. They may have a much faster swing speed and better technique, so in this case they will generate more power from this racket.

However i can compare my own findings to another racket that i have tested. I can't know for sure that i can generate a bit more power on my smash using a lethal 70 than with an edgesaber 7 or 10 for the same amount of effort unless i get a speed gun and test it. But i get better length on my clears with the lethal 70 for the same effort because i have seen it in action. The tension was the same for all rackets so i base my conclusion on this. The difference is only a few inches, but there is a small difference nonetheless.

The adverts on the central sports web site for the new yonex racket has a big banner that states some guy hit a world record smash of 414 km/h, and that the Z Slash increases offensive power and smashes. The only real way to find out if one racket is more powerful than another is to test them without the human element. Only the guy who hit that smash will know if he put a bit more effort into it than he did with a previous smash.

You could create a machine that simulates a smash action and then hit it into a suspended shuttle. The record the speed of the shuttle at a fixed point. All the rackets would need to be to exact same tension from the same string manufacturer. You would still get differences, such as the shuttle quality and string quality variances but it would be as consistent as you could possibly be. Only then would you find a true answer to the question. It would be great if someone actually did it.

Apacs Nano Pro 9600 Tour Review

2009-12-02T09:32:00.003Z

Ok, i have been testing the Nano Pro 9600 Tour for the last 2 weeks now, giving it one of the most thorough tests i have given any racket. I have probably played with it at least 10 times. Well the result is that it comes a very close second to the Lethal 70, very close indeed. It appears to have the same head stability, and that makes all the difference. It is slightly more flexible then the Lethal 70, but not by much. I strung it at 28lbs, so it was a little bit less than the 30 i used on the Lethal. Here is the thing, not one single apacs racket has ever had a string break whilst i have been testing it. I guess i am just lucky in this respect, but it does help to show the quality of the factory apacs strings, which have been in all the tested rackets. It also shows the rackets can take higher tensions without any trouble at all, another testament to their durability.

The last 2 tested rackets have something different to the others, there is definitely much better stability when hitting the shuttle. This results in very good consistent shots time after time, and that is what the difference is. These last 2 rackets are as good as anything out there, if not better, and that includes the Yonex brand. The bonus is that these rackets cost much less than the latest Yonex offerings. If you do happen to buy either the lethal 70 or this Nano Pro 9600 i would really like you to comment on what you think of them, because although we are all different, i do believe these 2 bats are at the very top of the tree.

Here is the technical details..

Frame Material : Hi Modulus Graphite + Nano Carbon

Shaft Material : Hi Modulus Graphite + Nano Carbon

Flex : Medium -- Stiff ( 7.5 - 8.0mm)

Shaft Out/In Dia. : 7.5/4.0mm

Weight : 3U (86-88g) G2

Length : 675mm

Max. Tension : 30lbs

Balance : 285 ± 3mm

Special Features :-

ISO frame with new grommets system

Anti-Vibration cab
Aerodynamic wing X-section frame

Add to this the string tension of 28lbs with apacs spider 66Ti string and a towelling grip.

The first thing to notice is that the balance point is slightly less than the lethal 70, so the nano pro tour is less head heavy, and a more even balance. Having played with both, there is very little difference between the balance of the two, you will hardly notice it. The nano tour is also a bit less stiff, there is bit more give in it, but again, the difference is small. The nano has a solid feel when you first hit the shuttle, and it is down to the head being very stable. Much more stable than the Hotshots and the Edgesabers. This makes it very easy to work with, and you will find you can mishit some shots and still get a decent result. On defence it also makes the difference, the shuttle will come off the strings very well indeed, you do not have to put in as much effort to lift off smashes, and if you do, you will find the shuttle can be driven back with a lot of interest. It is a low work racket, and i like low work rackets!

I did notice there was some weight in the head, but i think apacs have got the balance just right. You do need some weight in the head to get power and some control, but you can make it feel as though it is not there by just adding the grip to balance it out. This means you have a racket that does not feel heavy and cumbersome, yet you get the benefit of knowing the head will help you. I think this is where yonex have come up a little bit short with the arcsaber 10, to me it feels too head heavy and very cumbersome. You will get the benefit from the back of the court when you smash, but around the net for the reaction shots you lose out. I like a compromise between the two, and i think this is what the nano pro tour gives you. It all depends on what you like in the end, and what you can get used to. The new Z slash appears to be more evenly balanced, so i guess yonex are aware of the need to produce more user friendly rackets. The price is still a complete joke though.

Apacs are moving in the likes of yonex with these last two test rackets. They offer better value for money, and the end product in my opinon is better to play with. The only reason why people choose yonex over the likes of apacs is because of the aggressive marketing and the brain washing. Well i am probably doing my bit to market apacs with this blog, and the reason is that they took the time to actually read this blog and allow me to test their rackets for them. I get nothing in return, and don't want it either. I am buying myself a lethal 70 at the end of all this, just like anyone else does. They are a company that should now be able to move forward now, because they have managed to get their hands on the best rackets that apacs in Malaysia are making. Getting the lethal 70 for the UK is a big bonus in my eyes, and now we have another little gem with the nano pro tour 9600.

I probably do not need to tell you how it plays because it is virtualy the same as the lethal 70, great power and easy control from all around the court. Easy to use, great on defence and on clearing and snashing, great everywhere in fact. Doesn't matter if you play doubles or singles, it will be great in any situation as long as you have the skills to back it up and see what it can do.

The reason why these 2 rackets are different is in the head stability, this is the major breakthrough, and it sets them both apart from previous rackets. The nano costs £59 here in the UK, and it is a great racket. I will give it a 9.5/10 second only slightly to the lethal 70.

Apacs Lethal 70 Review

2009-11-11T23:09:00.002Z

Ok here is the review of the Lethal 70, the new to the UK racket from Apacs Sports. Retail price is £79.99 which is pretty steep, but when you realise how good it is you may be more willing to part with your hard earned cash. I will get right to the point, this racket is the best apacs racket by a mile. Much better than the 160i and that was very good. This is in a different league, and i will tell you why in this post. First of all i will get the technical stuff out of the way, which has been nicked from the apacs sports website who are selling it at the moment.

Higher 'kick point' for better racket performance
Manufactured using PU compression moulds for greater shock absorbance
Hollow shaft with all NEW T-joint design giving excellent power generation and super stability
Rapid shaft recovery after every shot

Specification :

Frame Material: 30T HM Graphite ( Mitsubishi M30 ) + Titanium Mesh
Shaft Material: 40T HM Graphite ( Toray M40)
Flex Stiff
Shaft Out/In Dia. 7.4 mm
Weight 3U (86-89g) G2
Length 675mm
Max Tension 40lbs+, Yes 40lbs!
Balance 290 ± 3mm (Head Heavy)

Special Features :-

* ISO frame
* New shaft and t-joint design for lower torsion.
* Spring back reaction on the shaft improved by 30%. Better energy transfer during impact.
* Full Titanium Mesh Power Frame

Ok forget about the marketing hype and look at what matters most, ie, the weight, the balance and the flex. These are what define the way a racket will behave, as well as your skill level. By the way the test racket i used was strung at 30lbs with apacs spider Ti string. You can string the lethal 70 to 40 lbs which is just plain crazy. The weight is 86-89g so it has a bit of weight on its side. It is head heavy, but not too head heavy at all, it didn't feel cumbersome to play with and i had no trouble with faster reaction shots at the net. Adding the grip takes away some of the head heavy balance anyway. The flex is stiff, but not ultra stiff. These are the most important pieces of information of any racket.

The thing that makes this lethal 70 stand out from every other apacs racket so far is that the the head is unbelievably solid. It just does not distort at all, and you feel this as soon as you hit the first shot. Because of this it is far more forgiving than the edgesabers. The edgesabers are pretty unforgiving because to get the best out of them you really need to be hitting the shuttle right in the centre of the head every time. Of course this is not possible so you lose power quite often. With the lethal 70, hitting consistently is a whole lot easier. I don't know what apacs have done to make it like this but it makes a hell of difference believe me. This also gives very good control on shots because the head is stable.

Power is also there, in fact there is a whole lot of power. The head heavy balance and overall weight give you a great advantage in the power department, but the racket also helps you as well. It is the most powerful racket by a mile based on me having the same technique as i always have. For the same amount of effort the shuttle comes off the racket faster, so this tells me this is a low work racket, which is exactly what you want. Always bear in mind that technique is what gives you power and control, the racket can only do a tiny bit, but that tiny bit gives you more confidence, and that can make a difference when it matters.

It was good from the rear court, for getting me out of trouble. I can usually tell if a racket is any good by how much it helps me get out the corners. You always get caught out and pushed deep into the forehand corners when you play singles and it takes a bit of effort to hit back to a good length. Well the lethal 70 helped me out, i felt it was solid and consistent from tricky situations.

This racket is probably the best feeling racket i have played with, and that is the best compliment i can give it. It is better than the tantrum 160 because it is more stable and more consistent. It gives a bit more power as well because it is head heavy. In fact i would say it is better than any yonex racket i have used, and when compared to those it is also cheaper. If you do choose to buy one you will not regret it it all. The moment you hit that first shot you will just know what i am going on about. The frame had no problem with the tension, and i think it works best at higher tensions, like most stiff framed rackets do. Don't be put off by the head heavy balance, it really is not that noticeable, and you can always add some weight to the handle to give you even more power. I suppose i better give it my rating...

POWER=10
CONTROL=10
VALUE=10

VERDICT= BEST OF THE APACS RACKETS, BEST RACKET I HAVE USED, BETTER THAN ANYTHING IN FACT. And by the way, i am not sending the test racket back because i am buying it!!

Next post will be a review on the apacs nano pro 9600 tour, the other test i got to play with.

Apacs Nano 7007 Power Review

2009-07-29T09:26:00.003+01:00

The final racket i have tested is the Nano 7007 Power. As the name suggests, it has nano technology in it. The technical spec is that it weighs around 85g, but it feels lighter than this when you play with it. The balance is 285mm, it feels pretty evenly balanced. The flex is 7.5-8.5 which means it is fairly stiff. Is has been pre strung to 28lbs by the guys from Apacs in apacs ti string. The head shape is isometric an it has the muscle power style grommet design.

First impressions is that it feels much like the two Hotshots rackets, and all rounder which is light and easy to use. I know that this racket is one of the budget range, but i don't know how much exactly that is, i am sure it will be on the main Apacs site already. No doubt it will cost less than the Hotshots, but because it is so similar it could be an option to save youself some cash and by this instead. Having said that, the Hotshots have that very annoying elctro plated finish so they shine like crazy under ligthing. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. I have played against someone ith one of the Ashaway Electro plated rackets and it was really off putting. When they serve to you to bloody thing shines in your eyes off the hall lights. This can be an advantage to you if you do have one of these models, all you need to do is position it so it catches the lights and reflects into your opponents eyes every time you serve.

I has no problems using the Nano 7007, it felt well made and pretty solid on impact. The frame can handle the tension at 28lbs, and could no doubt take a bit more, which is very good for a budget racket to withstand. Most manufacturers will stay well away from suggesting this kind of tension on a budget racket, but all the Apacs rackets i have tested can take higher tensions without any problem at all. The Nano 7007 is a good little racket and well worth buying. It does a little bit of everything but is better suited for defensive and net shots play because it is light. You have to put in more work from the back to get power, but that is the case with all light rackets that are even balanced. If you know what you are getting then you will find the right bat to suit you best.

Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Tantrum Power 160 international

2009-07-10T17:10:00.004+01:00

The third badminton racket i have tested from the test batch is the apacs tantrum power 160. I must admit that i was a little bit wary of what this racket would be like due to the other tantrum model i tested a few months back. That was the tantrum power 11 international and it was not so good, no feel, a distinct lack of power, and basically just plain hard work to use. I can tell you that the 160 is nothing like the 11. It is like chalk and cheese comparing the two. Nope, the 160 is probably the best apacs racket i have tested so far, even better than the nano 999 power, and i liked that one a lot.

The technical spec is a little bit vague because there isn't one! So i will just go off what is written on the actual racket. On the racket it tells me that it is made from hi- modulus 50 tonne graphite and nano carbon, and that is it. What i can tell you is that the weight is around 85g and the balance is slightly head heavy. It is strung at 28lbs with apacs string and it has an oval shaped head with an isometric shape right at the top of the head. It is different to the two hotshots head shape and it is a tiny bit longer as well. It also has the muscle power grommet system, and it is stiff/very stiff.

I could tell this was a good racket after the first few shots. You just get that feeling when this happens, if you know what i mean. The balance is the key for me. I am not a fan of the extreme head heavy rackets like the yonex armotec, they feel so cumbersome. A slight head balance is much better for me, and this is what the 160 has. The reason is that it gives you stability when you hit the shuttle, the head does not twist on impact and so you get a nice solid feel. It also helps give you a bit more power on your overheads from the back of the court. This is what i noticed when i hit the first few shots. At 28lbs tension the shuttle comes off the strings very well indeed, especially on fast drives and net kills. You get that crisp sound which i love. The strings worked really well with the racket, and it is certainly an easy to use kind of racket.

Control is also good because of the stable head, so my shots all went were i wanted them to. For me this is the best apacs racket i have tested by a long way. It offers more control and power than both the edgesaber 7 and 10. Those rackets are unforgiving and less stable on overhead shots than the 160 was for me. It comes a close second on power than the nano 999 power, but that racket has a lot more weight going for it, so it is very powerful. However, it is more difficult to use around the net and for reaction shots because of this weight. The tantrum 160 offers the best all round package for me, you get good power and it is easy to get used to around the net because it is only slightly head heavy. You can of course add some lead tape to the handle and change the balance to suit your own game. It all comes down to you and your game. If i had one i would just leave it as it is, but that is just me.

The big question is the cost. Problem is i have no idea how much this is going to be. Having said that, i have a feeling it will not be cheap. There is a lot of technology in it, but the main point is that it just feels good to use. It is well made quality wise, i have never yet had an apacs racket break on test. The frame can handle 28lbs no problem. I think apacs uk are just sending me this to test the water before they commit to bringing any over from malaysia. This racket will be a big seller. It is going to go up against the likes of the top yonex rackets here in the uk, but it will hold it's own in this company.

Overall i would give the tantrum power 160 international a 9.5/10 this is by far the highest rating of any of the apacs rackets so far, and it is one of the best rackets i have seen. If this is the sign of things to come, then apacs will soon be up there with the more established badminton racket brands here in the uk.

Apacs Fusion Hotshots Review

2009-06-29T20:20:00.002+01:00

Ok i have now tested the the Apacs Fusion Hotshots 7777 and 7778 badminton rackets. First impressions are that they are virtually identical in the way they play. The specs are the same, ie the weight, balance and stiffness, so as a result they are very very similar. The weight is 85g and the balance is even in both rackets. Both have an isometric head shape, and they do feel pretty light, so they are easy to swing around.

I would place them as a defensive/ net play kind of racket, because i found they were at their best at the front of the court. From the back i found they lacked a bit of power. They are fairly unforgiving from deep at the baseline. You have to put in the work to get the power. This is not to say you can't get power, but it takes more work to get it. These two rackets are begging for some lead tape on the handle, i reckon this would really transform them in the power stakes. I found no problems with control at the front of the court, and net shots and drop shots were sound and consistent. This was probably due to the higher tension (28lbs). This always helps control, and you can comfortably string these to 30lbs, which is the max recommended tension. All the previous Apacs badminton rackets have shown no problems at this tension, they can take it.

I would give the hotshots 7777 and 7778 the following...

POWER= 7/10
CONTROL= 8/10
QUALITY= 9/10

Don't know how much they will cost so i can't give you a value for money rating. If i was mr Apacs i would price them at about £40-£50. If i spent this amount on them i would have no problems, they are quality rackets, well made and i had no problems with them at all, quality and build wise. As always you can choose the tension and type of string at a nominal price. Apacs are a lot cheaper than the other online retailers are for stringing your racket. I have been using the Apacs string and i have yet to have one break in any of the rackets i have tested, and i have given them some stick. This is quite surprising because of the high tension.

The Apacs fusion hotshots are a decent choice, but the Tantrum power 160 was the best of the test rackets so far. I am still testing that one, but it is a hell of a lot better than the tantrum power 11 that i tested a few months ago, and i mean a lot better. I will post that review within the next week. If any of the Apacs guys are reading this, then don't forget the shoes? (HINT, HINT).

Latest Apacs Badminton Rackets

2009-06-15T21:13:00.002+01:00

I have just received another batch of Apacs badminton rackets to test. They are..

1. Fusion Hotshots 7777
2. Fusion Hotshots 7778
3. Nano 7007 Power
4. Tantrum Power 160

All these rackets are strung at 28lbs tension with Apacs strings. These are not available on the Apacs website yet because they are for the new season, so i have a little bit of an advanced testing on my hands. I also do not know how much they are going to cost. This a good thing because my reviews will be be purely based on how good i think the rackets are. If you pay a lot for a racket it can sometimes sway your opinion. Most people believe that if something costs more then it must be better. This is not the case, as the nano 999 Power showed last month.

There are a few other Apacs rackets on sale at the website at the moment that i have not tried out, hopefully this will change.. The product listings are also growing nicely on the website as more stock comes in. Give it another year and there will soon be a whole lot more to choose from. From looking at the Apacs catalogue there appear to be loads of rackets on sale in the far east that have not hit the UK yet. However, they are slowly making there way here.

There is also a special offer on at the moment on the Apacs site, with delivery just 1p. There is also a £7 discount on the Aero Flight 700 shuttles. I tested these a good few months ago, and was very impressed with them. The price has gone up since then, which is a shame, but all shuttle prices have gone up a lot over the last year. I really need to find some cheap ahuttles that are decent quality. If some manufacturer can come up with something right now then they could make a killing. The holy grail is a budget shuttlecock that has quality and durability.

I will be testing the rackets over the next few weeks, so look out for the up coming posts as i give my verdict on them.

Li Ning BadmintonRackets

2009-05-17T19:57:00.002+01:00

I was watching the Surdiman cup finals today on the internet and saw the chinese badminton team kitted out in their Li Ning gear. They were also using Li Ning badminton rackets. I had heard some time ago that Yonex could not afford to sponsor the chinese national team and so they are now sponsored by Li Ning. In the UK, virtually nobody has ever heard of this brand, i certainly hadn't. The Korean team were also playing with Victor rackets and equipment, and they were previously sponsored by Yonex. It would appear that Yonex is losing it's dominance..

Is this is a good thing? I say yes it is because we may finally see some real competiton and this will help to make Yonex drop their prices. Here is another burning question for all those people who have been brainwashed by Yonex over the years- how can it be that these top players can still play at the same level without yonex badminton rackets? The answer is that yonex rackets have been hyped up for years and people automatically believe they must be the best because they are the most expensive.

How can Lin Dan beat Lee Chong Wei playing with a Li Ning racket, when Lee is playing with a yonex racquet? I have never even seen a Li Ning racket in my life, i didn't even know they made badminton racquets, but it seems this makes little difference to Lin Dan, or the rest of the chinese team. The same goes for the koreans who use the Victor rackets. This illustrates my point very well, that it depends on who is holding the racket, ie the player. This past year has seen the biggest shake up as far as sponsorship goes, with teams switching manufacturer, yet all these players are still playing at the same level. This means that the badminton racket is not that important, which is what i have been saying for the last year on this blog.

Will this mean the demise of Yonex? Will they become a second rate brand? Will they lose their market share? I think they will certainly see a drop in sales in China because people will start to use the Li Ning rackets. I bet that Victor will see an increase in sales as well because if they are good enough for the top players then they must be good enough for the rest of us right? This is what sells racquets. This is why the likes of Victor have paid so much money to sponsor these teams.

There will no doubt be interest from players in the UK about Victor and Li Ning. I guarantee that the online retailers will be looking to stock more of these badminton rackets. I bet central sports will be a little bit worried about this, as they are the biggest Yonex dealer here in the UK. But i bet the smaller shops will be over the moon because if Yonex loses it's grip on them, they can now just stock other brands who will not price fix everything, and so us players will get a better deal.

I may be wrong here, and it could end up being the same situation, just a different manufacturer, but i don't think so. It has always been the case that people view Yonex at the top of the tree, and every other brand comes behind them. Brands such as Carlton, Wilson, Head, Forza, Apacs, Fleet, Victor, and any other brand out there. The reason is that we have been brainwashed for years by Yonex, by clever marketing and high prices. I have used Yonex badminton rackets in the past but they were no better than the Carlton Airblade i used, or the Apacs rackets, or the Browning rackets from Racketworld. The only difference was the price, which is the biggest factor for me. There is now way on this earth that i would pay over £100 for a badminton racket and many others feel the same way too.

On another note, i am reliably told that i am getting some new Apacs rackets to test. Not sure what they are yet, but they are new for the coming season here in the UK. I am also getting some Apacs badminton shoes to try out, so hopefully i will post these reviews pretty soon.

Badminton Racket String Tension- The future

2009-05-03T12:44:00.006+01:00

There is much debate about string tension and how it effects power and control. I have looked into this in previous posts and the answer is that it all comes down to who is holding the badminton racket, ie, it all depends on you. Some players argue that low tension means more power and high tension means less power. Then you have the argument over control, and some say low tension means less control, and high tension means more control. Is there a right answer to all of this? Probably not because it all depends on the player, always will.

There is no right and wrong answer to this and i will tell you why. Let's take the notion that low string tension gives more power. This is based on the fact that at low tension the strings will flex more and act like a slingshot, and propel the shuttle off the string bed, thus giving the power. Sounds reasonable doesn't it? The problems start when you add the player into this. Everyone has a different swing speed, so the strings are going to flex differently depending on the swing speed of the player, and so you will get varying amounts of power.

The same goes for the notion that high tension gives less power. Does it? It all depends on how fast you can swing your badminton racket, and so make those strings flex enough to generate power. If you are a beginner and you string your racquet at 30lbs, chances are the shuttle will not travel very far because you simply cannot make the strings flex enough, period.

If you measure the swing speed of a player, and they already do this with speed guns, it should be possible to find the best string tension to give the maximum power for any given player. They do this type of thing in golf already to find the best club to match the player. Perhaps they have already done this for badminton. Can you imagine how good this would be?

You could have your swing speed analysed and then matched to the best tension for you. I suppose you could also match the exact racket to your swing speed as well. The manufacturers know the flex ratings of all their badminton rackets, so it would be possible to know exactly how much any racket would flex from a certain swing speed.

I wonder if someone like Yonex has thought of this already. They already have a speed gun at the All England where you can go and find out just how fast your swing is. They could then tell you what the best tension is for you from your swing speed. Going a bit further, they could probably tell you which actual racket would be the best for you, and with which string tension you should be using as well.

Can you imagine how many rackets they could sell from this information? Any racket manufacturer going could also do the same thing for their entire badminton racket range. The only problem is that the major manufacturers do not have their own shops, but if a retailer had a speed gun in their shop? Jesus, i think i have just found the answer to all badminton players dreams. I can see it now... The retailer has a little book that has all the different rackets flex ratings, and from this they know how much it will flex from any given swing speed. In fact you probably don't even need this, you would have a computer program that would calculate it all for you. You just enter the swing speed and the program does the rest.

The customer just brings their own badminton racket with them and uses this for the swing speed test, and then you get the correct tension to use for this racket. Perhaps this is the way forward, who knows, but if i was a badminton retailer it would sure be a pretty novel idea to sell more rackets

Badminton Racket Review- Browning Oxylite Ti80

2009-04-24T17:19:00.003+01:00

Ok here is the review of the Browning Oxylite Ti80 badminton racket. First off let me say that the only two places to buy this racket are from ebay or amazon, and they are both from Racketworld, who seem to have cornered the market for Browning in the UK. There is another online retailer called sportyshop, but their prices are way higher than what racketworld sell for. God only knows how racketworld can sell their rackets for the prices they do. Either they make very small profit on each racket, or they get for for ridiculously low prices in the first place.

Either way, it doesn't really matter, what does matter is that they are cheap. I have found the technical spec for the Browning Oxylite Ti80 from the racketworld ebay store. One thing that makes me laugh right away is that the recommended retail price for this bat is..£190!! No chance, not in a million years. That has to be the most stupid price i have ever seen for a badminton racket. Do you seriously think that us badminton players really believe that this racket should be £190?

However, the actual price is just £24.99, that makes a saving of £165.01 what a bargain! The reality is that it never did cost £190, not even when it was brand new. Ok, back to the review...

The spec says it is 80g. (From holding it i can say it is not 80g, more like 85g).

100% Oxygen Injected Carbon Titanium for the ultimate in lightness and durability
Widebody frame for power.

New technology 'box frame' head for superb stability in the head and crispness of shot.

New Browning flex system shaft technology for ultimate smash power.

Titanium strings for superb response.

Breathable grip for extra hand comfort.

Complete with quality full length protective headcase.

There is the technical jargon. It doesn't really mean a damn thing to me. The main points are that it has an isometric head shape, and one other glaring point missed on the spec is that it should say it is stiff. The balance is head light, but not too much.

I really do not want to go on about the technical fluff because underneath all this is a very good, well made badminton racket. In my opinion it has got to be one of the best value for money rackets you can buy. It is not a new racket, it is the 2007 model, but this is why it is so cheap, and the reason why racketworld can sell it so cheap, along with all their other rackets. They specialse in this market, and they beat everyone else out of sight.

I had this Browning strung at 30lbs with BG65, which was probably too high, however, the frame can take this tension no problem, so if you have one, and wondered what you can string it to, well you can safely go to 30lbs, probably more i reckon, but say goodbye to your shoulder if you do.

Control is excellent, power is also good. It feels solid, which is good news. It feels like a more expensive racket, which is also good news. It is not a hard work racket, it helps you out, and this makes it easier to use. There is not much more to say really, it is a good racket in my opinion, not as much power as the Apacs nano 999 power, but then again it is a little bit lighter. I would describe it as an all round racket, it does everything well.

The price is the real winner at £24.99, but if you bid for it you could even get it cheaper than this. The only drawback is the delivery charge, which is £7.95. This seems a bit excessive, but racketworld get a bit touchy when you mention this. They charge this amount because it is registered first class delivery, so you pay more for this. I can see why they do this. Afterall, the last thing you need is for someone to say "i have not received my racket". As the seller, racketworld would then have to send another racket out. If the buyer was being a little bit dishonest, they may have actually received the racket but just said they didn't, to get another for free.

I am sure this has happened in the past with racketworld, so the recorded delivery is to protect themselves as well as the customer. However, whatever the reason, it still means this badminton racket will cost an extra £7.95, which is a shame really, because at £24.99 it would be an even better bargain.

Racketworld are about to launch a new website. As a customer of their's in the past i was sent an e-mail to register for the new site. I have already done this, and i hope that now they have their own site, their prices may be even cheaper because they are not tied to ebay or amazon, so they do not need to pay them a slice of the profits. The big gamble is that they need to get their website infront of an audience so they can sell badminton rackets. I hope they are successful, they offer a great service and i have not heard a bad word said about them. Their feeback on ebay is 99.9% positive, so it proves they know how to sell and deliver low cost badminton rackets.

