N80 was used by Chen Long briefly, and Jan O Jorgensen before he changed to the 80 ET. I've used both the N80 and N90-II. The N90-II is slightly more solid than the N80, but isn't as fast, but I personally found it easier to get powerr out of the N90-II. But hey, I'm the guy that's head over heels in love with the N90 (first gen). Using an N90-II was what turned me onto LN, and led to me buying a Li Ning racket. Honestly, if you can't pick between the two, maybe consider the N90 III. It's basically smack bang between the two.
Yup... if you don't skip arm day I can see no reason not to love the N90I as much as LD did. And that being said a rare breed of people that managed to fall in love with such a difficult racket, the other difficult one being the ZF1. Come to think of it, OP only said he's been playing for around 3 months. He may think you smash hard and play aggressive now, but without trying those rackets first you really can't just go by the specs. Maybe check around the local club and see if you could try other rackets? Not discounting Charlie's opinion but given that you can't really try before you buy, the N80 and N9II are your safer options. Although to be honest, I've never tried the N80 before I bought it back in 2011 and thought that it was a crap racket that I couldn't get used to because of the frequent mishits on the frame. But then after the LN1 string was released several years later and taking it out of storage recently, I only realized that it's because the N80 swings a helluva much faster than the VT80 and the ZF2 I was using back at the time and could honestly say that it is a very good racket. If only the N9II didn't happen I'd probably picked up a spare N80. It's hard to go wrong with the N80 for a first racket, it is balanced enough to serve both singles and doubles. However, I feel that N9II may be the easier racket to adapt to, given its mild swing speed and easy power.
i can't recommend the li-ning n90-II. My friend has it and i've tried it several times, and the shaft is really really stiff. It is stiffer than it says. It is great for smashes, and it is also okay around the net. But when i make clears it just feels so dead and stiff. You can't really feel the shuttlecock and the swing. When it comes to defense, this is where the racket fails. Because of the racket being so slow and 'dead' it is hard to defend with. If you have very strong wrists it might work for you. Overall it's not a racket for beginners, because it's hard to use. Just my opinion
His N80 also says 'Woods'. All-clear, I guess. Don't know why tennistown put a picture like that, to be honest. But very sharp eyes, I wouldn't have noticed in the first place.
Okay N80 it is N90-II might be in fact a bit to hard to play at the beginning and I don't know if I'm manly enough to go with the black/pink N9-II... although I like the design.
You made the right choice. I can tell you that I have tried and played with a lot (!) of LN rackets and the only two I remember which I did not like a bit were the N77 and N90II.
There's nothing about the black pink design that screams of femininity. I had the choice between the newer bronze green and the original black pink and I'd always go for the black pink. Nobody ever would diss your racket for having slight pink highlights when you're smashing hard and fast with it. The N9II has a pretty good following here given its relative age. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/index.php?threads/li-ning-n9ii-3u.169998/ Even more so than the JS12 I'd say. The feedback for the N9II are mostly positive, it's pretty hard to go wrong really. Also it appears that the JS10 and JS12 have been discontinued if I'm not wrong, the closest thing I'd reckon to the N9II would be the new Yonex Astrox (which I can't but help cringe at their terrible naming sense and color scheme)
Good choice! As said, let us know how the story continues. Despite the pink highlights, it doesn't look girlyish at all. On the other hand, I have never been asked more about a new racket than when I showed up with the N9-II for the first time. Mostly by the female part of the club though. Now you can judge if that is a good or a bad thing... You are wrong there, mate. Both are still best sellers from the Victor range and they would be stupid to cut of there own arms and legs. JS10 currently gets a repaint in bubblegum red/green/ugly though.
Must have misread then, can't find the original source but it was a local store in HK, probably meant that the old colours were discontinued and they'd stopped carrying them. I was that close to buying the JS12 if I hadn't heard of the QC issues, right now it's going for around the same price as the AS11 while the Li-Nings are still priced at a premium. Totally worth it though, I'm absolutely in love with LN rackets right now. My only gripe with their rackets are probably the grommets and that's about it.
