[Review] New Victor Jetspeed S10 4U

Jetspeed S10 New Black/Gold Color

I am basically staying away from this racket because of the super stiff specs. At first I was scared because I might hurt myself playing with this racket. I have been wayyyyyyyy into badminton lately. I have been taking classes and weight training sessions and playing badminton games 5 days a week 2-3 hours per day. So felt ready to tackle this beast of a racket.

Jetspeed S10 New Black/Gold Color
Weight 4U
String: VBS 66 Nano 27 lbs (same as all of my racket)

initial Impression
The paintjob and design is very beautiful. I like minimal design black/gold, basically this racket color way is super cool in my eyes. Dry swinging felt stiff and the weight distribution seems to be slightly head heavy. My main concern with this racket is that HOW CAN NEW VICTOR HIGH END RACKET NOT HAVE FREE-CORE!!?!?!?!?!?


Ease of play (clears / backhands)
Surprisingly clears and backhands are easy. I'm not gonna say it's effortless but it's easy. Because the frame is aerodynamic I can generate fast racket speed without a lot of effort so clears and back hand goes a long way from back court to back court. I let my friend who's beginner tried to clear with it and he see no problem with it. He definitely felt the stiffness but not to the extend of hitting with plank wood. He can be able to easily clears no problem but felt tired easier than his usual racket which is hypersonic.

Drives
This racket is super good at drives. Repulsion I get from this racket is better than hypersonic. Because the shaft is stiff but yet springy at the same time (very hard to describe the feel) , I can easily manipulate shuttle flight on drive very easily and change direction is a breeze. Nothing to complain with this racket. On faster exchange I need to grip up the racket a bit since this racket is heavier than normal 4U racket. After I gripped up a bit I have no problem going for fast drive in front court.

Smash
You need a lot of power to generate any decent smash from this racket. Full smash and jump smash is only good when you put 100% of your power to make that stiff shaft move or else you might as well half smash. Unless you train and have good technique, you gonna injured yourself smashing with this racket. But once you get used to shaft stiffness and get good smashing technique in, your smash with this racket will be incredible. I can always get better smash with Jet10 than Ryuga 2 but after 1 hours of playing I can't any decent smash with Jet10 anymore since my energy are gone.

Control
This racket control is amazing. Ofcourse the stiff shaft contribute to the control. The racket is super steady on impact with minimal vibration. Drop shots are very easy. Power control with this racket is easy and the shuttle listens to you and goes where you wanted it to go. No complain on control department with this racket.

Overall good racket but this is not beginner friendly because of the stiffness and weight is more like a light 3U racket rather than 4U. Good all round playability. Good mid-front court capability with fast frame and slightly head heavy balance point provided decent blend of speed and power in both rear and front court.
To some up, this racket is a "hard core Hypersonic". better back court than both 100X and HS but you sacrifice a bit of ease of play and softness of free-core tech. If you're old jetspeed 10 player, this new jetspeed is an upgrade in terms of shaft and feel department, you get more repulsion and softer yet solid feel compared to old jetspeed 10. So far I didn't see any frame issue after 1 months use.

Again, this racket is good offensively if you have power to generate enough speed to move that stiff shaft. Defensively this racket is as good as any racket out there with the repulsion you get from stiff yet springy shaft. If you feel that HS and 100X are too soft and not stiff enough. This racket is for you.