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Yonex Arcsaber 7 Pro Review vs Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro - Which even balanced racket is better?
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Oct 2, 2022
This is my review of the Yonex Arcsaber 7 Pro which is the latest generation of even balance badminton racket by Yonex. It is also Yonex's second Arcsaber release of 2022 after the Arcsaber 11 Pro earlier in March. I also compare both the Arcsaber 7 Pro and 11 Pro rackets in this video. The Arcsaber 7 Pro transfers many of the design properties from the Arcsaber 11 Pro but there were 2 major differences in the racket frame. The Arcsaber 7 Pro is also classified as a medium stiff racket with incredible shuttle hold properties, in line with the rest of the modern Arcsaber families. Yonex also launched its latest badminton string, the Exbolt 65 alongside this Arcsaber 7 Pro. Yonex will also be launching its budget friendly models of the Arcsaber 7 with the Arcsaber 7 Tour and Arcsaber 7 Play. I will be releasing a separate video looking at them very soon. Yonex Exbolt 65 review: https://youtu.be/uxx4Q6hGvBs Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro, Tour, Play review and comparison: https://youtu.be/j4JbOIsPwPM Which Arcsaber is king?: https://youtu.be/S8BZsj2msfo Remember to use 'CKYEW' for additional discounts. Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro (UK): https://geni.us/yc11pro Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro (Worldwide): https://geni.us/11proww Yonex Arcsaber 11 (Worldwide): https://geni.us/arc11ww Yonex Arcsaber 10 (Worldwide): https://geni.us/ADdY9Wd Join my channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkmY5ThPy3GLINI0m06ffaQ/join
View Video Transcript
0:00
You guys already know I like bright colours so just look at this ARC Saber 7 Pro here
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In this video I will tell you all about my experience with the new ARC Saber 7 Pro as well as answering a burning question most of you will have
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How does it compare with its cousin, the ARC Saber 11 Pro
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The ArcSaber 7 for me was the real OG in kickstarting the current generation of high-end, innovative, even-balanced rackets
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They first landed in 2007 and quickly followed by the ArcSaber 10 in late 2007, early 2008
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Fast forward 15 years and now, three generations in, we have the latest ArcSaber 7 Pro
0:47
To have two ArcSaber launches in a year, 2022 has been a really good year, isn't it
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Similar to before, Yonex is launching multiple models of the ArcSaber 7s at different price
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points with the Pro, Tour and Play models so everyone can enjoy them at the budget of
1:02
their choice. I'll have a separate video looking at the ArcSaber 7 Pro, Tour and Plays very soon
1:08
so make sure you subscribe to find out when they launch. Additionally, this new ArcSaber 7 Pro's launch coincided with Yonex's latest band
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string, the X-Bolt 65, which is recommended for the ArcSaver 7 Pro. If you're a hard-hitter
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of course. To watch my review of the X-Bolt 65, click here and I'll leave a link in the
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description below as well. Let's quickly start with the aesthetics of the Yonex ArcSaver 7 Pro
1:32
It certainly had the design language of the ArcSaver 11 Pro copied through, but instead of red
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the 7 is yellow. Yonex called the ArcSaver 11 Pro's colour scheme, greyish pearl, but the 7
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Pro gets a straight up grey and yellow. No messing around there. The 7 Pro again had the unique arc
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saber writing on the shaft where it's the right side up on one side and upside down on the other
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Similar to the 11 Pro again, but instead of the slant hashes across the arc saber writing
2:01
the 7 Pro has these what I call speed flares, essentially horizontal streaks across the shaft
2:07
perhaps signalling the speed of what is to come from this racket. We'll know in a minute. The 7 Pro
2:13
also share the same energy boost plus support cap as the cone of the racket which I really
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like as it's super comfortable. In terms of its racket frame, the ArcSaber 7 Pro has the new enhanced ArcSaber frame
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which departs from the traditional recessed frame where only the top half or the whole
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racket is completely recessed all the way through. Example top half recessed rackets are the previous generations of ArcSabers and fully
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recessed frames are like the current generation of Astrox 88S and D Pro rackets This enhanced arcsaber frames is only recessed between the 10 and 2 o area as well as the 4 and 8 o sections There are some slight differences between the 7 Pro and the 11 Pro with the racket frames
2:54
in two areas. Firstly, the 7 Pro doesn't have any control assist bumper on the frame itself
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It looks like that's only reserved for the 11 Pro, which is placed at the 12 o'clock
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section there. Secondly is the Pocketing Booster material that Yonex has developed for these new Arc
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Saber frames. The 11 Pro has its pocketing booster material at the 12 o'clock region beneath the control
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assist bumper, whilst the 7 Pro has it at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock region of its frame