Browning Oxylite Review

2009-04-07T20:08:00.002+01:00

I have been using the Browning Oxylite 80Ti badminton racket for the last few days, it is not actually mine, but i have borrowed it in a sort of trade deal. I am going to write a review of this racket in the next post because there are many people out there who use Browning rackets, or are interested in buying them. I can tell you that this particular racket cost just £20, and it offers unbelievable value for money.

It is very well made and is very solid too, you don't usually find this with cheap badminton rackets, they tend to distort and twist on impact. Not the case with the Oxylite 80. My early impressions are very good indeed. I will give it real good going over in the next few days and post a review on it. By the way, if any of you have a website or blog and you use adsense on it then you will need to update your privacy policy or google may ban you from using adsense. I will put a permanent link to it in the sidebar in the future.

I still have not heard anything from Victor sports or from Head UK, so i will be sending a few e-mails to them in due course to see if i can wrangle a few more badminton rackets from them.

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2009-04-07T20:05:00.003+01:00

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Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Tantrum Power 11 International

2009-03-13T11:24:00.005Z

Next badminton racket review is for the Apacs Tantrum Power 11 International. What a long name that is! It has to be one of the longest names i have seen for a badminton racquet. I will say this from the outset, the tantrum power 11 is my least favourite of all the apacs rackets i have tested so far, and it is the most expensive as well. Perhaps this shows that just because a racket is expensive, it doesn't mean it will suit you or your game. Here is the technical spec...

Frame : Japan Toray M40 (40 Tonne)
Shaft : Japan Toray M46 (46 Tonne)
Shaft Out/In Dia. : 7.1-8.7 / 3.7-4.4
Weight : 87-89 g
BCP : 285+/-2 mm
Length : 675 mm
Tension : 28lbs (apacs spider Ti)

Ok, the first thing about this spec is the Japan Toray bit. From what i can gather, Toray indusries are a big Japanese synthetic fibre maker, so their technology has obviously found its way into badminton rackets now. The weight is 87-89g, but it feels lighter than this, and it also felt like a medium stiff racket. The balance was also fairly even, with a slightly head heavy balance, but once the grip was added this made it feel even.

I will get straight to the point right now, this is my least favourite racket from the Apacs range. It is just damn hard work using it. It lacks power and it does not offer too much in the way of control either. I cannot put my finger on why this is, but the racket feels dead. An example of this is when i tried to lift off a smash. The shuttle went half court. You really have to put in the work to get the shuttle to the back of the court. This is not ideal at all. The same problem occurs when clearing from baseline to baseline, you have to give it extra effort to make the shuttle go.

I also found it very difficult to control the shuttle, especially when blocking to the net. My blocks kept on "popping up" to the net, i could not get my returns tight to the net. And bear in mind that this was strung at 28lbs tension, so it should, in theory, have offered more control. After about an hour of this, i did manage to get used to it, but even then the racket just did not feel right. Now, it may just be me, so if anyone else has got this racket i would really like your take on it. The price is also a killer at £75.99.

My overall rating for the Tantrum Power 11 International-

POWER= 5/10
CONTROL= 4/10
VALUE FOR MONEY= 3/10

I know this is a bad review, but in my eyes it is a bad racket, and there is no way i would pay that kind of money for this badminton racket.

Having tested all the Apacs range so far, here is my take on them...

1. Nano 999 Power- Most powerful in the range and one of the cheapest, you win twice with this one, which is why i got one myself.

2. Superlight- Feels solid, easy to move around, best for net play and reaction shots due to the light weight. Bonus is that it has a head heavy balance for a little bit more power overhead. Would certainly add lead tape to it.

3. Edgesaber 7 and 10- Good all round rackets, but are more difficult to get the best out of than the previous 2 rackets mentioned. If you time the shuttle well it will go, if not, it won't, fairly unforgiving rackets so your technique will need to be spot on, but when you get it right they are good to play with.

Hopefully i will be getting some of the latest Apacs badminton rackets to test very soon, unless they stop sending me them because of this latest review!!

Just one more thing, if you ever needed a song to get you in the mood for training then have a listen to this

Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Superlight

2009-02-28T11:10:00.005Z

Next up for review is the Apacs Superlight badminton racket. I have been playing with this for around 10 days now, after using the Nano 999 Power. The difference is like chalk and cheese, two totally different rackets, but each has their own advantages depending on your own game. The Superlight is just that, very light indeed. The spec says it is 74g, but it feels heavier than this simply beacuse it is head heavy.

The fact is that this badminton racket is designed for reaction shots, touch shots and net play. You buy this type of racquet to give you an advantage in these areas, so if you are strong around the net, enjoy fast flat driving rallies, or enjoy defensive shots, such as tight blocks to the net, or driving the shuttle back, then this racket will help you to do this, without question. From the back of the court, it has the disadvantage of being so light. You need weight to help you hit the shuttle harder, so if you have a hard smash, a heavier racket will help develop more power. You must look at what you have already got, ie, what are your strengths and weaknesses?

Technical Specifications

Material: Toray T1000 ( Ultra High Strength Nano Carbon)

Weight: 72-74g

Balance Point: 315mm +/- 3mm (very head heavy!)

Stifness- stiff

Strung at 28lbs (apacs spider Ti)

Ok, the point that stands out in the spec is the balance point of 315mm. This means it is very head heavy indeed. To be honest with you, it does not feel that head heavy. It is head heavy, but not to that extreme, if you can understand what i mean? Because it is so light overall in weight, the fact that it is head heavy is a bit of a suprise. However, what you are left with is a very light racket that you can swing around easily, but you still get a little bit more power because it is head light. It is a strange combination, but it works well.

It has a good solid feel when you hit the shuttle, the head does not twist on impact, so it is good for control. Smashing wise, you can swing faster because it is so light, but you cannot generate the same power as the nano 999 power from the same amount of effort, the nano has the advantage of weight on its side. The superlight has the advantage at the net, and especially for driving the shuttle back, the effect is superb, and the shuttle comes off the racket face really well indeed. At 28lbs tension the effect is even better. Lifting off smashes is very good as well. I would place this badminton racket as a defensive racket first and foremost. You can generate power from the back of the court, it just takes more work to do it, and that takes a toll on your joints and muscles, so for this reason the superlight is better for defensive shots, net shots, and all those other little shots that require little back swing.

As far as personal preference goes, i would place this superlight behind the nano 999power, but above both the edgesabers. I used the superlight for doubles play because that is where i think it is better. For singles play i like something with a bit more weight, which is why i got the nano 999 power. Overall, i would say the superlight is a very capable badminton racket, it offers good control and consistency, but if your looking for pure power, then go for something with more weight. If your looking for control around the net, driving and reaction shots, then the superlight is designed for this, it is up to you to decide if this type of racquet will suit your game.

POWER- 7/10

CONTROL- 9/10

PRICE= £49.99

VALUE FOR MONEY= 8/10

At £49.99 it does seem a little bit expensive, and it is about the same price as the Karakal SL70,which is what this racket is going up against, however, in my opinion the superlight has a lot more going for it than the karakal because it is far easier to generate power due to the head heavy balance.

I have been to the All-England badminton championships earlier this week, on the thursday, and i did a bit of snooping around while i was there. I made some contacts with Victor and Head UK, as well as meeting up with the guys from Apacs UK. Hopefully this will lead to me getting some more badminton rackets to test in the future. The retail stands were dominated by Yonex of course, with god knows how many stalls offering the latest yonex products at stupid prices. The thing is.. they were selling like hot cakes, even at higher prices. Makes me wonder how this happens, but if you go into the arena and see the unbelievable badminton being played i guess it inspires you, and your little mind is thinking... perhaps i need a new racket to play like that, so you go out and look for something new.. and the only thing you can buy there is a yonex racket, or shoes, or t-shirt, or bag etc. Yonex has already got you.

However, there does seem to be a change on the way. The Korean national team is now wearing Victor sports shirts, there were even two Malaysian players sponsored by Apacs. Head had a few sponsored players, so perhaps Yonex's dominance is starting to wane a little. This can only be good news, because competition will drive down prices for us lot, it may even make yonex drop their prices, which are artificially high because of the mass marketing machine that drives them. The only problem i have with yonex is the prices they charge, the badminton rackets are good, the shoes are the best you can get, you just pay more because of all the marketing costs.

Badminton Racket Test- Apacs Nano 999 Power

2009-02-10T22:25:00.003Z

Ok, i have now given the Apacs Nano 999 Power a good ole testing, and have played with it about 10 times in all, so i think i now know enough about it to post my review. Here is the technical info...

Weight- 90grams!!
Flex- 7.5-8.5 (medium)
Balance- 285mm+-3mm
Max string tension-30lbs (strung at 28lbs with Apacs string)
High modulus graphite
Nano technology
Nano tech system
Isometric head shape
Apacs soft feel grip

First things first, this badminton racket is heavy, and it has a head heavy balance. It is fairly stiff in my opinion, a bit more than a medium flex, and it is as powerful as hell. It is like a bomb going off if you time your shots just right. Now it may be everyone's cup of tea this Nano 999 Power because of the weight, but i have said this before, a bit of extra weight is good, it makes the shuttlecock go faster and further with the same amount of effort.

I personally rate this racket as the best Apacs racket so far. I would also like to add some lead tape to this thing to give it even more power, and it would probably put it close to 100g with the grip and strings as well. Sounds stupid? Not to me it doesn't, it makes clears and smashes so much easier. I have played singles with this racket only, and it is because i certainly feel this is a singles racket due to the weight. You need to get used to the weight, especially on defensive shots because it harder to swing around when the going gets quicker, it does take a bit of time to sort this out, but i can honestly say that for singles especially, it works for me.

The weight gets you out of trouble from the deep corners, and you get a solid feel when you time it right. I had this at 28lbs and i could still hit out from the corners without to much trouble. The racket needs to be responsive and provide a good hitting base to do this, otherwise your shots will fall short into court and you will be on the end of a whole lot of running if you hit short in singles.

Think of it this way.. Pete Sampras used a Wilson racket all throughout his career, and that racket was as heavy as a wooden one. He made sure it was heavy by adding more weight to an already heavy racquet. How hard did he hit the ball? His technique was spot on, but he used the racket to get the most out his shots as well. Do not be put off by weight, it you want to hit something harder then use something heavier.

The Nano 999 Power is a bit of a misfit really because it is very heavy yet it has a stiff flex and you don't usually see this combination. What you typically see is a heavy racket with a flexible shaft, and these are aimed at beginners. The Nano Power is different because of the flex. Now this means two things. The first is that you are going to need a fast swing speed to make this beast flex to get the power. The second is that because it is heavier it will be more difficult to swing it fast. You have two problems here. However, if you can swing fast you will get the full enchilada of power, and i mean real power of the racket face. Add to this little scenario the string tension, and you need even more swing speed to get the power. Remember, this test racket is strung at 28lbs, so you have the medium/stiff flex, the heavy weight and the tight strings all working together, and this is what makes this badminton racket such a powerful thing, and you absolutely need to have the technique to get the rewards. If you want a little more forgiveness, then string at a lower tension, it will help you get power without having to swing as fast.

Now can you imagine what would happen if you add lead tape to this as well? The overall weight will increase, but you will make it easier to swing, you will make this beast work for you instead of working for it. This would give you the maximum benefit, and you will certainly notice an increase in power for the same amount of effort. Another benefit is that because it is stiff you also get the control, so you now have more power with the weight, and this stiff flex helps you to control the power, add the string tension of 28lbs and you get even more control. Result= very good racket.

The price is about £35 from apacs sports UK and you can specify your string tension as well, which is a great bonus because factory strung tensions are totally crap, and it can certainly take 28lbs, and no doubt take 30 if you wish. When was the last time you saw a £35 badminton racket capable of taking this kind of tension?

My overall rating for the Nano 999 Power is this:-

POWER=10
CONTROL=9 (AT 28LBS TENSION)
VALUE FOR MONEY=10

The best Apacs racket i have tested, so good in fact that i am going to buy one myself, and i cannot give it a better recommendation than that really. Will not be for everyone due to the weight, but i promise you, you will not be disappointed with this badminton racket. The Apacs description suggests it is is aimed at club players, but don't read too much into that, you will find it works equally as well no matter what standard you play at. A club standard player woud more than likely have a lower string tension and so the Nano 999 Power would work well for them, a higher standard player would no doubt be well aware of higher tension, and at higher tension you get even more benefit, so it works for any standard of player in my opinion.

More Apacs Badminton Rackets

2009-02-08T09:12:00.003Z

I have just received another batch of Apacs badminton rackets to test. These being the Nano 999 Power, the Super Light and the Tantrum Power 11. All are strung with Apacs string at 28lbs tension, so for any of you out there who are a bit wary of whether or not an Apacs racket can handle this tension, then fear not, because they can!

I have only had them for 3 days, but i have played with the Nano 999 Power 3 times already, and my first impression of this badminton racket is that it designed for pure power, it is heavier than the others, has a head heavy balance, and the shuttle flies off this racket. After the first few shots i could tell it was going to be good. It is one of the most powerful rackets i have ever used. I will play with all of them in the upcoming days and post my reviews of each one shortly, the first will be the Nano 999 Power.

On another note, it seems the e-mail i sent to badminton england regarding the All England and the yonex monopoly has fallen on deaf ears, i have not had any reply. Not to worry, i will now direct a new e-mail at a specific person, and not just badminton england, this will hopefully get me a reply, if not, it will just show how great my badminton association really is, i mean, a paid up member of this association cannot even get a reply? Shameful isn't it?

Yonex Badminton Rackets and the All England

2009-01-31T11:22:00.002Z

The All England is just around the corner and no doubt it will be as popular as ever, with tickets selling out for the finals day, as has been the case for the past few years. This is good for our sport, but what is not good is the fact that Yonex have virtually taken over all the selling of badminton rackets and goods at the tournament. I have mentioned this in a previous post, but i got an e-mail from Apacs UK he other day that highlights this problem.

Apacs applied for a space at the all england to show off their rackets and stuff, but no sooner has they got permission than Yonex pulled the plug on them, and would not allow them to even have a stand there. Understand that even if they had been given a space, they were not allowed to actually sell anything, just have a presence is all they were allowed. Now they cannot even be there at all. This has also happened to Inflight Sports in the past, and no doubt other companies.

Is this good for badminton? Nope, not in my eyes. Yonex will have a mass selling project underway at the all england, headed by central sports, who are the only authorised yonex retailer allowed to sell yonex goods. This is great for central sports, this will be the week when they sell the most rackets and goods of the year. As well as selling stuff, they will have their business infront of all the people that matter, the buying badminton players from all over the world, but most importantly the buying public of the UK, who will remeber the central sports name, and no doubt think of them when they come to buy their next badminton racket.

The point is that the all england is the biggest badminton tournament on the circuit in terms of tradition and prestige. It was going along long before yonex came along to sponsor it. It is a badminton tournament first and foremost. The fact that yonex have sponsored it for so many years has helped it a whole lot. But why on earth should they be allowed to have a stranglehold on it just because they sponsor it? Why can they decide who has the right to show their products, and not even allow other companies to sell their rackets?

If the all england was sponsored by a company that had nothing to do with badminton, let's say it was sponsored by Barclays Bank. You would expect this company to have a strong presence, with stands offering their services. But you would also have other companies there too, like badminton manufacturers selling and promoting their stuff as well. The all england used to be like this, there were loads of stands on the concourse, and it was a buzzing atmosphere behind the scenes, with contacts being made, and companies selling rackets and other stuff. This has gone now, it is just a big yonex monopoly, you have no choice but to buy yonex.

This is crap. A badminton tournament should be a place where everyone can sell things, and badminton players can look at all the many different companies out there, and touch and feel the latest badminton rackets. Yonex should not be allowed to do this, and the ba of e should certainly have something to say about this, if they dare. They are the one's who have the ability to change what is going on here, but do you think they would risk upsetting yonex bu telling them to stop. Can you imagine what would happen if yonex pulled out of their sponsorship? The tournament would carry on no doubt, because it sells out, and they do have tv contracts with sky and others. But in my eyes they are yonex slaves, and i would welcome the ba of e to comment on this if anyone is reading this from the b a of e. I am a paid up memeber, so i think i have the right to know why this happens. I want a choice, and i reckon many other paying badminton players do as well.

As far as Apacs go, they are quite rightly gutted at being cut out of the all england completely. Other companies have felt the same in recent years, and this monopoly is not good for the tournament. The ba of e organise the all england, it is their tournament, they decide who sponsors it, they must surely have a say on what goes on at the tournament, and how it is run. So come on badminton england, you have the best badminton tournament in the world, so please make it a fair playing field behind the scenes as well.

To make this a bit more interesting, i am going to write me a letter to badminton england to find out what is going on, and get their side of the story, just to clarify this situation.

Another Badminton Racket Experiment

2009-01-22T20:28:00.003Z

I have been messing around with my badminton rackets recently, in particular i have been testing different tensions and different amounts of lead tape and the effect it has on my singles and doubles play. What i have done is have two different string tensions in two of my carlton airblade badminton rackets, one for singles and one for doubles. I have also added different amounts of lead tape to these rackets.

The singles racket has a lower string tension, about 24-25lbs, and has more lead tape added to it. The doubles racket has higher tension, about 27-28lbs and less lead tape added. My reasoning is this..

In singles you are playing an all court game and you are hitting more shots overhead, and more shots from the back corners when you get in trouble, which happens all the time in singles. If you want to succeed at singles then you need to be able to get out of trouble because no matter how good you move around court, you will at some point, get put into the extreme points of the court.

To get out of this trouble you need your racket to help you out. By lowering the string tension it helps you get a bit more power, it makes it easier to hit a more powerful shot. By adding the lead tape it also makes it easier to get some power from your badminton racket. These two factors combined help you. The trade off is control. Lower string tension gives less shuttle control.

Using these two factors i find it easier to hit the shuttle. I have mentioned this in previous posts when i did the first experiment with the lead tape. It worked for me, and i have used lead tape ever since, and will continue to do so becuase it costs hardly anything but you gain so much. I find i can get a good length on my shots from baseline to baseline, and also when i end up in the deep corners, both forehand and backhand corners from below net level.

It takes good technique and timing to hit the shuttle out of the corners and get a good length. What i have found is that for the same amount of effort the shuttle is going about a metre further. This extra metre has come from the lower string tension and the lead tape. And this extra power gives you more choices. I will explain..

If your opponent puts you into the corners and you hit out to the baseline then your opponent has to cover for this. This means they have to move further back in court, back to their base position. If you cannot hit out of the corners to a length, then your opponent will just sit closer to the net and be able to move their base further up the court. They will be able to take a chance because they can anticipate your short return, and will know they have time to move back. This will put you in even more trouble, and you will be shuttle chasing. If you play a reply to the net, no matter how tight it is, your opponent will be there early, and you will be shuttle chasing some more.

That extra metre i now have will keep my opponent guessing, and i now have the choice of being able to play to the net because my opponent is not sitting on top of it, or hitting to the baseline. This makes a big difference in singles i can tell you. This is what i have been noticing for the past few weeks with this racket combination.

The trade off is the lack of control, especially on net shots. The lower string tension does not help control, but it is a case of getting used to the different feel from the racket. It takes a few games, but i can accept this becuase i feel the benefit of the extra power is more valuable in singles for me.

As far as doubles goes, i have been playing with high tension a nd less lead tape. My reasoning is that in doubles i play a lot more reaction shots, such as smash returns, net kills and drives. The extra tension gives me more control, and the shuttle comes off the racket faster, it feels more responsive. I also get more control at the net for playing spinning net shots, and also, most importantly, i get more control on my serve.

The trade off with this combination is less power overhead on smashes. I cannot hit the shuttle as hard as i can with the lower string tension and more lead tape, unless i put more effort in. This extra effort takes it toll after a while because it is now not as easy to hit hard. However, i feel that, for me, it is better to be able to play more accurate shots in doubles than it is to have raw power from the rear court. The difference is not that much, but it is certainly noticeable. I have less lead tape because i need the badminton racket to be more reactive and faster to move. It is all a question of getting the right balance, and this is why i have been experimenting, to find the right combination for me.

What i now have is two identical rackets, they are both carlton airblade tours, but they have totally different playing characteristics. I didn't need to go out and buy myself a new racket, i just modified what i already had. I guess what i am trying to get across is that you should take the opportunity to experiment before you rush off and buy a new badminton racket.

On a different note now, is it just me or have RSL shuttles gone downhill recently? I am a big fan of RSL, but i am growing more and more dissappointed with them every time i play with them. RSL have based their reputation on providing durable shuttles over the years, but this hard won rep is going down the pan very quickly for me. Someone needs to tell them to get their act together, so i am doing just that. The recent batches are not up to standard, so please sort this out RSL. The prices have gone up and the quality has gone down, not a good combination if you ask me, this is the fastest way to lose customers, which would be a shame because this is their life blood.

On another note, i have sent an e-mail to Forza UK to get some badminton rackets to test. The reply said that they had some demo rackets, but they were all out at the moment with customers. They said i should e-mail Forza Direct. The problem here is that Forza Direct do not sell or stock badminton rackets, it is just a company website, so how on earth am i supposed to get rackets from someone who does not sell them? I will e-mail them anyway just to see what happens.

On yet another note. If you have a badminton related site or blog, then please let me know about it, and i will link to you. There must be loads of you with an interest in badminton and badminton rackets. If you enjoy this blog and would like to link to it, then feel free to do so, just link with the text of "badminton racket" to help this blog get a bit more exposure, and then i can hold all these badminton companies to ransom, and force them to let me test more rackets, which would help us all out in the long run. Hope this random post helps you out a little.

Badminton Racket Shops

2009-01-02T13:54:00.002Z

Badminton shops are everywhere on the internet, some are quite good and some of them are very lame. They all try to sell us the same thing, badminton rackets, but as i look at the listings on google it always seems to be the same companies doing all the advertising, day in day out. Here in the UK we have the big players in the online badminton market, namely central sports, uk rackets, tennis nuts, millets sports and sweatband. This lot are the main players, and it no doubt follows the 80/20 rule, whereby 80% of badminton rackets sold are done so by 20% of the shops.

Not only do these shops spend money to appear on google's sponsored listings, ie they appear on the right hand side of the search results, they also appear in the natural listings, the one's right in front of you on the screen. They do this by spending money omn optimising their websites for certain keywords, such as "badminton racket". This is the holy grail for any online shop, to be on the first page of results for that term, or others such as "yonex badminton racket", "cheap badminton racket" and so on.

This is very important if you want to sell more rackets. You need to be visible, you need people to know you exist. You can have the best online badminton shop around, that looks really great, and offers the best deals, but if nobody see's it, it is worthless. This is big business indeed, and the competition is fierce. The term "badminton racket", or badminton racquet, depending on how you spell it, gets around 40,000 searches every month, and if an online shop is ranked in first position it will take the lions share of this, it will have more visitors than any other shop.

Now how many badminton rackets do you think a shop could sell if it had 40,000 visitors every month? A lot is the answer. Now also, those sponsored results, the one's on the right hand side, these people have paid google to appear there. The number one position will cost more than the number two and so on. Every time someone clicks on their advert, they have to pay money to google for it. The cost can be up to £1 per click on google for the number one position. This money will be paid even if the visitor does not buy anything from the store. This is how google makes it's money.

The whole game is based around getting people to visit your store and buy badminton equipment. Another way is to have an affiliate program. This works by allowing website owners to advertise products for an online store. If someone clicks on the advert an then goes to the shop and buys a badminton racket, then the affiliate gets a commission of the price. The store gets a sale, and the affiliate gets a cut of the sale, everyone wins. The other big incentive for the shop is that it gets a backlink to their website. Backlinks help to rank websites, so the more backlinks that point to a site, the higher it will appear in the rankings, and the more rackets you can sell. This is how it works.

This ugly little blog follows a different path. I have around 150 people visit every day from google, sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average it is about 150. People find this badminton blog by typing things related to badminton rackets in google. I rank nowhere for the term "badminton racket" but i rank all over the place for hundreds of other keywords, such as "apacs badminton racket" browning badminton, badminton string tension, badminton racket guide, etc, these are the long tail keywords. I do this because i have a lot of content on this blog, with over 50 posts all related to badminton rackets, and google cannot help but rank me for obscure terms because this blog contains these words somewhere in all the text, on all the pages.

I get visitors by sheer content, and google loves content, the more i post, the more visitors i get, the more people can read what is on here, and perhaps learn something about badminton rackets. Can you imagine the complete horror if this blog was to rank in the number one position for the term badminton racket? Those online shops would be horrified. I would be taking away their business, instead of having their flashy looking website appear first, this ugly looking blog would appear, and they would not be happy at all.

I would then have 40,000 visitors every month and not them. Now in my opinion, this blog is more valuable to badminton rackets than some online shop is becuase there is information on here, and it is all independant. If a racket is crap, i will say so, but have you ever yet seen an online shop mention the fact that a racket is crap? They never will, because they are trying to sell you them, it is not independant at all, so what use are they?

If this blog ranked high for the main badminton terms then those online shops would be sending me e-mails asking if they can please advertise on this blog. The only reason they would do this is because i get visitors, and visitors means sales, and sales mean profits and money. The online shops don't really care about you and your game, they care about your money.

Central sports has cornered the UK market for Yonex. They are the recommended yonex retailer at the All England championships, and this really does stink. Why? because they have a total monopoly on what is sold at the all england. Yonex does not allow other retailers to even have stands at the all england, and central sports just cash in on this with yonex. This is a disgrace to me. When i used to go to the all england there where loads of stands with all kinds of different manufacturers selling stuff, and it was great for the badminton players to have the opportunity to see all the latest offerings from the manufacturers. These days it is just a big yonex selling monster, and it does the game no good at all. The badminton association of england should hang it's head in shame becuase it is just a yonex puppet, but does it even have a choice?

Yonex are the big sponsors of the all england for god knows how long, and the ba of e needs yonex to keep sponsoring this flagship tournament, because i doubt that anyone else would. I am pretty sure that our association could have some say in the running of it to allow other companies to trade on the concourse, but they will not do it in case yonex pull out of the sponsorship deal. The real losers in all of this are us, because we have little choice but to contribute to the yonex machine at the all england.

Central sports must absolutely love the all england, this is the time when they sell most stuff, anf get their name out to the masses. This is why they can afford to promote their online business on google first page day in day out. Do have a problem with central sports? No, they are just doing their job, it could be exactly the same with any other shop. Do i have a problem with Yonex? No, badminton needs yonex, they have a total grip on badminton worldwide, they sponsor more international tournaments than any other company, if yonex pulled out of badminton, who would fill their place? I don't think there is anyone else to do it. So badminton needs yonex, but i just wish everyone would stop kissing their arse, and stop being their puppets.

