I'm not offended at all I just don't think that some of your personal concerns about Forza rackets are valid for most badminton players. Like the fact that a 88 hole setup doesn't allow for as many string setup-combinations as a 76 hole racket does. I really don't think it matters a great deal for most players, that's why I said it's a "non issue". And yes, I agree that the 96 hole setup should be avoided, however, that's ONE racket of over 10 top-end models, so again, not really a valid concern in my eyes. It's like discarding Yonex as a whole because you felt the 3U ZFII was a stiff, unwieldy sledgehammer. As for the durability: The vulnerable points of the frame are where the holes for the grommets are - not the "meat" between the grommet holes.
What about your personal concerns about Forza rackets, which are valid for badminton players and make them to prefer over a Li-ning, Yonex or Victor? What make them preferable over all of the other brands? Pricewise the highends are the same here. So no advantage for me to prefer them, but depends on region. So many models which come and go. If you have 2-3 you can get into trouble here if you break them, because I have the impression that their releases come and go and the distrubition of Forza runs about a different company here, which is distributor for some other 3rd tier brands. They are not famous here and easy to find. I normally stick to the same model of a racket for years. Chances to get a used Victor, Li-Ning or Victor or a deadstock or re-release from asia are much higher than for other brands like Forza after 3-4 years. Maybe different for you area, again? I need to dig here in the internet to find a shop which sells them. Can't visit every store to get my hands on, while the 3 big names, especially Yonex is available as a full-range in any badminton shop here. Maybe different for your area? For me as a user who need 2 rackets strung every 2 weeks during season, the 88holes means more grommet service, more blocked holes which is a bit more hassle for me and would personal annoy me over a long time. So I can't say that Forza is on par with all of these brands and for me I see a lot of downsides beside the stringing issue, which don't make them for me a better choice. Also different for you, because you pay somebody for the service due better access. All in all, it's the same like cars. Some people prefer a brand over another and have a bias. I also have it. If they are great for you - fine, I don't want you to make feel that you choose something wrong or weird, but for my requirements to not choose them over the big 3 is understandable?
For me it's the fact that you get Yonex/Li-Ning quality and performance for 80-90% of the price of a Yonex. I don't think most players tend to stick to the same racket for 3-4 years exclusively. But regardless of that, suppliers and stock is plentiful in Scandinavia. OP is from the UK, where I believe Forza is pretty common. Yes, very different. That's fine and all, but this is for OP, not you. I'm guessing OP hadn't considered Forza as a brand if their rackets were impossible to find for him. Again, I don't think OP is stringing himself (from a statisitical view), so I don't see the real problem with getting a racket that is slightly more cumbersome to string, given that he's probably paying a stringer a fixed rate per string job. I perfectly get that. But some of your arguments are slightly like an American trying to convince a European guy that he shouldn't get a Citroën because it's hard to find dealers and spare parts in the US. It doesn't make sense. Or like letting your mechanic choose what car to get based on what car is the easiest to do an oil change on. If you buy a new car with a 5 year warranty and service agreement, do you really then care if the oil change the mechanic at the dealer have to do, takes 10-15 minutes longer?
regarding unique features, I understood that froza offer extremely stiff models, so S (models) are stiffer than anything from other brands, say, my vtzf2, and VS is out of any comparisons.
