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In my last video there was a comment asking me if the thruster F Enhanced Edition was an underrated racket and I said no
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But this AuraSpeed 90k certainly is. The AuraSpeed 90k is used by top Danish men's singles player Annes Antonsen
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and if you stop and actually take a moment to consider that it's actually quite rare for a men's singles player to play with a headlight racket
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A quick look in the top 10 certainly has everyone except Annes playing with a head heavy racket
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Most men's singles players prefer something that's leaning towards the head-heavy side
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often to help them with pace, weight and stability of their shots. And personally for me, you all know I love rackets which are again leaning on the head-heavier side of things
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and often find myself struggling to generate enough power with headlight rackets
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especially if they're the whippy type. It's probably down to the combination of my technique, timing and physicality
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but this Aura Speed 90K is different and it's a good one
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Thanks again Ghost2EcentralSports for loaning me their test racket and remember to use my discount code of CKYW when shopping with them
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In terms of looks, the Aura Speed 90K looks very bland and basic, especially its shaft
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That 90K font just made the whole racket look quite dated and it felt like the shaft design was rushed
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as someone had just decided to put some holographic foil on somewhere and be done with it
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It's a shame as a 90K is a top tier racket and certainly played a lot better than how it looked
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It was missing a lot of the classy or cool design which featured say from the Thruster
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Ruger 1 or even the Thruster F enhanced edition Perhaps it was also compounded by its glossy look which again looks dated in 2022 going into 2023 but we do have to remember that this racket initially came out in 2019 so maybe that why
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Looking at its racket frame design, it reminded me a lot of the Aura Speed 100X as they both
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shared what Victor describes as the dynamic sword frame design, where the 3 and 9 o'clock
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regions has its frame recessed inwards on the inside. technologies that are shared with the 100X included the Nano 45TR and the RTC. The rebound
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transition construction, which means specific areas of the frame have different flex ratings
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so they recoil differently to help with the hitting feel. Additionally, other properties such as the
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hardcore technology and WES, the whipping enhancement system is shared with rackets such as the Ryuga 1
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So you can see the Aura Speed 90K is picking from best of both worlds there, or rather the other way
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round. For measurements, the 90K has a 6.9mm shaft diameter which is thinner than both the Ruger
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one and Aura Speed 100X as they both measured in at 7.1mm. The 90K's shaft length is similar to the
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100X at 21cm, so nothing out of the ordinary there. For its frame, it's got a relatively normal frame
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height of 24cm with a width of 18.5cm alongside a frame thickness of 9.9mm. Anything that's under
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10mm is pretty thin and fast so you can see where we're going with this here. In true aura speed
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fashion the 90k only has 40% of its upper frame recess on the outside as the outside recess stops
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at the three and nine o region where the dynamic sword comes in And oh yes the 90k is made in Taiwan and has a wooden handle of 17cm pieces in length too Specs wise this is a 4UG5 model
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and is strung with my usual string setup at 27 by 29 pounds with Aerobyte. The 90K is
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also rated for tensions up to 29 pounds too. Now we get into the most important bit. This Aura Speed 90K plays amazingly well. I'm
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very impressed with how well it plays and I think this is such an underrated racket
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I'm normally not a big fan of headlight rackets as they often let punch and are made slightly
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more flexible, which ends up feeling spongy. The only headlight model which I was very impressed with is the Yonex NanoFlare 800
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as the 800 had incredible speed, response and feel with the shawl and this AuraSpeed
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90K is certainly up there and made a very good impression. The NanoFlare 800 in my opinion is still faster than this AuraSpeed 90K as it's got a
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smaller head and slimmer frame, but this 90k had a very crisp feel and easy hitting feeling
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coming from it, making it really user friendly and fun to play with
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In my last video I reviewed the Victor Thruster F enhanced edition which was super popular
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with lots of pro players here of course, but in reality the Thruster F was very user friendly
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and this 90k in comparison was even better. Yes, it doesn't have the head weight of the Thruster F, but the 90k is faster and
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very responsive to almost all the shots I played. It had great control and anything that's a neutral
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shot from the front and mid court were easily dealt with and turning to defending and counter
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attacking was a very effortless transition Overhead power shots will require a bit more patience clears and drops no worries at all even under pressure but for all smashing you going to
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have to adjust your technique a little to allow for more bodyweight transfer to add
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more weight and bite into your shots. Do remember, this is a slightly head lighter racket though
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I can actually imagine why Anastans really enjoyed playing with this 90k because it's
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actually really nice and enjoyable to play with, especially at his level where every
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single millimetre of the court counts in terms of winning or losing. He will want to be playing
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with a racket that allows him to place a shell anywhere he needs to and get out of jail in
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tricky situations too. Perhaps he's using the 3U model to compensate for more power
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which I understand isn't available in Europe as we only have the 4U model here
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Anners, if you're watching, please let us know what spec racket you're playing with. Thank you. Additionally, it wasn't only me that found the Aura Speed 90K very pleasant to play
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with. One of my club mates found the 90k so nice that he immediately went and got two
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and also to be strung at the same aero bite strings combo as well. So if you're someone
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who enjoys a fast, responsive and crisp racket, I think you enjoy playing with this 90k. It has
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certainly gone up very highly on my off day racket, which I know many of you will enjoy at the same
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time. I'm being picky here, but it is a shame that the Aura Speed 90k's paint job is slightly less
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impressive than its playing performance, otherwise it would have been a great match. However, it
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It doesn't change that this is an amazing racket, which I really enjoyed playing very much with
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and it's certainly a pleasant surprise. Till then, I'll see you in the next one
