A bit of backstory: I own a 3U Arcsaber 11 Pro since March and I think it's a more playable racket than its predecessor, the Arcsaber 11. I owned Arcsaber 11 twice in the past and each time I have to sell them off because it is more demanding for me to play my type of game. I find Arc11Pro easier to play and generate power with. When I first heard of the announcement of Arcsaber 7 Pro, to be honest, I chuckled and dismissed the idea of a 4U even balanced racket that hold shuttle longer on impact. So why did I get it? I got old and wanted something easier to play with. I once had a 4U Jetspeed 12 II. It was easy to play with and backhands are comfortable. But I sold it a year ago and there is a huge shortage of Victor rackets in Malaysia, so no easy way to get one. I gave up on a light Victor racket and went for the Arc7Pro. When I saw the Arc7Pro in person, the color is great, far better than the pictures from Yonex. So I got one. How good is it? The racket grew upon me faster than I expected. It is fast, very fast and easy to play with, to be expected from a 4U even balanced racket. I honestly don't feel much hold on impact with shuttle, its stringbed feels pretty repulsive for an Arcsaber. It might be due to the Kizuna D66 Lusty that I strung it with at 26lbs. Low error rate is the key point for me to eat my words for doubting Arc7P being a good racket. After one session, this racket gave me a lot of confidence as I'm making less mistakes than I could with my usual rackets. I was so surprised to have more control on my slice smash and slice drop because I occasionally sliced them out or into the net. I didn't experienced this with JS12II that I owned previously. I'm sure a lot of people would be skeptical with the power generated from Arc7P, I'd say they are right to think so. Its power ceiling IS lower than a 3U Arc11P, but it is also better at continuous attack. Given its weight, I find it easy to whip it at full force for at least 3 consecutive times. Even with a medium shaft, I think the shaft recovered fast enough for me to continue my attack. This is something I couldn't do with my Arc11P due to its heavier weight. Defensive and counter attack shots without a doubt have been made easier with the racket's light weight and seemingly larger sweet spot. Last thing I really like about Arc7P is really suitable for my backhand shots. Backhand clear, drop and smash have been an enjoyable experience and again, less prone to errors. What I wanted more? Weight and grip size, there is only 4U G5 available in my area. Thank god it suits my need. Who is it not for? Strong players who like a lot of weight or penetration behind their shots. And if your shot has very little variation, Arc7pro doesn't help you a lot. A little comparison with the rackets I frequent (All 4U unless specified): Arc11P: Impact feels about the same but Arc7P has lower power ceiling. Bladex700: Bladex700 is 3U, hits heavier but smaller sweetspot and less maneuverable. NF700: Impact feels harder and for some reason, NF700 is less maneuverable. AS80X: a 3U version, a very comparable racket with Arc7P. Sting less in attack but great in defence. AS100X: 100X is much stiffer and has a harder feeling on impact, more repulsive too. Falcon Enhanced: FE is head heavier and less maneuverable, has similar hitting feel. JS10: JS10 feel much harder and a tad slower, sweetspot is much smaller.
Very nice review. Me too have the same experience as you when using this racket, and currently it is my number one racket for competitive play.
What kind of string setup are you on? I am using the good and trusty BG 80 but looking to got for Exbolt 65
I'm using Kizuna Z66 or formerly known as D66 Lusty at 26lbs. Funnily enough, Z66 is often described as the thinner BG80 which was my former go-to string, but Z66 is easier to generate punching power so it become my new go-to.
I just switched from 88D Pro 4u to Arcsaber 7 Pro. I recently started high level training again with a different coach who is teaching me a slightly different method of generating power. The coach was doing a multi shuttle hand feed for training defence - pretty quick feeding. With the 88D Pro, it's slightly head heavy heavy. Although I could keep up with the speed of the multi shuttles, the problem was focussing the power of the kinetic link of my arm and body right into the head of the racquet when striking the shuttle. I could feel that with the 88D Pro, I was slightly off timing. I had an unstrung Arcsaber 7 Pro and so restrung it with Exbolt 65 at 27lbs and tried it out. I thought my smash power would go down but using the coach's slightly different technique, I am able to have a better smash than before. Defence is still is work in progress as I am only getting the feel for the optimal hitting point this week. I had a tournament last week and overall played satisfactorily but I think my errors were affected more by my lack of games and lack of badminton specific movements over the past year rather than the racquet itself. (Have been doing more general gym and boxing). The racquet itself feels comfortable and so I have bought another one and will try to pick up a second hand one to make a total of three or possibly four in my bag. BTW, in HK I was able to buy a 4UG6 version (not from Japan).
I used to use a looser grip from my singles training with a bigger range of motion. I have a lot of bad habits from lack of play but he’s taught me to open my shoulders more and also develop my grip strength concentrating it with better timing.
I’ve done the exact opposite because I found the arc7 pro to be to light for my liking. 88D pro 4U is very powerful, no problem be it in singles, doubles, mixed… manoeuvrability is enough for me and the control is good. Two different kinds of allrounders
I would have found Arc7 Pro 4U also too light in the past. I am from old school badminton growing up with 2U racquets. The techniques are slightly different to now. Still the same basic techniques but racquets got lighter over the years. I also had some stops and starts in playing and in those breaks, bad habits come back again. I have tended to use head heavier racquets 3U because of being used to the 2U. Then I switched away from singles to doubles. One coach suggested I try 4U so that’s why I got the 88D pro 4U. It took quite a bit of time adjusting but to be fair, I haven’t really been playing much nor paying much attention to my game nor taking much coaching. Then this new doubles coach came along and had a look at me with a fresh set of eyes making some adjustments to my technique which other coaches hadn’t pointed out before. I just happened to have the Arc7 Pro at hand and gave it go. Last Saturday I did a very quick defence drill - the coach assured me he was feeding very fast and I felt more comfortable keeping up the pace. It’s not really the first shuttle being a problem but after a few fast shuttles, for 88D pro, perhaps I wasn’t quite able to recover the racquet fast enough and that’s why I couldn’t concentrate the kinetic link consistently. My doubles style of play is more counterattacking but I used to use heady heavy racquets help my underpowered smash. Since I am doing well with Arc7 Pro, I will keep trying for a bit longer. BTW, I did have a team tournament a couple of weeks ago using the Arc7 pro. My partner, who I haven’t played with in ages, said my smash got harder! I asked a few ex HK international players why they choose certain racquets and they said it what you feel comfortable with.
