Thanks for the pictures cos its actually another proof yet again that ArcZS TH that Taufik uses is not repainted Arc10. Its clear on that picture that that the frame is NOT the same as VT80, and thats clearly an ArcZS shape
Are you serious? I think this is LCW holding an auction to sell Taufik's and his racket to raise fund for Japan
No if you take a ruler measure and extrapolate you will clearly see that the person in that picture is only 45 cm tall. The real LCW is much taller. Ok Ok, I'm just messing with you guys (I can't believe you were taking me seriously). I logged on to the thread this morning hoping to catch up on the latest banter on the VT 80 and instead see a raging discussion about Taufik's Z-slash, Arc 10 or whatever. Since I'm a bit of a cynic about what the pros play with (ie I don't care) and I read some guy getting all CSI on the 'photo evidence' I figured I'd make a bit of a wise crack in the spirit of the humor and mild irritation I felt over the thread hijack. Bear in mind this is before Yoppy posted his apology for posting this in the wrong thread so the irritation I felt is gone (ie apology accepted and no worries) but the humor remains.
It is all about who you trust, and the assement of their motivation. Honestly Dink has very little to gain by trashtalking different rackets, and he has EARNED the respect of this forum for many years with his unbiased views and honest opinions. And many of us who tests lots of rackets and try to view these as objectively as humanly possible, have personal experiences that YY to have quite a bad QC lately for rackets in general (worse so than Victor, Mizuno, Li-Ning, Babolat etc. imop). But if your experience differs you should by all means post your experiences.. It is all good to get ALL views..
This thread about VT80, but i found none of discussion about grommets type that VT80 uses. Anyone can give some info about grommets that are on VT80?? diameter? length? Are they the same grommets with what AT900P/T or ARC or Nanospeed used?
What are you talking about? I'm the photographer for that photo and i can assure you that i was in the charity event and snap the photos(ok, i know you was just joking right?) and i can also guarantee you that taufik hidayat was using the z slash.. not arc 10..
Aw, you got me. How did you guess I was joking? Was it post I made 3 post before yours where I said so?
So, after testing super grap on wood, I've gone back to super grap over original grip. Forget doing what suits others, I'm going to experiment with my own styles. Currently I've got a layer of super grap over the overgrip, then another pseudo layer of super grap. Like so. BP is much lower but I seem to get a better, faster and stronger swing. So for now I'm sticking to it.
Ok a slight amendment to bring down the weight, remove wasted grip and increase the BP some more. Feels awesome!
Okay, last night i was intensively playing 2-hour non-stop matches (comprised of 9 double games & 2 single games) using my 3U4 Vt80 + N50 at the half-time. I've been playing with VT80 for 3.5 weeks now. However, after the first 5 games of medium-fast MD play... my wrist was starting to shake so badly & i barely smashed on the 4th game (I know there was a slightly improvement than when i first time used VT80 which won't even last 2.5 games). I then switched back to my old N50 and my wrist felt much relax until the light went off. But i couldn't generate many powerful smashes like i did when was on VT80-mode. Question: is there any faster way to improve the length of time for myself to hold/smash with VT80 for the full-time 2-hour session games? If it's not possible for amateur like me, then is there any recommended racket that "a little bit more forgiving" to be used as a switch-racket when my wrist got exhausted? (racket that can help me generate many powerful or fast smash?) Note: that i'm pretty skinny, weight at max 60Kg & height at 178cm... so doing some heavy stuff-lifting might be a little bit too much for myself, especially when playing 4x a week with total of 10-hour session/week. I once joined gym and did some physical exercise (3-hour/week), but then i had to reduce my badminton time to max of 2x a week... aside to allow my intense-muscle recovering from heavy lifting, my power was draining off even before start playing. Thus, i decided to quit the gym & just focus on badminton.
