Sunday, July 01, 2012

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Yonex Nanoray 700RP

So after having a look at the NR700FX and seeing how freakin' ugly it is, I decided to still give Yonex's headlight series a go and purchase the Nanoray 700 RP instead.

The Repulsion version of the Nanoray series comes with a stiffer shaft and special material called Fullerene applied to the 5-7 o'clock part of the head frame. That supposedly gives you a faster hit.

The thickness of the head frame has also seemed to be increased, and it's easily 150% of the Voltrics.

All that promise doesn't come off blank though, as the Yonex Nanoray 700RP delivers very quick swing speeds in the games I've had. The clears were pretty decent, and the control was good. This gave me enough confidence to give it a try for my doubles games.

The quick swing speeds translated to very decent drives and pushes, but I felt a lack of power on the smashes, the head frame giving a hollow resonance when the shuttle leaves the string bed. It almost feels like there doesn't seem to be enough material up there.

Despite that, the racket performed well in my singles session today, and I'm looking forward to the next few games.

Full review soon.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

700rp or 700fx gives you more power in smashing?

which would you choose between them?

Arthur said...

The RP has a stiffer shaft for the wrist players and those with fast swings.

The FX allows more whipping, nice for those who use a longer swing.

Depending on which sort of player you are, you might want to choose accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for comment.
I think I will go for 700fx.
How much you bought and where are you from?

Arthur said...

Hello, I'm from Singapore and I get my rackets from my regular stringer at Sembawang - 9 Sembong Road.

But there's a new racket in the Nanoray series - 800. Looks promising.

Anonymous said...

I see, I am from Malaysia. How much SGD you bought it? I knew there is a new 800 model.. but my budget is not that high.

Arthur said...

They both cost the same I think. Yonex rackets don't vary much.

It was quite some time ago when I bought the racket, and I usually don't remember the price of things I buy, apologies.

shark kriss said...

actually what is the main difference between 700 and 800? stiffer term in badminton means?

Arthur said...

Hello Kriss, thanks for reading.

The main differences between the Nanoray 700 series and the 800 series would have to be the material used for the head frame and the overall thickness of it.

The 700 series feature a broader head frame which increases the mass and stability for the light head distribution.

The 800 series feature a slimmer head frame which is more aerodynamic, but compensate the loss in stability with a hard material they term Sonic Metal.

The 700 series look nicer, so that's my first choice.

Arthur said...

And to answer the question about stiffness - it generally means how much the shaft will yield to your swings.

Faster swings get more power from stiffer shafts.