Buying professional rackets as a "normal" player?

"I can buy whatever my wife lets me buy, now eat this smash"

 

For those kind of ignorant people you have to answer cynically instead of giving rational arguments which they probably wouldn't understand anyway. I've encountered a lot of people like this and I think they are simply unable to understand that just because they don't give a damn about rackets it's not that way for everyone. I mean, just because I don't like football, I don't force my opinion on others by ridiculing the sport. They make you look like you're the crazy one...

"Why do you buy expensive clothes? You're not a model!"

"Why do you buy expensive/fancy food? You're not a star cook!"

"Why do you buy such an expensive bike? You're not Lance Armstrong!"

It's such a ridiculous point of view, in my opinion. The target group of high-end rackets are clearly recreational players and not professionals that get sponsored. Don't bother with those naysayers and have fun playing and enjoying the sport the way you love it!

 

millions and millions of those sold. I don't mind, they're easy enough to string.

 

I hate you!

 

I couldn't help myself.

But yeah I agree, play with the equipment you want to play with. Badminton equipment is so... inexpensive. Hell we probably spend more on shuttles than rackets a few times over.

If you're realistic about how you're playing and don't try to convince yourself it's better for you because it's more expensive, do whatever you want. Sometimes people do play worse with a racket, but they try to justify it as hard as possible because it costs a lot of money. I think that's a silly mistake because it shows incompatibility, but it wouldn't matter if the racket cost £30 or £130. Incompatibility is incompatibility.

 

It's like saying, why buy a bmw/merc/audi when you can buy a $13k mitsubishi mirage to get you from point A to B. To take it a step further, why not buy a $1000 200,000 mile beat up civic. You get better quality, comfort, joy out of a higher priced product.

Do the people who ask that question have nothing they like to splurge on? They buy the absolute cheapest product on the market?

 

I've sold a few racquets based on this reasoning, but if you enjoy it then why not?

I don't think I was any quicker getting from a to b in my old sportier car but it was a shed load more fun even though I didn't drive it to it potential.

 

I don't think you have to be a professional player to notice the difference between a low-end and a high-end racket.

 

It's like women buying branded bags. Makes ppl feel better. Of course in the meanwhile give thousands of reasons how it benefits us.

When I'm younger, I can't afford such rackets. When I can now... Why not?

Life is too short to be unhappy.
That said...buy things within your financial means. That applies to anything in life.

 

While the guys above me take that emotional satisfaction route which I do agree and go through, I will now present my rational side of the story since I don't want to parrot what the rest has said.

When I first started getting serious into the sport a friend told me:

Get a high end, you'll find it much much easier to sell if you don't like it or want to move to another frame next time. Very sound advice. You lose money, for sure, they're not antiques or collectibles; but mostly 20-30% and not lose all of that you paid for a low end and struggle to sell one with no pedigree or nobody has ever heard of. That'll become total write-off or a massive loss, maybe 80-90% off your own cost. A high end frame always has a residual value.

From a purely business transactional/accounting point of view, assuming you haven't clashed a high end frame to hell and back, there is always a taker at a certain price down the road. Just how much. If it's mint still, sometimes you can even break even or lose just 10%, which is fine and dandy for a "trying out cost".

Not to forget that low ends typically have no stiff option for those recreational but explosive swing people.
Same story as why some of us run tensions above 28lbs. Just because we "sponsor" the manufacturers and not the other way round, doesn't mean we cannot tell or utilise the said frame/tension in our game.

 

i second this. i typically write off the difference in pricing as "rental" or "tryout" fee.

 

Vanity, just human nature. I bet if people are presented with any array of unpainted rackets from the cheapest to the most expensive models, they may be able to tell which are stiffer or heavier, but nobody can tell which are more expensive and which are less expensive. The human mind is excellent on fooling itself. If you want to believe, you will construct a long list of reasons why something is superior even though the difference is merely in your mind. I am sure this will piss many off.

 

You're severely underestimating how seriously we take this sport and its equipment

 

Not at all. I did photography and well aware of the gear addiction which became the hobby in itself. It took me a long time to get over it. I have never owned any top of the line rackets but with the few that I have, the one that I use the most and perform the best is the lowly Made in Taiwan 8200LT. But unlike most, I spend my money on the best birdies I can afford (EG1130 in this case). Ironically, all my MIT Yonex are trouble free while all my MIJ Yonex had "cone/handle" problem. MIJ Yonex were better made is just a myth IMO.

 

It honestly is a fair argument, and as per norm I like disagreeing with everyone.

If you don't frequently play, why pay for something expensive?
If you're not good enough to be able to use the advantages of a high end, why buy it?

When spending/earning ratio is low like this:
Buying things you like when the price relative to your earning power is low is arguably irrational if either of the two requirements above aren't satisfied, but it makes you HAPPY. You would be irrational, but you're happy, but isn't being happy more important? You can probably still pay your bills even if you bought 10-50 rackets a month!

When spending/earning ratio is high:
When people are in debt and start adding to it by buying a Ferrari; then try to justify it with illogical attacks. This is when I start laughing at people's decisions. I don't think I need to explain this one.

 

Weeeell yeah you have to manage spending well, but man rackets are so cheap. As long as you don't go and buy every racket that comes out, I'm hard pressed to believe any substantial debt issues would come from badminton gear of all things. If you did, you could probably sell the story to a news paper haha

 

Here we go again...

So you haven't owned any top end but are sure that there's no noticeable difference? Come on! It's like this ancient thread called "N90 - the best racket ever?" where this guy answers "for me the N90 is about the worst racket ever" and a few words later "haven't tried it, though".

But seriously, just because you play better with a low-end racket does not mean it's like that for everyone. (On a side note, I think it's because you got used to it after using it for so long, that's why you like it more. Talking about the human mind. )