Hi, I am looking for some advice on a racket upgrade and would really appreciate some help. I’ve been playing badminton as a casual once a week thing with my brother and a couple of mates for about 18 months, occasionally playing twice a week. It was always the sport that I was best at (up until now I was relatively un-sporty). Originally I was doing it for health benefits and general fitness but now I am starting to really get into playing ‘properly’ (i.e. playing to win and playing to improve and get better). For the past four weeks I’ve been playing about 4-5 hours a week and have dramatically improved, especially in my singles game. In fact I beat my brother in singles for the first time this evening! Hurrah! And I have now joined a relatively casual club, but I am thinking about joining a more formal club that has tournaments etc. My main problem was fitness and extra weight, but this is changing rapidly, and in fact one of my strengths is my speed - its keeping it up that had been the problem. Anyway. This is all just to give you an idea of where I am coming from. I currently use a Wilson V12 racket which was very inexpensive. It seems to be almost too light because my problem is that most of my power comes from physical strength and whilst I can generate racket head speed I am not nearly as good as when I use raw hitting power (with this racket at least), and it has a tiny sweet spot. My wrist has power but not so much speed it seems. When I played with a Yonex 63 this evening I was able to hit cleaner and further. Here’s a rough idea of my game: - Decent smashes but I need to improve I think as they are slightly erratic and not uber powerful. (+) - My finesse/drop shots and net play are dire. I am not sure if it’s something to do with this racket but I have very little control and either over hit or massively under hit. (-) - I have excellent reflexes and can return smashes relatively well (+) - My general accuracy is left a little wanting. In singles its not so awful but doubles is much less forgiving (-) So I am looking for a racket to maximise the +’s and minimise the –‘s. I am certainly not a net player and it’s something I need to improve on. I was looking at the Armortec 500 as this seems to be a good balance of additional power and probably better control but I am not sure. I think the nanospeeds might be too light for me. I have ~£75 to spend so roughly $150 but of course things are more costly in the UK. I also have a string related question: Could a careful string selection help mitigate some of my bad net play without compromising power? I tend not to hit the shuttle quite hard enough at net and its something I am finding very hard to remedy. Nanogy strings have good repulsion – would this let me get away with using more of the shuttle's own momentum to get it back over the net? I also need a much bigger grip! G3 is way too small and I keep having to alter my grip which is really bad. Thanks very much in advance! Cheers! Edit: sorry its so long I was trying to be comprehensive
2nd Edit: As far as my net play goes I know that a racket won't radically change that but I was wondering if it might help to some extent. Of course I have to improve my technique first and foremost, but its so much easier to blame my current racket!
At500 is a good choice to go, looking at your criteria. At700 is worth considering, looking at extra smash power, stiffer shaft for control(net & dropshots). string- choose either bg-80 or bg-85 at 24-26lbs. lastly, do you really need bigger grip size? i am 178cm tall(tennis racket grip's size at 3/4), still using G5 with thin overgrip. too big the size grip is unable you to get the extra whip as you tightening grip to racquet.. let see how other b'cers propose......
Thanks for the reply. I had thought about the AT700 but I have read that its sweet spot is a little smaller than the AT500 and its a bit more 'wild'! Trouble is I don't have much opportunity to try before I buy to find out for myself. The AT700 is also about £30 more expensive than the AT500 (at least at the online stores I've looked at). Is there any particular difference in the way the bg-80 and 85 strings play? I think grip size might be an issue for me as I am 183cm, but I understand what you mean about not having too big a grip because it will inhibit whipping a bit. Well at the least the grip is something I can test in store just to make sure. Cheers again.
Changing the strings to a tighter bed could improve your control, also a thinner string eg BG68Ti could give an improvement in power. Although for the tension you would want to increase it step by step rather than going all out on it and ending up with a board. The AT500 is a more gradual step up compared to the AT700, you should be able to get used to it more easily, definitely recommended (I had one before I trod on it during a game and broke it!). The stiff shaft compared to the wilson V12(I think this is medium/flexible) should give you more control on net play as well.
if you don't mind paying a little bit more, I'd say get the AT900 Technique, it's a pretty powerful racket yet it's also a quick racket... You can probably look up more info about this in the forum...
Yes the V12 is medium flexible, although mine is a 4U so its extra lightness makes it seem more flexible than it probably is. I also have a sneaking suspicison that the shaft is ever so slightly bent/curved which it obviously shouldn't be. I was thinking of stringing at about 23llbs, although I must admit this is based on comments I have read here as I don't know what the V12 is strung at so I have no real frame of reference (I didn't mean to pun! )
Thanks for the suggestion. I've read several threads about it and it does seem to be the perfect balance of power and control for me. Certainly I would imagine its better in all ways that my V12!! The issue is with the price its about £120 which is a lot more than I am looking to spend. If I get a chance I would definately like to test it next to the AT500 to see if its worth the extra ~£50 it would cost me.
You are on exactly the right track with these comments. Of course, it's much easier to buy a new racquet than to improve technique. Having been through the whole process of changing racquets many times, my advice is to buy what's in your budget range. you are likely to try many different racquets in the future because your style and learning will change.
If you don't know what to get, AT500 is good; it's well rounded, so it's good at many things, and it's not that expensive.
I am getting more opportunities to practice my net play as I am playing doubles against many more people than I used to. But I think I am better at singles at the moment, partly because my communication to my partner is never very good! But yes I think I will stick to my budget. Which probably means the AT500 or possibly stretching to the AT700 if I get a chance to try it out on court.
If you're able to acces this racket, try sotx woven 8/8a. Its way cheaper than most high end yonex rackets and its a great racket.
Thanks to everyone for all the advice I am going to go with the armortec 500. I am playing at a club tomorrow and will *hopefully* have it by then - will let you know how it goes!
A tighter string bed will definitely give more control at the net - I found this out when I went from 22 to 24lb on my AT800; net shots have much less tendency to "fly away" and be loose. You will lose some power but, with the right racket, this will be minimized. If I were you, I would get away from BG-63 ASAP - it's put onto bargain-bin Yonex rackets purely for its durability! I'll have to echo the popular opinion and point to an AT500, since it has both head weight and (relative) shaft softness. I think an AT700 might compromise your smash return, due to the head being virtually untameable on the defensive, but considering how good your smash returns are you might get away with it. The Nanospeeds are almost exclusively head-light, which is great for manoeuvrability but has a deleterious effect on power when compared to the Armortecs (unless you go for the way-over-budget 9000-X).
Thanks for the pointers. I played this evening and made a minor breakthrough with drops - I think I've found my rythmn on them, but I've also come to realise that a tighter string would certainly help my net play (as well as lots of practice!). I handled an AT700 the other day but unfortunately the shop didn't have an AT500 to compare it against. I think the AT700 might be just a nano-second slower in defence - and most of the people I play smash regularly (and fairly hard by my estimation). I think I am naturally an attacking player forced into a more all-court/defensive style due to most of my opponents being slightly better attackers than I am. Although I can still win by concentrating on defence and putting in the power to finish points as early as I can when possible (I just have to take my chances and put a touch more effort in). To this end I think the AT500 is a better bet than the AT700. I've ordered one with BG-80 at 23llbs and hopefull it'll arrive tomorrow. Thanks again.