And back to badminton rackets... So we have the main players all advertising on google for a share of the spoils. At the time of writing this the number one sponsored listing is, guess who? yep, it's central sports, and the advert tells us that they are the premier uk yonex stockist. They sell the yonex stuff. Also ranked high are sweatband badminton for the term "badminton racket". Sweatband sell cheap badminton rackets, but it is only very recently that they have started selling yonex rackets, they have concentrated on other brands such as carlton. So they are up there for badminton racket, however, they do not appear for the term "yonex badminton racket". Why is this?

Well if you go to their online store you will find they sell just 7 yonex badminton rackets. They currently sell the nanospeed 9000X for a whopping £135. Do they not know that you can now buy this racket for around £80? Of course they do, this is the reason that they do not advertise for the term "yonex badminton racket" because they know damn well that they cannot hope to sell many yonex rackets when their prices are so high. Us badminton players are not stupid, and when we go online to find our next racket we will do a bit of shopping around to find the cheapest deal, and £135 for a nanospeed 9000X is not a good deal.

So why do they do it? Why do they insist on trying to sell these rackets for a price that nobody will buy for? Or will they? there must be some people who just go online and see a price and then go and buy it straight away. These are the people that the stores are hoping to find, and they do find them, because they keep on advertising. They would not advertise for badminton rackets day in day out if they did not sell them, it works for them, so they keep on doing it.

So where the hell do you go if you want to buy a badminton racket online? Well there literally hundreds of online stores, but only a handful that will sell rackets at a decent price, and the one's that do this, are the big name shops who spend more money on getting their name known. Honestly, some of the online racket shops are total crap, and sell stuff for stupid prices. There is no way they can hope to sell much if they sell too high, yet they still insist on advertising these high prices. What is the point?

Let's break this down a little. You want to sell rackets online so you get someone to build you a website. Not any old website either, but a flashy looking one with all the bells and whistles, that looks appealing to visitors, that makes you stand out from the rest. This will not come cheap. So you spend a lot of cash on just the right design. You then need all the rackets in place, ready to sell, so you spend a whole lot more money on your stock, thousands probably, becuase the more stock you buy, the cheaper each item will be. But you don't want to go out and buy loads of stock just in case you can't sell enough of it. You will need to get the balance right on this one.

So now you have the website and the stock. Now you need to get people to visit your shop, and so you need to market your name all over the internet, and to do this you need to spend some more money. You need to advertise your shop, so you go to google adwords and start paying for your badminton racket shop to be listed on google's sponsored listings, and you also go to yahoo and msn, and to the other major search engines, and reapeat the process.

You also want to appear in the organic listings, so you hire an search engine optimisation company, to help you move up the natural listings for the main terms related to badminton rackets. This is not cheap either, not cheap at all. These companies will then go out and optimise your website for these keywords and get you some backlinks, to help you move up the rankings for badminton terms. So far you have probably spent a whole lot of money. You could perhaps go the ebay route, and open up an ebay store, just like racketworld, and sell your equipment through ebay, or amazon. This represents a much cheaper alternative, and puts you infront of a wide audience, but don't forget that ebay will take a slice of the profits, and paypal as well.

After you have done all of this, the one thing you absolutely must offer to the customer is the best price, and best delivery, and best customer service, or else they will not buy from you. So why in the name of all that is holy do these shops still sell rackets at high prices? It defeats the whole object, and it does not make sense to me at all. If i had an online store i would be checking the other stores to see what prices they were selling rackets for, and at very least try and match that price. I would certainly not waste money on advetising, if my prices were too high, yet there are stores that do this. It is crazy. All this does is waste time, because you click on the advert, visit the website and then realise that you are not going to buy anything from them because of the price. They have lost money because they paid for you to click on the advert in the first place, and you have lost time by clicking through the website to find something you did not want to, ie a high price.

If i had a store i would only advertise for things i knew damn well i could sell cheaper, or as cheap as the competition, otherwise what is the point?

Here is another tip. If you buy a badminton racket and you get poor customer service, then go to somewhere like badminton central and name and shame them. Badminton central is a badminton monster, and by monster i mean that it is a big player in the online badminton world. It gets thousands of visitors every day, with very active forums. Badminton players go on these forums and have their say. It is mainly taken up with asian and north american players, but there are players from all corners of the globe on there.

The badminton companies also check out what is going on at BC, because it has so many visitors. They do look in the forums and see what is being said by the members, and all it takes for someone to sound out a certain company who has treated them badly and they are in there, offering an apology, because they know damn well that bad publicity will hurt their business. This is great because it helps to protect us badminton players, and also keeps the online stores in check. So next time you are not happy with a company just go on BC and let rip in the forums. It can also work the other way, if someone has a good experience with a racket and says so, or recommends a certain racket, then this will be good for business for the company, they will surely get some visitors from the BC community. The same thing goes with Badders in the UK.

I think this post has gone on long enough about nothing in particular without really achieving much! It has probably not helped in the slightest about choosing where to buy your next badminton racket, so my apologies.

Browning Oxylite Racket

2008-12-20T15:47:00.002Z

It has been a while since my last post, so apologies for the delay. I have been playing with a Browning Oxylite Ti 80 badminton racket recently, and i must say this thing is a very good racket indeed. The crazy thing is that it cost just £20. Listen for £20 this represents unbelievable value for money. Now the racket is not actually mine, it is one of my friends, but he managed to get hold of 4 of them for £80. He has now started using the Apacs Edgesaber 10, so i decided to nick his Browning rackets.

This racket has a good solid feel when you hit the shuttle, the head stays true through the stroke, and does not twist at all. There is hardly any vibration either, and you usually only get this with expensive badminton rackets. The fact that it was strung to about 27lbs makes this even more remarkable, you typically see more vibration when you string at higher tensions. Because the Oxylite has very little distortion it is also very forgiving, and the shuttlecock still travels off the head even with off centre shots.

It doesn't exactly look like a world beater, but inside it is very capable. The weight is around 85-89g, and the one i have been playing with felt more like 89g. This is a good weight to get some power, in fact the Oxylite gives great power when you hit the middle of the strings. The weight is an even balance, so it is also good for all round play and touch shots.

At this price i would say it ofers the best value for money of any racket i have tested. The key to getting these prices is to haggle a bit. Don't be afraid to do this, my friend did this and ended up with that deal. Browning are well known for having really stupid recommended retail prices, which are very high, no one would ever buy them for that price. Just concentrate on what the actual selling price is, and then work on that.

An update on the e-mails i have sent out. Well, i have sent one to Yehlex and one to Tactic, neither of them have had the decency to bother replying to me. This is unfortunate because i know for a fact that if i had sent an e-mail about buying a badminton racket, they would have replied right away. Perhaps the answer is to just phone them directly, which is my next option. The Apacs review went so well that they have now run out of Edgesaber 7's, so i really don't know what is wrong with these people. If anyone out there is reading this, and you own a badminton racket company that needs to sell rackets then get in contact with me, you cannot lose, you get a free review and a bit of recognition. I get to test some more rackets and hopefully help people decide on what is good and what is not good.

The Browning Oxylite 80 is a quality racket, i could tell from the first shot i played with it. It may not be your choice because i am different to you, this is just my opinion, but for £20 it defies belief, which is why i am writing about it.

Badminton Racket Discounts

2008-12-04T21:02:00.002Z

If any of you are looking for a new badminton racket this xmas, then there are some good deals to be had on the internet. The big discounts are on Yonex badminton rackets, and two in particular, the Muscle Power 99 and the Nanospeed 9000X. It would appear that Yonex is discontinuing these two models, and they will not be making any more in the future.

These two rackets are Yonex's best sellers over the years and have achieved cult status in the badminton world. The Muscle Power 99 is now on sale for as low as £60 in the UK, which is a big saving from around £100 when it first came out. The Nanospeed 9000X, the X stands for extra stiff, is on sale for £80 depending on where you look. I found these at ukrackets.co.uk and thy appear to be the cheapest deals so far.

The Nanospeed is offered at half price, which means it should be £160. No chance, it has never sold for this price, this is just the recommended retail price, and we all know that the online stores just pick a figure out of thin air, which is always sky high, and then make you think you have saved a whole load of dosh when you eventually do buy that badminton racket.

If you think you are getting a racket for half price, chances are you will go for it, and the sale is complete. The Muscle Power 99 is a very stiff racket, and it will make your arm ache after playing with it for a long time, ie a season, if you are not used to it. Again it all depends on how good your technique is, to be able to cope with the relentless pounding your arm will get. The Nanospeed does the same thing over time.

I really do think that this is why Yonex tends to change these kinds of rackets earlier than the others. The Muscle Power 100 came out around the same time as the 99, but it soon disappeared in the UK anyway. If you thought the 99 was stiff, then the 100 was even stiffer. It was like hiting the shuttlecock with a block of wood. It was almost unplayable over a period of time. A friend of mine who owns a sports shop played with it when it first came out and basically said it was just too much like hard work. His shoulder was getting sore after a few hours playing with it. Then as if by magic, Yonex stopped selling it in the UK. It was a flop, because it was too much, too much for the average player anyway.

And so the 99 has gone the same way. However, i believe this is more down to it's age. It has been doing the rounds for many years now, and it is now time to retire it. It is less hardcore, and so is more playable, and so it has been more successful. God knows how many have been sold around the world, probably millions. It kick started today's modern badminton racket trend, super stiff and lightweight, and strung at very high tensions. Bang!! That's the modern way, this is how racket technology has evolved, if only shoulders could evolve as well we would all be fine.

The Nanospeed 9000X will come down in price even more i think, as the stocks go down. There are bargains out there if you follow the trend and look hard enough. I am still in the process of finding some more rackets to test, which means finding some more manufacturers out there willing to let me test their products. The best chance i have is with the smaller manufacturers. I very much doubt that Yonex would ever loan me some rackets because they don't have a website that sells rackets, they have their own stockists who sell them for them. So to approach a main dealer would be a bit silly, but you never know.

The fact is that i need to get my hands on the rackets to test for free if possible, so i will try my luck. The one advantage i have is that quite a few people find this blog every day, so it gives the manufacturer a bit of exposure, which may help me when it comes to asking them to let me test their stuff. The test i did for Apacs was very positive and i am grateful to them for being the first. I will send out a few e-mails and see what happens

Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Nano 755 Power

2008-11-25T13:29:00.004Z

Next up for review is the Apacs nanopower 755 badminton racket. This falls into the budget range, but is not yet available to buy in the UK at the moment. The technical specifications are as follows:-

Weight- 85g
Balance- slightly head heavy
Grip- G2
Flex- 8.0-9.0 (stiff)
String- Apacs spider Ti 66 (0.66mm gauge)
Tension- 24-25lbs- pre strung

This racket has nano technology and is made from high modulus graphite. First impression is that it felt heavier than the other rackets i tested, even though it had the same weight spec, ie 4U. It felt very solid in contact with the shuttle, the head stayed in line with my shots, and there was little distortion, which is always a good thing in a badminton racket.

I was able to clear from back to back very easily, and the fact that it had a heavier feel and more head heavy balance certainly helped with this. There was not as much feedback as with the more expensive Apacs edgesaber's, but it is still a very useable racket indeed. Smashing wise i had no problems generating any power, and the shuttle came off the string bed very well, the lower tension also helped to get a bit more power, it was a combination of control and power at 24lbs, a kind of middle ground.

The nano 755 power did not feel quite as stiff as the nanopower 8000, or the edgesaber's, and so it was more forgiving on the shoulder and arm after a couple of hours, but this was only a slight benefit. Being a budget racket i was still surprised with how it played and felt, it did offer very good value, which is the main point, you still want to be able to play well no matter what you use, and the nano 755 power did not let me down.

I would rate this badminton racket as an 8/10 for power and control, and the same for the overall rating. The value for money would be a 9/10 because i don't think it will go on sale for much more than £30, which would give a real bang for the buck. A few of the other members in my club tried it out and they all said it was a decent racket, so it passed the test for them as well. All in all, we were pleasantly surprised with the nano 755 power. If you are on a budget then you can't go wrong with it.

Of course, when testing these rackets you need a shuttlecock, and i tested the Apacs Aero Flight 700. These have been IBF approved, so it gives you a clue as to their quality. I can tell you that these were a revelation. There is always a bit of uncertainty when you try a brand new shuttle, you just don't know what they will be like until you buy them. Now i am a bit of a shuttle snob, in that i hate playing with crap shuttles, they spoil everything in my eyes. This is why i usualy play with RSL tourney no1's, which i get from an ebay seller in hong kong. If you browse through some of my earlier posts you will know what i am going on about here.

I can say hand on heart that these apacs 700's are better than the RSL's. The speed is very consistent, they all land in the same place when you test them. The speed i tested was 78 by the way, which is perfect for the UK at this time of year. The biggest difference between these and the RSL was the durability. The 700's lasted about twice as long as the RSL, and that is a huge benefit as i am sure you would agree.

The feathers felt more robust than the RSL's i had from hong kong. I have a theory that the hong kong rsl's have different feathers in them than the one's sold in the UK, the hong kong one's are not as durable, but they are a hell of a lot cheaper. The Apacs feathers feel much stronger and more well made dare i say. We were slicing the ass of these apacs all day long and not once did any of the feathers break, they just frayed a bit, which is good news because it meant they lasted a lot longer. Even after a good hammering the flight was still consistent, and the speed did not alter much as well.

I have been e-mailing Apacs to get some more free samples, so hopefully i will get some!! When they stop dishing out free samples i will then buy them with my own money because i have fallen in love with them, hopefully i can get a discount!

You will not find the likes of Apacs in the high street just yet, or in the argos catalogue, or any other catalogue for that matter. They won't appear in major retail chains either, they are specialists, so you have to find them online, they only deal online. As they become more popular you will start to find them in other online outlets, this has happened with fleet and yehlex, and it helps to bring awareness to the brand. Of course, those of us in the know don't really care, because it is just as easy to buy direct, you always get better deals that way.

After testing the Apacs rackets and shuttles i would say they offer real good value for money. I was interested in using apacs stuff because of the reputation they had, and i glad i got the opportunity to do this. The badminton rackets are all quality products and will not let you down, and the prices are the added bonus. Hopefully in the future i will have more apacs rackets to test, as the catalogue has many more rackets in there. As they come to the UK i will test them and give my honest opinion to you. I am also on the lookout for more badminton manufacturers to let me test their products, so keep an eye out for some more reviews, as i will sending out some more e-mails.

Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Nanopower 8000

2008-11-22T22:05:00.002Z

The next badminton racket on review is the Apacs Nanopwer 8000, which is new to the UK and as yet is not on sale at the Apacs website, so this is a little bit of a secret test so to speak. I am guessing it is based on the nanospeed 8000 from Yonex. First of all there is no spec for it, so i am going to give you my best estimate as to what i think the spec is.

The weight is around a 4U, it really does feel light indeed, and the balance is even, but when you add the overgrip, which almost everyone does, it becomes head light, much like the nanospeed series are. The grip is certainly G2, ie very small diameter. Of course this will increase when the overgrip is added as well.

Maximum stringing tension is 30lbs, just like the Edgesaber rackets are, which is good news because the frame must be able to take this tension, so it will be strong. The string in here is an Apacs 0.66mm.

First impression is that this is very easy to swing with due to it's light weight. You do get a very solid feel when you hit the shuttlecock, it feels different to the edgesabers in that there is not as much feedback, but this is replaced with a solid contact feel. Both are equally as good to me, they just take a bit of getting used to. The shaft is very slim, which is designed to help you swing this racket faster through the air and increase the swing speed. Well, it felt about the same as both of the edgesaber's did to me, and the 4U weight made it travel through the air quicker as well.

The trade off with this is that you don't get the same power as you would with a heavier model, it's the laws of physics coming into play, and so if you are a touch player or a defensive player then this racket will be more suited to you, simply because it is light and has a more even balance.

You can get power out of the nanopower because it does give a solid feel when you hit the shuttle, but as always it is down to your technique. The nanopower does have a stiff flex, and so there is added control to shots. I had no problem controlling the shuttlecock, and the racquet head is very stable through contact, even more so than the edgesaber's.

The string tension in the nanopower 8000 i tested was around 25lbs, which is a fairly average tension for most players, and the frame coped with this no problem at all. This tension is a combination between power and control, it's not too tight to wreck your arm after two hours, which is one of my main concerns, but you just will not have maximum control, like you will with high tension. So there is a trade off, and it all depends on how you like it, or if you can adjust your game to get used to it.

I would have it strung a little tighter, but not much, so it didn't take long to get used to it. I would say that the nanopwer is a very capable badminton racket, you would not be dissapointed if you like the feel of a top end modern racket with the stiff flex and head light balance.

My rating for power would be an 8/10, it is very easy to swing through the air and increase your swing speed with the nanopower 8000. If it had a bit more weight it would have got an 8.5/10.

Control is also very good, i would rate it as an 8.5/10 because it has such a solid feel when you hit it just right. You get the rewards when you use it right.

Value for money? Err... there is no price yet for this racket, i guess we will have to wait and see. I would expect it to be around the same price as the edgesabers, there is nano technology and high modulus graphite in it, and it doesn't usually come cheap.

Overall rating is an 8/10, certainly a very well made, quality racket, i enjoyed testing it, more suited to all round play/ defensive, but aimed at more experienced players due to the stiff shaft. Put it this way, this badminton racket will probably be half the price of the Yonex nanospeed 8000, and after testing it, there is not much difference between the two.

Badminton Racket Review- Apacs Edgesaber 7

2008-11-16T09:05:00.004Z

Next up for review is the Apacs Edgesaber 7 badminton racket, which is based on the Yonex equivalent. I have played with it for around 10 days, just like i did with the edgesaber 10, so it has had a good old testing. Here is the technical stuff-

Construction: Hi-Modulus Graphite/ GS Carbon Nanotech
Weight: 4U
Grip: G2
Balance Point: 285 +/- 3mm
Max tension: 30lbs
Flex: Stiff - Extra stiff

Materials

GS Carbon Nanotech
Air resistant frame
Control support cap
Built in T joint

The racket i tested was strung with Apacs Ti Spider 66, which has a gauge thickness of 0.66mm and the tension was 25lbs. The replacement grip was an Apacs PU super grip, similar to the Karakal grip.

First impression is that it has a more even balance than the edgesaber 10, and is slightly less stiff, but only very slightly. The weight felt the same, and with both being in 4U form, this badminton racket is very light indeed. The edgesaber 7 gives a lot of shuttle feedback, just like the 10 does, you can feel each shot come through the frame, it's kind of like a "pinging" noise when you hit the shuttle. There is not as much feedback as there is with the edgesaber 10 though.

The edgesaber 7 is stiffer than the arcsaber 7. Even so, i found it very easy to play clears to the back of the court. This racket is more forgiving than the 10, mainly because it is not quite as stiff, and the string tension at 25lbs also helps out a little bit. The power is just as good as the edgesaber 10 though, if not a little bit better, which surprised me a bit. Fast reaction shots are easy because of the lightness of this racket.

Just like i did with the 10, i re-strung the 7 upto 27lbs tension, and the difference was very noticeable. I found this racket became even more responsive, as the shuttle flew off the string bed. It is designed for higher tensions, and this is when you get the full benefit of what the frame has to offer. The Spider strings felt very similar to the Tour strings i used in the edgesaber 10, both are very capable indeed, and i had no breakages even when i upped the tension.

There is that consistent feel that i look for in any badminton racket, and this aids control and allows you to hit your shots consistently to all corners of the court. The edgesaber 7 allows me to this, and so it does it's job. Hit the shuttle in the middle of the racket and you get the rewards, don't do this and you will not be rewarded, this what happens with the edgesaber 7 and the 10 for that matter. The combination of the stiff frame and the light weight mean that this is the scenario you are faced with, it is the same for all of these type of rackets. You need a solid technique to play with this badminton racket. But the reality is that when you get it right, boy does it feel good. It's like your technique is unlocking the real potential of the racket, and higher string tension is the icing on the cake for me.

The edgesaber 7 is a quality product, i liked it even more than the edgesaber 10, it seemed to suit my game better.

Power
The power is there from this badminton racket, you just have to be able to generate it with your technique. I found no problem at all hitting the shuttle hard. For a little bit more power i would suggest a bit more weight, but the edgesaber 7 had a tiny bit more bang than the 10 did, so i would rate the power as an 8.5/10

Control
I was able to do what i wanted with the shuttle using this racket, so as far as control goes i would give it a 9/10.

Value for money
This is where it gets a bit silly, because the edgesaber 7 is now on sale at apacs UK for just £39.99, and if you add the code BLOG10 in the coupon field you get another 10% off until christmas eve. This represents real value for money, you will get this racket for around £36, and you also get your own string tension as standard, which is a big advantage. How many times have you bought a new badminton racket and then immediately had to re-string it because the tension was crap? My rating for value for money is 10/10.

Overall Rating
I would give the edgesaber 7 a 9/10. In fact i like this badminton racket so much that i am now using it all the time.

Apacs Edgesaber 10 badminton racket review

2008-11-14T17:58:00.006Z

Well i have had the Apacs badminton rackets for around 10 days now, and given them a good testing. First up is the Edgesaber 10, and here is the technical specifications-

Weight- 4U (80-84g)
Grip - G2
Balance point- 285 +/- 3mm
Flex- 8.5-9.0 (stiff)
Max stringing tension- 30lbs

Construction

GS Carbon Nanotech
High Modulus Graphite
Ultra PEF
Control Support Cap
Built in T-joint

The Edgesaber 10 i tested was strung at 25lbs with Apacs Titanium 65 Tour (0.66mm).
The replacement grip was also an Apacs grip (white)with a "soft feel".

First impression was that the edgesaber 10 felt very light, with a slightly head heavy balance, but not as head heavy as the Yonex Arcsaber 10. This badminton racket feels fairly stiff, but not super stiff. As a result i found it very easy to hit the shuttle from baseline to baseline. There is very good feel from the shuttle to the racket, this is a very responsive racket indeed. Power is also there, and the shuttle comes off the string bed very well. This feel comes into it's own when you play fast reaction rallies. One word of warning though. I would say this racket is not for beginners because it is fairly unforgiving, if you do not hit the shuttle in the middle of the string bed, then it will not travel like you want it to. On the other hand, when you do hit it just right you are rewarded with a clean, crisp, solid feel, and this is what the edgesaber 10 is all about. You need to be good enough to get the rewards from these type of badminton rackets.

The Titanium 65 Tour string is as good as any other string out there. At 25lbs the racket does give you a bit of forgiveness, as the sweet spot is bigger, so any shots slightly off- centre will still travel. However, i did re-string the edgesaber 10 to 27lbs and there is a marked difference. This racket becomes a different beast at higher tensions. You get even more reward in the way of power and response. I would say that this racket is better at higher tensions because it is designed for it, that is why you see the max string tension at 30lbs. This is why the strings are really the key for me.

Control is also good, at the net and from all round the court. I am not one for being obsessed with what technology is in a racket and what it does for me. I just want to know how the racket feels for me and what it offers my game. To be honest with you, i could not tell you how the high modulus graphite and the CS carbon Nanotech technology make this racket what it is. I just get the bat out and play with it. I can tell after about two or three shots if it is going to be any good or not, and whether i will like it. The edgesaber 10 is a quality product, there is no doubt about it, but the main point i will make about it, is that it is a good racket in it's own right.

I have been playing with this badminton racket and all my shots are still the same, i can play net shots that are close to the net, and do all the things i want to with the shuttle, and this is what matters. You must feel comfortable with your racket, otherwise, what is the point in using it?

Most modern badminton rackets follow the same formula, and there is only a small difference between them in playability. The manufacturers will try to make you think differently, so you choose them above another, but the reality is that they aren't that much different, we are just fooled by the marketing machine, and the prices.

My overall rating for the edgesaber 10-

Power
I would say that if you have the technique then you have the abiliy to get the power from this racket. It will reward you for this. More weight will help with power, and so for a bit more power use a heavier racket. This edgaseaber was a 4U, so it was very light, therefore, the amount of power i could generate would not be as much as if i used a 3U or even 2U. Personally, if i was to go out and buy one myself i would have at least a 3U, but this is my own personal preference. Because of this, i would rate the edgesaber i tested for power as an 8/10.

Control
Control is very much dependant on the player and technique. The edgesaber has a stable hitting base if you hit the shuttle in the centre of the string bed, and from this you get the shuttle control. I was able to hit all my shots where i wanted to, so i had control. The racket head stays stable through the strokes and this is what you want, a consistent feel. I got more control with a higher string tension, but this is down to the strings. As long as the racket performs consistently that is what i look for, and in this respect, the edgesaber delivers. So for control i would rate it as an 8.5/10.

Value for money
The retail price for this badminton racket is £59.99. However, Apacs are selling this edgesaber 10 for £44.99. Also, as a special discount to any readers of this blog, there is also a 10% discount if you add BLOG10 in the coupon field when you go to buy. This would make this edgesaber 10 around about £40, and that is value for money folks. By the way, i am not affiliated in any way to Apacs, they have just decided to offer this discount to my readers, which i think you will agree, is a great way for you to save some money. At this price i would rate the value for money at 10/10.

Overall Rating
I would give the Apacs Edgesaber 10 badminton racket an overall rating of 8.5/10.

Next up will be the Edgesaber 7. Just one more thing, you can still get free shuttlecocks from apacs if you e-mail them, there is a back log as you can imagine, but e-mail them anyway and just be patient. One more thing, i tested these rackets with the apacs shuttlecocks and i can tell you that they are a bit of a revelation. I am a bit of a shuttle snob, i only play with good quality shuttles, crap shuttles spoil you game, but the apacs shuttles are among the best i have used. I will write my own review of them in a future post, but they really are first class, and they are free if you e-mail them!! Once you try them you will see what i mean. Stay tuned for the next badminton racket post!

Apacs Badminton UK Have Delivered

2008-11-03T20:04:00.009Z

Well here are the goodies from Apacs UK as promised. I will take some more photos of them as i go along. What they have sent me is...
1. Edgesaber 10
2. Edgesaber 7
3. Nanopower 8000
4. Nano 755 Power
5. Dri fit top
6. Apacs racket bag
7. 2 replacement grips
8. 2 sets of Apacs Ti Spider 66 strings
9. One tube of Apacs Aero Flight 700 goose feather shuttles
10. One tube of Apacs Aero-Space 600 plastic shuttles

I will let you know all the different specs and stuff when i write up the reviews and give them a good testing on court. Also, these 4 badminton rackets are samples of what is available in the Uk at present. There are other models on the way, and i will also be able to get my hands on them and test them when they arrive, courtesy of Apacs UK.

The Edgesaber 7 and 10 are brand new out of the packet, and the Nanopower 8000 and the Nano 755 Power are demo models but are in as new condition. I have a badminton match tommorrow and i will use the Edgesaber 10 first, nothing like getting stuck in straight away. Stay tuned folks.

