Digital Calipher Vernier (to 2-decimal point) - for verifying string thickness

Finally managed to obtain a reasonable cost digital calipher vernier which was accurate to 2-decimal points. Purchased it during the Black Friday sales.

As per received

The LR44 battery was pre-loaded.  Now to test for accuracy and if it was functional:-

1. Switch it on and set units to millimeter.

2. Slide the jaws to the minimum gently and press the ZERO button to calibrate it accordingly.

3. Next I slide the caliper jaws open until the display showed 5.00mm - not as easy as it seems due to the 2-decimal point accuracy.

4. Then I place it next to a ruler for comparison - ruler in centimeters (but was placed up-side down😒)

Works as advertised!

As such I was not going to return it 👍👍👍

Close-up of the ruler and caliper jaws

Awaiting a digital vernier calipher ... (***UPDATE#2***)

Purchased a unit capable of displaying up to 2-decimal points on eBay and it was suppose to have arrive by 1st week of Sept2017.

Unfortunately not arrive yet. Hence will delay the article on how thick a string really is VS the specification on the packaging. 

Am sure we have all notice on the packets of strings (from the same manufacturer & model) - some appear to be thicker visually, than the other at the shop display.

8Oct2017

eBay refunded as looks like the seller from Hong Kong was not very responsive. Seem to encounter quite a few of such issues when buying from HK sellers on eBay.

1Dec2017

Took the Black Friday opportunity to buy a digital calipher capable of 2-decimal points - fingers cross. Now awaiting delivery from the US. 

"Fake" Victor racquet?

I could not resist buying a Victor BraveSword 12 from PRC as the price was just simply irresistible!!!

When my regulars compared the PRC purchase (neon string) against the original (white string) - we could not distinguish the two when playing with them! Dimensions and feel when held are about the same. Both are Made in China

Visible differences are-

• deeper tone of blue on the original vs the lighter, brighter blue of the "fake"
• red grommets on the "fake" are bright red vs blood red on the real thing
• "Taiwan" on the logo cover, at the base of the handle of the "fake"

Hence I suspect the cheap racquet I purchase was highly likely to be a factory reject as there are differences only in the quality of the finishing, not performance or feel wise. 

Here's a unexpected twist (not made up) - the owner of the white string original racquet actually bought his SG issue BraveSword-12 after testing my cheap racquet😆!!! Reason was because the PRC vendor I originally purchased from sold out his 4U stock and had only 3U units left.

Please do note there is really a fake version and feels different. It is sold  with only black grommets all round.

"Fake" BRS-12 with neon string vs SG issued BRS-12 with with string

Please note the red grommets. The TRUE FAKE unit has only black grommets all round

Grommet layout and spacing are consistent for both. Thus producing the same feedback upon usage. Previously the fake Dunlop reviewed had different grommet laysouts which did not provide same feedback as per original

Taken from an angle but if eyeball-ed - both are of the same dimensions

As per befofe, pix taken at angle

Poorer finishing on the racquet I believe is a factory reject (aka neon string). Side-1

Poorer finishing on the racquet I believe is a factory reject (aka neon string). Side-2

One method to stop string movement

Taking inspiration from the old stringing method via a crank, this is one possible method to stop or minimise string movement.

The middle strings loosen after few weeks. Shame to restring as the strings look ok. Hence applied the above and seem to do the job - it's as good as a restring! Tension it by hand only.

Line horizontal line before the shaft

Close-up of the last horizontal line

Sweet-spot training racquet

I recently purchased a sweet spot training racquet after discovering the availability of such a novelty - for the fun of it!

Once strung, players in my usual group did not have much of an issue hitting the shuttle except need to be more focus when performing netting. Despite the smaller frame, the racquet was fantastic for backhand shots!!! Another player found it was more difficult to perform slicing during drop-shots (maybe due to small stringbed).

Otherwise it was positive feedback all round!

Sweet-spot training racquet in the middle vs ISO vs Box-shape frame

Sweet-spot racquet overlap on a traditional box-shaped frame

Sweet-spot racquet overlap on a modern ISO-shaped frame

Smartphone app to determine tension

The idea to use a smartphone app to determine racquet stringbed tension is not new.

The latest newbie is Stringster.

After downloading the app which is free, you must register before using it. Then you need to define your racquet and string make/model to the app before proceeding to test your racquet's tension.

Since the library of predefined racquets and strings are limited, I picked a string which has the closest characteristics to the product I was using - results as below. Must admit it is pretty good as my racquet which was strung at 23lbs with Gosen G-Tone5.

