How to choose badminton string
String is very important part of the racquet. Just like good lens make a lot of difference to your photoes. Right string can make a lot difference to your play. A highend racquet normally doesn't come with a string. It leaves you freedom to choose the right string and right tension. A good string appropriately setup should give you good resillience, good feel, less shock, more control. Of course, you also want it to be durable. So you don't have to restring frequently. A good string plus labor fee can easily cost you 20 dollars.
Choose the Right Tension
As discussed in the racquet already, it is a little bit counter intuitive here. When you hear about a racquet strung at 30lb vs 20lb. You will most likely think 30lb is more 'powerful'. However, the higher the number is, the tighter it is strung. That means the less time your racquet will get in touch with the shuttle when you hit it. That will transfer less power from your arm to the shuttle. Given everything else equal, you will find it more difficult to clear or drive the shuttle deeper into opponent's court.. Most racquet will tell you what tension it is supposed to be strung. Normally 18lb to 24lb. For a beginner, I would suggest you to string your racquet to 20lb. This normally provide the best resillience of the string. Once you improved your skill and strength, you can have your racquet strung at around 24lb. You may begin to see that you can clear the shuttle with more accuracy. For myself, I found I can clear the shuttle after the long service line for double and close to back boundary line with more confidence.
Professional players normally string their racquets at 30lb or higher. That is mainly for control accuracy. For profressional palyers compete at highest level tournaments, a tiny difference can be important. But let me warn you. Don't pretend to be a batman if you are not. Except for the demand of power, it comes with other side effect. First, it costs you more. String a badminton racquet at such high tension makes it very fragile. If it collides with another racquet, or sometime only hits the shuttle at the frame, the racquet or the string will easily break. Second, more impact will get transfered to your wrist. That could hurt your tendor and muscle. The problem is similar tennis elbow. If you do feel that pain, you should stop using it immediately. Turn to a racquet you feel comfortable before more demage.
Compare Yonex Strings
Now let's discuss the string. There are many different brand of string. But Yonex is more widely used. The following is mainly translated from a post by someone who have strung more than 20,000 racquets for professional teams in China. Unfortunately, the original post has been copied too many times. I cannot find his name or contact. Anyway, I strongly appreciate his detailed and professional comment on almost all Yonex strings.
I focus on those available on US market. For those I used, I may add some of my own comment. I may also skip some details I think less important.
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First of all. I don't recommend Ti65 and Ti68 string. Except for a more crispy sound, there is nothing good about it. More importantly, the Ti skin on the surface of the string change the consistency of elasticiy of the string. That makes it fragile. The Ti skin also covers up the texture of the string. That reduced the control. Due to the sound, it makes you feel more powerful when you smash. But that is mostly hallucination only.(Normally this is used by professional players. They will restring after the game. If you can afford to do that. Ti string may still be a good choice for you.)
BG65 is most widely used. Mainly because it is the one used by National team for training purpose. But the BG65 used by national team is not the one in seperate bag we found on the market. It is the big reel version. (I guess the 200m Reel) The bag version is softer and smoother. Overall, it is very durable. It provides a good balance between quality and economy
I prefer BG66. It is a very thin string. Only 0.66mm.Extrodinary recillience. Good for beginer or players with relative less power. Cons: It is too thin. So it is easy to break. Also the control is not quite good.
In my opinion, BG70 is not a successful product. Yonex want to make it omnipotent: good recillience, good control and durable. Finally, nothing is very good.
BG80 is a .68mm string. Very good recillience. It is excellent for offensive plan. You can combine it with offensive racquets like NanoSpeed 9000, AT700, Ti10, MP100, etc. Strongly recommended for offensive player. One unqiue feature of BG80 is that you can get the feeling of a string setup at higher tension. (I use BG80 with my Ti10 at 24lb. It is a pretty powerful combination.)
BG85 is relative soft. It has a higher thread count. Its control is excellent, with the recillience second to only BG66. It is good for defensive player.
BGN95. This is not reviewed by the original post. But I used it with my NS9000 at 24lb. Recillience is not as good as BG80. But it is still pretty good overall. Good control and durability. It break only once when my racquet collide with partner's.
Model Recillience Feel Shock Absorption Control Durability
BG-65 B Medium A A A
BG-65Ti A Stiff B A A
BG-66 A+ Stiff A+ B B
BG-68Ti A+ Verfy Stiff A+ A+ B
BG-70Pro A Medium B A A
BG-80 A+ Stiff A A A
BG-85 A+ Very Stiff A A C
BG-95 A Stiff A+ A+ A
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