Apacs Badminton

2008-10-24T13:54:00.003+01:00

You may remember i had trouble with getting in contact with Apacs Canada a good few weeks ago. Well Apacs UK left a comment on the original Apacs badminton rackets post mentioning the fact that they have new rackets in stock, and they could also get any Apacs model they manufacture to the UK. What they also mentioned was that they now have shuttlecocks in stock, both feather and plastic, and the best part is that you can have a sample tube for free. Yep, FOR FREE, just e-mail them at info@apacs-sports.co.uk. I have a feeling that this is only for UK residents, so if you live in the UK and want some free shuttles then drop them an e-mail.

Furthermore, Apacs badminton UK are sending me some sample rackets and clothing to try out from their ranges. Even better, they are going to string the rackets at my own tension preference. This is the kind of customer relations i like. Who knows, perhaps some other manufacturers will follow suit in the future. I will give the rackets a good testing and let you all know what i think.

A word of warning though. You know my opinions about racket reviews, and how subjective they are. So please, please, please, remember that fact. However, for this blog to provide more useful information than me just listing different badminton rackets and their specifications, i think it would be good to actually let you all know what these badminton rackets are really like when you play with them.

What do you think? Would you be happy with this? Please let me know. I don't know yet which Apacs rackets i am going to get, but i will give all the information on the one's i do get, when i get them. I will take some photos of them, so you can see for yourself what i will be testing. It will also be an honest, unbiased review, i am not being paid to do this. Apacs have faith in their products, and many others have recommended their stuff. I have also wanted to get my hands on their badminton rackets because of the cult following they already have, and now i have that opportunity. Stay tuned for more details, and don't forget to contact Apacs if you want those shuttlecocks, i don't know how many they have so i would advise you to get in quickly if you want them.

Babolat Badminton Rackets

2008-10-20T19:38:00.007+01:00

Babolat made it's name from making strings, natural gut to be exact, and they started this a long long time ago.. They are also more well known for their tennis rackets, but fairly recently they have started making badminton rackets. Their rackets are distinguished by the two stripes on the lower part of the head. Babolat have gained a cult following in the tennis world for their rackets, with around a quarter of the world's top 100 using them.

The big coup for them was signing Rafa Nadal and Roddick, because no matter how good your product is, you need to market it to the masses, and what better way to do this than by having successful players using your stuff. Just ask Yonex, they have all the top players using their stuff, although i don't think some of the Asian players have much choice in the matter, their national team is sponsored by Yonex, so they use their gear.

The question is can Babolat transfer the success of tennis into badminton? It's a similar situation to the likes of Wilson, Head and Prince. All are the big players in tennis, but they are starting from behind when they enter the badminton world because of the domination of Yonex. What they do have going for them is that they are not trying to copy anyone else, they have their own ranges, with their own little variations of technology. There must come a point when these companies will exhaust the amount of variables you can do to a badminton racket.

All manufacturers must look at a badminton racket and sit down to see what can we change? how can we make it better, or different from the rest? The head shape has changed from a conventional oval shape to isometric, and Prince tried to Axis shape a few years ago. Are there any other shapes the head could be? The aerodynamics of the head have been looked at, remember the wide body rackets? The edges of the head have been curved to cut through the air better, with the promise of extra power. I bet the manufacturers would really like to make a racket head that had sharp edges, like a wedge shape, which would be even more aerodynamic, but in reality you would have players being sliced up by their partners if they get hit.

So what have Babolat done to make them stand out from the rest? Well in the UK there are two ranges to choose from, the Satellite and the Booster Max. Where do they think up these names from? Most manufacturers have names that conjour up thoughts of power, speed and movement. We have the ArcSaber, the Airblade, the Aeroblade, Powerflow, Muscle Power, Nanospeed, K strike, EdgeSaber, Armortec, Fireblade, Super Wave, Ripple Power, Nano Power, Quad Power etc. Some badminton racket makers now add "tour" to their products, which gives us the impression that these rackets are used by the touring professionals, so they must be good enough for us. You get the impression that you would be part of an exclusive club if you use a tour racket.

So Babolat have chosen the term Satellite for their most expensive range. It immediately makes me think of something going round in circles (movement), orbiting around the earth (out of this world!) and moving very fast (speed). Babolat have covered the power problem with the "booster max" range. I guess these racquets will boost your power to the maximum.

The big daddy of the Satellite range is the Satellite Nitro 09. Now why have they brought out the 09 range in 2008? Looking at the online store i am at, they also sell the Satellite Nitro 08, which happens to be £12 cheaper. You may be able to guess that the Satellite range features Babolat's new Satellite technology. The marketing slogan is "may the power be with you", says it all really. This technology will give you increased power and added responsiveness. And it does this because it has cone shaped grommets. Yep, that is the big deal here, the grommets are a different shape. Babolat have also made the frame slimmer, and have a revolutionary new stringing pattern which will cut stringing time by 30%. I can see all the stringers rubbing their hands with glee on this one.

Yet more amazing technology can be seen at the t-joint where the shaft meets the head. Babolat have turned this joint into a v-shape, with Kevlar positioned around this v, to reduce torsion. And the final bit of good news is that Babolat have designed the "pilot system" which is basically two strips of plastic placed on the cone, which will help you to grip the cone better, and act as a marker for playing drop shots, serves and drives. Most players just tend to put their overgrips over the cone to help with this, but now you don't need to, because of these "strategically positioned elastomer strips".

The Satellite Nitro has a medium flex and is slightly head heavy. It weighs 86g and has a "power head size". This means it has an isometric head shape. It is made from hot melt graphite, with a bit of Kevlar and Zylon thrown in as well. Price for the 09Nitro is £101.99, the price for the 08 is £89.99. The difference between the two is the paint job, and the 09 version has a thinner shaft, oh and the price as well. You may as well just buy the 08 version, i am sure you will not notice the 3mm reduction in the shaft that much.

By the way, how do you spell Satellite? Is that correct, or is it "satelite"? the online store spells it satelite, with only one "l" in it. What the hell, i will just spell it both ways, a bit like racket and racquet i suppose.

Now the price for this Nitro is very expensive, and when Babolat hit the tennis market they kept a close watch on the dealers to make sure they didn't devalue the Babolat brand by cutting prices, a bit like Yonex do. So i suppose this is why prices are high. However, the very fact that they are selling next years models in this year, and also offering small discounts on this years models, which are in fact now last years models? Confusing ain't it? leads me to believe they are not selling well. The fact that they are new on the scene would account for this, and they are not exactly flooding all the online retailers with their rackets.

On the plus side, Babolat have taken the tennis world by storm over the last few years, so they must know how to make good stuff, perhaps they can repeat this feat in badminton. I must admit i have never used any Babolat badminton rackets, nor have i even seen anyone else using them so i can't comment on how good or bad they are. It may be a different story in other parts of the world, but in the UK they have yet to catch on.

Next up in price is the Babolat Satelite Solar 08, which is £82.99. It has the same technology as the Nitro but this one weighs 82g and has a very flexible rating, it is also slightly more head heavy than the Nitro. This kind of breaks the mould a bit as far as top end models go because they are usually very stiff.

At £74.99 we have the Satelite Energy 08, with the same technology as the others, but this time we have a medium flex and slightly less head heavy balance. The weight is 86g. Also at £74.99 is the Satelite Star 09, which has the same balance and stiffness as the Solar, but weighs 84g.

Also in the Satelite range is the Comet. Now i have found another online retailer who sells Babolat gear and there is a quite a big difference in price between the two. One sells the Comet for £39.99 and the other is selling it for £76.49. The cheaper one is an 07 model, but they are basically the same except for the price. The Comet weighs in at 92g and is very head heavy, with a medium flex. This would probably feel very sluggish.

Finally we have the Satellite Chrono and Synchro which are the same apart from the weight, with the Chrono being 89g and the Synchro at 85g. They cost around £55.

OOPS, there is one more, the Babolat Satelite Brio. This costs £39.99, has a medium flex, weighs 89g and is head heavy. It also has an oval head shape, not isometric like the others in the range.

The next range is the Booster Max series, which is the economy range. This series does not have all the bells and whistles that the Satelite series has. The Booster Shock 09 costs £41.99, it has a medium flex, weighs 86g and has a more even balance. It is made from high modulus graphite, and you do get the revolution that is the pilot system, ie, two plastic strips on the cone. It is also isometric.

The Booster Ti 09 is next up, and this baby weighs in at 90g with a medium/stiff flex. It is also has the same balance as the Shock. Price is £33.99.

The Babolat Booster Force is from the same range, but i have had to look at a different online store to find any more Babolat offerings. What i can see is that it pays to shop around for the cheaper rackets because this Babolat Force costs £50.99, and this is much more than on other websites. There is not much info either, but it weighs 89g and has the isometric head shape. Finally there is the Booster Lite at around £34.99, with a more even balance, 87g and a medium to flexible flex rating.

So there you have it. Time will tell if Babolat can make it in badminton, and it is fiercely competitive. The prices on the top end rackets are around the same as Forza, Carlton and Head badminton rackets, so i guess this is who they are competing against. But the market is huge as there are so many of us badminton players sbout so perhaps they have a chance.

A New Badminton Racket

2008-10-16T21:32:00.006+01:00

Well, the time has come for me to change my badminton rackets. The Carlton Airblades have done a good job for me over the past 4 years, but i feel like a change. The legendary Carlton quality problems are doing my head in. After adding my lead tape, they just don't seem to be capable of handling this extra strain. There is now large amounts of insulation tape all around the cones, to keep them in place. Every time i play the cone moves around, and it is getting on my nerves. The question is, what should i buy?

I have done a bit of searching on the internet to see what is out there. I have seen some decent deals on the Head Metallix 8000, which is now £50, down from £80. The Apacs rackets seem to be good value, but i hate paying more, just because i am in the UK. You may recall that Apacs are much cheaper in Canada, but trying to get a reply is like getting blood out of a stone. Yonex are too expensive, and even though the Muscle Power 99 is now selling for £60, down from about £100, it is too stiff for my liking. That racket should come with a warning on it for your shoulder.

The ever reliable Fleet website does look tempting. They always have special offers, and at the moment there are 2 which look interesting. The first deal is for the Fleet FT 85X. Now this racket has a flexible shaft and has the old nano technology in it. It has an isometric head shape and the balance point is 290-300mm. This means it is head heavy. A little guide for you here about these measurements, which do appear quite often in the various badminton racket specifications. 270-280mm will be head light balance. 275-285mm will generally be more even balanced. 285-300mm will be head heavy balance.

Fleet are offering two of these rackets for £65.99. I also want my own sting tension as well, so i contacted Fleet and they said no problem sir, i can have both these rackets strung with Yonex BG65Ti for an extra £8, which works out at just £4 per racket, which is about as cheap as you will find. These rackets can be strung up to 30lbs, and they will string up to that tension. This is great news for me because almost every online store will not string your racket to anything near this kind of tension, they just go with the manufacturers tension, which is a lot lower. I would have my tension at about 26lbs, because the racket will lose a few pounds as soon as i start playing with it.

The big dilema with higher tension is the possibility of breaking those strings if you mis-hit the shuttle, especially when they are new. The solution is don't mis-hit the shuttle, and if you are daft enough to have this tension then don't go crying when they break. I will take the chance, because i absolutely love the extra control you get with higher tension. The trade off is that you need that good technique, especially from the rear court, or you will not have any power. The strings will flex less, it is down to you to make them flex, and therefore get the power.

Of course you all know what i am going to do with these rackets as soon as i get hold of them. Lead tape baby! Forget the stated balance point because that will go out of the window. The flexible shaft will help with power a little bit, and i will have more control with the strings. Of course, control is all down to you. No racket can promise extra control, and i would like to see one that can. Nope, only your racket stroke production will give you control. The string tension will also help, depending on what tension you feel will help you best. If you feel you have more control at lower tension then all is fine, but for me, it is a little bit higher.

The second special offer is for two Yehlex badminton rackets. These being the Yehlex YX7000 Nano. It has nano technology and a woven kevlar shaft. It also has a triple taper racket head and has a medium flex. The balance point is head heavy again, but that will change with the lead tape that would go on it. Now what the hell all this triple taper and woven kevlar stuff will do is anyone's guess, i am not particularly interested. What i am more interested in is the price, which is £62.99 for two. These rackets can also be strung to 30lbs, which means that the frames must be robust to take the tension.

This all sounds really good, but there is one small problem and it is this. I have used Fleet twice before. The first time i had a couple of racquets, i cannot remember what they were called now, but they were good value and they did the job. The second time i was not impressed at all. I got two, Top Power models for £60 and they were crap, i just did not like them, they felt dead. I let a few of my mates try them and they all came to same conclusion, they were crap. So i have had a good and bad experience. Should i try them again? I could just contact Fleet/Yehlex ( they are the same company) and ask them if these two special offer rackets are decent. Not much use really because they are hardly going to tell me they are no good are they? I could just tell them the truth, ie, are these rackets as crap as the Top Power one's? This is not a very good idea either. I have not played with them before, so i can't get a feel for them before i buy them. As far as i know they don't let you try before you buy, but there is no harm in asking is there? As far as i can tell, this is the best option, because i would not be a happy bunny if i paid for them and found out they were shit.

Now if i was mr Fleet i would and i had a potential buyer asking me to try before they buy, and also knowing the buyer had had a bad experience in the past, i would offer a trial, wouldn't you?

There is another alternative, and that is Browning. My playing partner uses Browning, the Oxylite 80 to be precise. He got them from Racketworld, which is just about the only place you can buy Browning badminton rackets. This is not a problem because they are extremly cheap and offer good customer service. I am going to try my partners rackets out, so i can see what they are like. Hopefully i won't break any of them, and i am sure he is hoping i don't either.

I will mull over these options for a few weeks and come up with a solution no doubt. However, if by some miracle anyone from Carlton is reading this, then sending me a couple of replacement rackets would be a great exercise in customer relations. In fact if anyone from any of the hundreds of online retailers is also reading this, then sending me a few rackets would be great, and it would do harm at all for your customer relations as well! Hell, someone could sponsor me, and the couple of hundred people who read this blog every day would get to know just how great your shop really is. I won't hold my breath though eh? If anyone has any suggestions as to what badminton racket i should get next then feel free to comment. And for something completely different, a little shout out to one of my friends who has a fantasy baseball site, not related much to badminton rackets, but fantasy baseball has a huge following over in the US.

Badminton Singles Advice- Serving

2008-10-12T11:36:00.005+01:00

Most, if not all of my previous posts have been on badminton rackets. However, there is a limit as to the amount of information i can give out about rackets. I have covered many of the major badminton racket manufacturers, there are still a few more to look at, and i will do this in due course. By now you should be familiar with the technical fluff that goes with buying racquets, what to look for when buying, and how to find the right racket for your style of play. This is all well and good, but you now have to play with your chosen racket. I keep banging on about how it is you, and only you that can get the most out of your racket. Rackets will only ever give you a small advantage, about 5%. But what about the other 95%? This is the hard part. Badminton is such a difficult game to master, you never stop learning.

I have been playing badminton for many years, both singles and doubles. This post is about singles. It is my take on this discipline. I was coached by a respected England coach for about 5 years, when i was younger, so what i tell you is based on what i was taught, with some of my own ideas thrown in.

Singles badminton is based on moving your opponent around the court, so you can play winning shots. The pre-requisite for being able to play singles is fitness. Without fitness you cannot play singles effectively. So i am going to assume you already have a good level of fitness. I am also going to assume you can play your shots. If you cannot hit a clear to the back of the court consistently, or any other shot consistently then get on the court and practise. Go to a coach. This is essential. Spend your money on coaching and learn the basics before you spend money on rackets. I cannot stress this enough.

Once you can play your shots consistently you will come up against players who are of a similar standard to you. This is where you will find out about yourself and your game. There is not much use in playing inferior players. This may sound a bit ruthless, but if you want to improve, you absolutely have to test yourself against players who are of similar standard. You may be a beginner or intermediate player, but try to find opponents of similar standard. Once you reach a certain standard, you will realise that you can't hit winning shots for fun, your opponent will be able to reach these shots, and this is the essence of singles play.

Now, let's begin.. Singles is about using shots to put your opponent out of position. It is all about movement, this is why fitness and shot consistency is essential. The serve is the first shot you will play. If you use a high serve, then make sure it reaches the backline, or very close to it. This will put your opponent right to the back of the court. It will put pressure on their movement right from the start. If you cannot hit your serve consistently to the back tramline, then practise until you can. Look at where you stand when you serve, and then look at where the shuttle lands. You can do this on your own. Adjust your serve position. If you find your serve is landing short, then move closer to the service line and hit your shot with the same amount of power, see where it lands now. Alternatively, if you hitting your serve too long, move back a little bit, and see where the shuttle lands now. This is basic stuff, but so many singles players fail to hit the high serve consistently to the back line. Weak serves put you under pressure right away, so make sure you can get good consistency.

This is the base point for serving high. What you also need to do is realise what your opponent is doing, and where their base position is. A high singles serve can have different trajectories, and be placed either straight or to the side tram lines. If your opponent stands close to the service line, then a flatter serve will put their movement under more pressure to get behind the shuttle. Make sure you hit it high enough so they cannot intercept your serve.

The most common high serve is to the centre. This choice of serve will narrow the angle of your opponents replies. If you hit the serve high enough, it will make sure the shuttle is falling down vertically when your opponent hits their reply. This makes it more difficult to hit the shuttle cleanly. Most players cannot play winning shots consistently from the extreme back line. Aim to make them play from this area.

Study your opponents replies to your serves. Don't just hit the serve into court to get the rally started. Do they have a favourite reply from a certain position? If they do then you can start to anticipate their return by moving your base postiton a little to where you think the reply will be. An example of this is when your opponent plays a straight forehand smash reply to a serve hit out wide. You can move over more to the side they tend to go to. Always study your opponent, this is vital. Better players will learn and adapt quicker, so you can't always depend on anticipating their shots, they will vary their shots from any postiton to keep you guessing. This is where the fun starts!

Against good players, serving out wide will put you under pressure. You open up the possible angles of reply, straight or cross court. However, even good players may still tend to have a favourite reply, so think about this, try it and see what happens. Remember, you are constantly probing for any weakness, right from the first shot, to gain any advantage you can get.

The low serve in singles can also be an effective choice. In my experience i tend to play two types of low serve. The first one is a serve that lands close to the front service line. The second is played a bit harder, and i aim to land it a few feet in court. Which one depends on my opponent. If their base position is futher back in court, then a tight low serve to the front service line will put a little more pressure on their movement, and they will take the shuttle later, giving you an advantage. This could be the difference between them hitting the shuttle below the level of the net, giving you a slight advantage.

If your opponent stands closer to the net, then i tend to play my service further into court. This makes it more difficult to reply with a tight net shot. If they stand even closer to the net to receive serve, then a flick serve is an option, to keep them guessing. Which serve you play will also depend on your opponents replies. If they like to play net returns, then the slightly harder hit serve will make it more difficult to play those tight net shots. However, if you are strong at the net, then play the softer serve and invite them to play a net shot.

If you do serve low in singles, then you must be able to cover the whole court very quickly. This puts pressure on your movement so you need to be able to cover all the corners quickly. If you struggle with this, then serve high, but always look for what your opponent does.

It may appear as though this is a complicated thing. Afterall, i have only described the very first shot you play. But this is the kind of detail that can mean victory or defeat. Badminton is a thinking game underneath, just like any other sport, and just a little bit of understanding will help you improve faster. It is not just about hitting shots, it's how, where, when and why you hit them. Every opponent is different, and you need to be able to adjust accordingly. This is why you need to be able to play all the shots from all the many positions you will find yourself in.

Now i ask you- how important is your badminton racket? Your racket does not make these decisions as to how and when to play different shots. It is all down to you and your ability to think during games. You can have the world's most expensive badminton racket, but if you can't hit a high serve to the back of the court in singles, or be able to analyse your opponents game, and your own, then what use is it? I will cover more topics on both singles and doubles in future posts, with more racket manufacturer stuff thrown in as well.

The next time you read about how this badminton racket and that racket will give you the power and control you have been wishing for, just take a step back, and realise just how much it is all down to who is holding that badminton racket.

Back Up Badminton Rackets

2008-10-06T21:25:00.003+01:00

We all have them, and they are sometimes different, but if you play a lot of badminton then you need a back up badminton racket. There is nothing worse than seeing your racket strings break and then realising you don't have a spare in your bag. Or worse, seeing your racquet break on your partners, and wondering why only yours has broken. It may not be so bad if their's had gone as well, but it only ever seems to be your own that breaks.

This leads on to what spare racket or rackets you own. Personally, i like to have the same rackets so i know that everything is the same for me. This goes for doubles and singles, always the same. I have been caught out in the past when i have broke strings and had to borrow from my partner. This is when you find out that their racket is nothing like what you play with, and the string tension is miles apart as well. This means you have to adapt, and quickly as well. I can hear the ready made excuses already if you lose. " We would have won, but i just couldn't get used to the weight, or the tension".

There are a lot of people who have all kinds of badminton rackets in their bags, for all sorts of occasions. Some have different rackets for singles and doubles. Some have different string tensions, depending on all kinds of things. Some have different tensions because their other rackets have just been left in the bag and they didn't have time to get them strung. You may have a few rackets with broken strings, just sitting there. You may have racquets in your bag that you played with and just didn't like, so they sit there, only to be used in emergencies. If it sounds like you, then don't worry, the only way i know this is because i have been guilty of all of the above in the past!

We all know what we like, and the point of having a variety of back up rackets seems quite logical. You may like that heavier racket for playing doubles, so you can get a bit more juice on the smash. Alternatively, you may like that lighter racket for doubles, so you can play fast reaction shots at the net, or fast, flat driving rallies from the mid court. You can have your own individual rackets for your style of play in mixed or level doubles.

Some people have their rackets all strung at different tensions for singles or doubles. I do this, i have my racket strung at a slightly lower tension for singles than for doubles. Singles often involves being put into difficult positions, especially in the corners, and you need all the help you can get to get the shuttle back into play with a good length, to get you out of trouble. My idea is that the lower tension will help me do this, because it slightly increases the sweet spot, and adds a bit of forgiveness to shots. In doubles, i need control, especially around the net, so the higher tension gives my touch shots more accuracy. At higher tensions, the shuttle comes off the string bed quicker, and this helps my reaction shots, and sends the shuttle back faster.

My regular readers know about my lead tape experiment, and i have two rackets with this tape added. One has just about as much lead tape as you can add, the other has just a little bit. I use the heavier one for singles, as this gives me a little more power overhead and also makes it easier to hit full length shots, it makes clearing the shuttle much easier, and this shot happens much more in singles then in doubles, for me anyway. Now, the combination of lower tension and overall heavier weight helps that little bit to enable me to get out of sticky situations without flogging my shoulder to bits.

In doubles i choose the lighter racket because i have found that the heavier racket is a bit more of a handful in playing fast reaction shots. There is only a slight difference, but that small difference in doubles is the difference between winning and losing sometimes. Despite this, i know that this heavier racket is actually helping me, because it is training my forearm and wrist as i play. When i use the lighter racket, it seems much less cumbersome, because i am in effect, strengthening these muscles as i play. It is much like training with the head cover on, when you take it off and use the racquet without the head cover, you mis-time the shuttle at first because it seems so light.

Whatever set up you prefer is down to you. I have seen players who constantly change their rackets throughout a game, they never seem to be able to find the right set up that suits them. The result is usually a poor performance with a ready made excuse. Now who's fault is that? I guess what i am trying to say is, be prepared. The higher the standard you play, the more prepared you need to be. This means spending a bit of money on badminton rackets and all the other stuff that goes with it.

Good shoes being the most important of all. If you start entering tournaments, make sure you have good shoes, because your feet will take a pounding all day long, and there is nothing worse than getting blisters or sore ankles because your good old, worn out shies just aren't up to the job anymore. I know this from experience, i have played with my big toe sticking out of my shoes. Good grip is another huge factor. Many sports halls are slippy, and your worn out tread will make sure you slip and slide all over the place. Another ready made excuse.

Take care of your feet. I recently bought a pair of Yonex shoes, the SHB100 LTD, the best that Yonex has to offer. Although i give the cost of Yonex rackets a bit of a battering on here, i do use their shoes, and i don't mind paying the money for them because they are very good. However, one thing i have noticed is that these SHB100 shoes have a weird insole, which has little ripples in them. Yonex claim this is a revolution in comfort, and helps to cushion your feet as you play. It is known as the "air cushion insole". At first it seems to do the job. But i have noticed that if i give them a good hammering by playing singles for a few hours, my feet start to get "hot". By hot, i mean the skin on my feet is stsrting to go red, due to rubbing on this insoles ripples. The solution is to get rid of the insoles for one's that don't have ripples. The problem was cured instsantly.

I don't know if any of you have had this problem, but it seems a shame that Yonex have messed up a really good badminton shoe with a stupid insole. Just put a normal one in please Yonex. The rest of the shoe is fine, and i have given them some stick recently. They do a good job, which is what i am after in a badminton shoe.

Whether you have an army of 10 badminton rackets at your disposal, or just a couple, make sure you are prepared for string breaks and racket breaks. Look at what overgrip you have. I went through a phase of sweaty hand syndrome, and no matter what i used i could never feel comfortable with the grip. I used Karakal, towelling and then made a big mistake of trying supergrip, which it supposed to help you grip better. The towelling grip is good for a few games and then it goes hard, so you have to keep replacing it. There is also many forms of powder you can sprinkle on your hands to keep them dry. These work on towelling grips, but not so well on Karakal grips, they just make the surface even slippier for me.

One thing i found quite funny was a whole thread in a forum based on someone's review of all the types of overgrips from the manufacturers. This review included cost, sweat absorption over time, tackiness etc. What the hell is all that about? How on earth can i relate to somebody elses sweaty hand? That had to be one of the daftest reviews i have ever seen. I can only give one piece of advice regarding overgrips, and that is to buy a dark coloured one, because if your anything like me, if you buy a lovely white one, within one hour it will not be white, and everyone will be able to see just how much sweat your hand gives off.

Ok this post is going off topic yet again as usual! Look after your badminton rackets, don't throw them around when you lose, they break very easily, and remember if you blame your racket for a poor performance your really blaming yourself, it ain't the rackets fault.

What's the best badminton racket for me?

2008-09-30T11:46:00.004+01:00

This question crops up all the time all over the internet and at badminton clubs all over the world. Because a badminton racket is a personal choice it is quite difficult to answer. We are all different, with our own unique styles, so to actually pinpoint a certain racket for a certain player is going to be hard.

That said, it is possible to give a very basic outline of which racket should be more suited to certain types of players. As far as attempting to recommend an actual racket model for a player, it is always going to be subjective. If you add the extra variables of string tension, weight, grip size, flexibility and balance, then it is almost impossible to fit an exact badminton racket to an exact player type. The fact that you can also customise racquets makes it even more difficult because you can change some of the above variables with nothing more than a piece of tape. The decision of what racket to buy will ultimately come down to you, and what suits you best of all. Forget what anyone else tells you, they don't know your game like you do. This is why i cannot tell you what specific racket to use. However, what i intend to do is give a little list of what racquets, in general, should suit different player types.

