The names of racquets are now a blur. More choice is supposedly good but if you have too much choice, that’s just confusing. It’s just easier to stick to something simple that you see other players use.
I agree with some of the points already mention but also disagree on some as well. I don't find it hard to follow new releases from Yonex at all even with their lower tier models. But that may partially be due to the fact I kinda just ignore them or won't even consider them unless a newbie or beginner is interested in starting the sport. Otherwise I am probably pretty fluent in spotting and naming rackets on the courts from Yonex up to the current new releases in 2024. Nanoray's I kinda get confuse just because they kinda were under the radar for me beside the Zspeed. Things were so simple back in the brave sword days, but Victor is slowly starting to kinda piss me off, and it kinda started after the Auraspeed hypersonic. Especially during their promotion for it for making it seem like a super fast racket with a name to match and the thinner stiffer Dynamic sword frame and other tech. At the time I was really interested because I was using an ARS-PB which I think was one of the best top in the series and still is, without the crappy 98k paintjob. When it finally came, boy was I disappointed, did some frame measurements and it was thicker then the ARS-PB. About the same head-heaviness, less stiff / thicker shaft and honestly I think its one of the slowest ARS, far from the advertised. I guess I fell for the promotional news from Victor, but I also agree with Adam that reviews on here should really be taken with a grain of salt. Around the same time TKFE was probably the most popular Victor racket next to the 100x. So ofcourse I had to try the TKFE as well hearing all the praise / reviews. But maybe I misunderstood because I thought of it as a power racket with the thruster name. In the end my group felt it was a underweight 4U with not enough punch and weird feel. It was easy to pick up to play but beside the nice paint look, it was just nothing special to us. The 3U HS signature edition tho is truely a beast, more stiff feeling and truely on the 100x level...more on that: The 100x which I tried fully after putting aside the ugly look is literally a sleeper racket, very easy to play and lots of effortless power when you need while being decisively quick for counter play. But ya Victor is stopping with the constant releases now with so many variations, special editions, repaints its quite difficult to keep up, especially with the limited info on their horrible website. Stiffness / response indicator is straight up useless ever since freecore came as already mention. Honestly I wish Panda came back, times were more simple, pick the frame if it was box / round / aero, stiffness was pretty much on par with ratings and then your desired weight / BP. Probably another rant for another day but literally there are no actual HL rackets out there in the current modern rackets, atleast from Victor and even Yonex, or maybe I only was able to find off spec ones but everything seems to be 300mm BP plus.
Yeah....as a long time 4U TKFE user, it's definitely not that. I mean it's great for some bullets in the back for men's doubles but it is really just an awesome all round racket. You often sacrifice power for speed or vice versa. This racket really hit a sweet spot for many. However, I just played a tournament and when I was in the front I lost to the 100x across from me every time or the Nanoflare 800pro. It can survive in a drive battle mid court and is fine in the back. It's definitely for Zstrike or zforce 2 though. And I see ALOT of people saying the TKFE is a hammer racket.....no it is far from it. I tried the 100x before the TKFE. I thought it felt hollow. I also had it strung at 26lbs and had the frame break on a regular clean sweet spot smash. No idea how or why....just happened. I threw it in the trash can thinking it was a waste of money, not even thinking about warranty because everyone knows warranty fights almost never work with any company in the world.
Just from a beginners perspective, Victors confusing names and frequent poor QC complains really disinterest me from trying. Some of them are also hideously ugly. LN came out with lots of models too but their new models are actually easier to follow than the olds. But it seems many LN fans don't think much of their newer stuff. YY, too many revisions of questionable improvements. But new isnt necessary better, so you might have difficulty finding your favorite models if you didn't stock them up. For my short time in BM the increase in price locally is also quite outrageous.
I imagine going to chinese restaurant. As soon you sit down, the waitress giving you a big & thick catalogue book with more than 100 menu/dish in it. Instead being helpfull for me with so many choice, it takes me half hour just to pick 1 dish i really really want to eat. After putting my choice to one of the noodle menu, the waitress ask again, which noodle you want? Rice noodle, thick one, thin one, kwetiaw, etc. Holy...... Just give me anything to eat. Anything is to less or to much never be good i guest.
Some very good points raised in here. Sometimes you wish that marketing people read through this and take some of the things into serious consideration. I always had a soft spot for Victor in the past, but I really feel like they are doing the worst job possible currently. Funny enough you can clearly see the results of that in here. In my early BC-days, Victor had a lot of fans around here that were discussing each and every new release for months (or even years). Now look at the "TKFE Ultra" thread... started sometime last summer and not a single actual player's opinion on it to date. That's the forum version of a bored shrug. That is a very, very good comparison, I love that. I want an experienced chef to offer me a handful of thought through, well planned and well tested options. Some vegan/vegetarian, some with chicken, some with pork. But that's it. If Victor was a restaurant, they would have a bunch of trained chimps just throw random ingredients together, put some random name on it and then offered it to the customer with a misleading description. Because in fact they don't know or care about what's really in it. And as soon as people start figuring out, which of the hundred meals might actually taste good, they have already replaced everything with new stuff - maybe because they weren't able to recreate the same meal twice. You are absolutely correct with this. Sometime I forget how fast time flies. Just take the 1. Gen. AX77 which imo is one of the best and easiest to use rackets Yonex has ever made. That was the typical no-brainer recommendation for all hobby players or aspiring beginners for years. It's been released in 2020. The original Bravesword 12 is a 14 years old design (released in 2010!) that people are still looking for today and that easily can compete with every modern day release. Give any of the Youtube guys an OG Voltric 80 (launched in 2011) in a disguised paint job, and they would all be creaming themselves over it.