@Eastfield. Good arguements. But I'm not an US citizien, I'm a german, direct neighbour of Denmark, which makes everything in terms of Forza more strange. here. Have you ever took a look at the Forza pricing in UK? I did, not valid for OP. Forza official UK Website is updated on 2014. We don't know OP or any potenial reader, so let him decide if my arguements are helpful or not relevant. While we don't both know nothing clear about the OP we discuss the relevance of our arguments based on OP. You are not OP as well. I just give my opinion on a brand based on my experience, requirements, and enviroment/circumstance. If you give the OP here so much power, why do you reply to my posts with you personal influence and don't let him decide on his requirements, experience and enviroment/circumstance if my posts are relevant for him or not? I understand the title as a general question and not a personal one like "UK guy from Leeds want a Forza, but don't know..." Why does it not make sense to get a personal experience, opinion, situation shared here on BC? Maybe this might be helpful for somebody whose area, requirements and anything else are unknown? The question in the thread is not very specific to prevent sense-less replies like mine. Your car example is not valid here, much more complicate/complex thing than a racket, but if I would maintain my car by myself or a close friend, what's wrong to consider an advantage? I never bought a racket with a 5 years service due a specific stringer. You? And I don't change oil monthly. We negotiate the validation of our opinions/arguments based on a unknown/unclear ghosty OP who never gave feedback or an average player who don't exist. This makes no sense. We are fighting here for nothing. Let our opinions, experience and requirements stay side by side and let any reader of this thread decide if anything is important or not for him/her? IMO nothing wrong to make people around you something more easy and comfortable, even if you pay them. I don't get what's your problem here, to make somebody it more easy, when you don't need to sacrifice for this or get any disadvantage? With the payment argument you can make any unnessary and shitty stuff acceptable. And it is very often the case, but depends in a professional enviroment (regards here to the OP, who is good enough that he thinks about a sponsorship) that a club mate/friend/father/himself strings the rackets due better access than a shop because at a more professional enviroment you break more often strings and can't get married to opening hours, because your play is more important than a recreational player. Everything what I wrote might be differ from yours, but let us the readers of our posts decide if it's valid for them or not. I can live with your points, experience and arguments beside mine, you too? Uniform arguments for everyone don't exist.
If I may add my two cents: I'm currently in south of France (coming from Finland) and I was surprised to see many Forza rackets at the club here. Given the more distant commercial relationship between France & Denmark vs Germany & Denmark I must say this surprises me a bit that Forza rackets would be hard to find in Germany. In fact, when I was looking for the cheapest price on a Forza Titanium 11000 S, the second cheapest price I could find online within Europe was from a German store (139€ vs 200€ Base Price / http://www.badmintonshop-racketstar.de)
Why to choose FZ Forza instead of the BIG 3 would be the that 3 other brands have a lot of endorsment by top players -> youngster wants to be like them -> many rackets sold. (eventhough there is a thread of painted pro players rackets) And then if you choose Very Stiff racket, you actually get a very stiff racket
I haven't tested the latest Forza products so cannot comment there but I have purchased some of Forza's older rackets as well as some of their older racket bags and clothing. All were good to excellent. I have a Power 988VS that I use sometimes. It's a great racket in terms of performance and durability. But as @ucantseeme stated, the finish, the protective clearcoat (I don't think there is one, has a matte finish) is not good. The decals chip off/flake/crack. Additionally, the string pattern is rather cumbersome but not a deal breaker. The 988VS is very stiff and powerful, an excellent singles racket. I find it a bit too heavy (mine was 88.1g, BP298) for fast doubles play. The durability of the frame is excellent, takes NBG98 @34lbs. without any problems. Finally, I am very familiar with the racket manufacturer Forza uses. They make excellent products and have great customer service so I have confidence the current Forza rackets are comparable to the Big 3. To the OP, @Daniel2207, the best approach is to ask your Forza sponsored friends to test the rackets. Good luck!
@Eastfield Do you realize that you're now justifying your points with assumptions, when you just told us that we shouldn't do that? I didn't said that we shouldn't do. We both are different people with different requirements and enviroments which justify our arguements on our enviroment which is different and it's up to every member whose arguements/opionions are congruent for themself. Not more. You have an image of a generic badminton player and I have a different image of a player who can get sponsored. We are both biased due people surround us. So we differ here totally. I came across a racket at any brand which was affordable and playable for me. IMO we are fighting here to be a winner, for a OP who never came back. Let's stop here and save our time. It's not a surprise. Depending who runs the distribution and if the local shop sells Forza as a key brand or a coach/club has a contract with them, it can turn everything. I was never speaking about online shopping. Location can matter much. The shop which are close to me (within 70km) stock all 3 big names at the complete range. Why should I chase a undergroud brand which they don't stock, when there is no personal advantage for me given? And honestly speaking who can't find a useable racket at the big 3 and need an exotic brand to complement the playing style?
