http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=122812 Well Wilson introduced adding some SiO2 back in 2006/7 to their Tennis racket.. to increase the bondning.. I don't know if it has been anyway (apart from name/marketing) being proven to be better strenght stiffness than using a more higher quality graphite + cnt/cs etc resins instead.. YY has the great T-joint.. And that has been around for I dont know how long!! The Wilson way is imop is just a poorer way of acomplishing the same torsion stiffness.. Li Ning for example with the wowen T-joint is far more innovative to "get around" the Yonex Patent issue Pure marketing statements.. How much higher stringning? Higer than Panda U-series? Higher than N90? Higher than a 2u TC700, Higher than ARC-10 ??? And... Where did d. go ??? My experience is that the effects offf different cap design are neglectable.. There are pretty much a new cap-design everyday i see a new model from all makers these days I am not saying Wilson rackets are crap or noot being good vlue.. I am just saying they are not very innovative or very "special", I do think they are a Tennis centric company with doing some badmintonsrackets more becuase it fits well with their tennis racket manufacturing business, rather than because they are focusing their business and r&d at badminton.. I think Babolat falls in exactly the same category.. But I am sure the rackets are "ok" and there are many happy Wilson users out there.. including JR /T
Like I said, forget the "technology". Panda Power rackets don't use any special technology - they basically just use conventional design, combined with very high quality materials - yet they're every bit as good to play with as Yonex or any other brand (there's a 101-page thread full of people saying exactly that). Same with APACS etc. Just because they don't waste a lot of money on marketing, doesn't mean they're any worse. Twobeer's comment on topcaps is the perfect example - you'd have to be a total sucker to buy a racket just because of a little bit of plastic is a slightly different shape. And yet all the major brands are trying to claim their topcap is somehow better - not just Wilson - Yonex are as guilty as anyone. The most relevant thing they could tell us about their technology, would be the type of graphite used, but "Toray M40GC" would be meaningless to most buyers, and phrases like "high modulus", "extreme modulus", etc are useless because one company's HM is another's XM. Of course, it does sound a lot better... Yoppy: You mentioned cars, which are obviously a lot more complex. Even so, when it comes to performance, none of the "technology" really matters - it's basically just a question of power vs weight. That's why '60s musclecars are still quicker over 1/4 mile than a lot of todays cars. That's why a Bugatti Veyron, with all it's amazing technology, is still slower (incl. around a track) than an Ultima kit-car.
My faithful old feller the Wilson Sting 350. Survived over two dozen clashs, played thousand hours, 14 years old and go strong. I don't know which technology.
I think frame-profile, material (and to somewhat extent shaft design like taperd shaft, grommet design etc. are all very important. Graphite quality of course being the most important and least visible Pandas use high quality Toray graphite (most likely higher quality than what Wilson is using).. And he uses tapered shafts etc. that I do not think Wilson has evolved to yet ;-) .. experimenting with woven etc.. So personally I would argue that Pandas possibly has more badminton r&d behind them than the blx wilson stuff... /T
Frame profiles are always going to be a compromise between aerodynamics and strength/stiffness. Just because one racket manufacturer leans slightly further in one direction than another, doesn't mean they're innovating, and you can hardly call it technology. Grommets, tapered shafts etc are minor details - compared to the difference between all-graphite rackets and what came before, or isometric vs oval frames, they are of tiny, tiny significance. Personally, I wouldn't lump materials in with technology, but they are certainly very important. The problem, like I said, is that it's pointless for a company to try and market a racket based on the materials, because it's all just numbers that no buyer will really be able to understand. Basically, you can't criticize a company for not claiming to use any advanced technology, because anything that they could actually explain to the average Joe is going to just be marketing BS. Until companies find some new materials to use, or the regulations surrounding frame sizes/shaft length etc change, we're unlikely to see any real innovation - which is why so many people still swear by the Ti10 etc which are over 5 years old now.
Ucantseeme......good that you put up the photograph of your wilson sting 350.....very unique racquet design especially the T joint......any other details you can share about the racquet such as weight, string tension, etc.......