I have played two JS10 4U for about 3 years now and don't have any issues with sinking grommets or durability. Had numerous clashes with them and they are still holding strong. Tension was between 27-29 lbs. I have two other JS10s in my club that I string regularly (at only 22 lbs. though) and none of them had any issues so far. What I've seen is a JS12 with a broken handle after only a couple of weeks useage. It has been replaced on warranty by Victor without big discussions. The pictures of the sinking grommets on other JS10 and JS12 that were posted are definitely a reason to worry and to consider if you plan to get one of them now. What still surprises me a bit is the huge success of the JS12 tbh. I was very disappointed when I was playing the 3U - a lot slower than the JS10 and still not that killer punch I had expected in return. The N9II is close to the JS12 spec wise, but does everything better IMO. And so far, I was happy with the grommet quality of Li-Ning too. They seem to be on par with Yonex and even a tad above Victor.
So you're telling me if I buy the N9-II I get all the ladies? I might reconsider I think I'll get around to order this Weekend and I'll keep you updated on how I like it. Thanks again for all the answers and suggestions.
The Woods N80 gromments deteriorated, rotated them but didn't work. I underwent 3 sets of strings within half a year of mild usage and they all failed at the shared grommet. In the end I replace the whole set and even put in new shared grommets myself, whereas the VT80 I've been using from around the same era has undergone far many more sets of strings even without rotation. Probably because early LN grommets weren't that great but I'm staying the heck away from clear coloured grommets. Also LN rackets do not use a U grommet through M1-M4, I'm replacing mine on the N9II after it's very first set of strings break. Probably doesn't matter too much but I like having those U grommets in place. It was exactly because of those grommet failures and QC issues on the frame where a mildly tensioned set of strings will sink into frame and also cave ins under the recommended 30lbs of the JS12 that set off my alarms. Either way the JS12 goes for the same price as the AS11, but I'd go for the AS11 knowing it wouldn't have those manufacturing problems.
Funny that you mention the missing U-grommets. That was the first thing I added to my N9II before restringing it for the first time. But the best grommets ever I have seen so far were the square-shaped ones around the top half of the N99. What a shame that I couldn't find them anywhere as spare parts so far.
Well, stores in Hong Kong don't ever sell their rackets without the string so there's no reason to buy it unstrung. I bought from e78 for 145USD, and they bundled the LN1 for all LN rackets. I took alot of contemplation before buying the N9II and it was a Thursday evening when I placed the order online, picked it up from them Friday evening since I was playing somewhere that night There's honestly no reason to own a machine back in Hong Kong when the stores string your racket professionally and in record time, the turnover in Hong Kong stores are nothing like the rest of the world.
That's the difference to badminton wastelands like Germany. Over here, you hardly find badminton-capable stringers at all and the few that exist are mostly producing rubbish jobs (incosistent, lower tension than ordered and even damaging the racket if you are lucky...). If I had a capable stringer nearby I don't think that I would have started stringing at all. On the other hand, it has become a fun hobby in the meantime and I can cover most of my badminton budget from it - so no regrets!
Now i have time to give you guys an update I waited too long so the N80 wasn't in sale anymore on tennistown. In the end i went with the N9-II despite me thinking that it could look girlish. To keep it short - I absolutely love the N9-II. I have it strung with black BG-65 @ 24lbs and it looks beautiful! Surprisingly the transition between my old stiff/hh racket and the N9-II was really easy. I played it for ~10 hours in doubles until now. My defence is a lot better than before and I also think my smashes got better (maybe because of the not so stiff shaft). I have yet to try it in singles but I'm very confident that this racket was the right choice. So thanks again for proposing it!
Great to hear that you are happy with the recommended racket. And now let's cut to the chase - how many girls have asked you about your beautiful new racket?
