Saturday, August 05, 2017

Badminton Racket First Impressions: Mizuno JPX 8.5

Hey there badminton fans! I know it's been awhile since I wrote anything - I've been recovering from a strained knee and haven't been able to play. Seriously think that my time is near and it won't be long till I'm reduced to watching videos and wishing I was prancing on the court instead.

Sad thoughts aside, I've managed to get my hands on the new Mizuno racket. Striking blue and black artwork aside, the racket offers a peculiar head frame shape that produces an odd performance on court.

The shaft is slim and flexes towards to the cone, making it a very nice racket to do those check smashes that I love. As the strings go on the racket and the tension is pulled across the head, the frame sharpens and you're left with a nice sharp head shape akin to the Z-Smash.

It felt lighter than expected on the swing, and there seems to be a little weight loss during the swing. Perhaps it's the sword/box hybrid of the head frame that made it really ergonomic. It doesn't make the sharp swish of the Victor Bravesword, nor the loud woosh of the Yonex Voltric Z-Force.

On the court the strangeness continues. The racket is amazingly efficient for backhands. I repeat - the Mizuno JPX 8.5 gives amazing backhands. I was able to reach any corner of the court without much effort. However, the forehand shots barely reach the end.

What?!

It took me a two games of singles and a lot of hitting to finally get the whole point of it all.

I'll lave you guys to figure out and guess why as I prepare for the review. :)

Coming soon is also my review on the Yonex Duora Z-Strike. Stay tuned!

5 comments:

Joseph said...

Hi Arthur,
i love your reviews! I was going to post this under the Lining N90-iii post but i was afraid u won't see it so i'll post it here (sorry)
i'm a singles player who is contemplating between N80-ii and N90-iii so generally which is better?

Thanks in advance,
Joseph

Arthur said...

Hey there Joseph, thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you found my content useful.

I've not tried the N80-II before but the N80 was a tad too heavy for me to handle. The N90-III however was a gem!

Rohan Shetty said...

Nice post. Thank you for sharing this

nudat said...

Hey man, any follow up on the JPX 8.5 review? Seeing as you are one of the few who have talked about this racket, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts of it.

Arthur said...

Hey there Nudat - no complaints aboout the racket so far.. Had a great singles session this morning and should get to writing the reviews for this and the Astrox 77 soon!