Review by Kwun BC
so here is my review on the VT80.
In a gist. the VT80 is the AT900Power done right.
does that make it difficult to use for most people? and the answer is, yes. but not totally, and that's where the "done right" part comes from.
strung with BG66UM@26lbs on a ES5Pro.
The VT80 is a head heavy racket with a BP of around 305. at the same time it was fitted with a super slim, 6.8mm shaft which it claims to be stiff. despite the 4U weight, the head heaviness makes it a medium speed, but not a fast racket. on the hand, it feel weighty with the balance.
VT80 is a racket that has good solid repulsion. drives with it is a pleasure. super stable racket face combined with a lively shaft give it very good drive control at drill speed. a tightening with the finger and the shuttle goes fast and tight across the net. torsional stability is well controlled and as a result, control is very good.
The racket start to give trouble when speed goes up. it requires strong wrist and finger and solid technique to propel the racket faster and faster. after a long fast drive drill i cannot help but to feel a bit fatigue on the forearm.
The natural speed of the racket is not great. Unless you have very fast stroke and powerful fingers, you will likely feel that you are getting slowed down by it.
The combined head heaviness and stiffness of the racket really shows when hitting overhead shots. it take that little bit more effort to propel the VT80 and that bit extra effort for it to feel alive. but when one puts in the effort, it rewards back with a extra omph that feels good. this unfortunately makes it the most unsuitable racket for beginners and maybe even the weaker of intermediate players.
Smashing is really quite good with the VT80 as one would expect. this racket likes to be hit hard and harder. the harder you hit it, the better it feels. clears are the same, requires a high entry fee but the payback is a shuttlecock that goes deep and high into enemy territory.
Drop shots are ok but falls into the same issue with touch shots. the feedback is slightly more dampened and harder to judge and adjust strength.
Defense is a dilemma. the liveliness means that when one has enough time to swing the racket fast enough on incoming smash, it will happily bounce the shuttlecock high and deep. but the issues it that the racket has a lot of angular momentum and is slow to swing. only strong defender will be able to take advantage of it.
The liveliness and stability and power hungry nature of the VT80 is why i say this racket is the AT900P done right. AT900P is also heavy and head heavy balance but the draw back is the racket isn’t very lively which makes it hard to use for most people. the VT80 fixes that. like the AT900P, the Voltric 80 is still a power and hard hitter racket with the added spice of a solid and lively response and good racket stability.
Overall though, the VT80 is still a racket for strong intermediate and advance badminton players. Beginners really shouldn’t get anywhere near this racket as it is too demanding. but for stronger player, esp one who like to smash super hard, you might want to give the Voltric 80 a look.