Please do not take what i am going to say as gospel, it is just a rough guide to perhaps point you in a general direction. See, i am beginning to regret making this post already, and i haven't even started yet! I guess this post will be more aimed at beginners, or players who need a little bit more information to help make a decision of which badminton racket to choose.

There are many different player types such as the power player, who wants to hit the cover off the shuttle at every opportunity, the touch player, who can put the shuttle wherever they want. There are defensive players, who actually want you to smash at them so they can blast the birdie back at you or place your hardest smash to anywhere they want with a casual flick of the wrist. And there are players who can do all of the above, the all rounder who seems to be able to do everything. The question is, what kind of rackets do these players play with? Is there a common trend between player style and racket?

Well at the professional level there does seem to be a trend towards stiff flexibilty, head heavy balance and high string tension. I have touched on this in a previous post. However, we are not all professional players, so what do we all use?

Well i will use myself as an example. I would describe myself as a bit of an all rounder, with a preference more towards touch and control. I can smash when i need to, but i like to make my opponents run around before i do this. I am 37 years old, and have been playing for around 25 years. I have played county badminton in the UK for many years and i would say i was at an advanced level. I am in no way trying to brag about how good or bad i am, but it would seem a little foolish to write a blog about badminton rackets if i was a beginner, what kind of credibilty would i have to give you advice? All the stuff i write is based on my own experiences with using all kinds of rackets, and if it helps any of you, then i am doing what i set out to do.

Now, what kind of racket do you think would suit my game? I use the Carlton Airblade Tour, which Carlton actually stopped making a few years ago, but you can still buy them if you know where to look. Here is where the fun starts. Looking at the Airblade spec on the internet, one store says this racket weighs 78g and another says it weighs 86g. Looking at some reviews, one person says it is too light, another says it is too heavy. One person says it is too flexible, another says it has a stiff flex. What the hell is going on here? Everyone is saying something different, how do you know what the truth is? See the problem?

From my own experience with this Airblade, i would say it has a stiff flex, and the weight is more likely to be closer to 86g than 78g. However, my regular readers will know that my racket has been modified, and i reckon it weighs in at around 96g. It seems way too heavy to use, but it isn't, not to me anyway. The balance before modification is even, after, it is head light, in fact it is about as head light as i can get it. I have this strung at around 25-27lbs tension.

Does this kind of racket suit my play? Well if i am looking for control, then the higher string tension and stiff flex will help me, so this is on the right track. As far as power goes, i will need to generate this myself, the racket is unforgiving with the string tension and flex. So what i gained in control, i have lost in terms of power. However, the modification of lead tape on the handle will give me more power for the same effort. But, this extra weight has made this racket a bit less responsive in fast, reaction type rallies. So for a control player this will be a hinderance. The truth is that this has been the case. I am getting used to it though, but i needed to do this to prove my little experiment would work.

Can you see the problem here? I have just told you what racket i use and what i have done to it. Does this help you decide which racquet you should choose? Would you go out and by a Carlton Airblade Tour, based on what you have just read? Can you relate your game to mine?

Here is another example. I could go out and buy myself the top Yonex badminton offering, which right now is the ArcSaber 10. Is this the right racket for my style of play? Well, the Arcsaber is stiff, and has a head heavy balance. The balance will help me get a bit more power on the smashes, but in time it will destroy my shoulder. The stiff flex will help my control shots. The weight is the same as my Carlton. Could i play with this racket? Of course i could. If i did buy it, the first thing i would do would be to add my lead tape and make it head light, and then string it at my own tension. I would be happy to play with it. Would it improve my game? No. Why? Because i would have changed it's characteristics to the same kind of spec as my Carlton was. The only difference would be a bit more weight in the racket head, as this is what this bat came with.

So what kind of racket should you use? I can only give you a pointer, because i have no idea what you are going to do with your racquet once you have it. The badminton manufacturers like to think they know what racket will suit which player, and they make them accordingly, or do they? Ok, most retailers will tell you that if you are an advanced offensive player, you need to have a stiff flex racket. These people assume if you are an advanced player then you can generate power yourself, you just need the control that stiff, or extra stiff ratings can give you. Does this mean that i could not use a racket with a medium/ flexible rating? Of course not, i could just make a flexible racket have more control by stringing at a slightly higher tension. I would have more control then. Strings are everything.

Almost every top end badminton racket has a stiff flex rating. They cost the most money because the manufacturers have added all the goodies, like titanium, nano technology, kevlar etc, to make them stiffer. So, the general rule is that advanced players need stiff flexibility. Intermediate players need medium flex, and beginners need flexible rackets. Offensive players need head heavy balance, defensive players need even/ head light balance.

The problem is that it does not work like this. Seriously, if you have a racket and you don't like the feel of it, or the balance, then just modify it before you rush off to try the next best thing that promises to take your game to another level. Experiment with string tension if you feel you lack control or feel. Change the balance with tape, or apply more or less overgrip to the handle to change the balance point. If you need more extreme measures, add lead tape for extra weight, either to the handle or the head depending on which type of balance you are after. The only thing you cannot change is the flexibility, so if you have bought an extra stiff top end Yonex racquet and you now find you are having problems hitting the shuttle from baseline to baseline, you may need to reduce the string tension, or add weight to help you get more power.

This is why you should be careful of extra stiff rackets. I know many people who have fallen for the marketing hype, and bought these types of racket, only to find they cannot use them. Use what you have already. If you are a power player and you have a fast hitting action, you don't have to use a stiff bat just because the manufacturers tell you to do so. You will get more power with a flexible racket. If you need control, then string at higher tension, with the same racket.

I think i am rambling on a bit here, so i apologise. But to try to put this all in context, this is what i would advise..

If i was a beginner/ intermediate player, and i was not too sure what kind of badminton racket would suit me, i would go out and buy myself a neutral bat. By neutral i mean, a medium flex, average weight, ie 85g, and an even balance. This would be my starting point. Bear in mind that as soon as you add your overgrip to the handle, you will have altered the balance. As far as the strings go, just use the factory strings to start off with. Go out and play with it and see what you think. You can change the balance all you want with more overgrip and tape on the handle if you like a head light feel. Or add tape to the head for a head heavy balance. This tape only costs a few pounds, so it won't break the bank.

Play some more with it. Perhaps start thinking about experimenting with string tension for control, or for a bit extra power depending on higher or lower tensions. Keep playing some more until you now know what kind of spec suits you best. Only when you have done this can you think about changing rackets, because hopefully you will now be able to know what you like best. After this you can go out and buy whatever you think will meet your requirements, whatever make or model it may be. The main factor is that you will be able to decide what you want, you will not need to read all these reviews because you will already know that it does not relate to you personally. You will also know all the little tricks to turn almost any badminton racket into one that you can use, and that suits your style.

Tactic Badminton Rackets

2008-09-28T21:35:00.005+01:00

Tactic badminton rackets are very popular in the far east, but over here in the UK they are virtually unheard of. There is just one badminton retailer who sells Tactic racquets, and they have only just started selling them. They could well be onto something as well, because i have the distinct feeling they will start to get bigger and bigger over here. They are also on the lookout for more distributers.

Tactic are actually a Danish company, which started back in the 1970's. Finding information on them is a bit tricky, but i did manage to find their official website. It turns out they have previously sponsored the England badminton team, although i cannot ever remember seeing their brand around. Tactic badminton have also sponsored the Danish team, and now seem to be involved with some Chinese junior and regional teams. Tactic badminton rackets are made in the far east and then shipped over to Europe, as most rackets are.

The rackets are cheap, and they appear to be Yonex clones, much like Apacs and god knows how many others. The big bonus is that they cost a fraction of the price. An example is that they have the Tactic Arc Striker 7 and 10, which is very similar to the Apacs Edge Saber 7 and 10. Both are just copying the Yonex ArcSaber name. If i was Yonex i would not be too pleased with this at all, but i guess there is not much they can do about it.

The seller in the UK has just 7 Tactic badminton rackets available. After a bit of snooping around on the net, i came across a site called my badmintonstore, who are based in Hong Kong. This site has a much larger selection of racquets, and they offer free worldwide shipping. Hmm.. interesting. They also happen to be a very popular distributor in the far east, and also sell all Yonex stuff.

The top Tactic racket on the UK site is the Tactic Nami Blade 9000. This range is based on the Yonex Nanospeed range, so the Nami Blade 9000 is a clone of the Yonex Nanospeed 9000. There is no technical info for this model on the UK website. What the hell is that all about? How can you not give any information out and expect people to buy? Madness. Luckily, my badmintonstore does. The 9000 has a stiff rating, isometric head shape, and weighs around 85g. It is made from nano carbon and elastic Titanium, with some ultra high modulus graphite thrown in there. If it sounds familiar it is because it is a Yonex clone. The balance point is 290-300mm. The idea of this inforamtion is that most rackets have a balance point somewhere between 290-310mm. The higher the number, the more head heavy the balance is. Most "offensive" marketed badminton rackets have head heavy balance points, so you would expect to see a higher value if the retailer gives you this kind of information. It turns out that 290-300mm is not really that exact, so it is a bit difficult to tell whether this racket is head heavy or not. In fact after looking at all the Tactic racquets on the website, all have balance points between 290-300mm. What is all that about? My guess is that the 9000 is probably slightly head light or even balanced, as the Yonex Nanospeed 9000 is. Now here is the interesting part, this racket costs £69.99 in the UK, but from the Hong Kong website, this Nami Blade 9000 costs £45.98, with free shipping. Now which option would you choose if you were in the UK and wanted a Tactic badminton racquet?

Next up is the Nami Blade 8000, based on the equivalent Yonex Nanospeed 8000. The spec is exactly the same for the 9000 and the 8000, much like the Yonex rackets too. Really, i am struggling to find out what the difference actually is between the Yonex nanospeed 9000 and 8000, apart from the price and the paint job. The UK website price is £59.99, witha £6.99 delivery charge on top of that. The Hong Kong site sells this Nami Blade 8000 for £42.99.

There is also the Nami Blade 7700 for $43.17 from the Hong Kong store, which is actually more expensive than the 8000? The UK site sells it for £49.99. I suppose the big question for me if i was to buy any badminton rackets from Hong Kong would be whether it would actually reach me in one piece, and how long it would take to get here. The only way would be to try it i guess. The fact is that they are cheaper over there, but the Yonex rackets are about the same price as they are in the UK and the US.

Next up is the Tactic Arc Striker 7 badminton racket, which is a clone of the Yonex ArcSaber 7. The UK store sells this for £39.99 with an extra £9.99 for delivery. The Hong Kong site sells it for £45.98 with free shipping, so it is only slightly cheaper, and probably not worth the hassle for a few pounds if you ask me.

The Tactic Arc Striker 10 is not available in the UK yet, why i do not know. But it is available fom Hong Kong and the cost is £51.39, which is about half the price of the Yonex ArcSaber 10.

There is one big plus point if you do buy a Tactic racket from the UK store, and it is that they will let you have a 14 day trial. If you don't like it within 14 days you can give it back, and get a full refund. Bear in mind you will then have to pay the postage costs yourself. You could be a little bit cheeky here, and test out the racket, and even if you like it, just send it back, and thn buy it from the Hong Kong store. You would still save some cash, especially if you fancy buying a couple of them.

It appears that Tactic racquets have been featured on Sky Sports, they offer very similar playing characteristics as the real Yonex rackets, but cost much less. Would i buy any of them? Yep, no question about it. Many other players also have this same philosophy because these type of clones sell very well.

Just an update on my lead tape experiment. One of my Carlton Airblades has encountered a problem. The support cap, which covers the place where the shaft meets the handle has totally come loose. I was expecting this to happen, with the extra weight now on the handle placing more strain on this support cap. I was playing a match and the support cap ended up hitting the bottom of the racket head, travelling up and down the shaft. Not good. I ended up taping it back in position with some tape, and it semms to be holding up. I guess the moral of this experiment is that if you are going to add lead tape to your handle, then don't do this with Carlton badminton rackets.

Just one more thing. I do wonder if the Apacs Edge Saber badminton rackets and the Tactic Arc Strikers are the same. They may well be made in the same factory, they may well be the same, but with a different paint job on them.

The Modern Badminton Racket Trend

2008-09-20T13:40:00.003+01:00

The professional players of today all seem to have one thing in common, very high string tension in their badminton rackets. Yonex have recently released some information on the medal winners at the recent Beijing Olympics. The information tells the racket used, the string and tension used, and the chosen footwear of the players.

Virtually every medal winner has their badminton racket strung at over 30lbs tension, some as high as 36lbs. Another similar trend is in the actual racquets used, with the Armortec series being the most popular with the current best players. The Yonex Armortec rackets are all head heavy balanced, which makes them "high work" rackets, ie, they are the most difficult to use. Now whether or not these professionals are using the same spec rackets that you can buy in the shops is debatable.

The string tension is not though. All the players are going for extremely high tension. High tension gives more control. I have seen a few debates on forums about string tension and what it offers. People disagree on this subject. Some argue that low tension gives more control because the shuttle stays in contact with the strings longer. This view has been backed up by a famous ex professional player from the 70's and 80's. I totally disagree with this theory, and the science also disagrees with it. From my own personal experience, high racket string tension gives more control, period. Some of the previous posts touch on this. All the current professionals have high tension, so they must also know this. The top players have sound technique, they can generate power, they just need the extra control to harness this power, and this is where the strings come into it.

The fact that the Armortec badminton rackets are stiff adds to the control factor. However, the head heavy balance makes these racquets more cumbersome to use. I just wonder if any of the top players customise their rackets with a bit of extra weight on the handle? The Indonesians tend to have overgrips that go right up the shaft, which would make the head heavy balance become more even weighted, or even head light. I have touched on this before in previous posts, about making the perfect badminton racket for power and ease of use. I have suggested that a head heavy balanced racquet, which is then turned into a head light/even balance by adding weight to the handle will give the best possible combination of power, performance and ease of use. Perhaps the professionals do this.

Based on the information from Yonex, Lin Dan uses the Armortec 700 strung at between 30-33lbs tension. Lin Dan also has surgical tape placed around the top of his racket, and also tends to have very little overgrip on the handle. There are pictures that even show that Lin Dan has only half his handle covered with overgrip, the rest of the handle is just bare wood. This combination would make his badminton racket very head heavy, which must be the way he likes it. It would make it harder to manoeuver, but he would benefit from the extra power that the head heavy balance gives. In singles, there is not as much emphasis on very fast, flat, reaction rallies, so perhaps this is why he chooses this combination.

Lee Chong Wei also has his racket strung at between 30-33lbs, but he uses the Armortec 900P. Again, he chooses a racket with a bit of weight in the head to begin with. Remember, weight is good, it helps you to generate power. Ridiculously light weight rackets do not help you, all they do is destroy your arm, despite what their manufacturers tell you. When you find youself stuck at the back of the court, unable to get the shuttlecock on the ground, because this is what will happen when you come up against better players with good defences, you will then realise that your shiny ultra light weight racket is useless to you. Cue the arm and shoulder injuries as you try your hardest to gain power by swinging away.

Does this mean that you should copy what the professionals do? Hell no. Head heavy badminton rackets are the worst for shoulder injuries. I guess the playing career of a pro is short, but i truly believe that they are all risking problems later on in life if they are in fact using these racquets. I also believe that the pros do customise their rackets. Another difference between the pros and the rest is that they have sound technique. They are far more effective at hitting the shuttle consistently, day after day, year after year, and so less stress is placed on their arm and shoulder muscles and joints.

I have said this before, but the only thing you should concern yourself with is you, and your game. There is no point in having high string tensions if you can't play with your racket like this. You need to find the right balance for yourself, between power and control. Everyone is different, and you may just as easily find you get all the control you need at a relatively low tension, compared to someone else who needs high tension for control.

Now here i am telling you that high tension equals more control, based on my own experience, and also from the racket science i have researched. So what? You may well find this does not apply to you. The only way to know is to experiment with different tensions, and see how you play. There are always exceptions, and one of the Olympic medallists had their racket strung at 24-26lbs, much lower than the others. This just shows that you don't have to follow the trends, and is a clear example of just how personal your tension is to you. All that matters is how you play, regardless of what equipment you use. But bear in mind that there are things you can do to make things easier on your arm and shoulder by experimenting with your badminton equipment.

Badminton Racket Prices

2008-09-12T22:19:00.006+01:00

Why is it so difficult to buy cheap Yonex badminton rackets? Of all the many racket manufacturers, Yonex always seems to be the most expensive. It is very rare to see good deals on Yonex. I have seen this in the UK, all the Yonex rackets are virtually the same price, or should i say, they all have the same minimum price, which no retailer will go below. Why is this?

I have a friend who is an authorised Yonex dealer, and the "authorised" part is important here. This means that the Yonex rep has been round to see you and has deemed you are fit to sell their badminton racquets. Most of the time this means you will own a sports equipment shop, and have a reputable business. If you are an online business, the same will apply to your website, it will have to be professional and reputable.

Yonex will not allow just anyone to sell their stuff. If you have a market stall, Yonex will not supply you. Let's have an example. Let's say i wanted to start selling Yonex rackets. I have no shop, or even a market stall for that matter. My intention would be to sell these racquets on the internet. I would contact Yonex and ask them if i could have some stock please. Let's say i would invest my money on 1000 Nanospeed 9000's. These sell well no matter where in the world you are. I could probably get a discount by buying in bulk, and so each racket would cost me a little less. I could sell them on this site, or open up an ebay store. Of course, i would sell them just a little bit cheaper than anyone else, and so everyone will buy from me.

This of course is fantasy land. It will never happen. Why? Well first off, Yonex would not sell me those badminton rackets because they would like to see how reputable my business is. Selling their stuff on ebay is not going to cut it i'm afraid. Secondly, Yonex tell their dealers the price they want them to sell their rackets for. Think of Yonex as the Gucci or Armani of badminton. They are the premium brand, and so the price has to reflect their status. Premium brands have the exclusivity that other brands don't have.

There was a classic example of this in the UK a few years ago, when some of the large supermarkets got hold of some Levi jeans, and started selling them for really low prices, much lower than Levi jeans liked. They were very upset because it kind of devalued their image as a premium brand. The supermarkets did not get hold of their stock directly from Levis, because there was no way in the world that they would have supplied them unless they sold the jeans for a certain price. The end result is that the supermarkets don't sell them anymore.

No what would happen if Walmart or Tesco went to Yonex and said "we would like to buy 100,000 of your badminton rackets please" Do you think that Yonex would sell them? Of course, the supermarkets would demand a huge discount, which would then drive down the price. If you were in charge of Yonex, would you sell to them? Afterall, you would have the chance to sell off a large part of your stock in one go, albeit at a cheaper price than you would hav liked.

Well the answer is no, Yonex would not sell to them. Can you imagine what would happen if they ever did? For a start, all the other online retailers and small high street shops would go out of business, they could not compete. The Yonex badminton brand would instantly be devalued, so they would lose the ability to supply their badminton rackets at a certain profit.

This is how it works. All the online badminton retailers have no choice but to sell Yonex rackets at a set price. This is why the prices are the same. If one retailer decided to start selling at a cheaper price than anyone else, then Yonex would simply stop supplying them. It is price fixing to an extent, but it happens with every premium brand. The dealers have their hands tied, and i am sure they would just love to be able to sell them cheaper, so everyone will buy from them and not their competitors. It will just not happen, and it's not just Yonex, but all the other big name badminton brands as well.

There are two sides to the story. Yonex has to protect itself, it has worked hard to get where it is. You can only be a premium brand if you offer quality products, and we can all agree that Yonex makes quality badminton racquets. I know sometimes they break, i have had a few Yonex breakages, but that's life. The fact that so many other brands try to copy them is testament to this. They wouldn't copy crap would they? Think of Winnex, Tronex, EdgeSaber 7, Mighty Muscle, Armour Power, etc, etc. All based on Yonex technology.

Discontinued rackets are a different matter. When a racket is no longer being manufactured, then they can be sold off at a cheaper price to all the dealers, who can then sell the rackets at discounted prices. The problem with Yonex is that their rackets sell so well, that they are in no hurry to discontinue making them, and why should they?

A perfect example of selling discontinued rackets is Racketworld on ebay. These guys specialise in doing this, and they obviously have some great contacts to get hold of as many as they do, especially Carlton and Browning. Browning is a bit of a mystery to me. They must still be making badminton racquets, and i think perhaps Racketworld may have bought the rights to the name to be the sole distributer for Browning in the UK, no one else seems to sell them. In fact Racketworld are in the process of making a new website called browning.co.uk, so they must indeed have the rights to the name in the UK.

The discounts on Carlton rackets are huge, i mean you can get hold of an Airblade Tour for £30, and this same bat a few years ago retailed at around £80. They must be making a profit, so god knows how much Racketworld are getting them for. You don't see many people selling discontinued Yonex stuff though. That's probably because they don't change their line up very often, unlike most of the other badminton manufacturers. Carlton seem to bring new ranges out every other year, so Racketworld must be happy about that, it gives them more of a chance to sell the discontinued ranges. Carlton don't seem to mind their rackets being sold on ebay, and is it devaluing the Carlton brand? Amazon also sell badminton stuff, but they do this via the "marketplace" section, which allows online retailers to showcase their products. It's a good way for these retailers to reach a very large audience, although Amazon will take a cut of the sales.

SOTX and Apacs also have ebay stores, so they must feel it is a viable way to sell their gear. There are some good bargains to be had as well from the smaller brands such as Fleet and Yehlex. They have their own website, and always seem to offer 2 for 1 deals. Perhaps their rackets don't sell that well, so they have to have special offers, or perhaps they do these special deals on soon to be replaced models. Either way, it represents a good deal for those of us who buy them.

The fact is that you are not likely to get any good deals on Yonex badminton rackets in the near future. Only when they discontinue part of their range, is it possible to get discounts, but don't hold your breath waiting.

It's not just rackets either, Yonex has put the price of shuttlecocks up four times this year. They are getting expensive now, especially the top end aerosensa shuttlecocks. The cheapest way to get hold of shuttles is again, from ebay, from the Yonex dealer in Hong Kong. I am not sure if Yonex know about this, but they do sell RSL and other brands, and RSL shuttles are decent quality, not quite as durable as the best Yonex, but not far off, and they are cheaper. I got six dozen for £54 delivered, and you wont find them much cheaper than that. If you buy more it's even cheaper.

Badminton Racket Update

2008-09-05T22:30:00.006+01:00

Well, it has been just over a week since i added the lead tape to my badminton racket, and in that time i have played about 6 times, so i can now give you an update. The result is that i think it has been a complete success, the fact that i have been able to play so much in just over a week is testament to that. The badminton racket is just as easy to swing, even with an extra 10grams of tape on the bottom of the handle. Now 10 grams may seem a lot of weight, but you don't feel it at all. The racket science research works is all i can say.

The balance point is now just one inch from the cone on the handle, which makes my racquet extremely head light now. Remember i have modified a Carlton Airblade Tour, which was head light to begin with, it's just a whole lot more powerful now. This is my own personal thoughta here, but it is a hell of alot more easier to clear the shuttle from back to back, i would say about 10% easier to me. That is a massive difference, and it has made a massive difference to my shoulder as well. This badminton racket is now 10% more efficient to use. Don't believe it? Give it a try. My practise partner has now got in on the act and has also noticed a huge difference. He is now struggling to keep his clears in court, because his racket is also easier to swing.

The lead tape cost me around £3, and it is the best £3 i have ever spent, period. The badminton racket is now doing more work, not me. Will it improve my game? Well, the fact is that i still play the same shots, i am still the same player, with the same footwork, fitness and racket skills. So i doubt it will make me a better player, it's just now easier on my shoulder. I can achieve the same power with less effort, so that is certainly an improvement. I have also noticed i can get a bit more power on smashes, with the same effort. It works for me.

There is one drawback to this, the extra weight does make a difference when you are playing fast reaction shots. It takes a bit of getting used to at first, but there is certainly a trade off here. In time i will get used to it, but if you try it please bear this in mind. I suppose practise makes perfect, and if you do experiment with your racket, try adding only small amounts of lead tape at first, and build it up over time. I have a feeling i have gone straight in at the deep end by adding around 10g to my badminton racquet, but it is only an experiment, although i have no intention of taking it off now, the benefits far outweigh any drawbacks.

I am going to experiment with 5g on another racket to see what happens. In the future i am going to get a head heavy model and modify that, to make it head light with the extra mass at the top it should provide the best results. I have still not heard a thing back from Apacs Canada about the Edge Saber racquets. What kind of customer care is that? It doesn't fill me with much optimism about them, that's for sure. They will not sell much badminton equipment like this.

I suppose it's all about being professional. The first thing you look for if you visit a website is how it looks. First impressions count, it gives you a certain feeling about a retailer, and this matters if your going to actually buy anything from them.

If your searching for a new badminton racket, what do you look for from a website? You need all the specific details about it, you need quality pictures about how it looks, all the technical stuff about weight, flex etc. You probably want to read some sort of review about it, although you do need to view these with a little caution. The site must be easy to use, you don't want to be searching around too long to find what you want. Most important, you want a good deal. Most badminton retailers will show you the recommended retail price, and then show you their own special price which invariably is lower, to give you the impression you are saving money. The fact is that the recommended retail price is always very high, no badminton retailer would sell many rackets at that price. The final piece of the jigsaw is the delivery. You want your goods delivered quickly and in one piece. If all this happens, chances are you will buy from them again, and also recommend them to your friends. If you need to ask a question about any badminton racket, you want a quick reply, it's all about us, the customer, and if they don't provide all these things, well, there are plenty of other places we can buy our stuff from.

It's no suprise that the most successful online badminton retailers offer the best customer care, and have professional looking websites. Another thing they are good at is getting your name when you purchase anything. In the future you will receive brochures about their new stock, they will market their goods better. I suppose you are looking at this blog and thinking, where are the stunning graphics and the professionalism? Yep, i know it ain't the most interesting site you have ever been on, but i am not trying to sell any badminton rackets. Perhaps i should? There are adsense ads at the top of the page, and most people who visit this blog usually click straight off it, or click on one of those ads. Most people don't actually read all of the stuff on here. There are however, a few people who do, and i hope i can give a little bit of information for anyone who is thinking about buying a new badminton racket. There are a few places i have reccommended in previous posts, but these are all based on my own experiences. How could i recommend a place i have never used myself?

I have given out the technical stuff for hundreds of badminton rackets, but it is impossible for me to personally review every racquet, and i stay away from reviews because they are all personal, what i think is a good racket, you may think is a load of crap. How would you feel if i was to recommend a certain bat, you go out and buy it, and find it just doesn't suit your game? I imagine you would not be too happy. If you know your own game inside out, it makes things a bit easier, because you will know what type of spec could suit your game, ie, the stiffness and the balance etc. But remmember, it is all about the person who holds the racket, not the racket itself, that will improve your game.

