This is to owners of these racquets and how they feel about the durability of these racquets Yonex NF800 4U Yonex NF1000z 4U Victor AS 100x 4U Victor BS 12SE 4U I am an intermediate level player who started playing after a long time. I play 2 hours daily for around 5-6 days a week. I focus on front court mainly and sometimes if required have to take care from the back court. Would love to hear about the durability (&comparison if anyone has all) of these racquets. Specifically I am looking for the more durable out of these.
Yonex NF800 4U is the only one I have tried. It broke for me on a clear shot after 3 weeks without any clashes. Not on your list but I would suggest the Astrox 88S Pro. Feels very sturdy when stringing and after a couple quite hard clashes it still holds up. After wathing a few reviews on the 1000z I thing the Astrox 88S Pro is "faster", but I could be wrong.
The Bravesword range are great but the sharp edge does chip very easily so not very durable. The Auraspeed range is generally durable but I have heard of some 100X breaking easily. Another option from Victor is the Jetspeed range which are also fast frames. They had issues with sinking grommets on some frames but seems to be far better now.
+1 on the jetspeed, specifically the JS12ii, the 4U is very fast, kinda a bit much for me so I use the 3U and is very durable, barely any marks/scuffs and no paintchips on the 2 I have for a year. BS12se on the other hand is like the complete opposite but haven't broke one yet. Just lots of chips/marks/scuffs. 100x I would say is as durable as JS12ii but then again in the early stages apparently easy to break.
I will talk about Yonex as a whole (been buying them for over 12 years) and then talk about those racquets. My first racquet was an armortec 150. Played with it maybe 2 hrs a week while I was learning and being a beginner to low intermediate player. The strings (bg65ti) lasted forever. The frame got a crack at 12-o clock before its' second restring lol. So I sadly threw it away. Next racquet was Voltric 80. I didn't notice the frame was misshapen until I compared the profile with another persons racquet at a friendly lunchtime tournament thing. It was no wonder my backhands were not consistent. I still have it somewhere and the strings aren't square. They are a bit diagonal because of the frame. I was convinced I needed a head light and big handle racquet. So I sourced a G3 size Nanospeed 9900. Quality of the frame is good. Lots of clashes as I was low to mid intermediate at the time. Next racquet was a Zforce 1. It was ok, but I struggled with it and wasn't good enough for it and eventually gave it to a friend. Durability was good. Next racquets were two nanorays. Can't remember the numbers, but they were a pair similar to Astrox 88S, 88D. No durability issues with them and again, ended up selling to friends because I didn't like them. After that I had some Nanoray 800s. 3Ug4 I think. Used for a long time, but hated that my smashes were weak. I was always on the lookout for a racquet with a better smash. Next racquet was the Astrox 100zz. Loved it at first. The difference in defense is noticable and it hurt my shoulder playing with it for long periods of time. No durability issues Next racquet was Nanoflare 800lt (5ug5). Great Racquet, but it hurts my elbow to play with it. No durability issues at all. Then I bought a Nanoray iSpeed racquet to see if I could get better smashing with it and not hurt my shoulder or elbow (NF800lt is very stiff). Hated it lol. Durability is fine. Then I bought an astrox nextage (4u g5 I think) and it was my favourite racquet for some months. Durability and price performance are both very good. Have to adjust swing speed because it's mid flex and not stiff. Also bought an astrox cosmic reign. Nothing special, but feels cheap when you hit the shuttle. If it had collisions, I don't think it would come out ontop. Nanoflare 1000z. It's very hit and miss in terms of durability. It feels solid when playing, but clash number 8-10 has caused a really small crack to appear in the racquet on the outside of the frame leading into one of the grommits. (around the 10 o clock position). And I only had it 4-5 weeks at the time! It survived one restring so far and I hope it survives more as I have put BG66U string in it at 26bs tension. I've never looked at Victor racquets as the names confuse me and stock is difficult to find. But the Bravesword has a lot of fans here.
Victor freecore tech has really impressed me, and I feel it should be default in all racquets instead of wood. The swing feels a little flexible but not by much. Atleast if default, one can even enjoy budget oriented rackets, as the only issue with them are the sharp vibrations(it was so much that I initially felt the 1000G frame was warping on impact). Also I am hoping that the made in China shift for the Victor has at the very least helped somewhat in durability, as I am very much interested in the AS100X
Victor bravesword, auraspeed lines, as well as jetspeed 11, 12ii. They may chip easily due to the frame shape, but the durability of the frame itself is very good. I heard apacs have decent light rackets that gave good durability, li Ning too but I never tried these myself. If you want durability in a speed racket id avoid the Yonex nanoflare line entirely
I second that. I have the BS12, got it used with lots of chips, in fact some of the red grommets were cut in two too. Been using it for a year now in rotation and it has gone through 3 sets of strings, holding up very well. BS12 is like a Phillips screwdriver, no harm in having one in the bag. If buying used - feel for any unusual bends, dents, frame and shaft damages.
I am looking towards lighter rackets as they are easier to learn compact swings using finger power, and no help from the racket itself to your poor technique. Hence bought the NF1000Game, and it is holding up pretty well durability wise, there are minor scuffs but no chips as of now which is really impressive for a yonex racquet ( my OG 88D chipped pretty easily while scooping shuttles) but still I am pretty sceptical to move to the Z model due to the durability issues. I am looking forward to the JS12ii, AS100X and the NF800LT, but currently have the HT8000 to test too, so my next purchase would be after few months from these shortlisted ones. It is really sad to see brands having their speed series with lesser durability as most of the rackets even the ones shortlisted have their own share of issues like sinking and breaking, maybe the next innovation in racket tech would be having durable flagship speed series
My NF1000z collapsed in on itself after strong smashes lastnight. Had a suspected crack in the frame after a collision about 6 weeks ago. I won't get another 1000z and will wait for a 1000z 2. Yonex HAVE to know that there is a major flaw in this racquet design.
I am only familiar with the pro models of the nanoflares, as they are the ones my club mates are using
I have a NF800 4U that has been banged up to hell... multiple clashes and it just keeps truckin which surprised me since it is such a narrow/small frame. Many very large paint chips and scratches... at least 5~6 but no functional issues. It clashed with an Astrox 99 and the 99 snapped and my NF800 just has a big paint chip lol.
Well, from all my research I have seen a lot of reports regarding ARS 100X poor durability, both earlier and the enhanced one, the frame breaking after strings break and many more causes, which is really sad as I was very much intent in purchasing one. Also found the ARS 90KII to be dampening the string sounds a bit so I doubt about the feel getting affected too, maybe @s_mair could tell us more about it.
Have you considered the black panther 4U? This one is blindingly fast despite being HH; definitely the fastest racket I owned (and this includes lighter rackets like ArcFB) I suspect the speed of the racket (sold it because I couldn’t time it due to speed) was because of the combo of short shaft and HH so it could move quickly and had carry (further speeding it up) And it is durable because of the HH-ness
