Shaz glad you got your racquet sorted. Guys thanks for the tip on Direct sports. I spend a lot of time price comparing online etc and had never found them before. Both my wife and I have had bad experiences with central sports more than once and I found myself having to order the ZF from them tonight but a last minute nosey on BC saved me the hassle. Since we're in Belfast our hands were tied as the only specialised shop is only open randomly a few hours a night.
Toomany Well now you can buy with confidence as Direct Sports will ship to your door. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
central sports suck! Direct Sports all the way!! central sports suck still never answered my question. Instead tried to dodge the matter by quoting worthless fact and saying it was my choice to buy. Would never buy from them in this lifetime!!
I had a MX-80 that cracked on the first day of use. Despite its extremely short lifespan, its playability worked wonders for me. Aside from being one of the most powerful racket, in my own opinion, its quickness and accuracy is second to none. It was strung @ 28x30 with victor's new stringing pattern from Kwun's video. Fortunately, I was able to send it back to the store in Taiwan and got a replacement after two weeks of review by Victor. I was concerned that the replacement would break just like the first one, so the store was nice enough to replace it with a Yonex instead. Now I'm considering to try my luck by giving it a second shot and get another MX-80.
Had to lol. Yonex durability is absolutely no better. It's just the same as Victor with Li Ning slightly ahead. Of course you gotta differentiate between different frame shapes (Braveswords being less durable than a boxy frame, the very broad N90 frame more durable than standard width box etc), but generally speaking there's little difference between the ig companies these days.
The difficulty here is that rackets were meant to hit shuttles, not other rackets. Therefore, in general a manufacturer will not replace a racket that has been in a collision regardless of age. To use another metaphor, if you bought a new car and had an accident the moment you left the garage, you cannot take the car back and get a new one. Whilst pricing may be different, the principle is the same. Yes, I agree that different types of frame appear to withstand more punishment than others. However, most players do not want a very wide, box-like frame and therefore have to accept that a collision can be the end for their racket. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
However, I've broken a couple rackets on mishits, and strangely, they were all a) lower quality (as in not top-of-the-line, such as Panda Power TPro/UPro, Oliver T50P) b) Braveswords c) Yonex (Z-Slash, which is a slightly thinner frame) Some companies seem to roll dice concerning replacement (I sent in 3 Braveswords in the last year/year and a half - 1 was a definite replacement as the handle had broken, of the other 2 only one got replaced although the break was as close to identical as it gets).
to add: Was trying to purchase 2 high end rackets (1 yonex, 1 victor). So you guys can roughly figure out how much the prices are. I've chosen the string discount on the yonex so i requested them whether they could use the string upgrade of the victor on the yonex since victor has to be strung anyway so i rather use the upgrade on the yonex. Next morning, receive a cancellation email from them without saying anything rather than could not accommodate my request. Seeing that i got pissed because can you at least provide me with an alternative rather than just canceling my order? Hence I email them back with a quote saying "so you guys rather lose a £*** order than provide me with an alternative?what a good customer service you have there, could you at least tell your boss or manager to work out something for me, like me topping up an amount?" I admit blaming their customer service may come out strong but what would you do if you get an cancellation email early in the morning without any explanation. then received an email back (i assume is someone in charge) and there are few comment i wanted to point out email reads "We have a supply of Victor rackets factory strung contrary to your > comments regarding frame only rackets. And your comment "we would > rather loose £*** is nonsense. The difference between our purchase and > selling price is a fraction of that. We do offer upgrades and discounts > and do go that extra mile as long as we can maintain some type of > margin. On this occasion it was not possible. so I am purchasing a tk8000, is tk8000 come strung? Ironically previously i sent them an email and they themselves told me all high end victor rackets is come as frame only. 2nd point about the lose a £*** order. is a order. Can he even read? the point he made about the cost and selling price ridiculous. am i taking a finance class now. Yup they could not accommodate my order i get it, they didnt even bother to tell me what can i do to get the purchase, i dont mind paying the extra to get the restring or not get the restring at all but he didnt even bother to tell me about it. and the way he replied is just unacceptable. so never again from them.
