Hi and welcome to a much anticiapted review of the incredible Voltric Z-Force badminton racquet from Yonex.
One of the most hyped and talked about racquets in the badminton forums. Boasting incredible smashing power, the likes of which have never before seen on previous head heavy racquets.
Value for Money: 3/5
Performance: 4/5
RRP: £190 (£150 as tested May 2013)
This racquet was actually launched in Q1 2012, so badminton-reviews is a bit late into its review of this racquet. Better late than never eh? It does mean however it has been tried and tested thoroughly by many professional tournament players.
This racquet is touted as the meaner step brother of the already terrific Voltric 80, a racquet much loved by those who have had the pleasure of using it (including yours truly). It is slightly heavier in the frame and the shaft seems very stiff; all features designed to focus on the smash power.
The Voltric Z-Force was chosen as the weapon of choice by the Malayasian player, Lee Chong Wei. Fans will know he is a big name in the sport. He is of course Yonex sponsored, and used the Z-Force in the 2012 Olympic games.
The racquet comes in a distinctive menacing black colour scheme with flashes of lime green and white. You can tell this is a special racquet. The factory fit grip is white, which is probably the first thing I would change if this were my own racquet. I hate white grips, after just one session, they just look dirty. In the UK, the racquet comes in only one grip size, 3U, which is the smaller version one for whoever is interested. There is a growing trend for using over grips anyway. It comes in the standard Yonex Voltric bag, which is no bad thing, but would be nice to have something like a badge or embroided logo to show this isn't just another Voltric racquet.
DEFENSIVE
I'm starting the review by talking about the defensive qualities about this racquet as this is where the racquet surprised me most! We all know this racquet is going to be good on power, but more on that later.
With the extra weight on the head, this was never going to be the most agile racquet around the net. But the aerodynamic qualities countered this and made for some relative ease in moving the head of the racquet. I didn't feel I could play delicate shots however, they were more stick the racquet out and let it do the rest. I found myself clearing more shots rather than attempting drops when the opportunity arose.
Clearing for extended periods during a rally, I found difficult. Let me tell you why... I am not exactly the most muscular person in the world. After a while I felt like I was swinging a bag of sugar rather a high performance racquet. This is a very personal opinion. I can say though that initial clears soared to the back, and in fact I had to measure my power to make sure it didn't go out!
BOOM
I'm of course talking about the smashing ability of this racquet. After all this is the main talking point of this racquet and it doesn't fall short. The shuttle travelled like it had a firework attached to it, with a lovely reverbrating ping you get when smashing hard. What surprised me most though was that the learning curve wasn't as much as the Arcsaber Z-slash. Despite the frame being slightly smaller, it was fairly forgiving and smash returns were noticeably faster than hitting with my Voltric 80 and accurate too. Kudos Yonex, the racquet delivers every bit to its hype in this area.
CONCLUSION
This a very niche, high power racquet aimed at professionals and prosumers. For me, the abilities of this racquet are a little wasted as I don't have the muscular build to get the full smashing ability of the racquet head. It is designed for attacking players who want to win points through unreachable smashes.
Being designed for a very small percentage of players, it comes with a price tag to match. At £190 rrp, or around £150 from online retailers, it is at the very upper bound of racquet prices. For those that have the technique and build for it, I know of no other racquet that comes close to the Voltric Z-Force devastating power. Not even my beloved Voltric 80!
If you have tried out the Yonex Voltric Z-Force on court, would love to hear your opinions on what you thought of it. Leave your comments below.