I never thought about playing Adidas racket before. One day I walked into badminton store and found this racket in second hand section with like new condition. $40 in for second hand racket is quite cheap in Thailand. Adidas badminton 2nd racket are also hard to find in Thailand cuz nobody is using it (dunno why). So I bought it just to try it out.
My current racket
1x Hypersonic 4U
1x Mizuno Fortius 30 Control 4U (Review coming soon)
1x Mizuno Altius 03 Control 4U (Review coming soon)
1x Yonex 88S First gen 4U
1x Felet Titanium Ti 88 3U (Yet to receive the racket)
1x Adidas Wucht P5 3U
SPECIFICATION:
frame weight: 87g±2
balance: 290-295mm
shaft stiffness: 8.0-8.5
length: 675mm
handle size: G5
tension: ≤30lbs/13.5kg
Strung with VBS 66 Nano 27 lbs (same for all my racket)
Actual total weight (racket + string + electric tape + cushion + thin grip + original grip removed) = 86.7 grams
Initial Impression
Swinging felt light which I doubt myself if it’s really 3U racket. The airspeed is medium – fast. I just don’t like the lime green racket color lol. Holding felt like a slight head-heavy 4U racket. Lining Axforce 90 Tiger 4U is heavier than this 3U racket for some reason. The shaft felt medium-stiff similar to hypersonic but I don’t feel the shaft action as much as hypersonic which P5 might not have as good repulsion is HS.
Measured the total weight of the racket gave me barely 87 grams which is equal to my hypersonic and similar to all of my 4U racket which really interesting. I bought this racket just to see if I’m strong enough to play with 3U racket but overall I got 4U racket instead lol.
Clears (on-balanced or off centered)
Clears are easy with the “hexagonal shaped” frame which helped with aerodynamic. The shaft is not “springy” so alot repulsion help from the shaft. Backhand clears are easy enough for me to clear from back court to backcourt. You will have to put a bit more power than other slight head heavy racket to clear but it’s easy to adjust so I don’t have a problem with it. “Not bad” is my first thought playing with this racket.
Drive
Drive is good but due to lack of repulsion from the shaft, short action shot that I used to play with HS is not possible with the P5. You need to wind up a bit more to output the repulsion. So timing change is crucial with this racket. On the first day I truly struggle with fast paced drive. Most of the shot that I don’t have enough time to wind the racket will result in blocks rather than drives. But after 2-3 days of use I have to ready my racket a bit further back to generate more power. Outcome is ok but I would prefer if the shaft will help with my repulsion more or I have to change the string for more repulsion but VBS 66 nano is repulsive enough so changing the timing is a way to go.
Smash
“Better than expected” is the initial impression I got. The feeling is solid + a bit of vibration which is ok. The power is more than I thought, My smash with P5 is better than HS surprisingly lol. Maybe because of the more solid feeling, I got more confidence smashing with this racket than HS. Stick smash and half is good too. What blew me away is the directional control I got with this racket. This racket puts my smash accuracy through the roof. Cross court smash, down the line smash and body smash you name it. This accuracy + decent power from smash gave me huge confidence in smashing from rear court. The power from smash will not be as good as 100ZZ or TK-F but this racket is between TK-F and Axforce 90 Tiger which is impressive.
Control + Net play
This racket is one of the best control racket I’ve ever used. The drops and slices are super tight and the racket head is super steady. Net shot is good as well. The head is not too light or too heavy so tight netshot is possible. Nothing to complain with this racket.
Defense
Defense is not so good with this racket. Because there are not a lot of shaft action. Lift defenses are bad against good smasher. With HS or other racket I’ve used so far, badly timed lift will at least go over half court, but this racket lift will only stays at half court. Good timed lift will go to back court but most of the time, against good smasher I don’t have that luxury. The only thing I can do is block which this racket did well with less repulsion, the block didn’t fly far so If you are the player who likes to lift defense, this racket is not it.
Overall this racket really impressed me in many ways. The specs that are written on the shaft or spec sheets might not be accurate so I suggest whom ever wanted to try the racket do go and dry swing first. If you found a really good deal and wanted to go in blind, this racket will not disappoint. Ofcourse P5 will not feel as premium as other top end racket but P5 will exceed some expectations lol.