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As John X is marketing the ARCSABER 7 Pro with the Hold For Flight tagline, so it will be
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interesting to see how much shuttle hold the 7 Pro has compared to the 11 Pro
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In terms of measurements, the ARCSABER 7 Pro has a shaft length of 21.5cm as well as a
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shaft diameter of 7mm. The shaft is connected to a wooden handle which is 17cm in length
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In terms of racket frames, I measured the 7 Pro having a thickness of 9.8mm with a height
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of 24cm alongside a width of 18.7cm. Obviously these measurements have some slight tolerances in there, but they are identical
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to the 11 Pro on every single metric. Is this a coincidence
4:02
In terms of racket spec and stringing, I believe the ArcSaver 7 Pro is only going to be available
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in 4U weight, a departure from its previous generations of 2 and 3U ArcSaber 7s
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So obviously the demo racket that I'm testing here is 4U, as well as in my favourite grip
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size, the G5. Recommended string and tension for the 7 Pro is up to £27, similar with the
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11 Pro in 4U, but it's £1 lower than 4U Astarrox rackets which is rated for up to £28. However
4:30
it certainly had no issues when I strung it with my usual setup of AeroBite at £27 by £29
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including a 10% pre-switch too. And yes, I had to restring the 7 Pro twice as I broke my strings
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during my first testing sessions and I had to do a second restring. This allowed me with more
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observation opportunities of the 7 Pro under tension and it certainly passed with flying
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colours. One little area that I was concerned with was the bulge with the strings from the
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two and ten o'clock areas of the frame. If you're like me and you pick up shuttles with your racket
5:01
off the floor. I was concerned if the string was being exposed out there on its own and might be
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damaged and ultimately break over time with the amount of scraping on the floor. Just try and be
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careful if you're picking shuttles up with your racket like that. It's certainly the same with the
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ARC 711 Pro 2. If you want to learn how to pick up the shuttles like that, click here. Right, let's get
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into the crucial stuff and answer how does this ARC 7 Pro plays. And really for the first time, we have
5:28
we found ourselves a truly even balanced racket. I very aware that the ARC Sabre series of rackets are classified as even balanced but they are always slightly head heavy or head light depending on the models But this 7 Pro is absolutely even and perfect in that sense As a 4U racket the 7 Pro swings fast
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and I can confirm it swings slightly faster than the 11 Pro due to it being slightly less
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head heavy. Although I mentioned earlier that the new ARC Sabre frames are not fully recessed
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the 7 Pro's lighter head increases the swing speed slightly and also will help anyone who
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is looking for a relatively fast racket with even balanced characteristics. To also add to the racket's feel, the ARC-Cyber 7 Pro's shaft is also slightly softer and
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whippier compared to the 11 Pro. The OnX went true to its ARC-Cyber 7 roots and again developed
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the 7 Pro with a medium shaft to 8 power generations for those of us who doesn't have the fastest
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of swings. And as soon as you hit the first few shots with the 7 Pro, you immediately
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understand why it was such a popular model by how easy it was to connect with the shuttle
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and play with it. With Yonex now focusing on extending the shuttle hull characteristics and the ability of their latest generation of Arc Savers to do this
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this results in a slightly softer and damped hitting feeling compared to current generations
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of repulsion rackets. If you have the opportunity, go into a shop and take one of the Arc Savers
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7 Pros and have a little swing. You'll immediately understand what I was trying to describe here
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However, make sure the racket that you're swinging around is strong, otherwise it's not a true and
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representative feeling. In my playing testing, I found that the 7 Pro was very, very good at those
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hold and flick, hold and punch above your opponent's head, those shots which are especially
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effective in doubles. The shots where you were able to prep early and hold at high racket carriage
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position whilst looking to utilise some form of deception. Think about a lot of the shots
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that Aaron Jha plays, his counter attacking shots where he holds and punches or whips
