VT80 has a stiff shaft. But surprisingly, many players I know including myself find it not too difficult to wield even in doubles despite it's shaft stiffness and head heavy balance.
i don't disagree with that, 4u VT80 classic is a good doubles racquet in my experience. it was the flexible part that confused me.
Vt80 has stiff rating from yonex. But, it also has thin shaft. That is what gives its play characteristics. Although ast77 is rated medium stiff. It plays close to vt80. Just the head heavy give it a heavier smash racquet vs ast77 has better angle.
i can understand the logic behind it thanks for explaining your viewpoint. guess i didn't feel the flexibility of the VT80, but i definitely think AX77 plays flexible on smashing.
hi is the new 77 hand feel near to victor js10/12? currently using js12 but feel upgrade to YY rackets.
From my recent experience Victor to yonex is not an upgrade. I've had Victor Lyd, bs12, Mx jjs, mx90 and more recently the hx800ltd control and power and the quality of each has always been exceptional. The yonex rackets recently seem to be a bit poorer than Victor and I've had friends yonex rackets break quite a few times whilst I've had no problems with the victors. Performance wise I would say the Victor rackets have been much easier to use. The head heavy Victor rackets I've barely noticed the extra weight whereas the astrox 77 I've immediately noticed a speed different at the front court and tired quickly using them. Going to give the astrox a few more weeks to try and get used to it though. The timing definitely takes a little getting used to.
While its kind of vague and subjective but none of your Victors are Thruster K's so.... which frame on your list is a head heavy ranged/equivalent of a Voltric/Astrox? None. On paper at least the frames you listed are on par or faster than the AX77. When I read what you wrote it's like "Oh man room temperature butter is so much easier to spread on bread than the brick I just took out the freezer". Because DUH? BTW, if what you said is true, then welcome to the front too, for I absolutely love coming to the front and setting **** up, even if my partner is either flaccid (ie. can't smash for nuts/no angle) and/or brain-dead (deciding to punch a low-ass non baseline reaching clear; do that epic slow-mo cross court slice drop they've dreamt of all their life without realising the opponent is already at the net waiting for that drop,) instead of smashing and keeping pressure when they are already in position. And I get the smash that the opponent returns. Even using a pro for comparo, the ever so high serving Gideon MF, he's not a front guy in his pairup with KS. So I don't know, I guess if you wanna play front, don't use the AX?
Well it's my opinions so sorry for being subjective. I thought I was allowed to give my opinion on this forum but I guess I forgot to ask you. I thought all of those rackets listed certainly the Lyd, jjs and Mx 90s are all listed as stiff head heavy rackets. So I thought I could make a comparison as I have used all of these popular rackets prior to trying the Astrox. Sorry if that offended you. Thanks also for the analogy. I'm not sure what you are trying to get at. I'm sure everyone found it as useful if not more than my opinion/suggestion that the astrox is harder to use at the front than my previous rackets. As I mentioned in my post this was my initial impression on first try of the racket. Ie first 2 hours with the racket. As for your opinion don't play front if you wanna use the astrox, THANK YOU for that extra useful piece of information.
I have a JS12 and an Astrox 77, IMO only, the JS12 is the better racket in all departments but one, the power in the smash. The Astrox is good to play with, but agree with other comments it can be a bit slow around the net and fast flat drive rallies. The JS12 fits me really well in doubles but i do notice a drop in power on outright full smashes. I am not sure you will feel like the Astrox is an upgrade unless you smash every other shot.
Damn. All these reviews are making my head spin. Was planning on getting two in my Asia trip, but now I'm thinking 1 is a safer bet. Need a replacement for my JS12s, one of my twins has sunken grommets holes now. Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
Rimano I was talking about the 3u g4 version of the Astrox 77. In Asia they have it in yellow too so I got that version. I actually got 8 astroxs for my friends at home. So I do agree it's a nice racket overall. Just wouldn't say it's an upgrade from JS12. Also was trying to say before that I wouldn't say these days yonex is an upgrade from Victor, certainly 5/10 years ago that may have been the case. But in recent years I would say Victor has caught up if not bettered yonex in terms of quality. I have a friend how is part of the team that string at international tournaments for the Korea victor team who has mentioned that indeed Victor seems to be better quality these days. I must note that he is also an official stockist for yonex too, and is from whom I purchased 9 yonex rackets from this trip back to HK.
I would say rimano that perhaps the 4u version may be better for all round play as the lighter weight may make it an easier racket to manoeuvre for doubles... Front court shots, driving etc. But I found the 3u very tiring to quickly change grip and get the racket into the correct position. In terms of stringing I have always found yonex rackets much easier to string compared to Victor rackets.
I will try and find something in the low 3U range. From past experience, when the racket is on the heavier side of 3U, then it really needs to be a good fit for me. JS12 is one of the few rackets which was usable when it was 89g dry. A few examples that weren't are a Bravesword 11 and Duora 10. I'm wondering if this is the case for your Astrox 77?
And to echo a discovery here in Asia (and I hope you like blue), is that the blue AX77's tend to be LIGHTER than their yellow counterpart. Quite a few 3U yellows push consistently 89g with original grip on or even 90. While the blue are more of in the middle of the 3U range. Maybe the yellow paint needs more ink to mix and form. Lol.
Oh right. Well I've always used 3u. Ive used the Victor bravesword Lyd, Mx jjs and Mx 90 respectively for 2 seasons each and had 3 of each racket when using them as my main rackets during each respective season. In general I've never experienced a noticeable difference between one racket and the next. I've never actually weighed them. I would say go for the 4u if you want a lighter version. And 3u if you think you can adjusted your timing to the extra head weight. Because I would say this is one of the few head heavy rackets where I have really FELT the weight, and it affected my timing at the front court and made me tire so quickly. Although I have never tried the VT80 which may be similar? I have tried the duora 10 3u and would say the Astrox 77 3u feels more head heavy. But that's just my opinion! I actually have 4u and 3u versions of both colours and will be trying the rest out this weekend if you want my feedback. Obviously I should probably give a disclaimer that it is my opinion only and I could very much be wrong...
I too have been reliably informed that many people have reported the blue version lighter and therefore potentially easier to use due to the slight difference in weight.
*drumroll* Conspiracy theory that WS use blue and MD use yellow (after GMF's short stint with blue) because of this.... *cue X Files theme music* HAH!
Some say, a slightly slower yonex racket that will serve you good and not create such issues *cough* grommet sinking *cough* is a better deal than the slightly faster one which does.
