Getting a New Racket: A Short Discussion about Current Badminton Rackets

Recently, my collection of badminton rackets was shortened by one, as my nearly three-year-old, battle-scarred Techno Pro 7000 finally succumbed to my abuse. Even though I still have a backup Techno Pro 7000, a Techno Pro Titanium 660, and a Dasha S002, I wanted to find a new “weapon” to fill the space in my racket bag. My goal was to find a racket, through research and comparison, that feels good in my hand, is reasonably priced, and has the features that would make me want to purchase it.

Since I live in Canada, I have a wide selection of models from various countries that I can buy, but most of them are too expensive to justify the purchase, so I consider buying a Chinese racket, whether if it is a Chinese brand or a clone of some other brand. I’m especially interested in the Dasha rackets, and I had luck to take a look at Dasha’s all new N-1000 and N-2000 models, and also rackets from other brands, such as the made-in-China versions of the YY Nanospeed 8000 and 9000 etc. These are all high-quality rackets available at very reasonable prices, but after comparing them and trying them out, I couldn’t find a racket that I liked well enough to buy. I thought that the new Dasha rackets are very nice, but other than the paint job, these rackets are basically the same as my S002, and more importantly, they felt exactly the same as my S002 during use, so I might as well stick with my S002. Even though the newer models are made of more advanced composite materials, the style of these rackets is still a bit behind the times.

In comparison, the rackets by Fleets (a Taiwanese brand) have a new, exciting feel to them. I tried out the Fleets FT 002, FT 003 and 3000 model and they all felt pretty good. I heard that the Fleets 3000 model was chosen by the Fujian (a province of China) provincial badminton team as their official racket. Since I’m not a power player, I didn’t really need the professional-grade Fleets 3000, so the choice was between the FT 002 and FT 003. After carefully comparing the two models and considering my own playing style and skills, I felt that FT 003 was a better fit for me, so this was the model I purchased. After using this racket in several doubles games, the FT 003 has become my racket of choice when playing badminton.

From Top to Bottom: Techno TITANIUM 660, FLEETS FT 003, and Techno-PRO 7000

Left: Techno-PRO 7000 Middle: FLEETS FT 003 Right: Techno TITANIUM 660

FLEETS FT 003

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