Below is review for Yonex Arcsaber Z Slash from Paul Stewart.
Paul Stewart is an Advanced Badminton Coach based in Cheshire, UK but
also coaches in Lancashire, UK. He was Head Coach for Greater
Manchester Junior Badminton Association between 1995-1999 regularly
running 2 squads at weekends. The highlight of coaching these squads was
attaining a medal for third place at the 1999 ICT tournament. The ICT
is considered the pinnacle of the county junior calendar and is the most
highly sought after for team places.
He has a weekly coaching
session for league badminton players and is also coaching county juniors
as one of the assistant coaches in the Middlewich cell of Cheshire
County Juniors.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's been a tremendous amount of traffic on the forums about
this badminton racquet. I can't remember a time when a new racquet was
so eagerly awaited. Yonex Japan website enticed us with their
advertising, however, they kept us all in the dark about the looks of
this racquet until a few days before launch.
When pictures were
available, the Arcsaber Z Slash badminton racquet met with mixed
response. Some said it was ghastly whilst others raved over its
colourful graphics. But, did it live up to the hyped anticipation and
expectation? Let's get into the review. Above all else, please remember
that choosing a racquet is personal and you are the only person to judge
whether this racquet is for you.
With all the hype surrounding
this racquet, I was expecting a flashy cover - something different to
set it apart from the rest of the Yonex range. As you can imagine, I was
a bit disappointed when I saw the standard Arcsaber racquet cover. Fair
play to Yonex though, they are trying to standardise their range so, in
some ways, why should this racquet get special treatment?
I had
that Christmas morning feeling as I slowly unzipped the cover and pulled
out the racquet. Wow! I was met by the most striking graphics I've seen
on a racquet for some time. If you're ultra conservative, you may see
the racquet as flash or gawdy but I really liked it. The graphics
combine black, red, yellow, gold and white.
At first glance, apart
from the graphics, this looks like any other badminton racquet. But,
there are a number of differences when investigated further.
First
off, the head looks slightly thinner. Initially I thought this was due
to the stringing. But, Yonex stringers are amongst the best in the world
so this needed closer inspection. No, this is definitely a slightly
different shape, drawing in from the sides by approximately half a
centimetre each side, which is considerable. The head length is the
same.
The shaft of the Z Slash is approximately 1cm longer than my
Nanospeed 9900 which should therefore generate a bit more power. The
handle is around 2cm shorter and ferrule (plastic piece above the
handle) reduced by around 25% (my estimation.) The ferrule itself looks
considerably smaller and is a slightly different shape. Personally, I
can't see this adding much, if anything, to the racquet's performance,
although I'm sure the marketers will tell you differently.
The
racquet is a standard 3U (weight 84-89g) with grip size G4. This is a
little surprising as usually in UK we get grip size G3 which is slightly
larger. Yonex have previously supplied larger grip sizes to our market
as they consider we have larger hands. So, I can't understand why this
top-of-the-range racquet is supplied with the smaller grip size. Let's
move on...
So how does this racquet feel? Certainly it's different
from Arcsaber 10. It's almost a cross between Armortec 900 Power (which
readers will know is a particular favourite of mine) and Nanospeed 9900
(my current racquet).
It's certainly well balanced although I'd
say there's leaning towards more weight in the head. Prior to heading
out of the door, I put a grip on the racquet and couldn't resist a few
swishes in my front room. Wow! The speed through the air was amazing.
Certainly a lot less "drag" than other racquets. This racquet certainly
felt fast for power shots which was a surprise, bearing in mind the
heavier head. It's going to be interesting to see how it delivers both
in terms of overhead power and defence.
I used the racquet in a
training night at my league club. First off I played a game of men's
doubles. In the warm up I felt pretty good about the racquet although
knew it was going to take some getting used to.
Why?
The
racquet is certainly solid enough. My touch was slightly off, but that
was partly due to the lower string tension and me having to adapt to the
racquet. The slightly heavier head was noticeable although it was
certainly fast around the net.
