the last time i bought a few Carltons were pre 2000, in Hong Kong. since then i've only bought a VT Vanquish. it was a quick headlight racket but the weight distribution was decently enough that if i hold the handle at the butt i can decent power recently i bought a VT Tour, Razor v1.1, and Kinesis. Razor and Kinesis actually just became available two weeks ago here in the Bay Area at badminton alley. when i bought the VT Vanquish, the VT Tour wasn't even available yet. between the main brands here, Carlton seems to be underrepresented. even after the new millennium i was told that Carlton didn't have a distributor in the US?
Actually u can order them through HK or Malaysia n have them sent to u using EMS, it should not take more than a week and probably cost like US$20 for 2 rackets. Try www.e78.com.hk. He doesn't have every model of carlton but he might be able to get them for u.
just got a few more newer models, not high end, but decent rackets, the ignite rapid and ignite fusion, as well as the newer version of the air blade. ignite series rackets has a tapered frame, so it gets pretty wide at 6 and 12 o'clock, but gets thinner at 3 and 9 o'clock. there's less vibration thru the frame. rapid is head light and quite fast, fusion is head heavy and carries a punch. unfortunately, because of the tapered frame, it's very sturdy but not fast enough, even for the rapid which is again, a head light racket. prestrung with carlton force 65 strings which actually played very decent. warning: for some reason i always think that carlton prestrung strings are still very good strings....both the xelerate 67 and force 65 felt decent on my carlton rackets. the newer air blade has a circometric frame instead of the optimetric frame on the vapour trail series and isometric head shape on the ignite series. to be honest it looks more like an oval head shape racket to me, no matter what you call it. strung with xelerate 67 and again, it hit decently well. it's even balance with medium stiff shaft. i tend to play best with even balance rackets so for the air series i chose the blade and instead of the rage. air rage is head heavy. so far here's the list powerflo 85g airblade as-1 airblade 2000 airblade 1000 aerogear 800 (only 2u carlton i have) vapour trail vanquish vapour trail tour razor v 1.1 kinesis ignite rapid ignite fusion air blade everything up till airblade 1000 is pre 2000 and rackets till aerogear 800 has all been retired. for some reason the older rackets have pretty much the same balance. not only till the last maybe 10 years when companies started to differentiate the balance points of rackets in order to expand the market. so all those old oval rackets felt even balance to me. favorite is still the vanquish, maybe because it's strung with real strings, vs850. btw, i bought a set of xelerate 67 and strung it on a racket, tension dropped within the hour, no prestretching. it's so bouncy it's unplayable at 24lbs. maybe i need to up the tension.
Are there any owners of Carlton Air Rage, Air Edge or Air Sonic that can share experiences? Seems like there is very little information on these. And I haven't found a review yet on any.
Ok, I know these are relatively unknown rackets. I saw them in a shop recently and I was intrigued by the box frame of the Air Rage - a racquet that is rated as fast and powerful. It's like a box with sharp edges. Air Blade has an octogonal type profile like the Victor MX series.
^^Yes, no info anywhere. And there's no review or mention of Air Rage on this forum. In fact there's little talk of Carltons in general. I believe the Razors and Vapour Trails deserve more attention. I went through those threads and there's very little.
that is a very unfortunate fact. also, there's only one store (known to me at least) in the bay area who sells carlton products to the extend that they carry their strings as well. it's not too well know in the US possibly because it's from Europe where most people travel to asia to make badminton related purchases, so the lesser known brands in asia are more popular. if you have more info on other carlton rackets, please share!!!
I have VTT and Razor 1.3 and use them for doubles. They are both excellent racquets but I need some more play time to get to know them better before I start reporting my impressions.
vtt seems like a heavier version of the vt vanquish, and i love it, and the silver shiny paint scheme makes me love it even more. i have the razor model that's head heavy, forgot the model number. shaft is the stiffest of all the carltons i currently play with. hitting the shuttle feels weird because the string loops outside on the longest cross. kinesis is a very light weight, even balance flexible racket. i love whipping it around the court. for such a light racket i was surprised that i could generate that much power...but my swing was immediately off because of the light swing weight and it took me almost two hours to readjust my swing to the racket. i also have the air blade as well as ignite rapid and ignite fusion, but those are lower end rackets but they are still very good. carlton head heavy rackets like the ignite fusion and one of the razor tends to have stiff shaft, which even balance or lighter rackets have medium stiff shafts...interesting.