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the shuttles around the court. Those shots. The 7 Pro made those shots easy in a sense
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by having that ever so slightly increased shuttle hold from both the frame and the medium shaft
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giving you just that little touch of extra time for you to squeeze that racket handle
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properly. The racket face of the 7 Pro was also very steady and there was no random vibrations
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or wobble after contact with the shuttle. In terms of defence, it's certainly fast as it's not a head heavy plus it's a 4U
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racket at the same time. Reaching the shuttle and being able to generate enough pace off the shell to get you out of
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trouble is also certainly no problem at all with the 7 Pro
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Its ability to guide the shell around court was really fun and was certainly very easy
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enough to deliver. And I know you all would go crazy in the comments section if I did not mention about the power
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of the racket, and I'm going to be honest right here. The outright raw power of this
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even balanced 7 Pro is never going to beat something head heavy like the Astrox Racket Series such as the 100ZZ or the 99 Pro or even the 88D Pro as it has less head weight which also means it has less potential energy to begin with
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So to help with that, I certainly reminded myself whilst playing to try and grip the
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racket as relaxed as I can, whilst holding it as much further back as possible on the
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handle for as much leverage. With the right technique and timing, you would still be able to generate a lot of good clean
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paste on the shuttle and be able to get it onto the floor. Remember, many of the world's fastest and best smashers don't even use a head heavy
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racket with crazy stiff shafts. Many of them play with even balanced rackets as well as medium shafts too, so there's certainly
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hope for us all. We want higher shuttle speeds, not necessarily heavier feeling shuttles
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A super short comparison for the 7 Pro against the 11 Pro can be summarised as the 7 Pro
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feels slightly head lighter, slightly more flexible, slightly softer but faster. If you're a player who thought the ARC-SYP11 Pro was too head heavy for you, or you were
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struggling to generate good power with it, you will like this 7 Pro
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If you asked me which of the two had more shuttle hull, I genuinely couldn't tell which
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had more as I thought they were both very similar, but I did find the 7 Pro easier to
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whip and punch the shuttles around. This for me was down to the slightly lighter head alongside faster, more flexible racket
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from the 7 Pro. As you can see, I'm not the most physically gifted player, so I need as much help as I
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can get. It might be interesting to see in the future if someone adds a control assist bumper onto
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the head of the ARC-Cyber 7 Pro to add even more extra hold on the shuttle, albeit with
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some extra head weight. On the contrary, I was actually slightly surprised that Yonex was recommending two of their most
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repulsive strings for the ARC-Cyber 7 Pro. Yonex is recommending the Xbox 63 if you're a control type player or its latest release
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the Xbox 65 if you're a hard hitter, perhaps for that extra durability
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But Yonex is thinking as the Arc Sabers are a shuttle hold racket, the shuttle might be
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reacting that few milliseconds slower as the shuttle sits on the string
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So let's use a string which the shuttle likes to immediately scream off the racket to compensate
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for that. What do you all think? All in all, I've been very impressed with the Arc Saber 7 Pro and believe it would be
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very suitable for a wide range of players, from casual players all the way to the very
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very top end pros. Some old school fans might think ditching the 3-year weight and exclusively having the
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Pro at 4U might be a mistake, but I for one believes the 4U is the new 3U, as 4U rackets
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certainly generate enough power nowadays with the added benefit of better speed and defense
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To top it off, certainly a fair few pros are now playing with 4U rackets and will be interesting to
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see if this trend continues. In the meantime, let me know what you think about the ARC 7 Pro
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and I will see you in the next one
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