Sunday, December 04, 2011

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Yonex ArcSaber 10 Peter Gade

I've finally gotten the last piece of the trio - the Yonex ArcSaber 10 Peter Gade!

Had about 4 games with it a few days ago, and I must say the feeling is good. The racket delivers on most accounts and even surprised me by having that little bit of magic when the situation called for it.

The ArcSaber is Yonex's even-balanced range of rackets, with the ability to "store power for the shot", which probably means the weight transfer happens to be more gradual given the lower balance point. Anyway, putting marketing jargon aside, the AS10PG seems to do that better than its counterpart, the ArcSaber Z-Slash.

Control was sharp, with shots coming off the string bed pretty easily and wonderfully accurate. While the smashes felt les spowerful than the Z-Slash, the ArcSaber 10 delivered the speed needed to cause some trouble in the opposing camp.

What really caught me off was the speed of the drives. Being caught at the back-right a couple of times, I performed a straight drive-clear to the back to the opponent's court and found the response from the ArcSaber to be very powerful and fast.

Will attempt to have more games with the racket, but in the mean time, it looks really great on my wall.


4 comments:

Ralph said...

How does the Arc 10PG match up with your handy-dandy Vapour Trail Vanquish overall? Both I believe are in the even-balance category.

Arthur said...

Hey Ralph, this is a tough one to answer coz it's been awhile since I had a go with the Vanquish or the AS10PG.

But off the bat I can say that the VTV has less power due to its being a 4U racket, while in exchange for a higher speed and agility rating due partly to a smaller handle.

Swings with the VTV a faster, and I give to the slimmer head frame (Carlton calls it an Optimetric shape).

If you're used to the ease of shots offered by a 3U racket, it may take you a few games to get use to the amount of wrist needed to use he Vanquish.

Will do a review of the AS10PG once the fanfare with head-heavy rackets die off.

Ralph said...

Really looking forward for the Arc 10 review since I'm in the market for an upgrade from my entry-level flex to mid stiffs.

Arthur said...

Hey Ralph, I'll put that racket in the queue for reviews soon then :)

So far the AS10 has been a really popular racket for advanced level players who aren't looking for so much of a killer smash than a good control game.

If you're that sort of player, I'm sure the AS10 will satisfy your game.