Let me break down Victor badminton’s currently available racket series for you. Before I begin, do check out similar racket series intro guides for both Yonex and Li Ning!
As one of the big 3 brands in the badminton world, Victor only has 3 main badminton racket series in their international market lineup at the moment. The 3 main series are split into Power, Speed and All Round categories which are represented by the Thruster, Auraspeed and Drive-X series respectively. I have reviewed rackets from all 3 series on my YouTube channel and have compiled them into a playlist, so go check them out here.
Obviously, Victor also has a few more legacy racket series such as Light Fighter, Hypernano X, Meteor, Brave Sword and Jetspeed and I will also discuss them in this post. However, Victor is certainly focussing on the Thruster, Auraspeed and Drive-X series at the moment.
So let’s start with the Thruster series, which is by far the most popular series amongst the Victor-sponsored pro players. Thruster rackets are power-based rackets which also means they’re generally more on the head-heavy side. Thruster rackets focus on delivering lots of power and stability to players who want to hit hard, and the Thruster rackets’ frame structures are designed to increase smash power as well as accommodate higher string tensions. Not that higher string tensions are a good thing for us amateur players.
Some of the big-name players who play with Thruster rackets are Tai Tzu Ying, Lee Zii Jia, the newly signed Kenta Nishimoto who recently won the Spain Masters, Hendra Setiawan, Praveen Jordan, Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, Goh Soon Huat, Lai Shevon Jemie, Tan Kian Meng, Lai Pei Jing as well as Greg and Jenny from Badminton Insight too. Interestingly, you may have noticed that every pro doubles player in this list plays with the Thruster F Enhanced edition racket and there’s a good reason why. I’ve previously reviewed this racket and was pleasantly surprised, do check out my full review here.
The singles players predominantly go with the Thruster Ryuga 1 or Ryuga 2 rackets which I’ve also reviewed before here. They are certainly head-heavier, a little stiffer which also means they are more stable than the Thruster F Enhanced rackets. On the other hand, Tai Tzu Ying plays with the Thruster F Claw which is almost impossible to get outside of Asia.
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Next up is the Auraspeed series. Auraspeeds are known for their…well..speed (as you can guess from the name)! The Auraspeed rackets are generally head-lighter, enabling quick movements and change of paces around the court. For me, they tend to sit on the even balanced to slightly head-light range, with a decent balance of speed and power.
Also, I also feel the current generation of Auraspeed rackets are an upgrade from Victor’s older Jetspeed and Brave Sword series (which I’ll get onto a bit later). I have reviewed the Auraspeed 90K and Auraspeed 100X previously, so make sure to check those out.
The Auraspeed 90K to me is an underrated gem in the market and one of my current favourite Victor rackets thus far! Both the original Auraspeed 90K and Auraspeed 100X were also featured in my ‘Best Speed/Fastest Badminton Rackets in the Market Today’ post. Pro players who play with the Auraspeed 100X include the other half of ‘The Daddies’ Mohammad Ahsan, as well as Wang Tzu Wei in men's singles. Kantaphon Wangcharoen uses the Auraspeed 90K II and Danish singles players, Anders Antonsen and Magnus Johannesen use the original Auraspeed 90K.
The last of the 3 main Victor racket series is the Drive X series, which is known for its precision and control. Victor classifies the Drive X as an all-rounded racket series, perhaps similar to Yonex’s Arcsaber series or Li Ning’s latest Halbertec series.
The Drive X, from my experience, provides great handling and control of your shots. They have a dynamic hex frame which has a twist design at the 5 and 7 o'clock regions of the racket. Drive X rackets generally range between an even balanced to a relatively head-light weight configuration, making them one of the easier racket series to use. They are ideal rackets for players who are looking for an easy racket at any stage of their playing journey.
You’ll find players such as Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti playing with the Drive X 9X which I’ve previously reviewed here.
Aside from these 3 main series, there are a few more legacy series which I briefly touched on during my introduction. I want to quickly start with the Light Fighter series which is actually a sub-category of the Thruster, Auraspeed and Drive X series. Light Fighter rackets are often 6U rackets which are less than 80g in weight, equivalent to a superlight or ultralight racket.
Another legacy series which is incredibly popular is the Brave Sword series which has a diamond-shaped design said to ‘cut the wind as a sword’. This series is in the speed category and was made incredibly popular by the legendary blue Brave Sword 12, which was so popular that Victor is bringing it back to life in their 55th-anniversary celebrations with Victor’s proprietary Free Core handle instead of the traditional wooden handles. Many years ago I used to have the blue Brave Sword and I liked it a lot. I’m hoping to be able to try this 55th-anniversary edition Brave Sword with the Free Core, although I’m not sure if this will ever get to UK shores. We’ll see.
Another speed category legacy series for Victor is their Jetspeed series. I’ve tried some of the older Jetspeeds before, such as the Jetspeed 10, which if I remember correctly, had dimples on it and was pretty fast so very befitting of the speed category.
For the all-round category, Victor has their Meteor and Hypernano series, with the Hypernano focussing on being efficient in both offence and defence whilst the Meteor provides great racket frame stability. I remember the Meteor 80 had a pretty unique stringing pattern.
Let me know in the comments section below about your favourite Victor racket and racket series, and I’ll see you in the next post!