APACS Badminton Rackets

2008-08-31T12:07:00.007+01:00

Apacs badminton rackets are virtually unheard of here in the UK, but have quite a cult following in the far east. It appears they are related to the Yehlex, Fleet, ProAce and HiQua family. The information on the Yehlex UK website mentions that Apacs is one of the trading names of Yehlex. I imagine that Apacs rackets have a huge following because if they are anything like Yehlex and Fleet over here, then they offer cheap, reliable and decent quality badminton rackets.

There now appears to be a new Apacs UK website, which sells just 4 rackets from different ranges. So at this present time all of us in the UK have just these four models to choose from. Now, if Apacs is part of the Yehlex family, then this site must have something to with the Yehlex UK site? I think i will email Ian Little, who runs the show and ask him if this is true.

Things start to get a little bit complicated when you visit the Apacs Sports Malaysian website, which states that Apacs began in 1978. There is also an Apacs website in Canada and in China. Apacs actually stands for Aggressive, Power, Accurate, Control and Speed, although i am not sure if that is in the correct order.

There appear to be many different badminton rackets in the Apacs range depending on which country you come from. They also sell badminton shoes, clothing, bags and many other related things, and the prices are much lower than brands like Yonex. If we take a look at the UK website, the four racquets on offer at the moment are the Edge Sabre 7, Nano 800 Power, Nano 900 Power and the Nano Fusion Classic. Do these sound familiar? Yep, they are Yonex clones, not fakes, but clones, there is a difference.

The Edge Sabre 7 is obviously based on the Yonex ArcSaber 7, although it does have different characteristics. It has a very similar paint job to the ArcSaber 7. One big difference is the flex of this Edge Sabre, which is very stiff, compared to the medium stiff rating of the Yonex ArcSaber 7. There is a big difference in price as well. This Edge Sabre 7 costs £69.99, compared to the Yonex which is around £100. For an extra £5 you can get custom stringing to your chosen tension, and this badminton racket can be strung to 30lbs, so the frame must be pretty robust to take this. The technology is GS carbon nanotube, which sounds like the CS carbon nanotube in the Yonex version, just a different name to avoid Yonex hammering Apacs for nicking their copyright names.

Apacs rackets get good reviews from their users, and the trend seems to be that they are about 90% as good as the real Yonex rackets. The only way to tell is to play with the original and the clone, and then make your own mind up. You may find you like the clone even better, in which case you will have saved yourself some money. In fact i would be happy to get a racket that was virtually the same as a more expensive model.

The Apacs Nano 800 Power is priced at just £29.99 and is described as an all round choice for intermediate players. It has a medium stiff flex and weighs 4U, so it a a light one. It has nano technology and both the 800 and 900 are based on the Yonex Armortec models. The 900 Power costs £49.99 and has a very stiff rating, and a more head heavy balance, just like the Yonex Armortec rackets. The weight is the same for both racquets, and both can take 30lbs string tension. If you can't afford a real Yonex Armortec then these could be the answer.

The Apacs Nano Fusion Classic has a much more flexible rating compared to the others, and is designed for control players. It can be strung to 28lbs tension and weighs 3U, so it's a bit heavier. The cost is £55.99.

If we take a look at the Apacs Canada website, there is a much larger choice of racquets. The first thing i have noticed is that the Edge Saber 7 is on sale at just $58 canadian dollars. The exchange rate is near enough two dollars to the pound, so the cost in UK pounds would be half, or about £29!! The price at the Apacs UK site is £69.99, can this be right? Would it not be wise to buy this racket from Canada and ship it over to the UK? I am not sure what they charge for international shipping, perhaps $20, or £10. This would up the price to £39 but you would still save around £30. You could probably buy two while your at it, and save a bit on shipping costs, and still only pay a little bit more than the price of one in the UK. I have just e-mailed Apacs Canada to see if they do ship outside of Canada. Could be onto something here.

There is also the Apacs EdgeSaber 10 badminton racket for $60, which i am guessing is a clone of the Yonex ArcSaber 10, which is not yet available in the UK. The EdgeSaber 10 has a stiff flex and weighs around 86g with an isometric head shape. It has the GS nano carbo and high modulus graphite technology along with a slim frame design to make it cut through the air better, just like an edgesaber should! You can string it to 30lbs as well. Not bad for around $60.

There is also the Armor Muscle series, which sounds like a combination of the Yonex Armortec and Muscle Power badminton rackets to me. The AM88P has a stiff flex and has nano carbon and high modulus graphite. Can be strung to 30lbs as well. Also has the isometric head shape, as most of the Apacs racquets do. Cost is $78.

There is also the Armor Muscle Pro 90 and 95, which have the muscle power grommet system and the power box x section frame, whatever that is. They are also isometric and have stiff flexiblity ratings. The price for all 3 is the same funnily enough.

We have the Visble Hollow series as well, with 6 rackets to choose from. This series has the visible hollow technology, an anti vibration cap and an aerodynamic wing x section frame. Wowee, must be good. There is also titanium in there as well in case you missed it. The range goes from very stiff flex to flexible, and the top of the range is the Apacs Visible Hollow 1800 which will set you back just $78, which is very affordable indeed.

The most expensive Apacs badminton bats are the Furious range, which has the Furious Pro 1000/2000 and the 767. The 767 has a zig zag grommet system, stiff flex rating and weighs about 86g. It costs $99. The 1000/2000 have a special 3 stage frame and shaft construction and the all new "super T" anti torsion system which Apacs claim makes these rackets the most stable in the world. The idea is that it will not twist or move during off centre hits on the string bed. The flex is extra stiff, and is aimed at tournament play. The price is $135, which is still a competitive price compared to Yonex.

An added bonus is that you get a padded protective carry case with the Furious Pro rackets, which i have never seen offered before. The future is now here for badminton bags. All the rackets from Apacs Canada can be strung to your favourite tension at no extra cost, which is a great idea because no one wants the crappy factory tension anymore. Other retailers take note, look after the customer and they will look after you.

The Nano Fusion rackets are the 608 Pro, 7500, 7800 and 7900. These range from medium flex for the 608 Pro and 7500, to stiff for the 7800 and 7900. Cost is between $65 to $78, so these are pretty cheap as well.

To round this up, it seems that Apacs are dirt cheap and offer good quality badminton racquets, a good combination in my eyes. The Apacs website in Malaysia has a much larger choice, with many more models and ranges that us lot in the UK can only dream about at the present time. I don't know how durable Apacs bats are, so if you own one it would be good to hear what they are like. The fact that they are so popular in the far east must mean they are decent quality, and if i ever get a reply from the e-mail i sent to Apacs Canada about the shipping, i may be tempted to give them a try. Affordable badminton rackets are good for all of us.

Yang Yang Badminton Rackets

2008-08-25T09:59:00.006+01:00

Yang Yang badminton rackets are named after the legend that is Yang Yang, the two time world champion in 1987 and 1989. He also won the All England in 1989, and many other grand prix tournaments around the world. When he retired he and Zhao Jianhua, who in my opinion is the best badminton player ever to pick up a racket, put their names to a line of badminton racquets. They are not very well heard of here in the UK. However, in other parts of the world, especially in the US, they are very popular.

As far as a marketing exercise goes, the idea of putting a famous name to a line of rackets has always been used to help sales. The fact that Yang Yang is from China, and that most people in the west have never heard of him, unless they are keen badminton players, would no doubt account for the fact that they are not well known in the UK. Why Yang Yang rackets are popular in the US is a bit of a mystery, and i am pretty sure they would not sell huge amounts there, just enough to cater for a small niche market. Perhaps i am wrong here, i don't know, because badminton is seen as a minority sport here in the UK, yet there are still 2 million people picking up a badminton racket every week, so there are 2 million people who need a badminton racket, this is a big market, and this is just in the UK. There must be more people playing in the US than in the UK?

I have a feeling that Yang Yang will sell more racquets in Asia than over here, badminton is far more popular over there, and god only knows how many people play every week. That market is huge compared to the rest of the world. More people in Asia will have heard of Yang Yang, and so more people will buy his rackets, purely based on his reputation. Now the key here is reputation, because if you are a badminton legend, the product you are selling has to be the very best, otherwise your hard earned reputation will go down the pan. It is a big gamble in my eyes, but must be worth the risk if you get it right.

Has Yang Yang got it right? Well after doing a bit of snooping around on the internet, it appears that there is a huge selection of badminton rackets with the Yang Yang name on them, as well as shuttlecocks, clothing, shoes, bags, nets, posts and anything else you can think of. I have managed to find one stockist of Yang Yang products here in the UK, and the prices are competitive compared to other leading brands. After looking at some online badminton shops in the US, there are different models in different countries, so it gets a bit complicated, but then again, most manufacturers do this to suit various markets.

Going off what is available in the US i will take a little look at one of the many Yang Yang ranges, the Nano Sensation range. The top racquet is the 110 which is made from nano carbon and titanium. It weighs 85-90g and has a stiff flex rating, as does almost every other top end badminton racket. The balance is slightly head heavy with an isometric head shape. It is aimed at advanced players and will set you back around $140, although the UK website i found for Yang Yang rackets sold it for about £60. The US website would only string this racquet up to 24lbs tension, which kind of defeats the object of stiff rated bats.

Next is the Yang Yang Sensation 900,which has Kevlar in it, so i guess this badminton racquet is bulletproof. The difference between this and the 110 is the balance, with the 900 being more head heavy, and so is aimed at advanced offensive players, the idea being you can generate more head speed on impact, and thus create more power. Refer back to the previous post on badminton rackets and injuries for the low down on using head heavy, lightweight rackets. Anyway, the 900 costs the same as the 110.

In fact, this type of racquet would be good for my experiment, i would just add perhaps 5g of weight to the handle and make it head light balanced, but it would still have a fair amount of weight at the top. I am also now thinking of what would happen if i did this with a medium flex, or flexible badminton racket, with a head heavy balance to begin with? I reckon this would give a fair amount of power, with even less work from me. I would need control, so the strings would be strung at 25-26lbs tension, but not too tight that it will start to make my shoulder ache. I believe that this could well be the perfect compromise between control and ease of use. Hmmmm.

I am going off track a bit here, so back to Yang Yang. Next in the Sensation range is the 800, which is very similar to the other two racquets, with a stiff flex, isometric head, head heavy balance, but the 800 is slightly lighter, at 84g. Now what gets me, is that the marketing talk on this particular online store i am getting this info from states that this racket is easy to swing. A head heavy racket will feel cumbersome, and from my previous posts, you now know that a head heavy balanced bat is not easy to swing at all, in fact is a very "high work" racquet, so you have to put all the effort in to get the swing speed and power. Head heavy balance will always feel sluggish, so this marketing talk is just plain wrong. The 800 costs $129.95.

Next in price is the Yang Yang Nano Sensation 100 badminton racket. This costs $129.95 and is combines Kevlar with nano technology. Now this 100 has an even balance and a stiff flex rating, so it is aimed at all round play because it should be easier to swing around.

The Nano Sensation 90 is the same as the 100, but does not have Kevlar in it, so it costs $119.95. From this we can conclude that Kevlar costs an extra $10! The Sensation 400 has a medium stiff flex rating and head heavy balance. Again the marketing talk says this racket will create massive power and yet is also easier to manoeuver in defensive play. Cost is $109.95.

At $89.95 we have the Yang Yang Aplha One, with an even balance and medium flex. It is lighter than the other rackets, at 80-84g, and is aimed at all round play. I have also seen on sale the Yang Yang Woven Titanium Fighter racket at $99.99. This has the muscle wave string technology, and has a medium stiff flex with very head heavy balance. The weight is 84-89g (3U-) this has proved to be a popular seller as it has sold out at this shop.

There are many other ranges from Yang Yang, such as the Tactic series and the Woven series, it is just proving difficult to find information on them. A bit more snooping around is needed, so when i find out i will post it in the future. Yang Yang seems to be actively involved in sponsoring grass roots badminton, which is good news, and his badminton rackets are competitively priced, so if you can find them, maybe you can try one out yourself.

The Badminton Racket Experiment

2008-08-24T18:30:00.002+01:00

Well i have finally tested the lead tape theory on my badminton rackets, and i can tell you that it does work. The racquet feels more head light than before, and it feels easier to swing as well. This is what i was hoping for, so it is good news. All that badminton racket research appears to have been worth it, although i expect that time will tell with this, remember the main aim is to help my shoulder. I think i will also experiment with more weight on the handle in the future. I also have a feeling that these modified Carlton Airblades will not last too long. The familiar Carlton handle problems are bound to appear with more weight there, ie, the part where the shaft meets the handle tends to come loose and twist on Carlton badminton rackets.

A bit of glue usually does the trick, so i better get some ready. Come on Carlton, get your act together and start sorting this problem out once and for all. For anyone else who has shoulder problems i seriously suggest you give the lead tape a try, and even if you don't it will make your racket easier to swing. In fact it would be interesting to do this experiment with a head heavy bat, and make it head light. I was messing around with a Yonex Armortec 700 yesterday which is very head heavy to start off with. This is why Yonex tell you it will give you more power, and it will, but it is a very high work model and this head heavy balance makes it more difficult to swing, you have to do all the work. Now what would happen if you were to add 10g of lead tape to the handle? You would then have a low work badminton racquet which would be easier to swing and gain better performance because it would now have a head light balance.

I am thinking that you would get even more performance from this because the racket head will already be fairly heavy, it just that it is now easier to swing around. On impact you will still have the same weight hitting the shuttlecock. In my opinion you would have the best chance of generating power without having to swing as fast. I am going to try this out in the near future and it will mean me buying some new racquets, but what the hell, i am intrigued by this.

There are a few more badminton racket manufacturers i have not looked at yet, so the next few posts will take care of these as i want to go through every single one of them, to give a comprehensive list of what is out there.

Badminton Rackets and Lead Tape

2008-08-22T16:01:00.002+01:00

Ok, i am in the process of adding some lead tape to the bottom of my badminton racket, specifically to the bottom of the handle, to see if this will help to make the racquet easier to swing, and hopefully save my shoulder from more pain. The tape i ordered from ebay arrived after about one week, and cost me £3.25 delivered. It was a little bit smaller than i thought it would be, but for some reason i was sent an identical roll of tape two days later. There must have been some mix up, but i am not complaining.

This tape is approx 36 inches long and about as wide as your little finger, and i reckon it weighs about 10 grams per roll. When added to my badminton racket it should give me an extra 10 grams in weight, so it will take my carlton airblade tour up to about 88-90 grams, and also make it more head light than before. Remember, more weight and head light balance will give the best performance, and also have a lower swing weight, making it easier to get power with less effort, which is the main aim of this whole experiment. And the fact that it will make things easier on the shoulder joints.

I added the tape around the base of the racket handle and upwards to about one third of the way up, then i put the grip back on over this. Because the lead tape is very thin, it has not made a noticeable bulge on the handle, so it does not feel much different to normal. I have three airblade tour badminton rackets, but i only have enough tape to do two of them, so the third racquet will do as a reference to see if there is a difference. At the time of posting this, i am about to go off and play an hour of singles with these racquets and put this experiment to the test. I will post the outcome in my next post.

On a different note, it was good to see the badminton at the olympics. Once again Yonex badminton rackets dominated the tournament, and i think i am right in saying every single medal winner used yonex racquets. Asia won all the medals, and most of the asian players are sponsored by Yonex, hence the domination. I saw quite a few ArcSabers on display, and many Armortec 900's as well. There was only one ArcSaber 10 on show, unless the models used had different paint jobs. I know that Lin Dan had a special edition badminton racket just for the olympics.

That men's singles gold medal match was good to watch, in fact it was a career defining match for Lin Dan, and more than made up for his first round exit four years ago. It is the ultimate goal for any athlete to play the best they can when it matters most, and he totally destroyed Lee Chong Wei with his best ever performance on a badminton court. He was a yard faster than i have seen him before, and the shuttle seemed to make a different sound as it left his badminton racket. In my opinion, that performance was the second best i have ever seen, behind Zhao Jianhua in the All England final against Joko Suprianto in the early 1990's. That match was as close to badminton perfection as you will ever see, and is why i rate Zhao as the best player of all time. I would put Lin Dan second now, after that olympic final performance.

One thing that got on my nerves was the way the chinese intimidated the line judges, it smacked of desperation to me, and should not have been allowed, especially when the coaches get involved as well. It is not good for the game. On a happier note, it was good to see Lee Yong Dae win an olympic gold medal at only 19. It looks like we have another potential Korean legend on our hands, in the same mold as Park Joo Bong and Kim Dong Moon. The future looks bright for him. Well that's it for now, so keep swinging that badminton racket and enjoy this great game of our's.

Badminton Rackets and Shuttles

2008-08-03T16:05:00.004+01:00

I am still waiting for the lead tape to arrive so i can start customising my badminton racket, it should be here any day now, i hope. In the meantime i want to talk about shuttlecocks. Your badminton racket has to hit something, and it has to be a shuttle, unless you use yours to kill flies with, which they are very good at as well. When i first started playing, i used plastic shuttles, mainly from Yonex and Carlton. The Yonex Mavis series was, and still is the most popular plastic shuttle around. They are cheap, and last a long time, and the flight is very consistent. When i began playing virtually every club used Yonex Mavis shuttles, there as not a lot of choice, and to use feather shuttles was unheard of. The only feather shuttle manufacturer around then in the UK, was RSL, or to give them their full name, reinforced shuttlecocks limited.

As time went by, more and more badminton leagues began to use feathers, and the overwhelming choice was RSL, because quite simply, they made the best shuttles, and they were the dominant brand in the UK at that time. The difference between feather and plastic is like chalk and cheese, there is no comparison, absolutely none. Plastic shuttles do not even come close to the flight quality and feeling you get off the badminton racket with feather shuttlecocks. Once you have tried feathers you will know what i mean.

The problem with feathers is the cost and the durability, they are more expensive and do not last as long as plastic shuttles. However, they are worth it. I have only played with feathers for the last 20 years. In fact, i had not hit a single shot with a plastic shuttle for all those years, until a few weeks ago, when i found one lying around in the sports centre. Good grief, if you can hit hard enough those plastic shuttles just close up on impact and turn into bullets. I know when i used to use them, we would fold the skirt back on itself to slow them down, this is just like "tipping" a feather shuttlecock to slow it down.

I have played with many different brands of feathers, from Yonex, RSL, Carlton, Head, Inflight, Magnum, DSS, Yehlex and so on. RSL had the market cornered until a few years back, when Yonex decided to start making shuttles. In my opinion, there are only two brands that stand out, RSL and Yonex. RSL Tourney number 1, and the Yonex Aerosensa range. At number 3 i would include Inflight, as my club uses these, and they are a pretty close third. Always get the best grade though, they may be more expensive but crap quality shuttles will spoil your game of badminton, and will be less durable and inconsistent in flight.

Head have recently entered the UK market and so i tried their shuttles. What a massive let down they were. Complete crap in my opinion. They started off fast and then after a few rallies they slowed down to virtually nothing, totally unplayable. Come on Head, get your act together. RSL have great flight and consistency and are pretty durable. Yonex are also top notch, but they can get expensive. An example of this is that the top of the range Aerosensa 50 costs £17.50 per dozen at central sports, and then you can add on £2.25 for delivery. You will be paying almost £20 for one tube of shuttles.

The cost of one dozen RSL Tourney 1's is £13.95, with the £2.25 delivery charge on top of that. If you buy in bulk you can get them cheaper, which is what many badminton clubs will do. My club pays around £10 per dozen, for the Inflight Premium shuttles. But what if you don't play in a club? You will probably not want to go out and buy 50 dozen shuttles in one go. During the summer, i play a lot of singles with a few friends, but we don't play at the club, we go to a sports centre and book our own courts. A few times i have bought shuttles from the club for the £10 they pay for them, but i don't like asking all the time, as they are for club use.

The alternative is to buy my own, perhaps from one of the many online retailers. The real answer is to save yourself a lot of money and buy your shuttles from ebay. Here is an example. I have just bought 6 dozen RSL Tourney number 1's for £54 delivered. If i were to buy the same amount from central sports, who are the most popular online retailer for badminton equipment in the UK, it would have cost me £87.95 delivered. I will give a shout out to the ebay seller i got these shuttles from- iooho. No idea why they are called that, but what i do know is that they just happen to be the largest authorised Yonex dealer in Hong Kong, so all their products are genuine.

They are the real deal, and the only ebay seller from the far east that you can trust. There are many fake items on ebay, especially Yonex products, but these are not one of them. The RSL Tourneys i got are 100% genuine, i know this because i have played with them for years, i know exactly how they play, and i know that the one's i got are exactly the same as the one's from the UK. In fact, the one's from the UK are imported anyway, they probably came from the same place. 6 dozen tubes at £54 works out at £9 per tube, which is cheaper than anywhere in the UK, and yet they have come all the way from Hong Kong. It just shows how much we get ripped off in the UK.

In the UK there are 3 speeds of feather shuttle, 77, 78 and 79. In Hong Kong there appear to be 2 speeds, 49 and 50. 49 is equivelant to 77 and 50 to 78. The speed i went for was 50 (78) and they were a little bit quick, although i did play on the hottest day of the year in the UK, so the next time i play they will be ok for speed.

Call me a badminton snob, but i can't stand playing badminton with crap shuttles, even when i am practising. It just feels wrong. I have been there before, you know the secenario, scrapping around after matches, looking for half decent shuttles that you could use the next time you play. It ain't no fun, and the one's that looked ok end up disintegrating after a few rallies. Your shiny badminton racket is worthless when this happens, as are your strings, you have no control over anything, all because the shuttle is shit.

Honestly, save yourself some money and get some from Hong Kong. Go to ebay and type in "rsl shuttles" and look for the listings and the "buy it now" offers from Hong Kong, and look for the "iooho" name. They also sell Yonex shuttles at much cheaper prices than in the UK. I am happy to use RSL shuttles, i don't want to spend any more on Yonex, the difference in quality is negligable. Your badminton racket will thank you for it, as well as your wallet.

Customising Badminton Rackets

2008-07-26T18:03:00.003+01:00

Now as you know i am on the lookout for a new badminton racket that will not destroy what is left of my shoulder. The last post went through a bit of racquet science, and so i am after a fairly heavy model with a head light balance.

What i would like is a head light, heavy overall, medium- stiff flex. My string tension would be around 25 lbs, enough to help control, but not so much to wreck my shoulder. If i find one great, but i will also add lead tape to the handle to increase the balance point towards the handle, making it head light.

Just as a side note, the badminton stores in the UK, all offer the Yonex Nanospeeds in head light versions, which appears to contradict the information on badminton central. However, different regions have different versions so perhaps there is a trend towards even/head heavy balance around the world with the yonex racquets. The UK versions are also 4U, making them heavier, which is better for shoulders and arms. A lot of people state that the Nanospeed 9000 offers more power. Based on just the design of this racket, the head light balance and overall weight would help explain some of this, as this is the ideal combination for a low work racket.

Although the technique factor is the most important, this racket will help your shoulder in this form, if more weight is added to the handle it will be even more effective, not only for reducing injuries, but also making it easier to swing and getting better performance. Probably without even knowing, players using this type of racket are getting a bit more performance with the same effort, and also being able to play more consistent shots for longer because it is easier to swing over longer periods of play compared to the head heavy, or super light rackets that proliferate the market today. The only problem is the price of Yonex racquets, there must be other models that have this same design feature for a lot less money. Although what price would you put on your shoulder?

Would i buy one? If it saved my shoulder then yes, of course i would. My priority has changed during writng this blog, i have found out things i didn't know before about just how much badminton rackets can cause injury, or reduce injury depending on the type you use. This is the most important factor to me now, and if you also have nagging injuries, it should be yours to. In fact, even if you don't have any injury problems, head light, heavy overall rackets are what you should look for. Customize the one you have, or look for something else.

I am going to test this whole theory out myself. It will be simple to find out the answer. I have 3 carlton airblade tours, so i will keep one the same, and just add more weight to the other two by way of lead tape, one more than the other. Then i will just play a normal game with each racket, and see what happens. I anticipate that the difference in power will only be small, it can only ever be a slight difference anyway, but what i am more interested in, is how much easier it will be to swing the badminton racquet, and if it helps my shoulder problems.

Time to search for some lead tape, and after looking at quite a few online stores, i have decided to buy some from ebay. You can pay up to £10 for this lead tape, which seems a bit expensive to me. I have found some on ebay for £5 delivered, so it should reach me in a few days time. What i am after is a decent sized roll that is not thick, so it doesn't make my handle too wide when i add the overgrip. There are some versions i have seen that are very thin, what i have gone for is 36" of 1/2" wide tape, that should do fine. How much i will put on i have no idea yet, i will just experiment when i get it, and see how it feels. The time to customise my badminton racket has arrived, about 20 years too late though.

Badminton Rackets and Injuries

2008-07-19T10:28:00.005+01:00

Badminton involves throwing your badminton racket very quickly at the shuttle, it is the one racket sport that creates the most violent actions on your body, especially your shoulder and arm. The result is that many players pick up injuries to their shoulders. Most of these injuries are caused by repetetive movements, and are usually chronic, meaning they are permanent. The longer you play the more likely you are to pick up these kinds of problems. I am in the same situation. Many badminton players are too, so you know what i am talking about.

So i decided to find out if a badminton racket had any influence on the potential to cause injury. What is the best racket to use, to help reduce injury? Well let's find out...

To find this information i have looked through many different articles from academic journals on racket science, physics and sport. I have been to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and looked through Google Scholar for the answers. A few names keep cropping up, and they are the leading academics who have researched this topic.

I am not, in any way, a maths or physics expert, to be honest with you, i hate the subjects. But to find out some answers i thought it necessary to at least have a look at this stuff.

The first term that came up was work. Work is the energy required to produce a certain shuttle speed. It measures the efficiency of the badminton racquet. What you want is a racket that has low work, high work is bad because the player has to swing harder to achieve the same result. Work is the racket's power, the less work you have to put in to get the required shuttle speed the better.

Shock is the loading of the racket from a sudden change in kinetic energy on impact, ie, vibration. It is how much the racket slows down when it hits the shuttle. Before impact you need energy to get up to speed to hit the shuttle. After impact the racket moves slower and energy is lost. The shuttle gets some of the energy, and the rest is used in bending the frame. If the frame is stiff and light, the frame bending energy will not be absorbed by the frame, it will be dumped into your arm. High shock is bad for injuries.

Now, all the research has indicated that the best kind of racket to use to gain maximum power is a heavy racket with a head light balance. More mass placed close to the handle will allow this kind of bat to be swung faster. More mass at the tip of the racket makes it more difficult to swing. An example of this can be seen in a sledgehammer. All the weight is placed at one end, and if you have ever tried to swing a sledgehammer you will know that it is very difficult, you are often thrown off balance because of the weight at the tip. If you hold the sledgehammer the other way round, with the weight in your hands, it is much easier to swing it.

