Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Narrow the options

Hey guys, found out some other site's been taking my article wholesale, so be a sport and bookmark the original site - http://everythinggoeshere.blogspot.sg

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Hello guys!

It's been awhile hasn't it? Well, work has been a blast but it sure takes a hellava lot of time. I've been trying to get back into the rhythm of things, and so far the singles and doubles sessions have been pretty regular.

Took some getting used to at first, especially when my comeback racket was the Yonex Z-Force II... A smaller frame and really stiff shaft kind of made the welcome back a little more punishing than it should be.

So I decided to cut myself some slack and took up one of my all-time favorites, the Victor Bravesword 10. Things turned around almost immediately. While the shaft still remained stiff, the larger head frame and faster swing allowed me to get more time into preparing for the shot, which in turn added to pulling off better shots.

That set off a chain reaction of racket clearing on the forums. I figured since I didn't have much use for that many rackets, they're better off going to new owners who hopefully will use them more than I will.

In the blink of an eye, 50 rackets dwindled down to a mere 15. While some of these are collectors' rackets which will probably see very little court time, what's left are actually my go-tos.

When things are in a pinch, or if I need that little more sense of control on the court, I know I have the right rackets to use.

Here are a few of them, for your reading pleasure.

Victor Bravesword 10
Yonex Z-Speed
Yonex ArcSabre 11 TH
Yonex ArcSabre 10 PG
Carlton Fireblade FX8

While the phenomenon that is the ZFII has yet to make this list, I've been dying to tryout the 3U LCW version.

Let's hope that more time on the court will lend to a better incentive to acquire the racket.

Till soon!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can u post a review of li ning n80?

Arthur said...

I've since sold that racket, so there won't be any reviews.

Thanks for reading though!

Anonymous said...

Anyway do u remember how it feels as compared to a arcsaber 10?

Arthur said...

The N80 has more power, less control.

Anonymous said...

Can u compare d stiffness of n80 and Arcsaber 10?

Arthur said...

N80 > AS10

Anonymous said...

Hi Arthur,
i'm confuse between FX8 and Vanquish. Which one more durable and more stiff?

Thanks

Arthur said...

FX8 :)

Anonymous said...

Have you tried new carlton series? like razor, kinesis, etc.
Is there any recommendation? i'm looking for heavy head and stiff one.

Arthur said...

Nope, not tried.

Carlton's cannons are the Elite series.

Didn't see much of them around where I am.

Unknown said...

Hai Arthur,

I read your blogs regularly. Thanks a lot as it helps me educating myself in Badminton. This sport is driving me crazy. You gotta be freaking rich to buy somany rackets:P Gift me one of those as I'm a big fan of you and your writings:P

Coming to my question, Why not Apacs? I have not seen anything written about Apacs. Its Cheap, widely used and most of them are clones(How gud is it compared to the original). It would be great to see you write on them.

Arthur said...

Hey Monah, thanks for being a regular reader! I think we all agree that there's no price for passion.

That said, I've since sold off most of my rackets so that I can concentrate on a few prized ones :)

Actually I've had a APACS as one of my first rackets, and they work pretty well before I got exposed to the Japanese-made graphite of Yonex.

Simply put - the APACS rackets just aren't good enough to play with. Sure they work fine, but if you get the chance to play with the Yonex, Li-Ning or even the old Taiwan-made Victors, you'll know that the lower-grade material of APACS just doesn't compare.

The clones you mentioned are simply in design. The originals are carefully calibrated instruments made and tested before releasing to the market.

I do hope that you can get to try a top-grade Yonex or Li-Ning one day. You'll get the experience the difference, as I did. :)

The sport drives me crazy too. Keep on smashing. my friend.

Arthur said...

Just realised I got your name wrong.

Sincerest apologies, Mohan.