I don't know many players who swear by Ti10 these days , even though many would agree gen.1. is a classic good racket... And besides.. its not like Ti10 is a constant.. It is a generic name used for many racket models with diffferent specs that has been changed and developed over time.. It's like the Volkswagen Golf of YY.. 1st generation isn't really the same as current gen.. For me, material is defintively a part off racket technology, r&d in lighter more durable materials, elasticity/modulus, strength/stifffness etc.. determines how you can balance, how hard you can string, how slim it can be, etc... Of course differences will be smaller the more "High-end" you get in racket models.. But this is pretty much the same in all technology.. take Hi-Fi speakers for example.. If you buy a $10 pair it will not sound very good.. If you spend $1.000 you will get great sound.. If you spend $500.000 you will off course get even better sound.. but the aditional $499.000 will be a significantly SMALLER preformnce difference than the first $9.990 spent... Nothing strange about this.. And same holds trough for rackets. The jump form almost free steel-rackets to graphite i huge, the jump from low-level graphite to high end CNT is comparably tiny, but still very importatnt if you are pushing the enevelope and looking for something closer to perfection.. /Twobeer
@geokos I like to comment on the availability of Badminton Brands in India geokos.... Apart from Yonex , There r a couple of good manufactures (tear 1 by ur means) available here in India...U just want to know where to look...I said this from my past experience...I'm from kerela n i'm playn badminton for past couple of years..It seemed the only brand available around me was YY for a long time but now Ashaway is catching up..there own racquet models r quite good..(though i seriously doubt the quality their clone models..)apart from that there was no other choice..Until recently, i came across a rather shabby sports shop(only in looks!!)...they had a wide verity of manufactures like Carlton, Ashaway,Wilson, Victor, Head and of course Yonex..But the real treat was they had RSL !!!I had came across RSL for the first time in me life..similarly there is a good probability that some less known shops in Bombay might have other brands...good luck... ~^Anand
Yes RSL just introduced M10 series, they are the best looking racket by far I have ever seen. Seriously
...and you probably think it's a miracle that men were able to shave before the invention of razors with 5 blades, electric pulses, special gel strips and all the other crap that some now have. Anyway, believe what you want, and buy what you want.
any ways how much did u pay for ur Wilson K-Lite geokos???do u remember prices of other models from Wilson range like K-Brave???
no i dont think its miracle. I just think the current 5 blades razors is better than the one blade razor. And please dont tell me that you still use that huge knive (that big enough to kill a pig) to shave and think its as good as the current 5 blades razors
There are two kinds of fools: One says, “This is old therefore it is good.” The other one says, “This is new therefore it is better.” /Twobeer
I'm not saying older is better. I'm just saying that the design (design only, materials will always evolve) of many simple objects (and yes, that includes rackets - since they have no moving parts, no power source etc) has been more or less perfected a long time ago. The design of the razor was more or less perfected when the safety razor came along (see, I'm not claiming cut-throat razors are the best). Since then, companies have been just adding more and more gimmicks. Anyway, like I said, it's your money so buy what you want. I'm not going to criticize you for it any more than I'd criticize someone who buys designer clothes purely for the label, and I'm not going to waste any more of my time trying to convince you.
I agree with Sketchy with regards to the differential advantage due to each subsequent technology........I guess it just boils down to the fact that skill is what matters and good racquets/equipments just allows to operate consistently and effectively at that individual skill level....
anandalphonse......where in kerala due to reside?....the shop that stocks all these brands you mentioned located?....though mumbai should be actually having dealers who stock all brands I am sad to say they do not......they just stock more of the brands that give them either good margins or sales......i think your dealer in kerala is doing a good service in terms of allowing customers to check various brands and make their pick.......
I have2 Wilson rackets. [K]Factor Power and [K]Factor Brave. IMO, they're excellent rackets..... and they're 50% cheaper than the Arc Sabers!
hii i'm form Cochin, kerala...The shop that i've mentioned is near Aluve, about 40Km from me home.....its shabby kinda shop but man; they had racquets....lots of them....... ~^Anand