I just spit out water as I read this, lol. I can bet this deal had a lot of money involved, even with the govt officials, we can only imagine a number. Yonex's monopoly on the rise, all due to the Astrox's grace I guess. I won't be surprised if they snatch back Yuta too, he is a key figure in Japan MD and XD, a big fish.
The way i see it, Yonex just to good at Marketing stuff. They turn something simple or even nothing into something special & look cool to us. Every new racket are always be a waiting list on many player from any level. Pretty sure right now we had tons of player waiting for the next 88. Enchanted RGS... Really.... But those stupid thing attract buyer for sure. Lining other hand throw a bunch of racket to sell. What tech? Idk... Not even Lining try that hard to makes it look amazing. But they had racket for any budget you had. You had 300k idr, Lining had it. Had abit more money? Like 500k idr? Yes Lining had it. How about 800k idr? Not to worry, Lining always available in all price from low, lower mid, higher mid, mid, lower high end, abit higher end, & high end. Yonex? That for price. How about spec? Lining had 3 frame model & some few racket on each category. What if you buy Lining racket & you dislike it coz you feel something missing? want abit heavier? Lining had Combat type. How about stiffer one? Look for Drive. What if im to weak & looking for light weight? Lucky, Lining had Instinct. This kind of thing not available on other brand which i think is Lining Marketing Strategy. But i guest its not working quite well. We want stupid thing for us to boast to our friend. Hey i had the new Astrox 88. It had a better version RGS than yours. WOW COOL. For Lining, hey i had new Lining racket. What? Does lining had new racket? Its just old model dude nothing new. Mine had the latest tech a version 2 of RGS....
had my astrox 88d and 100zz for 6 months, played numerous matches and even dived for shuttles most of the time, hitting the racket on the floor and clashing into my partner's racket yesterday, I don't see any chips on my racket, only some minor scuffs. used to own an aeronaut 9000c and 9000d and just a scoop of shuttle and a scratch appears. this just shows that linings paint job is superb and beautiful, just that the quality isn't there. it's as if the paint is just a thin sheet of sticker pasted on the racket. Sent from my SM-N981B using Tapatalk
Interesting, since I haven't yet seen any of the AN9000 models myself yet. What I know is that the paint on the higher end TurboChargings and Calibars is outstandingly robust. Funny enough with the exception so far being the Calibar 900B which seems to be missing one layer of coating on top of the stickers.
I have both the 88D and the Aeronaut 9000C and can confirm 88D chips off heartbreakingly easy. 9000C on the other hand is almost brand new. Although I should mention that I had clocked more hours with the 88D than the 9000C but still I can tell the 88D chipped off too easily. The chips at the upper parts were due to collecting the shuttle, and the chips on the bottom part of the frame were from clashes(not so nasty ones).
Some of my fellow club members use low end LN rackets and those cheap rackets' paintjob doesn't hold up well to similarly priced Yonex or Victor. But looking at the mid to high end rackets there is no other brand with better paint job and overall quality (at least none that I have heard of or tried).
Haha its been 2 years I guess and I played with it around for 8-10 stringjobs I guess, and on its last job with 30lbs LN1, the string broke and my laziness in cutting the strings cost me the crack, hence there are no grommets in it, its useless right now but lets see if it would be possible to repair it then I would use it as backup racquet when anybody of my friends want one during play. Yep that is a crack in a frame indeed. Not to worry though I have two more 88Ds idling in my bag.
Maybe Lining old racket had better durability coz my old Mega Power Series, UC5000 paint are quite good. I pick shuttle on the floor, slip from my had many times, & even clash idk how many times but very minor paint chip. compare to this 88, my old lining kinda less than 10% of those awfully chipped 88. But the new low end Lining had super bad paint quality for sure. My friend 3 days old & 6 hour playing already at 50% of those 88. Idk about the high end one.