Where this racquet scores big time,
is when you actually time the stroke properly. The shuttle then travels
like a bullet and all the comments about how powerful this racquet is
can be believed. In the warm up I hit a few good smashes that went down
like a shell - fantastic, I'm ready for the game now.
Wrong!
Getting my timing right in the warm up did not prepare me for the speed
of the game at all. I found that, even with my experience, I was
mis-timing so many overheads. Whilst I stuck at it, we lost the game
easily which was disappointing.
I then did some feeding with the
racquet and it felt really good. Lots of underarm feeding was a piece of
cake. I was still very conscious of the weight in the head of the
racquet and felt very comfortable with it.
Following this, I
worked with the players on defence. Having previously been the feeder, I
was very keen to get involved as a player and try the racquet. I was
delighted with the results. This racquet was really solid in defence
moving very quickly to respond to the shuttle. The extra weight in the
head felt great and gave me that additional kick in high lifts to get a
good length, even when digging shuttles out of my racquet hip.
Following
this we did some fast hands work around the net. Again, I was delighted
with the racquet. It was certainly fast enough in this department with
the added "meat" and consequently control I've missed when using my
Nanospeed 9900.
Sadly, I didn't get to play another game - I'll have to wait for next week.
To
sum up my evening, the racquet performed like a trouper in all
departments except my overhead - the place where it's supposed to shine
brightest. I really was delighted with all the areas we tested, and boy
we tested hard tonight.
I've read with interest from the badminton
forums the comments made by players who have purchased this racquet and
found it's not suited them. I can fully understand the frustrations
from these players as I guess I was having exactly the same feelings
early in the night.
This is a brilliant racquet, no doubt about it. So, why I can't I play with it immediately? The answer is simple...
The
Arcsaber Z Slash badminton racquet is a racquet that requires coaxing
into greatness. When you time your shot right, this beauty delivers
power in abundance. And here lies the crux of the matter..."when." This
racquet takes more getting used to than any I've used before.
Maybe
it's the combination of longer shaft, shorter handle and smaller head?
Maybe it's the aero-dynamic head that moves so fast when asked to
perform in this manner - it's almost too good for me right now.
Having
thought more about what I've just written, I've come to the conclusion
that it's the racquets ability to generate such magnificent speed
through the air which is catching me out and throwing my timing. When I
master this, I believe I will tame this beast and be able to get the
best from it.
I also lent this racquet to other players this
evening. The looks on their faces when they timed a smash were a sight
to see. I witnessed some awesome smashing with this racquet tonight.
But, these huge smashes were a very small percentage out of the many hit
during the evening.
How am I going to rate this racquet? RRP is
around £180 which places it as the most expensive Yonex racquet on the
market. It's possibly the most expensive Yonex racquet ever! Is it worth
it? Only you can tell.
Personally, for many players it will be
out of reach. Maybe not from a price perspective, but more so in terms
of what they can get out of it. An average league player can do better
by choosing their next racquet wisely, rather than thinking the most
expensive is the best racquet for them.
Having said all of that,
and despite me not making a marriage proposal on our first date, I
really do love this racquet. I want to spend more time with it, get to
know it better and find out how to make us a perfect partnership.
This
racquet has bowled me over. I don't exactly know why, but I'm itching
to test it again, and again and want to master the overhead timing and
see what this beauty can really deliver. I can't wait for our next date.
I
can't remember the last time a racquet had this effect on me. So
despite the immediate negative aspect which I think is due to the
astonishing speed through the air this racquet generates, I am going to
rate this racquet at 4.5 stars. I really believe this racquet has the
potential to be a classic, if it can be tamed. I've deducted half a star
because of the price although must confess that this could become
withdrawn completely and changed to a 5 star rating when I get used to
the awesome power this racquet generates.
I have also posted a
video review of the Z Slash vs the Nanospeed 9900 onto my badminton blog
which you may find interesting to watch.
