Victor Racquet Spira 21

here is a preliminary review on the Victor Spira 21.

the racket was measured at 88.8g / BP298. which is slightly head heavy and near the upper end of the 3U scale.

the grip was G2, and felt close to or slightly smaller than Yonex' G4. the grip itself is interesting, as told, the grip was designed to be rounder. ie, the octagonal cross-section of the grip has slightly rounded edges. this allows for freer movement of the grip.

i strung it up with ZM67@26.5lbs for the testing. for the grip, i wrapped a layer of Wilson Xtra Tac grip. my goto grip for best tackiness and feel.

feel

upon holding the racket, it felt quite at home. my regular racket is either a ARC10 or AT700. this one is kinda in between the two, being slightly head heavy and in the upper end of 3U makes it feel very solid in the hand. the slight heavy balance is what i am used to.

drive

got onto the court and did some drive drills. the character of the racket immediately showed up. a very solid feel when driving and also very stable racket face. even off center shots are treated with a very solid "pop" impact. the stability i would credit the spirally wounded racket shaft that is the signature of the Spira line. it is in fact, one of the most stable racket i have used when it comes to drives.

what puzzles me is that though it is measured to be slightly head heavy, it didn't feel particularly so. the racket is fast and in fact feels slightly more head light than my 85.5g/BP305 ARC10. in fact, with the fast head speed and slight head light feel, it felt more like a NS9900. that was puzzling but not a bad thing.

the shaft of the racket only felt medium stiff. not overly stiff like AT700 or not even ARC10 stiffness. it is more like a Panda Power Precision type of medium stiff shaft.

net

net touch is not the best i have used but very acceptable. the weight and stability is good which give a good base for the net shot. but the dampening is more than i am used to so that takes a bit away from it. i haven't spend enough time with it yet so i think i will adjust as time goes on.

defense

to me, defense is one part that this racket really shines. the medium stiff shaft along with the balance and torsional stability means that smash defense is one of the most effortless i have tried, rivaling if not better than the Panda Power Precision. it betters the Precision with the stability, equal it with the shaft response, but trails it with a slightly heavier head. it would be very interesting to do a A/B comparison in the future.

power

so far i have not grasped the key timing for power in this racket. out of the box i am getting decent power from it but not full power yet. on power shots the apparent head light feel pops out. i am used to heavier racket and it takes just that bit more effort to bring out the power on the Spira21. i will update more on power when i get more court time with it.

durability

i made the mistake of partnering with a low intermediate player while i was testing the racket out. but that dangerously gave me a good sample point for both paint and frame durability. we had a pretty hard clash of racket, one that makes one crinch immediately afterwards. to my surprise, i didn't see any damage upon inspection of the racket. being a slim frame racket it should be more fragile than the widerbody counterpart when it comes to racket clash, but i saw very minimal damage after such a hard clash. the paint was intact and didn't chip, i did see some paint crack underneath the top coating layer, but that's about it. the racket itself was completely fine. in fact, the paint crack in the lower layer don't even show unless one try to look for it. that's excellent durability.

overall

the Spira21 is a very promising racket, it is a forgiving racket that is accurate with drive, touch shots and fast in defense. the build quality is excellent, and the design is professional. this is my first Victor racket and Victor has gained a lot of attention and respect from me. hopefully after a few more weeks of testing i will be able to give an medium term update of the Spira and hopefully in the future i will be able to test more Victor rackets.

 

it is certainly a very promising racket. i will need to spend more time with it to really say how good it is. however, i am not sure if it will unseat my ARC10. that's will take a really special racket.

i have to say though that Victor has impressed me with good quality rackets. hopefully i will get a chance to test out the SW35 and the BS10/11 in the future.

 

thanks for the feedback manabu. my goto racket right now is a ARC10. but i do feel that the ARC10 while only ~86g is head heavy balanced. i measured mine to be BP310 if i recalled correctly. i do use AT700 once in a while and also enjoy using it.

it sounds like i need to get a SW35 and a BS10 to really know which one is more suitable for me.

 

played a few more games with the Spira21.

it is a stiff racket, but not overly stiff. the racket shaft feels very delightfully lively. with enough power in the wrist, it propels the shuttlecock nicely.

however, i had a previous injury/bruise in my forearm from my games last week, and that really made me felt the stiffness of the racket, so i didn't manage to play for too long with it.

but for the few games i tried, it was definitely good. i am starting to adjust to the lighter headed racket. it feels more like a more powerful NS9900. if you give it the power, it will transfer it all the shuttle. fast wrist and fast swing is the key. it is a racket for speed.

it did take a little but not much adjustment, the feeling of the racket is stiff and very solid. this is rare for non-Yonexian racket. most non-Yonexian rackets usually have a cheap hollow feel to it. not the Spira21, it feel solid to the hand, and solid on impact. Victor has gained more respect from me.

for me personally, although it was being sold to me as a singles racket, i haven't tried it much in singles, but i think for the fast swing speed, fast defense, racket stability, it makes an excellent racket for someone who prefer a fast manuverable rackets in doubles, where a game is dominated by defense, drives and quick power smash.

 

there are two things, both of which can be considered personal preference, that i don't like about the Spira21.

the feel is a bit too damped. i prefer a bit more feedback from the racket. for some reason, they decide to damp out a bit of the vibration feedback.

the balance is too light for me. i am not a fan of light headed racket and my Spira21 despite being 88+g is a tad light for my taste.

but as i said, this boils down to personal preference and you need to ask if this is the type of racket you prefer. many people love the head light nanospeed type of balance.

 

damn i need a sponsor!!

 

yes. it is advertised as head heavy. however, on the hand, it is feels light. although a bit too exaggerated to say it is like NS9900, but close.

 

i measured the stiffness of the Spira21's shaft and compared it with the NS9900. granted that i only have access to a used NS9900 and brand new Spira21.

the measurement shows that Spira21 is slightly stiffer than the NS9900. but only very slightly so. so i think when new, they are of comparable stiffness.

 

i measured mined to be 29.8cm. also unstrung with original grip. weight is 88.8grams. there might be some production variation which is understandable.