I know the feeling. I started off 13 years ago with an armortec150 (I think). After 3 years with it I got two of the VT80 and the first one I got came misshapen out of the factory and I didn’t even notice. Now I have Astrox100zz and Astrox Nextage to compare it to.
I didn’t notice the control. But I did notice a difficulty with generating power. My previous racquets were Nanoray800 and Nanoflare 800lt at that point, and I had never tried one of the Arcsaber range.
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If you can master the Astrox 100zz, then it is a great tool. I’ve seen a lot of great club players using it and they make it look like a head light racquet on defense and drives. I can’t do that, it hurts my shoulder when playing with it after 4 hrs. So I sometimes use it for a few singles games when I want to turn my brain off and just do lots of effortless clears.
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Try Astrox Nextage
Or try Apacs Stardom 800
Both are slightly flex, and slightly head heavy. Neither is too expensive (~£80-£100 nextage and about £37 for Stardom800).
If you want to become more of a threat at the backcourt, become fast and strong. The hardest players I play against (doubles, division 2-3 standard in Hampshire local leagues) are the ones that are strong at returning serves, deceptive around the net, and the ones that can get into smashing position very quickly.