Your characterisation of Forza as an "Underground" / "Exotic" badminton brand seems rather extreme/political to me... In great contrast to this characterisation, Forza is used by players ranking in the top 10 players (out of 200,000,000) in the world. Though it is not the world's leading brand, it is also represented just as well in many stores. Your writing appeals to emotions a lot sometimes.
well, after following this thread, i decided to order online a forza light 9, very stiff of course. Iets see how it compares to my vtzf2...
Buy them up (racket-shops) if you come around Copenhagen usually T11000 is sold for +- 100 euro with the string job included http://www.fz-forza.com
[/QUOTE] (I agree that the 96 hole setup should be avoided),, completely disagree Love it, cut, cross, stitch, but again and it Can't be repeated enough, it's all about personal preferences.
Well, near me there's a shop with Forza's rackets, but I am not interested in them (although I tested few) since the price of top-end rackets of Forza and Yonex is similar in my city. There is no reason to get a Forza over Yonex when the cost is the same. We all know that Yonex has good marketing so it sells better, but it cant be bad since many players are using them. Also in the end what matters is the skill of the player and if you get appropriate specs like balance, stiffness and weight it doesnt matter what brand you got.
I agree. All those discussions are price-based. At 100-130€ the T11,000 is a great deal. At 160-200€, there's probably at least an equivalent racket out there. I paid 39€ for my Forza Supreme 4000 in Finland (normally sold for 70-120€), I fell in love with it and I think it's from far the absolute best I could get for that price (Yonex had nowhere near an equivalent at that price-point, especially where I bought it in Finland). Now were it priced at 120€, I would have put 10-20€ more to get a top end Yonex Racket instead.
Ok as I mentioned above, I ordered, received and play for more than a month with Forza light 9. I am not a big writer, so no full size review, but a few points I do like about the racket : - The balance point is slightly more head heavy that zf2, and while overall feeling is very similar, the difference is obvious. zf2 is like more solid and headlight, while the light 9 is more polarized. i feel the head of fz a lot better, and to me this already have led to some adjustments in technique. - nice ultra slim shaft, just as i like - G5 handle is too small for my hands, and with ac104ex out of production I need an alternative solution, may be towel grip...right now I use ac134ex, but it weird. - stock strings are joke, of course, put bg66um and string to 10.8 kg as I like with zf2, but this racket requires higher tension. I think my next try will be 11.5. - original thermobag is just fine, not as sophisticated exterior as latest yonex, but good enough and functional - the racket exterior is just fine too. nothing to write home about, but not ugly too. - this racket has highest FZ stiffness rating. I like the feeling very much, after zf2 it is very comfortable. - when started playing, i did change rackets after each set between zf2, fz light 9 and my older babolat head light racket. I had significantly less errors with the light 9 compared to zf2. - as I play both doubles and singles and the racket already received several hard hits from partner rackets. no cracks or even paint chips so far. so that is it, I now play with the fz as main racket and like it very much.
I mainly use Yonex and Victor rackets. But I have a FZ-Forza N-Forze 9100 racket and I love it. Since no one has mentioned this racket yet, let me add it to this thread. Model: FZ-Forza N-Forze 9100 According to the specifications on the shaft: Weight: 86 +/- 2g Balance Point: 295 +/- 3mm Power: 8 out of 10 Flex-Stiff: 4 out of 5 Some Keywords: Super Control, Carbon Nano Tubes, Computerized Shaft According to my measurements: Weight (with string and grip): 94g Shaft: Stiff Balance Point (with string and grip): 291mm Things I like about this racket: Pretty fast swing, great feeling of control, very slim shaft, decent paint job quality I personally prefer head-light or even-balance rackets with stiff shaft. Even though this racket is marked as slightly head heavy, it actually feels like even balanced. I guess that is because of the fast swing it offers. Due to these properties, this racket is all-around and suitable for both single and double games. It is also very easy to maneuver. First time when I tried the racket, I immediately liked the feeling of control it offers. This is my brief review. If you have any question about this racket, feel free to ask.
