This is my first post in my badminton blog and thought I will start with a short review of Carlton Optimax Viper 9.5 that I bought in second half of 2011.
This is a light racket weighing 76 to 78 grams without guts. Grip size is G5. It came with Xcelerate x67 black color guts. Strung it at 30 and still not broken. I play only during weekends. Color of the racket is blue with a shining finish. Looks like a sword. Came with a white thick Carlton grip. I had to put an over grip on this. It has a carbon handle.
Need to hit hard to get a powerful smash. I had the guts strung at 30lbs, will try at lower tension once this gut breaks and provide further review on this.
Specification on the gut packing is as follows:
Power: 10
Control: 9
Durability: 8
Resiliency: 9
Hitting Sound: 9
Specification of the racket and some pictures of the frame are shown below:
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis is very helpful. I was considering buying this racket or the new Razor V1.1
I am tempted to buy this but my game primarily comprises of hard smashes.
It would be very useful if you could please post a few close up pictures of the frame so that the looks stand out. Can you also post a picture of the racket cover please?
Also, how are you finding the racket now?
From your pictures, I understand that it comes strung with tension of 28.
Would you recommend this racket over other Carlton rackets?
Many thanks,
KK
Rackte was unstrung. I have not used other Carlton rackets, hence I will not be able to compare. I am Yonex fan :).
DeleteRacket was not strung when I bought it. Guts came along with the package and I got it strung at 30lbs.
If your game comprises of fast smashes, you might be better off with a slightly heavier racket (again a head heavy one). I also have a Yonex Voltric 80 and it is a super racket for smashes. I have read somewhere that it is a combination of Armortec and Nanospeed. Check out Voltric 80 at any Yonex store.
Once the current guts break on my Carlton racket, I will get new guts on it at 25Lbs. Will post an update after that.
HI, thanks for that. After much research I am leaning towards Yonex Voltric 70 or the Yonex NanoSpeed 9900. The decision now boils down between these two rackets. Which would you suggest being a Yonex fan (this will be my first Yonex product, however, I haven;t bought Carlton before either). I use Head rackets at the moment.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks,
K
I would suggest Votric 80 keeping in mind that your game comprises of smashes. How much is the cost of Votric 70? Is it much cheaper than Voltric 80? I have not used Voltric 70, but from catalogue it looks fine:
DeleteNanospeed rackets are headlight when compared to Votric series: http://www.yonex.com/badminton/webcatalog2011/#page=15
Go for a 4U grip size in any case. You can top up with overgrip if required.
This is the link to Yonex catalogue for 2011: http://www.yonex.com/badminton/webcatalog2011/#page=1
Sorry, missed out to include link to Voltric 70 in Yonex Catalogue. Here is the same: http://www.yonex.com/badminton/webcatalog2011/#page=7
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a great read for me. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!.
ReplyDeletetop-5-best-badminton-rackets