Advanced hobby player needs help by choosing a new racket ;D

I partly agree. Even a decent player don't become better by just switching to an expensive racket. I think that you only get advantages when you choose the right racket regardless what the pricetag says. No racket will bring an big improvement.
IMO smashs are not always winning shots. Depends on the opponents and level. A good and deadly smash needs some tactical shots to be prepared well. IMO a good smash has a good placement, steep angle and a punch behind it.

 

I think this is common misconception for nanoray/nanospeed. The line is aero frame, not headlight. the top range nano speed/ray has always been mid balance going back to at least 9000s/x

 

All the listed rackets are yonex. Why not try other brand? Victor, Lining, Kason, etc..etc. i've only tried VT80 3U & Arc Z-Slash. Personally, i'd say VT80 3U is a superb racket, but in term of continuous smashing i would take Arc Z-Slash throughout the game. less tiring, more manuverability. Fyi, i'm an offensive type of player too. 95% of smashing with raw power, few drops here and there. Also, old rackets dont necessarily mean they are outdated!! If all international players were given choices to use old or new models, i am very sure 90% of those players sit on top rank 10 of the world would choose their beloved old rackets. It's just their sponsors (yonex, victor, lining) required them to use new models despite whatever they say....you know,.. to trick us into thinking new is better

 

use it.

 

The Z-Slash is in no way a good racquet for a hobby player. Small head, small sweet spot, absolutely unforgiven racquet.
I own it myself. True, you can create much power with it, but the increasing count of unforced errors will make hobby players unhappy.

 

Why not go for other brands?

I was practically at the same point and almost got an Arcsaber 11 when I read about the Victor Brave Sword 12.

It was a bit of a gamble to buy since there was no way of testing it. Now I've bought it and it seems really really good for me. I'm also an amateur player, who plays 2 times a week for 3h but we do have a coach sometimes. The racket didnt make me into a better player but since it is faster it helped my defense and smashing, so basically saving and scoring.

A friend of mine has the ZF2 and its basically a woodplank. Sure, his smashes, when he gets them right, are proper, but the racket is unforgiving and he's losing more games than before, his defense has become weaker. Maybe he just needs to get used to it.

No racket will ever be perfect, there is always a tradeoff. But if you want to win games, why chose a difficult racket that stands in your way more than helps? The ZF2 seems like a racket for specialists, certainly not for intermediate amateurs.

 

There's a lot of truth to this. I play with my ZF2 because it's unforgiving, it forces you to learn to play cleaner shots. It's a racket that's probably better suited for singles where lightning fast defence isn't what's paramount. I have another racket I switch out to with a softer string bed and a larger frame for when winning is the ideal.

The Arcsaber 11 is also rated as a stiff racket, but I'm not sure how it is compared to the ZF2. I wouldn't honestly go for a stiff racket unless you fully know your swing speed is up to the mark.

 

I just bought a Yonex Voltric 5 and it does a very good job. I'm going to buy a another Voltric 5 to have a backup and think I'll sell my Z-Slash..
Voltric 5 is a save bet for around 50 Euro at german shops...