There is a bit of conflicting evidence about this from what i have seen. Some people argue that a lighter racket will allow you to swing faster, and therefore you will have greater velocity on impact, which in turn will give increased shuttle speed. Heavier rackets will have more mass, but will not have as much swing speed on impact. So in this instance, it appears that you would get the same shuttle speed using one or the other. The lightweight racket can be swung quicker but does not have the mass, and vice versa. However swing speed is not the key, momentum is what counts in a collision, and the research shows that it is better to have more mass, and particularly more mass closer to the handle of the badminton racket to achieve more power and less potential for injury.

The advocates of lightweight rackets claim that this extra swing speed equals more shuttle speed on impact, and to a certain extent this is true. But.. faster swing speed on impact means less control, and more importantly, a lightweight racket will slow down much quicker on impact, causing more stress to your shoulder. Over time that light weight will demolish your arm, as you are having to do more work to get the performance, not the racquet.

So why not have a head heavy balance and light weight? It would seem that you could get the most performance with this type of bat. The problem is that it requires more effort on your part to swing it, you have to work a lot harder to achieve a certain shuttle speed than with a heavy head light bat. Rememeber the sledgehammer example. Another drawback is that head heavy racquets feel sluggish.

Here is the low down... Head light and heavy is best for performance, and best for avoiding injury.

The research also shows that the worst kind of racket you can use for injury is a lightweight racket with a head heavy balance, and a stiff frame. Does this type of racket sound familiar? All the most expensive and popular racquets have these characteristics. The current trend is to have head heavy balance, and the manufacturers market this all the time.

As an example, i have looked for the specifications for Yonex rackets in relation to their balance points. I have used a table of reference from badminton central, which lists many of today's most popular badminton rackets. According to this information, not one single Yonex model has a head light balance. Many are head heavy, such as the Muscle Power series, whilst the Nanospeed series appears to be slightly head heavy, or evenly balanced. It would appear that an even balanced racket is better for you than head heavy. Better yet, a heavier overall weight is good, even with an even balance.

Next time you look for a new bat take this information into consideration. How many times have you seen people go into their local shop and pick a racket up, swing it round a bit and then say "wow, that is so light, i think i'll buy it". Their entire basis for buying is based on how light it is. This kind of ignorance has caused so many injuries. And don't think the store owner will try and put you off buying a lightweight racket, i guarantee that most of them will not even know what balance the racket is, all they are trying to do is sell you that racquet. They will certainly not know what you know if you have read this.

So, what can you do to make your racket into a powerful, injury preventing weapon? Add weight to the handle. You can do this by adding extra grip tape. If your the kind of player who buys a racket and then applies large amounts of overgrip on the handle, you will have changed the balance point, probably without even realising. Many professional players seem to have overgrip going upto half way up the shaft. The Indonesian players favour this. The extra grip is also to help them hold the racket further up the shaft for more control, but they have also changed the balance point with all this overgrip.

There is also a little gimmick called lead tape, and the idea is to apply this tape to the racket head. This will create a head heavy balance. Many players use this tape as they believe it will give them more power. We now know that all this lead tape will do, is to make it more difficult to swing the bat, and cause the most injury to your shoulder over time. What i would do is buy some of this tape and apply it to the handle, then put the overgrip on top of it.

Next time you buy a new badminton racket make sure you know all the details about it, such as weight and balance. Specify what weight and balance point you want. If your not sure what this means, just browse through some of the previous posts. Remember, more weight is not a bad thing.

Just as a side note i have learned a lot myself from doing this research. My current racket of choice is the Carlton Airblade Tour and it weighs in at 78g. Now from what i have just told you, this racket is probably far too light to get maximum power. The result of me using this racket is that i have got shoulder problems. I have been putting in all the work to get any sort of power from it. The only plus point is that it is head light, but it is so light overall that it makes it very difficult to extract power. No wonder i have shoulder problems.

If i want to carry on playing badminton i will need to change rackets, to give my shoulder the best chance of survival. The performance difference between the many racquets is very small, changing from one to another should not be a problem, technique does not change when you change rackets does it? What i am interested in, is prolonging my playing days, and if that means using a heavier badminton racket and placing more weight on the handle then this is what i will do. It is time to start experimenting...

Badminton Rackets and Tension Explained

2008-07-14T19:17:00.002+01:00

Most badminton players are familiar with the notion that lower racket string tensions give more power, and that higher racket string tensions give more control. The general idea is that lower tension strings stretch more on impact and store more energy. When the shuttle rebounds from the racket head, more of this energy is returned, resulting in increased shuttle speed. The idea that higher string tensions provide extra control is a bit more complicated to explain.

If we take control to mean the ability to place the shuttle consistently at an intended position, then how would this extra tension help to achieve this? Many badminton players report that having a badminton racket strung at high tension gives the feeling of more "bite" into the shuttle, which provides more control over the shuttle. The theory is that the strings will cut deeper into the base of the shuttle, especially on slice shots, giving more control. Many of the string manufacturers produce thinner gauge strings, and they then market them by claiming they offer more control as they help to bite into the shuttle base more, which is the same theory as the high tension, both are concerned with this "bite". Thus, if we have high tension and thin strings we should achieve the most control because of the extra "bite" factor.

Now this theory has been tested at the university of Sheffield in the UK. The test was conducted on tennis rackets, and the amount of top spin produced with different string tensions. The same basic principles must also apply to slice shots in badminton rackets, they are doing virtually the same thing. The results showed that string tension, or string type, had no effect on the amount of spin produced. It was found that all stringbeds are sufficiently "rough" to produce the maximum amount of spin.

This scientific evidence goes against what most of us badminton players think. I must admit that i always assumed that high tension and thin gauge strings would allow me to produce more spin on the shuttlecock and create more slice. The answer is that it makes no difference at all. So the next time you read about Yonex and Ashaway claiming that their latest thin gauge string will give you more control, you now know that this is not the case.

However, many players still feel that they can produce more spin or slice on the shuttle at higher tensions. There may well be other factors that can explain this. The same study mentioned earlier was also applied to the amount of spin produced by two identical rackets strung at different tensions, with the exact amount of racket head speed on contact. The results again showed no difference in the amount of spin produced.

However, tight strings produce less velocity compared to looser strings,(remember the rebound effect of lower tensions). This would result in the shuttle landing shorter in the court. So if two identical badminton rackets were used, but strung at different tensions, with the exact same head speed on impact, the one with the higher tension would send the shuttle shorter into the court. To make up for this, the player with the high tension strings may well swing faster, thus creating more spin. Now in this case, it is not the tension that has created the extra spin, but the player. It is the players response to tighter strings that produces more spin, not the tension itself.

If string tension does not have any effect on spin, then it cannot have any influence on added control through spin, ie you cannot slice the shuttle more with high tension strings assuming the racket head speed is the same for the shot. But there are other variables that do vary with string tension. The first is string movement. You would assume that at lower tensions, the strings will deform and move more when you play a heavy slice shot. The strings would move in a sideways direction. This has been tested and it does happen. Tighter strings do not move as much on impact with the shuttle.

But does this string movement have any affect on control? As the shuttle hits the strings they will deform in a sideways direction depending on the type of slice. The strings, however, stay in this deformed state even when the shuttle has left the racket. They have not recovered back to their original position. You can see this in action if you play a slice shot and then look at how the strings in your badminton racket have moved to one side. If the strings were able to move and then retain their original position before the shuttle had left the racket face, then in theory they would produce more slice or spin on the shuttle, but they don't, hence the findings that spin is independent of tension.

The amount of string movement will affect the impact because it will influence the location that the shuttle leaves the badminton racquet. This movement will also affect the speed and angle that the shuttle leaves the racket, and therefore, where the shuttle will land on court. This will result in inconsistency, and hence less control over where the shuttle will land. The amount of string movement also depends on the speed of the swing, where exactly the shuttle is hit on the racket face, and the position of the strings on impact. If you have previously hit a heavy slice shot, the strings will be deformed, and if you hit another slice shot immediatetly after this, then you may find that the shuttle is only in contact with one string on impact, rather than two or three. The result is lower tension results in less consistency, and hence, less control.

Another factor to be considered is dwell time, ie, how long the shuttle is in contact with the strings. Scientific evidence has shown that contact time on the strings is higher with lower string tension, as you would expect. The shuttle also moves further across the stringbed at lower tensions. If we take the example of a player playing a slice shot, then the racket strings will brush across the base of the shuttle. The probability that this slice shot is performed correctly is increased if the distance that the shuttle travels across the stringbed is minimised. So tighter strings will increase the probability of a successful slice shot.

Another impact of dwell time on control can be seen with racket head movement. The longer the shuttle is in contact with the racket head, then the more the racket head can move. If you don't hit the shuttle in the sweet spot, then the racket head will rotate and twist, known as torque. The longer the shuttle is in contact with the head when this happens, the more head rotation will occur, which will result in larger errors in your shot precision. Higher string tensions help to eliminate this unwanted effect.

To summarise all this up, string tension and string type has no effect on the amount of slice you can impart on the shuttle. However, tension does affect dwell time, string movement, and contact distance. Stringing your badminton racket at higher tensions makes your shots more consistent, which will add to control. Hope this little science lesson has helped you. It has certainly opened my eyes to a few things that i didn't know before.

Badminton Rackets and Technique

2008-07-09T21:13:00.004+01:00

I have gone on about technique in previous posts, but i have never actually got to the real meat of what it actually is, and how it affects your game. Most of my posts have talked about the various badminton rackets on the market, and what to look for when you decide to buy them. I hav also told you that the actual racket is the final piece of the jigsaw, and without footwork and technique, this racquet will be of little use to you. In my opinion this will always be true. But what exactly is technique?

Put simply, technique is the way you hit the shuttle around the court. Every badminton player will do this differently to a lesser degree. It involves your whole body coming together to hit the shuttle. What you need from the way you hit your shots is consistency. Think of a golfer. The aim of golf is to hit the ball accurately and consistently. The best players in the world always seem to hit the ball effortlessly, and the ball usually goes exactly where they planned.

Badminton is the same. The professional players seem to be able to hit the shuttle with ease, from one corner to the other, from the back to the back. They can do this because their technique is almost perfect. They are usually in the correct position to allow all of their body to come together at the point of impact, and send the shuttle to where they want it to go. Have you ever tried to hit the cover off the shuttle with your racket, and found that the harder you try to hit it, the less power you produce? I know i have, and the reason the shuttle goes nowhere, is because your technique is flawed. At the point of impact, something is not quite right, and the force you are putting in, is not being transfered efficiently to the shuttle.

The reasons for this could be many, which is why we are not all professional badminton players. To hit a shuttle with maximum power you will need your body weight, your shoulder, forearm and wrist, plus forward momentum, to impact the shuttle at the highest point available. If all these factors are in tune, then in theory, your technique will be as good as you can get it. The difficult part is being able to do this consistently. I am sure you have had that great moment when you can feel that you have really creamed a smash, and hit the shuttle with more power than you thought you could. Or perhaps you have just hit a really accurate drop shot that went right onto the line, or skimmed the net. You get a great buzz from this, and it boosts your confidence no end, it makes you feel like you can really play this game. At that moment, some part of your technique played a part in achieving that shot, but do you know which part? That is the key to improving your game, knowing how you just did something. A coach will, or should, be able to recognise this and point you in the right direction.

If we take the example of who can hit a shuttlecock harder than anyone else, ie, who has the fastest smash speed in the world? The current holder of the fastest recorded smash speed is the chinese player Fu Haifeng. Does this mean he has the best technique? I would say yes. He is able to produce more power from his technique than anybody else, this must make it more efficient than the rest. At the point of impact he is able to produce more power than the rest. Andy Roddick has the fastest serve in tennis, his technique must also be the most efficient at producing this power.

What we would all love to do, is to be able to do this ourselves. Unfortunately, none of us can, not even other professional players, this is because we are all different, and always will be. You can try to copy these players, but you will not achieve the same results. Is it a god given talent? Some may say it is, it is the difference between the best and the very best and it is ever so slight, but it can make the difference between winning and losing.

This is not always the case, and there are many other factors that play a part, tactics for one. I am sure you have played against players who can hit the shuttle very hard, and they go out of their way to do this at every opportunity, they take pleasure in trying to hit the shuttle through the floor, and also through you. But if they hit the shuttle to the same place, ie, straight at you, in time you will become accustomed to the speed and direction, and you will be able to return the shuttle most of the time. Power is limited if it is not used wisely, and the higher level you play at, the quicker the players will adapt. Now the big hitting player who cannot adapt will have their main weapon used against them. Tactics are another vital part of badminton, or any other sport, and i will cover badminton tactics in a future post.

So how can you improve your technique? A good way is to watch the best players. Look at the way they hit the shuttle, at what point do they hit it? Where are their feet when they do this. Are they in position? Watch the badminton racket before and after impact. Look at their body as they hit through the shuttle. Put your dvd player on slow motion to get a closer look. All the best players will be in position more often than not, they will take the shuttle as early as possible to give themselves more time to play shots. Watch an entire game just focusing on one player, don't just follow the shuttle.

If you can hit the shuttle where you want to, consistently, then this is the best you can hope for. If you can do this, then chances are your technique is good enough to enable you to play badminton at your highest possible level, whatever this may be. Your badminton racket is just a tool to allow you to do this. Just remember that every player will have a different way of hitting their shots, but the results are the same, every player attempts to hit consistently and accurately. Only when you can do this, can you add power, slice, reverse slice or deception to the equation. Badminton is a never ending learning curve, this is why it is so addictive.

SOTX Badminton Rackets

2008-07-05T08:37:00.003+01:00

Not many people in the UK will have heard of SOTX badminton as they are a newcomer to these shores, however, they have been growing at a rapid pace over in China. Now they have entered the UK market, selling all kinds of badminton equipment including rackets, shuttlecocks, bags, clothing and shoes. SOTX have been around in China since 2002, and now have over 300 stores in many major chinese cities. SOTX has also expanded into around 20 other countries, and is a very active promoter of badminton tournaments. This can only be good for our sport, a litte more competition doesn't hurt anyone, but it may help to reduce prices for us lot who buy badminton rackets and accessories.

It was only a matter of time before a major brand appeared from China, what took them so long? Yonex dominates in the far east, but they are Japanese, so perhaps SOTX can take away this dominance. They already appear to be eating into the market share. The potential to sell badminton rackets in the far east is huge, the popularity of the game is massive over there. If you think that 2 million people play badminton in the UK every week, imagine how many people play each week in the far east? How many racquets could be sold? Millions, this is a big business, a very big business indeed.

The UK market is dominated by Yonex and Carlton, and has been since i started playing. Over the last 10 years there have been a few more players entering the market such as the American suppliers like Wilson, Head and Prince. There are also a few less well established suppliers like Forza, Fleet, Browning, Inflight and so on. With 2 million players in the UK, there are 2 million potential customers to serve, and the badminton magazine that is delivered to all members of the BA of E is full of advertisements from these companies. They all want you to buy their rackets and accessories.

Back to SOTX, and they also have an ebay store where they sell all their stuff. After looking at the customer feedback, i can see that over the last 12 months, they have sold around 110 items, and all feeback is positive, not a single person in the UK has complained about their service or products. Most of the equipment they sell appears to be clothing such as tracksuits and t-shirts, and this is not suprising as you can pick up clothing for under £1, which is incredible. In fact i have never seen anything so cheap, jesus, you could get yourself 10 t-shirts for a tenner, tracksuits are not much more expensive either, and shorts for that matter. These are mental prices, and i am certainly going to have some of these, i will let you know what the quality is like when i get some.

Now to the actual SOTX badminton racquets, and there are lot's to choose from, with around nine different ranges. First up is the Commax Power Series, and the daddy of this range is the SOTX CP-7000. It is made from high modulus carbon with force-pro nano technology. You may be wondering what force-pro is. Well it is designed to reduce vibration to help protect your wrist, arm and shoulders. If you string your racket to high tensions you will get much more vibration going into your body, this can cause injury and give serious problems later on. This force pro stuff is meant to protect you, and seeing as the recommended stringing tension for this CP-7000 is 30lbs, you will need it. I think this could be a great idea from SOTX, no-one else has tried this to my knowledge. You will soon find out if it works, if your arm doesn't ache after a few matches. This could actually be very good news for shoulders and joints. At least SOTX is aware that high tension equals aches and pain. The CP-7000 has a stifness rating of 9.0-9.3, which means it is very stiff, and the weight is 83-89g, and it is head heavy. Now here is the killer, it costs a whopping £109. There are not too many badminton stores that sell SOTX yet, so you will end up paying full whack at the moment. SOTX also have an ebay store, and it is the same price there as well. I find this hard to believe, but the recommended retail price is £199 on the SOTX UK website. There is no way on earth they will sell any of these for that price, in fact i think they will struggle to sell any for £109. This racket really must be something else, but i guarantee it will come down in price to about half of what they currently advertise it for.

The SOTX CP-6000 has the same technology but is less stiff, at 8.5-9.0, and is a bit heavier, at 84-91g, the balance is more even. The price is £99, and you can string up to 30lbs.

The CP-5000 has the force-pro technology, weighs 82-88g, and is less stiff at 8.0-8.5. There does appear to be a large tolerance in the weight to me. 82-88 doesn't really tell me what the exact weight is, this needs to be more precise in my opinion. Max string tension is still 30lbs, and it costs £79.99. There is also the CP-3000 and the 1000 in this range, which appear to be very similar to the others, just less in price. The 3000 is £69.99 and the 1000 is £59.99. If the bottom of the range has this pro force technology it would be easier to just go out and buy this racquet, instead of forking out £109 for the 7000. After doing a bit of searching on the internet, there is only one authorised seller for SOTX rackets, and this is in the US. The price for the CP-7000 is $309!! This relates to about £155 in the UK. This makes it just about the most expensive badminton racquet in the world, and hardly anyone in the western world has heard of SOTX, until now, because i just did. SOTX are looking for agents to sell their stuff, now tell me how the hell are you going to justify that price? You would have to be a super agent to sell SOTX rackets.

If you think the CP range is expensive then take a look at the Woven range. The range topper is the SOTX Woven-16 and costs £129.99... gulp. It is made from 800D high grade carbon fibre and glass fibre, which give extra stability and control. It weighs in at 88g and has a stiff rating. It's party piece is that you can string it to 31lbs tension, if you can find a string that can take the stress. This range does not have the pro force vibration technology so you can kiss your arm goodbye if you string it at 31lbs tension.

The Woven-13 is next which has more flexibilty and is slightly heavier. This one costs £99.99...ouch. The Woven-12 is also very similar and weighs 86g with a stiffness rating of 8.5-9.0. Price is £89.99. The Woven 11i is a bit heavier at 89g, and is more flexible, price for this is £79.99.

There are another 9 rackets in this range, which are all very similar, and the bottom of the range is the Woven-2i, which still costs £49.99.

The Diamond Fighter range has 8 rackets, with the D-900 being the top one, and this costs £89.99. The Diamond Fighter range (where do they get these names from) has special memory alloy which reduces the ageing of the racket. How it does this i do not know, perhaps this racket forgets that it has been hitting shuttles and so lasts longer. It weighs 85g and is quite stiff, designed for professional all round play.

The SOTX D-800 is slightly more flexible and costs £79.99 and is designed for attacking players. The D-700 has even more flex and is £69.99. We go all the way down to the D-100 which costs £44.99.

SOTX also have a superlight series, which weigh in at about 75g. Funnily enough, SOTX claim these rackets are the lightest in the world, which we know they are not..re Karakal SL70? I wonder if Karakal know about this claim.

Overall i think SOTX badminton rackets are way overpriced at the moment. Time will tell if they start to sell in the UK, but at these prices i doubt they will. If they can get some stores to stock their goods they stand a chance, but the prices will almost certainly come down when this happens, that will be the time to buy.

Browning Badminton Rackets

2008-07-03T20:26:00.006+01:00

Browning badminton rackets are a relatively unknown quantity in the badminton world, but they have a solid reputation in my eyes. As far as i am aware, they have actually stopped making racquets now, but let me tell you, there are still hundreds of them available on the internet. I did own one many years ago, and it did the job for a few years, i have no idea what model it was or how much it cost back then. Browning actually make guns, and are more famous for this. How they began making badminton rackets i have no idea, but they did, and they are like an underground brand, you have to know where to look to find them.

One of my friends uses Browning rackets, and he is very pleased with them, the main reason is that you can pick them up for next to nothing, and, having played with some of them, i would certainly recommend giving them a go, at the low prices you can find, you really have nothing to lose. I can tell you that the best place to buy Browning bats is from my old friends at Racketworld, on ebay and with Amazon. Seriously, if you want to buy rackets, not just badminton, but squash and tennis, then try Racketworld. They offer exceptional deals, and low prices, period. There is one other place i would like to give a shout out to, and that is Snowygreen sports. These guys are another hidden little gem on the internet, and they focus mainly on squash rackets. I am giving them the thumbs up because i bought myself a Head i110 squash bat from them yesterday for the lowest price on the internet. I do enjoy playing squash, and of course, as with badminton, rackets break. My old bat bit the dust the other day, i played a shot and the handle snapped in two. This was hardly suprising, as i had previously glued it back together about 6 months ago, when i threw it on the floor. Frustration is a bitch ain't it. It wasn't the rackets fault, it was my inability to play the way my mind thinks i should play.

Back to Browning, and i can tell you that Racketworld are selling about 20 of them every single day on their online store in the UK. This may not sound like much but it shows that a good few people are spending their money wisely, and not being drawn in by the big players like Yonex, who spend much more money on advertising. In fact, i have never seen Browning marketing their badminton stuff. This tells me that these people are buying them via word of mouth, the best kind of publicity any manufacturer can get. I have no problem advertising them on this blog because i personally use them, so i know you will get a good deal.

Thousands of people have bought these bats, and i bet they are laughing at the Yonex slaves, as i call them, for spending over £100 on a racket, and believing all the marketing hype that is thrown around these days. For £100 you could arm yourself with at least 4 Browning badminton rackets, and if you have got the coaching behind you and can hit the shuttle consistently well, you will be made for months if not years. The only other important factor to consider are the strings, make sure you have all these bats strung at your favourite tension, which is probably the biggest expense, and you will hardly notice any difference, apart from the huge savings you will enjoy. This is why places like Racketworld are so successful, they operate in a completely different world to the mainstream online retailers, but are just as successful. The difference in actual playing experience between a Browning racket and the top end Yonex, Forza or whatever, is minimal, if you know how to move and have good technique. Those of you who have spent money on coaching and have reached a decent level will know what i mean, the racket is the least important factor in you game.

Here is an example. If you go to google and type in "browning badminton racket", you will see that the top listings are from Amazon. Racketworld just so happen to have a store with Amazon, you are just directed to the same store. How many people visit Amazon and Ebay every single day? Millions of us do. Now can you imagine just how many visitors Racketworld are getting every day. Not only are they getting custom from word of mouth, if you look at the customer feedback comments, there is virtually no one who has had a bad experience with them. All of the customers say things like- "great racket, great service, delivered on time, good racket at a great price", etc, etc. If Racketworld were selling crap products they would not exist, but they specialise in selling cheap rackets, last years models, but these racquets are vey good indeed, good quality products at low prices. This is the kind of niche that i look for when buying anything, but especially when buying rackets. I know a good deal when i see one, i have been playing badminton for 20 years, so i like to think i know a bit about what is good and what is not. The Head i110 i bought yesterday cost me £39.99, if i didn't know where to look i could have easily spent £100 on this bat somewhere else, the price differences are massive if you do some searching.

There is not much information about the different Browning ranges anywhere on the internet. Racketworld are notoriously bad at listing their products in any kind of logical way. In fact they list different prices for the same products, you just make sure you choose the cheapest. From what i can gather from the listings there are quite a few bats to choose from, so i will start with the cheapest first.

The Browning Firepower Titanium is just £8.99, and is a one piece titanium carbon composite construction, and it comes pre strung with the factory strings, which will be crap, but they always are. However, if you are a complete beginner this will matter in the slightest, and you can have a starter racket for less than a tenner. The only problem is that Racketworld charge £7.95 for delivery, no matter what you buy, so the delivery is almost as expensive as the actual racquet. This is the only drawback with the internet.

More cheap alternatives are the Browning Nanoblade Ti, the Browning Nanotech CTi 90 and the Browning Carbotech Ti. They are all £9.99, and have wide body designs with titanium mesh in the frames. If you are a beginner i seriously recommend you try any of these out, they are great starter rackets at supid prices.

Moving up in price we have the Browning Nanopower Titanium, at a hefty £14.99. It has nano carbon and titanium mesh in it, like the others. At £19.99 there are five models to choose from. First is the Browning Graphite Ti 75, which weighs 75g hence the name. Now the description states that this is new for 2008, so perhaps Browning are still making badminton rackets, or Racketworld have made a mistake. Either way it doesn't really matter. It has a one piece powerflow frame and comes with a full length carry case. I don't know about you, but i must have about 30 of these little carry cases buried away somewhere, i think i might start my own ebay shop selling them for a penny each.

There is also the Browning ESP Ti 75 Titanium, the Oxylite Ti 75 Titanium, the ESP Ti 80 Titanium and the Nanotech CTI 85, all for £19.99. You will notice that the two ESP rackets are the same price, this often happens at Racketworld. I would suggest the 75 is lighter than the 80. Next up at £29.99 is the Browning Nanotech CTi 80, and then at £39.99 we have the Platinum Nano 75. The most expensive rackets are the Browning Plasma Nano Ti 75 at £59.99 and the Plasma Platinum 75 at £69.99, which has plasma treated nano carbon and titanium which makes it stronger. It weighs 75g and has a stiff shaft. It is also coated in chrome which apparently makes it stiffer. There is also the isometric head shape. This is new for 2008. I reckon that this racket will come down in price in a few months, or maybe next year when something else takes it's place, that would be the best time to buy one in my opinion.

I don't recommend many badminton rackets within this blog, in fact i go out of my way to urge you not to spend big money on them, just go through some of the posts. They all do the same job in the end, and it's always down to you to get the most out of them. I have stuck up the browning ads because they are a great way to enjoy your badminton without spending a lot of money, and also because Racketworld are good to deal with, i personally use them to buy my rackets. The fact that they are probably the cheapest place on the internet to buy badminton rackets is the added bonus.

Your Badminton Racket is Useless Without Footwork

2008-06-30T20:52:00.002+01:00

Your shiny new badminton racket will not be much use to you unless you can get in position to hit your shots, period. And this all comes down to footwork, the most important, and often overlooked part of badminton. Without good footwork you will spend most of your time stretching and twisting around the court, off balance and late to get to the shuttle, making accurate, consistent shots virtually impossible. The risk of injury also increases, and your stamina will decrease because you will be constantly chasing the shuttle.

