Winston put me a set in with my Ahmad, but I think I'll try it with my upcoming YYS; the Ahmad didn't need any extra feel, I assure you.
I'll be changing rackets next season anyway, so I'm trying a few out. Would have had the K9900... oh well. I'll be putting the #1 in one of the JS10's - that's the racket I'm msot familiar with atm.
Being reading a lot on how this string compares well (better) than the 66UM, can someone who has used it for a longer duration comment on the tension retention? (cant afford to constant re-string my racket if it drops after couple hours like the 66 :/) but really tempted to try this in the hopes that it can compete with my undisputed number 1 string (BG80) thanks
Just done one of these, and it reminded me very strongly of 80P - same slightly rubbery feel to it. Strings very well, but twists on the loops. At 32/33 +10% it was never in danger... first hurdle cleared, I guess.
I'll be very interested to hear how it plays at those tensions. I found that anything but the sweet spot is quite punishing on the string, and at those tensions I imagine the sweet spot is quite small.
Had my first session with the #1 on my JS10 @25/25 yesterday and if I had to give one single opinion, it would be "I am not sure". I had some shots that felt absolutely amazing with lots of easy power, and some (especially when it comes to full arm smashes from back court) which felt wimpy somehow. I guess this might be the result if you just barely miss the sweetspot. Control and feel was superb, the slight roughness of the string is pushing it very close to BG80 when it comes to net shots or sliced drop shots. And what was bothering me most is that I had quite a couple of frame hits at the top end of the racket which made me think if the thinner diameter compared to my usual BG80 could have decreased the head drag even more and making it even faster. Has anyone else experienced anything like that? I have to add that I definitely wasn't playing my best game yesterday so I am careful not to make a final judgement for me based on this single session. I will give it another chance on Thursday and see what happens. I will then have to decide afterwards what to do for the upcoming league match on Saturday...
Yeah it sounds like you were missing the sweet spot. Outside of the sweet spot the power is basically halved on the string, and you get a muted, unsatisfying feel. The smashes I'm getting off of the string are by far the most powerful I've produced; my clears were too powerful by quite a large margin and I had to increase my string tension from 25x25 to 25x27 to 27x29. As for the drag issue, are you using the correct shuttle speed? I start framing when I have to play with slow shuttles because the shuttle hasn't dropped where I expected it to and I swing prematurely.
So then the difference in feel and power between hitting the sweet spot and just barely missing it is HUGE compared to a BG80. If you hit it: Rockets. If you miss it: Lame duck. On the plus side this should be a good training to generally hit more precisely. I even hit one accidental backhand smash which was supposed to be a fast drop shot so I know that there has to be a lot of potential also for my forehand smashes. You've raised a good point regarding the shuttle speed. I have actually never considered this to be a reason for increased framing. The shuttles yesterday were clearly not on the fast side so this might indeed have contributed to it. Actually I am really looking forward to the next session tomorrow and I will make sure to have some A300's ready.
Yeah, I mean, my consistency is nowhere near as good on my left as it is my right. On my right I get the nice rocket hits a lot of the time because I'm hitting the sweet spot a lot more. On my left I got a lot more of the muted hits where I've let the shuttle drop too far and I hit below the sweet spot. Slow shuttles can definitely be a cause of framing, especially when your swings are automatic; your body subconsciously knows when to hit, what speed to use etc., and when the shuttle doesn't fall where you expect it to or at the rate you expect it to, that suddenly gets thrown up in the air. I'm not sure what the sweet spot on the JS10 is, but my N50 has a pretty big sweet spot, and doesn't use the compact frame or anything like that. You might also find that +2 on the cross make the string more consistent too. At least that's what I found.
Sweet spot of the JS10 sits a bit higher on the stringbed but feels pretty much the same size than with standard isometric heads, never had any issues with it. The shuttle speed theory makes perfect sense. A slower than normal shuttle should mess up your timing the same way as switching from a slow to a fast racket. I will have a closer look at that next session.
Second session with No. 1 is over, this time I played mostly singles using either Babolat Aeroflex Tour or Li-Ning SuperSeries shuttles. Good news first: The framing issue was gone, so chances are high that that the shuttles might indeed have had a big part in that. Overall, I felt much more comfortable with it than two days ago. The "Rockets/Lame-Duck ratio" clearly shifted towards the rockets, yet still I had some shots that felt quite flimsy. On the other end of the scale, I delivered some serious bombs - and I'm far from being a hard smasher normally. So yeah, it's clearly not a forgiving string if you hit off-center. But boy, if you hit the sweetspot the result is awesome. And it's the huge gap between those two extremes that troubled me a bit when it came to more off-balance escape clears. I hit with normal power and on the sweetspot: Shuttle lands close to the baseline. Normal power and just a tad off-center: at least 2 Meters short of the baseline Put in some extra power to compensate and on the sweetspot: 1 Meter behind the baseline. What I really liked this time was the touch and feel on blocks and netshots. I will leave it on the racket for the upcoming league match this Saturday. Although I'm still not sure if it will make me generally leave my trusted BG80.
Personally I find the tradeoff well worth it. The power you generate from shots from the sweetspot is, from what I've felt, unequivocal. When 66UM is the closest contender for the same effectiveness of the string, it's an easy call. 66UM goes so horrible so quickly, and requires so much money, that I'd rather go with the No. 1. You can either have the bad feel on all but the sweet spot, or you can have the bad feel on the whole racket within 2 weeks. But yes, it's not quite as rough as BG80 but it's certainly not as slippery as 65Ti or 66UM. The net control is pretty superb.
First impressions.. I really like this one. Feel is at least 80% as good as the Gosen, but it doesn't vibrate at all when hit off-centre. Power is very, very nice, and the sound... ye gods, people will look round when you catch one right.
It's a totally different story than with the BG66UM, I fully agree. Whilst the 66UM was ready for the dustbin after only a couple of hours play, the No.1 tends to feel more forgiving and more consistent as it has settled a bit. I kept it on the JS10 for the league match day previous Saturday and I am so glad I didn't cut it hastily beforehand. I played four matches throughout the afternoon (2 MD, 2 XD) and with each match, I connected more and more with the No.1. It concluded that especially in the last XD, I hit some smashes that literally gave me goosebumps. Speed, accuracy, sound... priceless! I actually wasn't aware before that I could deliver smashes like that at all! In parallel I felt that the number of "lame-duck shots" decreased a lot and I could control the length of the shots much better. So either it has become indeed more forgiving as it had settled a bit, or I simply got used to it and hit more precisely. Hands down, this is the best new string I have tested for a long time and the first one to seriously challenge the BG80 as my personal #1. I am now curious to see how it will degrade over the next sessions. Eitherway, I have ordered some more sets at MBS just to be prepared.
