Personally, I think the DriveX 10 Metallic (UK here) is one of Victor’s nicest-looking rackets to date. This is Victor’s new flagship racket within their All Around racket category, so is it an upgrade compared to the DriveX 9X? Let's find out!
If you’re not already aware, Victor splits their badminton rackets into 3 main categories, Speed, Power and All Around. The Speed category has the current Auraspeed racket series in there as well as the more legacy racket series such as Jetspeed and Brave Sword. The Power category has the Thruster series of rackets and the All Around category has the DriveX badminton racket series.
I’ve previously done a breakdown of each of Victor’s badminton racket series and what type of players they are good for, which you can check out here!
For this DriveX series, the DriveX 10 Metallic is their second flagship racket after the DriveX 9X which I’ve reviewed previously too here. However, the DriveX 10 is also Victor’s first flagship racket to implement the Metallic Carbon shaft, hence its name ‘Metallic’ at the end of the racket model.
Review of Appearance & Materials Of Victor DriveX 10 Metallic Badminton Racket
In terms of visuals, the Metallic segment on the shaft is showcased on the bottom section of the shaft that is inserted into the cone of the Free Core handle. Victor’s Free Core handles are a departure from traditional wooden handles and are plastic-moulded handles, which I’ve been a fan of.
The metallic section on the bottom of the shaft isn’t seamless and it feels like a separate segment that is fused or baked onto during the racket production process. If you think it looks thinner than the rest of the shaft from the photos and videos, that's because the metallic section is actually thinner than the shaft itself.
In terms of the racket colourway, the orange and purple decals match perfectly with the matte-looking but slightly pearlescent limoges blue which looks pretty good to me!
Additionally, the DriveX 10 frame features the signature frame shape design, where it feels like the bottom of the racket frame around the 5 and 7 o’clock area swirls around and showcases a thinner section of the frame.
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Specifications & Measurements Of Victor DriveX 10 Metallic Badminton Racket
The DriveX 10 Metallic has a shaft diameter of 6.6mm and as I just mentioned, the silver-looking segment at the bottom of the shaft is actually thinner at only 6.5mm so even more impressive. For reference, the DriveX 9X had a shaft diameter of 6.8mm. In terms of shaft length, the DriveX rackets has a 21cm shaft.
For racket frame measurements, both rackets have almost identical frame thickness with the DriveX 10 coming in at bang on 10mm whilst the 9X measured in at 9.9mm. However, the DriveX 10 does have a slightly smaller racket frame compared to the DriveX 9. The DriveX 9 had a frame height and width of 24cm by 18.5cm respectively whilst the DriveX 10 was slightly smaller across both height and width at 23.7cm and 18.2cm respectively.
Moving on, both rackets also have the same top half recessed profile within their respective racket frames. Both rackets are also sporting the Free Core handles of similar lengths of 17cm long. So if you’re purely looking at these measured numbers, you’ll find plenty of similarities but that’s not the entire story as they do play quite differently!
I believe both rackets come in 3U and 4U but in Europe, the DriveX 10 Metallic is only available in 3U whilst the DriveX 9 is only available in 4U.
For stringing design, both rackets have 4 sets of single pass grommets on the top of the racket and as the DriveX 10 is a newer production racket, the grommets do have Victor moulded onto them too. They are rated for 28lbs of stringing tension for the 4U rackets and 29lbs for the 3U equivalent. For testing, they’re strung with my usual set-up of Yonex Aerobite (UK here) at 27 by 29 lbs.
Playing Feel & Performance Of Victor DriveX 10 Metallic Badminton Racket
Immediately, I felt the 10 was stiffer, head heavier and had a significantly more solid feel. Power shots which require bigger, faster swings were super nice and crisp with lots of power and stability. I felt the DriveX 10 is very lovely when you need some racket weight to help you carry the shuttle, especially in a singles setting but at 3U, it was too demanding and slow for me as I’m not physically super strong. The short sharp, fast flat returns for doubles were certainly a big challenge for me with the 3U DX10 but super nice with the DX9.
One thing that really stood out for me was how nice the shuttle felt coming off the string bed of the DX10. Over quite a few sessions, I was also testing the Ryuga Metallic (review here) side by side and I personally preferred the shuttle feel and response coming off the DX10 every single time. It just felt a lot more refined and overall a nicer feeling than the Ryuga Metallic.
Again, I do think the Free Core handles in the DriveX rackets are helping with these nicer feelings whilst helping with playability too. I took a look at the racket matrix from Victor’s official catalogue and noticed that it said both the DriveX 9 and 10 were supposed to have the same head weight and I certainly didn't feel that way.
Granted, I do admit it is quite challenging to compare 2 generations of rackets in 2 different weights but these are what’s available for me to test so we’ll go with that. But in terms of feeling, I certainly felt the head weight was more similar to the Thruster Ryuga 2 region. So not as head heavy as the original Thruster Ryuga, or the current Ryuga Metallic which was even head heavier but certainly not the same head weight as the DriveX 9. If you're interested, you can check out my Thruster Ryuga original vs Thruster Ryuga 2 comparison here.
Here are some swing weight measurements for both DriveX rackets across different set-up scenarios to provide a bit more context:
I do remember speaking to Goh Soon Huat at the World Championships and he did mention a few times that this was head-heavy, hence he liked it. By the way, other pro players on the World Tour such as Apriyani Rahayu, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, Wang Tzu Wei as well as Soon Huat are all playing with the DriveX 10 Metallic too.
Final Thoughts: Victor DriveX 10 Metallic Vs Victor DriveX 9X Badminton Racket
Overall, I personally think the DriveX 10 Metallic is a step up compared to the DriveX 9X if you’re someone who likes some head weight to your racket to help with power generation.
Don’t get me wrong, the DriveX 9X is super fast but it doesn't have a lot of head weight to it and it also feels softer, similar to a Yonex Arcsaber 7 Pro if you’re looking for a like-for-like comparison with Yonex. The DriveX 10 however is more like a Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro or even the Yonex Astrox 88S Pro too with that bit more head weight and power.
Whilst I love the 3U DriveX 10 for singles, I would struggle with it as it's quite demanding physically and technically too, especially in doubles so I would recommend testing out the 4U model first before going for the 3U.
If you’re not having a good day, the 3U would not be an easy racket to play with. But with that said, the feeling of the shuttle coming off the strings is super nice and that was something that stood out for me.
Well done to Victor with this one! Have you tried the DriveX 10, and if so what do you think? Till then, I’ll see you in the next one!