If you watched CKYEW videos on what the professional players use, I would expect that the most likely answer is they don't care. In reality they probably have demo days and pick out the one that feels right for them. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
The Victor’s naming convention at the end typically indicates the model color ie ARS-100X H (H for grey) TK RYUGA II J (J for Purple) TK F C (C for black) Heres a rough list A - white B - navy C - black D - red E - yellow F - blue G - green H - Grey I - Pink J - Purple O - orange Q - pink U - turquoise and the list goes on. Sometimes they combine both like AC - White/Black They do this to simplify SKU codes rather than having the full name of the color.
But that "code" in itself is retarded. Why label a white design "A"? I've used Victor for 10 years and until you posted this, I had 0 clue the color code. I miss the old days where it was simple. You like the Nanospeed? Awesome, here at 5 great rackets. Maybe you are more defensive or offensive? Here is 2 additional options of the Nanospeed clearly labeled defensive and offensive. You like a beefier racket? Armortec would be the option. Here is 5. Want some more power? Here is the Power version. Maybe you want more touch at the net to balance your heavy racket? Here is the technique version. Just so simple. Don't get me wrong, I don't think PAINT JOBS are a bad thing. I really don't care if the Astrox 99 has 10 paint jobs. But don't change the specs of every damn version, saying each one is an upgrade....because here you are #5 of 88S...5 chances at improvement, meaning anyone looking would think at this point the original was trash. Yet I've tried them all. The OG 88S and OG 77 are absolutely stellar and much more enjoyable/balanced than the newest ones, and cheaper, and better looking, and more original design, and catch eyes more. I still know players that currently use these and refuse to switch.
Thats where the lifecycle of all marketing, creating a loop of evil trap. Releasing a new product making the old one looks outdated & with the fast moving information & global competition, they makes each cycle even shorter & shorter, if not they will getting left behind by the competitors. Sadly we are the victims of an overflooded information. Or... Probably we the consumer who actually create the situation by keep demanding or expecting an improvement.
That's the theory, however it may not be consistent especially if you add weight category. e.g: an arcsaber 11 pro 4u may feel head-lighter and faster than a nanoflare 1000z 3u. an astrox 77 pro 3u may feel more head-heavy and stiffer than an 88s game 4u And now we get more confused as a player. It used to be "I want an easier racket to play, let's just pick the number below ". From Arcsaber 11, pick Arcsaber 7. They now added an extra layer with Pro/Tour. Do I go with Arcsaber 11 tour or Arcsaber 7 pro ? or maybe a Nextage in the coming months ?
The color code doesnt make much sense. I do know it has been around many many years to indicate color variation within same model.
Key is buy within your budget limit and choose what suits you best. Yonex introduced variation with the Play, Game, Tour and Pro version at the different price point and with attempt to achieve similar playing feel at all variant. This is also to combat counterfeit especially at asian market. Why buy counterfeit when you can get an original racket with Play version at similar price point?
Correct. They use those same color codes for their clothing. That's how i learned about them when ordering the same model of socks but requesting different colors (by name). As some know, to this day my primary racket is still the Victor MeteorX JJS (currently own 7... 5x3U and 2x 4U). When you finally find a racket you love, my advice is to horde it. I've tried quite the range of victor rackets BS12, BS LHI, MeteorX 80, MX-90, Jetspeed YYS, JS-10 (original with sharktec), js-12, Thruster K9000, TK-9900, TK-FC (not the enhanced - blue color), TK-F Enhanced, JS12 ii, DriveX 9, DriveX 10. One other thing i have also noticed that the OP mentioned was the reduction in the quality of grommets on the rackets. I string at least 30 rackets a month (avg tension 25x27) and have noticed that the stock grommets seem to wear faster requiring rotation and/or replacement earlier than what I'm accustomed to. This observation is based on comparing racket models made pre-covid to the modern ones post covid.
Four price points is just overkill. I can understand if the product is really expensive like a car but for badminton racquets???
I Totally agree. Atleast a car has a clear demarcation between all its variants. And the company has to provide spares for the next 10 years as per ruling. I can understand how 4 different versions would discourage spurious copies. But it's definitely not helping us. I would love to know the sales numbers of each variant.. is it really working for them??
I agree, too many variants with a short shelf life. You want to buy a racket and then be able to buy more later and stick with it. There's nothing worse than getting used to a racket and finding it's discontinued a year later. Also makes it impossible to choose a racket in the first place. The other thing that i've found strange is a shift to less stiff rackets, the price point of a more expensive racket was supposedly due to the materials used to get the shaft stiff, and stiff is what the pros use. Now we see people raving over the fact that a high end racket is more flexible than its previous incarnation. That used to be known as a cheaper racket. I'm sure the manufacturers must be enjoying this new trend. I don't know whether the stiff thing was all bs in the first place either. I don't know who's buying all these rackets but they're doing the badminton community a disservice by making the equipment more expensive.