Good, so you own the Kinesis as well? I'm interested in the Kinesis. The two racquets I mostly play with at the moment are BS12 and VTT and although I haven't yet made up my mind which is going to be the "go to", I find the VTT more satisfing to play with. It's a lot lighter than the BS12 and feels efortless with great control. BS12 is similar but the extra weight somehow clouds the performance. I imagine the Kinesis like an upgraded VTT with better power and impoved mobility. My VTT by the way is the older 84g version. The later model is 86g and has blue (cyan) text. How would you compare the Kinesis with the VTT?
the VTT i have is mostly silver, the current model, it's actually (to me) a heavier version of the VT vanquish. the Kinesis on the other hand, is a very light weight even balance racket, close to that of my ns9900, except the Kinesis has a very flexible shaft, which i looooove!!! in terms of power and control i have to say it goes t the VTT because the kinesis is just too light for me, my swing was completely off when i swung it for a few games. the medium stiff shaft of the VTT makes it a racket smack in the middle. medium weight, even balance, medium stiffness, very close to my personal fave spec from any racket. the kinesis is just too light for me, but it is very very fast. i turn into a brick wall in the front court with that racket, just that i'm not so accurate because my swing is off...hahahahaha. if they had a few grams overall to the weight of the racket being even balance, i would love the kinesis more. the VTT paint is great, since i love to see my own swing at the corner of my eye. but the twisted frame is very interesting on the kinesis as well. matte black is cool too.
Strange!! The current VTT (Vapour Trail Tour - in case there's some confusion is 86g even balance, medum flex. The Kinesis is 86g, even balance, medium flex. How can it be any difference in swing weight? Are you sure it's not just the superior aerodinamics of the Kinesis that makes it feel a lighter swing? The two should have the same weight distribution since they are even balance...
i can double check the actual weight, since i don't know them off the top of my hand, and they both are even balance but the shaft of the kinesis is definitely more flexible and the swing weight, at least that's how it was felt, is a lot lighter on the kinesis. yea, the kinesis is pretty much useless to me since it's too light, but a fun racket to mess around with.
Doesn't the Kinesis have a thinner shaft? So whilst the resin is of the same strength, it'd be more flexible in actual use. I didn't check if this is actually the case though, so there'd have to be confirmation, but considering the aerodynamics was the key to the racket, I wouldn't be surprised.
Does anybody play with Carlton Razor V1.3 racket? It is head light, has medium flexibility and weights 87g with Optimetric head shape. I am begginer/lower intermediate player and this is my first higher priced racket... so i can not compare it with another rackets. Before Carlton I played with lower priced Yonex with flexible shaft and i can not say how much more control i have got now with Razor V1.3. I was looking for Kinesis but at a price 180€ is a little too much. Razor racket V1.3 cost me only 75€ in SportsDirect shop here in Slovenia. I think it was quite a good deal. So what do you guys think abut this racket?
Definitely a good deal. In UK street price is similar and for this price you can't really get anything better value. But it depends of course how well it suits your game. I bought it because i was looking for a medium flex light racquet, coming from using stiff and head heavy. I find it very easy to play with, very forgiving - great backhands. It's also very fast, faster than anything else I own (BS12, VTT, Meteors including) except for the ZS - this is of course due to the lighter head and great aerodynamics. Surprisingly power is great too but in oder to generate power you need an explosive compact swing. It might take some time to adapt to it so don't rush to conclude it doesn't give you more control. Control is good, feels crisp and nicely balanced for a head light racquet.
i believe all the razors have their unique feel because of the middle cross strings going outside the frame, but i can't use a headlight racket without losing power. my wrist forearm is just weak so it is hard for me to backhand clear from one back-end to the other back-end. however, whatever i lose in power will have gained control because it's a headlight racket and the shaft is still pretty stiff, so i'm sure with this racket playing front court should be awesome, like a huge brick wall.
ohh I've been using carlton and only carlton since i started playing badminton, from aerogear fx900 to carbotec 707 and then to prototype v1.0. Any prototype user here as well?