One good news is that if you do know the characteristics of your racquet and the strings, you can then use what's available in the predefined library (provided you have knowledge of the product characteristics) to provide a rough gauge of your racquet stringbed tension. The other is 1st racquet defined to your profile is FOC. After that you need to pay for the extra features.

CON is the predefined library of racquet(s) and string(s) does not include other major manufacturers such as Gosen, APACS, Fleet, Mizuno, etc. Hence accuracy of the results for the undefined products are questionable.

*I am not affiliated to Stringster in any manner of form. I am just curious and installed the app to try it out

Vulnerable aluminium frame racquets

Guess everyone heard of the most famous of the aluminum frame racquets, the Yonex Carbonex 8 ... here's a pix of the old favourite.

Friends pix of the Yonex Carbonex 8

The Carbonex 8 was popular as it was lighter than racquets of the era as Yonex introduced an aluminum frame instead of the then traditional steel or wood. Feels like a proper broomstick when you compared it against today's modern equivalents!

In the late 1980's, I was living in NZ and played inter-club during the winter. When temperatures dip below 10-degree Celcius, you would often notice quite a few players wielding a broken Carbonex 8. This is because aluminum is a soft and brittle metal. After a racquet has been strung, it's alike an empty soft drink can. You can put your foot on it and press hard - the can will retain it's shape. The moment you poke or tap it with a little force, that empty soft drink would collapse if still under pressure. Thus any mishits on the frame or racquet clashes on a cold winter night would deprive you of your old favourite...

Here's some good news for the fans of the Carbonex 8 - Yonex introduced re-issues but these are made in Taiwan, not Japan as per the original. I bought a few of the reissues for an Australian friend who was a die-hard fan of the Carbonex 8. His spouse was extremely surprised I was still able to obtain new Carbonex 8 racquets for her man!

..... still feels like a broomstick though (since I was never a fan of the Carbonex 8)!

Yonex string chart 2017

CCTV video on Racket and Shuttlecock Production, String Tension

Finally a end-to-end video of how shuttlecocks and racquets are manufactured instead of the mere glimpses from the big players in the market.

Enjoy!

Cut-price stringers

Purpose for this article is educate the players who favour the ever cheaper restringing jobs. For instance, some one posted online for the following advertisement.

Good price, yes?

Only catch is you can not buy the REAL Yonex BG66 and NBG99 below SGD$10 per packet. Even if you did manage to buy geniune Yonex strings overseas, the cost inclusive of shipping would be more than SGD$10per packet.

You can visit the Yonex Global website to verify the actual cost for yourself. Yonex products are like Apple and Samsung - prices are control on a world wide basis. 

Hence I believe such advertiser(s) are using fake products. If you search Aliexpress (and the alike) you can find many such fake reels of Yonex strings for below USD30!

Silly thing is many actually believe they are getting the real deal! 

If you call the local Yonex agent, to try to buy their items in bulk, the agent will not sell to you unless you own a sports sport and is a proper registered business.

Bottom line is  - You get what you paid for!

Personal racquet motion sensors

Bought the following to try out after reading the marketing claims and some reviews on the internet. Hence will not be going be reviewing in detail since there are such information on the internet. Will only inform of the information the other reviews left out or did not update on.

Was a customer and not in any way affiliated with the company

The personal motion sensor I purchased and since sold

It's actually quite a useful tool. Provides many statistics such as smash speed, count of your various strokes at a time interval on a date and even provides an overview of your game for the time period when the racquet was active.

Battery life on the sensor itself is not good if you use it for real time monitoring thru bluetooth. The bluetooth real-time monitoring is only usable for a very short distance only eg roughly about 2meters only.

Mobile data is a pre-req before any of the results can be displayed on your smartphone as the app has to sent the data collected to their server for processing.


Additional CONS are:-

Will not tell you if you are hitting the sweetspot.

Will not tell you if your swing or lifts were sending the shuttlecock to the correct point on the court.


Reason is the data presented are computed from various motion sensors in the unit itself (like those on your smartphone). Hence it can only compute details from the swing of your racquet eg swing speed during a smash, count of number of lifts, etc.

Furthermore no matter how hard we tried, the swing will not exceed 240 KM/H.

An annoying byproduct from the app is that it keeps repeated the same advise on how to improve your game eg you should be smashing more irregardless.

Guess that's why we still need coaches...