The Thai guy then recommended me to strung it @ 18lbs of tension. I agree with him since it's a light racquet but the actual fact is this racquet can be strung up to 24lbs. I bought it for the price of 1900.00 baht which was approximately RM190.00 for 2 racquets!
My current Wilson X-TECH 2.4...
I bought it simply because this racquet is mainly for beginner and the price is cheap. I shared (the cost) the other piece with Bayu Indra a colleague of mine from Indonesia @ BKK office.
I am quite active playing badminton now after returning back to Malaysia thanks to the company's sports club for organizing 2 games per week (Monday & Thursday) @ Stadium Juara Bukit Kiara situated less than 3km from office.
Besides the Wilson X-TECH 2.4 racquet, I still have another racquet given by my dad. It's the Yonex carbonex 20 Special. I prefer X-TECH 2.4 over it because the Carbonex is slightly heavier and the frame design is not so aerodynamic. Sorry to Yonex.
Two weeks back, I was discussing about the possibility of getting another racquet for the weekly games. The reason is because I need a racquet which is an all-rounder racquet with higher string tension capabililty. Since the X-TECH 2.4 is my all time favourite and benchmark, I didn't bother to look for other brands. So I stick to Wilson.
Looking at Wilson's range of 2008 ... you can only notice 2 product lines. They are the "nCode" & "(K) Factor" series. I was eyeing on the (K) Factor Blaze due to its functionality as an all-rounder racquet.
Why I choose (K) Factor Blaze? Because it's a racquet with almost perfect balance...
The construction:
The carrying bag:
The deal:
After a badminton game on Monday17th Nov 2008, I came home for dinner and my wife told me that the racquet shop @ Bangsar Village was having "buy 1 free 1" sale. I then contacted Donald (my colleague) to see if he needs to find a replacement racquet for his ten year-old Carlton racquet.
Donald suggested that we should take a look during lunch time on next day (Tuesday). I went with Donald to Stringers @ Bangsar Village. We spotted few models like (K) Factor Blaze, Blade, Tour, Strike, Pro, & Lite. The lower range racquet like xLoop was also displayed on the rack.
The price for (K) Factor Blaze was RM315.00 for 2 units inclusive of carrying bags. We also chose the yonex string for RM 27.00 each and also ProAce grip at the price of RM7.00. I asked the Filipino sales guy called Norway to give more discounts and he told me he will give FOC for 1 string and one grip. The whole package costed @ RM349.00 for 2 ready-to-play racquets! We paid and left the place.
The test @ Bangsar Sports Complex:
I got home from office around seven and I walked straight to Stringers again to see if the racquets are ready for collection. I saw Norway and he told me that both racquets can be collected. He strung both racquets at 25lbs. I checked both and left home for a quick dinner.
It was almost 9 when I reached the Bangsar Sports Complex. I tested few strokes with Blaze and it was amazing! I could do more powerful back-hand than the older X-TECH 2.4! Normally, I can't really return back-hand stroke properly even with Carbonex 20 Special. I could control the ball easily when I manage to hit the ball using the Blaze's sweet spot.
One thing which I do not recommend myself to do is NOT to hit hard whenever I am near the net due to the higher string tension.
Pros:
- Capable of having string tension of 20-30 lbs!
- Improved my back-hand stroke
- Nice bag (comes together with the racket)
- Nice classy graphics (black and white)
Cons:
- Slightly heavier than X-TECH 2.4(Blaze is approximately 86g [+/- 2g])
- New unit does not come with string
source:
1 comment:
I enjoyeed reading this
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