In fact there are several things that Yonex exaggerates in to fancy technologies. Rotational generating system? Many players simply put a coin at the bottom. To add insult to injury, many Yonex technologies comes behind other brands'. For instance, the upcoming Eclipsion Z shoes: Well, you can find this in a lot of other bands. Or the new Astrox 88 Pro: These improvements have been introduced in RSL Diamond X8 in 2020. Not to mention the late release of aerodynamic frame
Li Ning's shitty marketing evident yet again, remember Shi Yuqi appeared with a mysterious racket in AE2019 and many doesn't know what it is until a few months, Yesterday Chiristie appeared with a mysterious racket and no one knows what it is, may be for a few months. Sharp contrast with yonex's 88 pro strategy they created hype for 1/2 months before it is available or prof player uses it.
Totally agree. Of all the brands....LN is the worst. For the ppl they endorse and the price of their rackets...is a total waste. Unless LN domestic mkt is so great. Even so the international branding is impt. Not a single table to show u the series and who or what's is for. LN marketing is on par or worst than brands like Apacs. Sent from my SM-N986B using Tapatalk
Well, after using my N90iii's for the longest time, I was in the market for an upgrade. All signs pointed towards the Calibar 900C and although that racket was powerful, you can only sustain it so long. The weight and high shaft stiffness makes it a little too slow for a fast paced doubles game. It makes the N90iii feel super light after using it for a couple hours. Recently just purchased the 900 or the "Drive" version. This racket is it. Anyone who likes the 88D, 900P, ZF, N90III should give this racket a shot. It is a 4U racket and a short adjustment is necessary, but the speed and power from this thing was very surprising. The transition from the former rackets wasn't too bad. Defense and drives increased dramatically and its as if the racket listens to what your mind is saying. Since you're able to move the racket easier and faster, on smashes I found it was about comparable, but perhaps sacrifice a little max power for better angles. The follow through shots were amazing in case your opponent could defend your smash or drive. You can just rapid fire shot after shot with no lag or fatigue compared to the N90iii. During the games, it felt like almost cheating. The racket unlocks a new gear you didn't know you had without any training. Somehow the 308 balance point and medium stiffness combo work in perfect harmony unlocking your skillset to its full potential. If li ning had a direct replacement for the N90iii which they currently don't, I would still recommend to try this one out. My friend who also bought this racket mirrors my opinions as well.
I'm gonna just mirror that on a third opinion. That said I'm not using the 900(Drive) anymore. I wanted to switch to a 3u with a bit more power on it and went to the 9000. I tried the 900C as well, and that racquet really didn't blend with me unfortunately. It's just such a beefy racquet that I couldn't do it justice at all. The 900 is by far my favorite from the 3D caliber line. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
If you have some money to spend, you can check out the 900(D) as CP Version. I'm using this one since the normal 900 was a tad too light for me. The 900(D) CP is less headheavy than the 900 but the extra overall weight pretty much nullifies that in terms of power. But quite hard to find one of these, espc. if you are located in Europe/America and don't have some good connections
Yeah, the 900C might be suited better to singles. The lag phase between shots is quite high. 900 works for me atm. Which 9000 did you get? The drive version?
Yeah, I've heard that the professionals use a unicorn 3U version. Unfortunately I don't know where to get that. Maybe I'll try it one day if anyone has it.
Even for singles the 900C didn't really feel right to me. It definitely hits hard though, so maybe for really strong people it would be great. I got the 9000 boost. The white one. Honestly, It's so perfect for me in every way. Just really average balance, stiffness, and weight. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Ah icic, yeah I consider myself one of the harder hitters and have been using AT700 LTD's back in the beginning. The 900C would be a nice upgrade to that, but compared to faster options nowadays, it's hard to reach for it in my bag. I'll def give the aeronat 9000's a try if anyone has some. I'm somewhat hesitant to get a racket with holes drilled into it though as I go quite high tension. One of the reasons I switched over to Li Ning was I kept breaking YY frames. Strings would break and frame went with it or during a clash.