I know this from past experience, and perhaps you do too. You can buy yourself the most expensive badminton racket available, string it to very high tension, and have the exact same equipment as a professional player, but this is not going to make you play like one. Without good footwork that £100 racket will just be used to scramble the shuttle back, you will hardly ever know if it will benefit your game because you will be too busy thrashing about to notice.

In my opinion, you need to learn how to grip the racket first. Then i would buy myself the best pair of badminton shoes i can get my hands on. Next comes footwork, then technique, then a badminton racket. You then experiment with different string tensions, there is no need to buy another racket yet, just change the tensions in the one you have. When you have found your own personal tension that suits you, you can then experiment with different badminton rackets.

Back to footwork. There is no one way to move around a badminton court, all players move differently. To get a good idea it is best to watch the best players move. Dig out your badminton dvd's and watch some games. Just look at one player all the time, look at their feet and how they move around the court. You will notice that the very best make it look easy, this is no accident, these players have spent countless hours practising their movement, using on court drills, practise games and by strengthening their leg muscles.

An example of the variance in movement can be seen in a match between Zhao Jianhua and Morten Frost from the 1985 All England singles final. Zhao is the perfect badminton player in my opinion, the best there has ever been. I truly believe that if he was around today he would still beat anyone, Lin Dan included. His movement around the court as perfect, and he took many chasse steps to get about with great speed. His leg strength was incredible, probably the best athlete ever on a badminton court. In contrast, Morten Frost tended to take small, quick running steps, but he also has very strong legs to move him around. Frost was well known for his court coverage and athletic ability, he just did it in a different way. Both players reached the top of the game for a long time, winning many major titles along the way. The point is that footwork is not set in stone, there is no absolute single way of doing it, it is personal to the individual player. If you feel comfortable in your movement then so be it. If you can get around the court in an efficient way then go for it.

The key word is efficiency, you want to be able to maximise your stamina so you can last the pace in hard games. Footwork will be the difference between winning and losing. Zhao was known for his deception, and it was all down to his footwork. He was able to get into position to hit his shots because he could move quickly, he got there early so his opponents had to react to what he did, not the other way round. Playing singles when you are constantly chasing the shuttle is exhausting, in the end you will be the first to get tired. When this happens, your footwork is put under more pressure because your legs just can't get you in position quickly enough. Eventually, you will become even more tired until you just can't get to the shuttle, your technique will start to crumble because you are playing shots out of position.

I spent an entire year with a badminton coach just practising footwork. I was taught to use chasse steps, and i would spend two hours doing drills, running after cricket balls with chasse steps all over the court. I would do shuttle runs to all corners of the court, over and over again, using chasse steps every time. I would then do multi shuttle feeds all over the court, it started with 10 shuttles and progressed to 70 after a year. The coach would stand at the net and then hit shuttles to every part of the court, which i had to return. As my footwork got better and more consistent, the coach would feed quicker, so that as soon as i had hit one, another was fed to a different part of the court. This made me move quicker, just to get to the next shuttle, until i couldn't move quickly enough. The speed was probably even quicker than it was in a real game, but the saying "train hard, fight easy" comes to mind. I was prepared for real game situations, my footwork was so much better than before, you only realise this when you actually play a competitive match, against a similar level opponent.

Practise as much as you can, go spend some money on a good coach and learn the basics first, your game will improve much quicker than spending all your money on the latest badminton racket. Watch the best players to get ideas, go to the sports hall and practise, but get yourself a coach, they can see you when you practise and give pointers and tips to help you in the right direction, more than you can ever do on your own. There are coaching manuals that can give you ideas, or videos on you tube that you can watch, just type in badminton footwork in the search bar and see what comes up. Any good coach will teach you the importance of footwork, or at least they should. Remember, footwork is the bedrock of badminton, being in position to hit your shots will give you a huge advantage, so go out and get practising.

Ashaway Badminton Rackets

2008-06-29T13:18:00.002+01:00

Ashaway are more well known for their strings, but they also have a wide range of badminton rackets, clothing, shoes, and other badminton accessories. Ashaway have a great reputation, mainly due to their racket strings, which have proved to be very popular over many years. Building on this solid foundation, they have begun rolling out badminton rackets.

The flagship range is the Kevlar series. The top racket is the Ashaway Kevlar 8000SQ. At the time of writng this, it is not yet available in the UK. It comes out in July 2008. Looking at the Ashaway website, it says this racket is extra stiff, and head heavy, with a weight of 89g. It has an isometric head shape, and is re-inforced with kevlar and high modulus graphite. This seems to follow the pattern of most expensive racquets, with stiff flex and head heavy balance. The price, well i don't know yet, but i expect it to be around the £100 mark, which means Ashaway are going straight into Yonex territory, so this had better be a quality product to compete. Ashaway actually price this at £119 on their website, but it will probably sell for less at the online badminton stores.

The Ashaway 7000SQ is next up, and is alomost the same as the 8000SQ, but appears to be a bit lighter at 86g. Extra stiff flex and head heavy balance are the main points of this bat. Stringing tension is around 26lbs, but you can go higher than this if you like. It is retailing at about £92.99, which is expensive to me.

The Ashaway 6000SQ follows a similar pattern, but has less weight, at 84g, and has a slightly less stiff rating. It still has a head heavy balance point, and the isometric shape. Ashaway say this racket is designed especially for doubles play, however, they then boast that England player, Nathan Rice uses this racket. The problem is that Nathan is a singles specialist, so what is he doing using a doubles bat? The answer is simple really, he likes this racket. Don't fall for the marketing talk. I mean come on, how on earth can any manufacturer claim that they have made a badminton racquet specifically for doubles play? You play the same shots in any form of badminton play, ie, smash, drive, block, drop, slice etc. Think about this the next time you look at the crap that is being said by the manufacturers.

I am systematically going through all the many ranges from the many different companies, and just telling you what they, and the online stores want you to believe. I have my own opinions on this, and no doubt you do as well, if you have read any of my other posts. You have to make your own mind up, but be aware that all that i say is just a reference for you, taken from the manufacturers. I can give you my own personal views on these rackets, but it won't be of much use to you. Why? because i don't play like you do, and vice versa. What i think is a good racquet, you may not. It is all personal, and that is it, period. Who am i to tell you that you should buy such and such a racket? Only you can make that choice. I have told you that i use the Carlton Airblade Tour, but this doesn't mean you should go out and buy one. No doubt there are some of you who have used this model and thought it was crap, that it didn't have any power or control, or whatever. All i know is that i like it, it is pretty cheap, and that is the main reason, the cost.

Yes i can go out and buy the most expensive bat out there, but the difference it would have on my own game would be hardly noticeable, i guarantee it. It pains me to read all these reviews on the forums that go on about how such and such a racket has improved the accuracy of a smash, or that drop shots are much closer to the net with this amazing new bat. What a load of crap. The only thing that will make your smash more accurate is your technique, not the racket. Seriously, if you give me 10 different racquets, all strung at the same tension (this is important) the difference in my smash accuracy will be virtually nothing, unless i start messing around with my own technique. It will be the same for you as well. In fact, if for some strange reason you do truly think your accuracy has improved by changing rackets, then your technique is inconsistent, and no racket on earth will help you out with this. There is one more important factor in all this, and it is more important than your technique, it is footwork, the most fundamental and often ignored part of badminton. I have not mentioned it until now, but it is so important, and i will cover footwork in future posts.

I think i have got a little side tracked here!! Ok, back to Ashaway badminton rackets. The 6000SQ will cost you around £53.55 if you look hard enough.

The 5000SQ is next up, and is lighter still than the others in this range, at just 82g. The flex is medium/stiff, so it's a little more flexible than the others. It still has a head heavy balance, and the isometric head shape. Price is about £47.59.

The next series in the Ashaway range is the Superlight series, and the range topper is the Superlight 79SQ, which weighs just 76g and has a medium flex rating. It has the isometric head shape, and the head is re-inforced with titanium and ultra high modulus graphite. Ashaway have a recommended retail price of £90 for this, but i have seen it priced at £49.47. 76grams is very lightweight, and it is almost as light as the Karakal models, so if you want an alternative to Karakal, then this could be the one.

The Ashaway Superlight 79 is virtually the same but has a conventional head shape, and for some reason it weighs 79g, so it's fractionally heavier. In case you hadn't guessed yet, the SQ stands for Square, or isometric. The price is £38.07, so it is about £10 cheaper than the isometric version. If you can hit the shuttle in the middle of the strings you won't need an isometric head shape to help you, so in this case you can save yourself £10 and get a normal head shape.

The Ashaway Superlight 78SQ has a medium flex and weighs 75g, as does the Superlight 78 with the classic head shape. Apparently this is a real players racket, according to Ashaway. What does this mean? More marketing bullshit is what it means. The superlight bats have sold well, and a few badminton stores have sold out of this range, so they have proved to be quite popular. Expect to pay about £45-£50 for these two versions.

The last in the Superlight range is the T5, which is also available in conventional and isometric head shapes. The weight is 79g, with a medium flex and head heavy balance point. There is also kevlar in here for extra strength, which the more expensive 78 and 79 don't have for some reason. Prices are about £40.

The Palladium range is next and has three models to choose from. First up is the Ashaway Palladium XT600. Palladium is from the platinum series of metals, and this provides more strength, which allows these rackets to be strung to higher tensions. The XT600 has a stiff flex, is head heavy and weighs 89g. I have not seen any of the palladium series on sale in the UK yet, but the recommended retail price is £79.99.

The XT550 is the same as the 600, but has a medium/stiff flex and weighs 86g, so a bit more lightweight here. Price is £69.99. The XT500 has a medium flex and weighs 84g. Price for this is £59.99. All these racquets have the isometric head shape.

The Ashaway Electro range is next up, which have nano carbon technology, making them lightweight but also strong. The Electro Nano is the most expensive and has a medium flex and weighs 81g. Price is £54.73. The others in the range are the Electro Pink, which is designed for the ladies and is bright pink. It is also supplied with bright pink strings and a pink bag, so you will not lose this even if you tried. Priced at £60 on the Ashaway website.

The Electro VG has a metallic gold colour, with a medium flex and weighs 84g. This has proved more popular than the others in this range, and you will pay about £46.27 if you shop around a bit.

The Ashaway Electro VB has a flexible rating and weighs 82g. However, at central sports they say this weighs 75g, so i would take the information from the Ashaway site first. Price is £34. We also have the Electro VR, which is the same as the VB, but in a different colour as far as i can see. Priced the same too. The Electro VP, is purple, and is the same racquet.

The final series is the Nano Dynamic range which will be available from July 2008. The Nano Dynamic 130 is the range topper and weighs just 75g with a flexible shaft. Priced at about £45. There is also the Nano Dynamic 80, 70 and 60 which are about £34.99 or there abouts. I have seen them for less though, and they could be a decent starter choice if you don't want to spend much.

All in all, Ashaway badminton rackets offer just about everything you need, and the price range is huge, from cheap to expensive. Based on their reputation for quality strings, their racket range could well prove to be just as successful.

Karakal Badminton Rackets

2008-06-23T19:00:00.003+01:00

Today is Karakal time, a funny name for a badminton racket manufacturer don't you think? It actually comes from Belgium, hence the weird name. Karakal have being going since 1978, and they moved into the UK market in 1981. In 1985 they purchased the rights to the UK and Ireland, not too sure what the hell this means, but they also got the rights to the rest of the world in 1991, and changed the name to Karakal Worldwide Ltd, their own new name. They now distribute to over 40 countries around the world, so they are a big player in the racket world.

I suppose they are most famous in the UK for their badminton over grips. These grips sold like you would not believe, they still do to this day, but almost every other manufacturer has copied the original design, so we now have more choice than ever before. Karakal grips are still the best in my eyes though, always will be too, although they have got carried away with some of their more recent designs.

Karakal are also famous for creating the lightest badminton rackets in the world. 70 grams to be exact, which is light enough thankyou. I think Karakal pushed the envelope as far as they could when the "in thing" was to make rackets as light as possible a good few years ago. However, there is one problem with light rackets, and that is, it is hard to generate the power wwith them. Of course, this need not be a problem if you want manouverability, you will get this in spades with a 70g bat. If you like defending, or want quicker reaction shots, then this is the one for you.

I have played with the SL70, and the new M-TEC 70, and to be honest, you do need very good technique to get the power, mine probably isn't good enough, as i did struggle to belt the shuttlecock as hard as usual. Yet, again we come back to stroke production and technique, the absolute bedrock of your game. Let me just say that if you string the SL70 to 30lbs tension and play a full season with it, you should book an early appointment with the physio to help get your shoulder and arm back. This is a hard core racket, but is perhaps not designed for power players, more for the deceptive stroke players, or net players. But, if you can swing fast enough then give it a go, it could be the just the right fit.

The flagship model is of course the SL70, which has been around for a good few years now. The latest incarnation now has nano technology in it, with graphite and magnesium. The weight is 70g, but there is no mention of the balance point, although i don't suppose it has one either way it is so light you wouldn't notice. The new model also has the Muscle-tec strigning system, which increases the sweet spot, and allows for higher tension, 30lbs to be precise. The price is about £69.99.

The all new M-TEC 70 ISO, is very similar to the SL 70 but has an isometric head shape. It is 90% nano graphite and 10% titanium, but weighs just 70g. The price is also £69.99 where i looked. This seems to be just a preference of the classic head or the isometric, so the choice is yours.

The SL80 is next, and it weighs 80g, with nano graphite and titanium. The Karakal SL80 also has the muscle tec stringing system, so you can go upto 30lbs tension. This could be useful if you want a little more weight, but it is still very light compared to everything else on the market today. Very limited supply of this racket in the UK, not many vendors sell it, but i have seen one for sale at £54.99.

The Karakal M-TEC 80 retails for £52.99 and is the same as the SL 80 but with isometric head shape. The flex is medium stiff and is designed for all round play. The maximum stringing tension is 24lbs on this one, but you will be able to go higher than that. Incidently, this racket had a special offer with it, of 4 Karakal grips thrown in.

There is also the M-TEC 75, which is 75g with an isometric head, and a medium stiff flex. The best price is just £39.93, which is a very good deal for a decent intermediate racket.

There are a few other models a lower prices, which follow the same path as every other manufacturer. However, if you fancy something a bit different then Karakal could well be a good alternative. I have seen quite a few reviews of Karakal badminton rackets, and most of them are favourable, so they must have something going for them. The prices are also very favourable compared to Yonex.

Yehlex Badminton Rackets

2008-06-20T16:12:00.003+01:00

In the previous post i talked about Fleet, so now i want to talk about Yehlex badminton rackets. As you know, Yehlex falls under the Fleet umbrella, as one of their five trading names, however the rackets are different, although very similarly priced. Rememeber they are all made in the same factory in Tiawan. Yehlex and Fleet are the original product lines, and where there from the very beginning, in 1985. Now i have to admit, i have never used any of the Yehlex models, i always used Fleet, and that was because i got good deals on them, it could just as easily have been Yehlex though. There does not seem to be much difference between the two, apart from the name.

There are eight rackets in the range to choose from, and the entry level model is the Yehlex YX2000. This is marketed as an ideal starter/club player racket. It has a flexible rating, which most starter level bats have. This is to give a little more power to your shots. The weight is 86-90g, and it has a normal head shape, as well as being a full one piece carbon graphite model, not bad for an entry level. It also comes pre strung with Yehlex titanium string at 24lbs tension. All this for just £27, this looks like a decent price for a beginner to learn the game, and not spend a fortune.

Next up is the Yehlex YX5000 Nano, which as you can tell from the name, has nano technology in it. It weighs 86-90g and has a medium flex rating, with a conventional head shape, or classic, they both mean the same thing. It also has a wide body frame, and is made from ultra high modulus graphite and nano carbon. You can customize your stringing for a little bit extra, and the recommended stringing tension is 21-26lbs. Price is £45 for this one, so it is quite a jump in cost from the YX2000, but then again it has a lot more technology in it.

The Yehlex YX55 Nano is next, and is specially designed for the ladies, mainly because it is light, at 81grams. Made with nano technology and a flexible rating. It has a slim shaft and an isometric head shape. It also has a pretty colour scheme, as this is what ladies like! You can string this racket to 29lbs and there is a choice of strings from Yonex and Ashaway. The flexible rating and isometric head will give a bit extra power, however, the light weight will take this away. The price is £55.

The Yehlex YX6105 is the next in the range, and it is bit heavier at 86g, with the isometric head and stiffer flex. It comes pre strung ith Yonex BG65 Ti as standard, so you are getting a good quality racket string here. Again, it has nano technology, and the cost is £50. It also has a fancy design, with electro plated colour schemes to add a little glamour to your game if your into that kind of thing.

Next is the Yehlex YX6106, and is the same as the YX6105, but has a platinum black colour scheme. The price is also £50.

The Yehlex YX7 is a new racket for the 2007-08 season. There is more technology in this, with an isometric MP head shape. I have a feeling that MP stands for "muscle power", which of course is part of the Yonex technology. There is also kevlar woven into the shaft, but what this does i am not sure. Yehlex do though as they say it increases head speed and stability. Max string tension is 30lbs, so the head can take the pain. Price is £55.

The Yehlex YX99 is up next which has a much stiffer shaft than the others in this range. The weight is 86-90g with the isometric head shape again. The stringing tension is up to 32lbs, which is about as high as anything i have seen. Get ready for shoulder problems at this tension, and a racket re-string every other day. The price is £65.

The top of the range Yehlex badminton racket is th YXQ, which stands for quad power, and this allows for an 88 point stringing system which produces more power. The balance is head heavy, and the flex is stiff, so this is aimed at advanced players, who can get the most out of this racket. Price is £70, which is pretty expensive, and is on a par with the main big hitters in the badminton equipment world, except Yonex of course, who are in a whole price league of their own creation.

My view is that Yehlex are testing the market with the YXQ at this price, just too see if it sells. If it does sell it will stay at this price, but i have a feeling it will not be too long before there is a buy one get one free offer. You see this all the time at the badminton stores, if a racket has not sold well it will go on offer at a knock down price. The stores need to get rid of the stock before the new models come out, of course they all wish they could sell them at the highest price, but life isn't like that for retailers, there is fierce competition out there. But because of this very fact, we badminton players can get our hands on cheap deals all year round, but especially when a new range is being launched.

The exception seems to be Yonex. You will find it difficult to find cheap Yonex deals anywhere on the internet, or if there are, there is not much of a discount to be had. I am not sure why, because there is no way that Yonex can sell all their rackets all of time. Perhaps Yonex have put a minimum price on all their equipment, to stop a free for all.

Yehlex have a solid reputation so far, for producing affordable, quality gear, and i would recommend you give them a try.

Fleet Badminton Rackets

2008-06-18T19:59:00.003+01:00

Fleet badminton rackets have been going since 1985, so they are now fairly well established on the badminton scene. They trade under five different names, these being Fleet, Yehlex, HiQua, apacs and Pro Tech. Why i do not know, but what i do know is that they offer the whole badminton package, ie, rackets, clothing, shuttles, bags, shoes and even stringing machines. Their clothing is unbelievably low priced, they currently sell polo shirts for just £6. I currently use one of Fleet's thermo bags, and i think it cost me £10 about 3 years ago, and it's still going strong, so it is good quality.

All their bats come from Tiawan, from a huge wholesale factory that produces all sorts of sports equipment. I think the owner has landed on his feet here, as this factory does produce good stuff. I have often wondered where all these rackets are made, and it is in the far east. If you can find a good supplier you are onto a winner. Just visit them, tell them what you want and hope they can produce good quality gear. As you buy more, the price goes down, and you make more profit, simple eh? I have thought about this, you know, finding a supplier in the far east, buying a shed load of racktets, and then selling them in the UK. Well this is exactly what Fleet have done. My guess is that this factory mass produces badminton rackets and then a few different companies have their own brand put on them. I reckon that the exact same rackets are in circulation with different graphics for different companies, and all at different prices, for the exact same thing. Makes you wonder eh?

Anyway, back to the Fleet range. The starter racket is the Fleet FT330Ti, which is on sale for £30. It has a medium flex and weighs around 88g, with an isometric head shape. It is made from ultra high modulus graphite. It comes pre strung with Fleet titanium string at 24lbs tension. This is a great option, because factory strung bats from most of the main manufacturers are crap, and at low tension. If you wish to specify the tension you will probably pay a bit more, but this is for the entry level model, and you usually do not get this, so well done to Fleet.

Next up is the Fleet FT 85S, which has our old favourite, nano technology in it. The flex is stiff and it weighs 86g, with the isometric head. It is designed for control, hence the stiffer rating. You can string up to 31lbs tension, and there is a choice of string from Fleet, Ashaway or Yonex. The price to customize is vry cheap, for example, you can have Ashaway Rally 21 for just £3 at your own tension. The racket costs £58 though, so it is a bit expensive, but Fleet do some good multi buy offers.

The Fleet FT 85X is the next model, and it is the same as the FT 85S, apart from the fact that it has a more flexible rating, so Fleet say this is aimed at more power. It cost the same too, at £58. However, there is a special offer with this badminton racket. You can buy two for £66. This is a no brainer, i mean, you can buy one for £58, or have two for an extra £8, the choice is yours.

Fleet also have a nano power range, like everyone else these days. The first is the Fleet Nano Power 600, which has a wide body design, isometric head shape and a flexible rating for extra power and head speed. Weight is 88g. Cost is £50.

The Nano Power 700 is next and is a bit lighter at 81-81g, it has the same technology, but less weight means this is ideal for fast reaction shots, but less power unless you have a very fast swing. The price is £56.

The top of the range is the Nano Power 800, which weighs 88g and has nano power system flex, whatever that is. It is designed for attacking players, and it costs £62.

No i have used Fleet for a number of years and have found them to be pretty good value for money, with the exception of the Top Power model. They don't make this anymore, and thank god for that, it is rubbish, but bear in mind it only cost around £30, so you live and learn, but at least it was not an expensive mistake. I may well look at Fleet again in the future, but always go for the two for one deals, they are always there. Don't be put off by the fact that they are not so well known, you need to find the right racket for you, regardless of the name. The only problem i can see with the current Fleet range is that it has got a little bit more expensive if you buy a single model, they are getting closer to the other badminton brands, who have a better reputation, so all things being equal, most people will go for the more well known make, and this will hit Fleet harder than before. I guess they will just have to let their rackets do the talking, if they produce a quality product it will sell, usually by word of mouth. This is how i started using them, a few club members used them, i tried a few models out myself, and liked them, so i bought a few, and they didn't let me down. Fleet badminton rackets are a good alternative to the more expensive brands and i do recommend them from past experince.

Forza Badminton Rackets

2008-06-16T20:49:00.004+01:00

Forza, or should i say FZ Forza, are the number one badminton racket manufacturer in Denmark, with about half the market share. This is big news for them, and they have now branched into the UK, ith a new range of rackets, clothing, footwear and other things you might need to play badminton.

The Forza UK website has got to be one of the most annoying sites i have ever visited. To view the product catalogue you are faced with huge pages which you have to zoom in and out of to see what is on them, this is a stupid idea, it just complicates things, all i want to see is the rackets they make, not spend ages zooming all over the place. I can tell you that there are a hell of a lot of rackets to go through, with three ranges as far as i can see. A lot of these models are not on sale in the UK, but the most expensive one's are.

I am currently looking at Forza's 2007-2008 racket range, which is grouped together in a big triangle diagram, presumably to make things a bit clearer. First up is the Forza Kevlar N Power range, and there are 8 models to choose from.

Forza use Kevlar because it is 5 times stronger than steel and very elastic and lightweight. All the Kevlar N Power range are wide body frames which gives more smashing power. I remember Yonex introducing wide body frames a good few years ago, so this is not a new technology, many tennis racquets are wide bodied. Anyway, the range topper is the Kevlar N Power 200, which also has the power plus system that allows the strings to be closer together, giving more power and higher string tension.

Material- Nano Graphite/Kevlar
Head Shape- Isometric
Shaft- Long
Weight- 88 grams
Flex- Stiff
Balance- head heavy
Max Stringing Tension- 26 lbs
Player Type
Advanced Offensive

We can see that the N Power 200 is designed for power, with the head heavy balance, long shaft, extra weight and the isometric head shape. The stiff flex will aid control. I imagine you can string this racket a lot higher than 26lbs, but Forza will obviously not recommend this, even though it has the poer plus stringing pattern. I don't know why not, Head recommend 30lbs tension, so good for them, and good for you if you want shoulder injuries. The best price i have seen for this is £75.62, but if you don't look around you could pay as much as £115.

Next up is the Forza Kevlar N Power 150, which is alomost exactly the same as the 200, but is marketed as an all round racket as it has aslightly more flexible rating. Not many of these on sale at the more popular badminton retailers on the net, but i have seen it priced at £110, i am sure you can get it much cheaper than this though.

The Kevlar N Power 110 is next and again, it is similar to the other two, with not quite as much technology in it. It still has a stiff flex and weighs the same, the only difference is that it has a little less weight in the head, so it's designed as a bit of an all-rounder. Prices are around £62.50 if you look hard enough.

There is also the Forza Kevlar N Power 90,70,50,30 and 10. These rackets will no doubt follow the same pattern as do all ranges, with less technology and more weight as you move down the range. I have not seen these models on sale at the big online retailers, but the top of the range bats are very prominant, and quite a few stockists are awaiting stock, so they must be a popular choice.

The next range is the Forza Titanium N Forze series. The top racket here is the Titanium 45 N Forze. This has nano technology in it, and the power string technology which gives upto 20% more power. It has the isometric head shape and weighs 88g, with an even balance. Price is around £75 from central sports, who seem to have the lowest prices for Forza badminton rackets.

The Titanium 40 N Forze is basically the same as the 45, but has a medium flex and has the SPS control string technology, which gives 10% extra feeling. Designed for control, this is an all-rounder. Expect to pay £65.72 for this one.

The Titanium 30 N Forze has super T technology, which gives minimum torsion, maximum control. Stiff flex rating, head heavy and 88g, make this another all round badminton racket. Price is also £65, so it's the same as the Ti 40.

There is also the Titanium N Forze 28, 24, 22, 20CF, 18CF and the 16CF. The 24 is a light racket designed for reaction shots, and you can get it for £52.

The third range is the Nano Forze series, which goes from the 9000 to the 1000. The Nano Forze series is designed for players who want control and quick reations. These all have very slim shafts and frames to reduce air resistance. I have not seen any of this range in the UK at present, but i am sure this will soon change.

All in all, i think Forza is an exciting new brand, and competitively priced. They could well be a good alternative to the higher priced Yonex models. Many Danish internationals use Forza, and they are gaining a good reputation here in the UK. I may well get my hands on some of these and give them a try out. Forza also allow you to customize your racket with your own writing on them for £7.99. This may help you to identify yours if you lose it, or if someone else has the same model as you, although you could just do it yourself for nothing. I can usually spot mine by the colour of the grip, or the amount of sweat on it. New manufacturers come and go, but i have a feeling that Forza badminton rackets will be around for a long time.