Ok, so now the second week using it after my initial shoulder injury and after gripping it with RKEP G11 Yellow (which dropped the BP by 8mm down to 306mm and increased the weight by 2g over Super Grap), what can I say. I've tamed the beast!
Barely any shoulder pain today, and my play was some of the most confident I've ever played. I was placing 80% of shots exactly where and how I wanted, smashing away like mad with rare successful returns, serving pin point accurate, and generally playing with good precision. Smashes and clears were just effortless. A quick easy flick from one end of the court and the shuttle would be at the other end up the court. Whereas a few weeks ago I felt I really had to swing it hard to do the same, and at the risk of further shoulder pain.
Didn't even pull out my MX80 today as the VT80 was delivering in spades. The power was just magnificent, and I don't think I lost a single drive battle in all the games played. I was reacting to shots and hitting them back without barely even thinking about them, so speed certainly wasn't a problem, whereas it was a few weeks back (the racket felt slow compared to the MX80).
As a testament to how well the racket served me today, 4 of us played, switching partners every set (best of 3, usually ended up swapping partners after two games). Out of 17 games, I won 15....all of them consecutively (15 in a row). Only games I lost were the first (blame it on needing a warm up) and last (by then I didn't even care to win any more and I'm pretty sure my partner lost 80% of the points).
Anyway, I'm really really pleased and hope I can perform this way on Wednesday. Usually we have much closer games, so to win 15 is a row was just fantastic. I think it's a group record!
I think now that my shoulder has strengthened a bit, and I've gotten used to trying to wield the VT80 (it's MUCH more demanding to use than the MX80 and any racket I've used before it), it will stay as my go to racket, except when I'm feeling weak or tired, I'll switch to the MX80. I am afraid that if I put a lighter overgrip on again like Super Grap, it will once again be too head heavy for me to manage. So I'll grip in a way as to increase the BP 2mm at a time from now on till I'm completely used to the rackets original head heaviness. But for now G11 + VT80 work wonders.
Also, I recommend gripping higher up than usual. VT80 is a racket that prefers to be held mid to two thirds of the way up the handle. Or higher up. Whereas the MX80 works better holding the handle lower down.