It's quite important to keep injury out, while there is nothing wrong with you keeping the VT80 it's worth considering if you can injured yourself or not. I'm not saying that you will by using VT80 but I would not recommend this racket to a beginner or lower intermediate player. You can improve your skills a lot faster using less forgiving rackets and then strength can be built as you go along. That said if you feel you can handle the pressure then feel free to keep using it until it blends
I've been self-coaching myself for 12 years now. Currently i'm living in China (almost 1 year now) & very regularly playing in my college's indoor badminton court with 15-25 Chinese players. Only 1~3 people could fairly beat me in single game some time, while i win almost all XD & MD game every week. I played in Thailand for 8 years & played in Indonesia for 2.5 years. I'm very much adapted to relaxing-play of Indonesian's style, thus i can pretty much handle fast&furious play of Chinese players. But the combination of both which most Thai players adapt would definitely make me lose 60% of the game all the time. This is why i still considered myself as amateur... since apparently i might fall under C/C- of Thai level. Another consideration was my physical. By physical, i meant i can produce very fast jump smash at given anytime (but i prefer to play strategically instead of hardcore game), but not-so-powerful (VT80 helps me to turn this "not-so-powerful" smash into "pretty-powerful" smash but i have to pay extra in term of extreme fatigue on wrist within 40-55 smashes..top!). Other head-heavy rackets of mine, favor me in achieving fast-smash but "not-so-powerful" as i wished but i can smash as much as i want without the need to change racket in the middle of the session. Still, i think i'm just gonna force myself to handle the wrist fatigue as you suggest. It WILL help as i notice i can play longer with VT80 every week. I'm just looking a "shortcut" of how to last a full 2-hour session of non-stop game without replacing my VT80. Indeed i'm considering either to stock another 3U4 VT80 or go for Victor MX80 (somehow number 80 brings me luck). or should i go for AT700 (i see VT80 completely replaced AT700 position on the Yonex 2011 racket's chart. I do love the properties (specs) of VT80 (which identical to AT700).
arfandy, what's wrong with just using the VT80 for a few games and then switching to a racket that is less head heavy? However, as you've already noticed yourself, it sounds like you are getting used to the racket - perhaps in a few months, you'll not notice any wrist fatigue.
By the way, just so people aren't "scared" away by the 3U VT80, I consider myself a B-/B player that enjoys smashing. Just the other day, I did a half-court smashing drill with one of the players in my club. The drill probably lasted about 15 minutes, non-stop. I was basically smashing as hard as I could, non-stop (I smash, opponent returns, I drop return, opponent lifts, I smash, and repeat). Of course, keep in mind the smashes that my opponent failed to return, which wasn't that many (given it's a half-court smashing drill). After about 10 minutes, I was really tired in general, but my wrist/arm felt fine - it was really my overall conditioning/fitness that was "letting me down". Anyway, after a short rest, I went on to play another couple of games and I felt no wrist/arm fatigue. The next day, I had no soreness at my wrist/arm. Point is, if a "lowly" B-grade player that isn't extremely conditioned (although I'm working on it and improving each week) can handle the 3U VT80 fine, there shouldn't be a problem at all for others of a similar level/conditioning. I guess at the end of the day, I'm just saying that you don't need to be "superman" to use the (3U) VT80 hehe - it's just another head heavy racket.
Whilst you may have found that yourself, personally I'm in the camp that believes a 4U is far less fatiguing to use. Personally I get more power and speed from a 4U, and add to that, it's less cumbersome to use. Nobody's super man, and most people get tired using ANY racket to play after several hours. But the 3U VT80 imo is more demanding than most. Well to be fair, aside from a few steel rackets I've used, it is the most demanding racket I have ever used lol (but I never used the golden oldies of past, 2U's etc). What I'd recommend is users try out both the 4U and the 3U and see which one suits them best. But if they're moving from a more head light or balanced racket, I would stress that the jump to 3UVT80 maybe too much, and they might want to consider the 4UVT80 first. It may only be several grams separating them, but believe me, the difference in weight is very notable. Just as it is between a head heavy and a head balanced racket.
Amateur player here. Would you recommend Voltric 80 to an amateur which is playing 1 - 2 times in a week only? (With friends, no membership and any tournaments) How's the Voltric 80 compared to V70? And to Arcsaber 10? Actually I'm testing the Arcsaber 10 and it's a really good racket. But it could be a little bit lighter. I'd also like to have more "feedback" from the frame.