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Yeah, my racket is leaning Aeronaut 9000
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9000C. Yeah. Yes. Today we're going to find out and compare which leaning Aeronaut 9000 is the best racket for you
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Not one 9000, not two 9000, but three. Will it make me play like Anthony Ginting with his 9000
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or be like Yuta Watanabe with his 9000C? And I'll tell you which one was my favorite 9000 and why
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So in my previous leaning racket comparison video, I compared the X-Force 80, the Tectonic 9, as well as the Aeronaut 9000C. Additionally
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since I posted that video, the X-Force 80 has since been used by Shrikant Kidambi and Yuta
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Watanabe at the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals. Go check it out here if you want to find out more
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about that racket. And also in that video, I certainly said the most unique and cool looking
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racket was the Aeronaut 9000C because of the design, decals and paint job alongside the
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futuristic air gaps close to the T-joint on the frame as well. Today, we've certainly got another
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contender for the best looking racket and that's actually the Aeronaut 9000i. And quite
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disappointingly in terms of looks we've caught the bog standard looking white Aeronaut 9000
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And since we're on the topic of looks, the normal 9000 is the only racket out of the three that came
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in a glossy finish. I'm not sure why but the glossy is so last year or a few years ago and it just
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makes the racket looks outdated and kind of cheap and basic in that sense when it's actually not
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On the other hand, it's no secret that I loved rackets with matte finishing and the
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9000C and the 9000I combat an instinct for those who are wondering
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They looked incredible. The amazing combinations and shades of blue and red on the 9000C were very striking and
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futuristic, whilst the gold and purple accents of the 9000I were super classy and certainly
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brought some main character energy here. And as I mentioned earlier, all three rackets had four air gaps in between the 5 and 7 o'clock
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region of the racket and it certainly made the rackets look very cool. Other cool looking
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features on the rackets were again the two different types of grommets present on the
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racket. There are these round grommets on the lower half of the racket frame which are
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fairly tall and protrude quite proudly from the frame, but they look and feel premium as
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well as having the leaning logo embossed on both the top and bottom of each grommet. Wow
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The second grommet type on these rackets is the square cubic locking grommets present on the top half recess section of the racket frame Looking perpendicularly they sit flush into the recess area and you don see
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them, and they also have the leaning logos on each on the grommets as well. The cubic locking
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grommets reminds me of the Yonex's control assist bumper, where these grommets are designed to
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increase the hold time on the shoulder upon contact, and these square grommets certainly do
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look like they are securing the strings on the racket frames fairly well. Both matte rackets
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the 9000C and 9000i felt like the decals on the shaft were embossed when you rub your hands on
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them, whilst the 9000 did not, as it probably had a clear coat on. Which is your favourite looking
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9000 here? Put it down in the comment section below. All three rackets had the same dimensions
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the shaft length and the diameter, alongside the frame size and the frame thickness as well
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They were all exactly the same. The only difference was that the 9000 and 9000C were a 3U weight class
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racket and the 9000i was a 5U racket, so about 10g lighter which was quite significant in the sense
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All three rackets also shared the same grip size which is G5. In terms of stringing, all rackets
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were rated up to £32 in tension even for the 9000i and I strung them at my usual tension of
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£27 by £29 and found that the 9000c and 9000 were very solid but the 9000i had a little bit of
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flex whilst under tension. This is to be expected as you probably have slightly less materials in
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the frame of the 9000i to make it lighter than its brothers and sisters alongside other weight
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saving measures. Ultimately, these rackets should be fine for their rate of tensions
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although I've never gone through a warranty claim process with Leaning. If any one of you has
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let me know in the comment section below too. In terms of performance, Leaning listed these
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aeronaut rackets as control type rackets, and I can certainly see why. But in terms of balance
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points, and this again reinforces why I don't use balance point as a form of measure, Leaning says
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the 9000C has the lowest BP amongst the three rackets at around 298mm, whilst the 9000 comes
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in at 305mm. The highest balance point goes to the 9000 with a whopping 327mm. I did my
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measurements and they did correspond to those numbers, give or take a few millimetres. However
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they field and react very differently to those numbers. Also bearing in mind that Leaning
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said that the 9000C only had a medium stiff shaft whilst it was as soft and soft for the 9000 and 9000i shafts Interesting During my testing I certainly got reacquainted with my trusty old friend the 3U ARCSABER10
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as a similar comparison before going towards the 9000C, and instantly I felt the 9000C was stiffer
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and harder to play with compared to my ARCSABER10. It wasn't just the shaft that felt stiff
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it felt as if the whole racket was stiffer, and depending on your technique, it did make life a
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bit difficult when you are out of position or when you are laid to the shuttle. When you're
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swinging the racket, it did have a boxier feel which reminded me of the old school Yonex
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Armotex which also had these feelings when you're swinging them around. It actually made
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sense as the 9000C as well as the 9000 and 9000i all had pretty boxier frame designs
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This means they won't be the fastest frames around but the frames will be pretty stable
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during power transfer. In terms of power, the 9000C undoubtedly had more power compared
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to the Arsaber 10 and it turns out to be the most powerful out of the three right here
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you can catch the shuttle right of course. Additionally, I also want to add that the
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9000C feels pretty unique in terms of head heaviness. Yes, it's not an outright head
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heavy racket but it feels as if there's a good even distribution of weight across from
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the shaft through to the frame. It certainly doesn't feel and behave like how a 298mm
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balance point racket should feel. When I then moved on to the normal 9000 and wow, immediately
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I was able to imagine why Anthony Ginting and Tio Yi Yi likes this one. Even with the same 3U weight
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class, the 9000 felt a lot easier to play with compared to the 9000C. It was faster, easier to
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maneuver and again repeating myself, easier to play with. I certainly really enjoyed the feedback
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and feel I was having with the 9000 and it did feel slightly more hollow compared to the 9000C
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but I had lots of nice feedback with aerobite strings on and it felt great. Some of the net
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shots that I managed to pull off with this 9000 made me feel like I was Anthony Ginting
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After all, I had the same setup, an Aeronaut 9000 with Aerobyte
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Overall the 9000 doesn't feel and behave like a 3U racket and felt much closer to a
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4U racket here and that's why I was pretty confused to find that the 9000 had a higher
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balance point compared to the 9000C. Power wise, yes it's less than the 9000C but still
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packs a lot of punch. This is the nicest feeling leaning racket for me thus far and is my current
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favorite out of the lot If we then look at the 9000i and wow this thing is 5U alright It very light and it pretty fast but nowhere near as fast as the Yonex NanoFlare 800LT which is also a 5U
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racket, but due to the 9000i's boxy frame alongside its protruding grommets. And because of how light
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the 9000i is, it struggles to generate the same amount of power as the other two 9000 series
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rackets. To generate good power, you need to have very accurate timing and focus on transferring your
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body weight forward. I found myself really focusing on getting my timing right and occasionally
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getting good results when using the hammer grip for sharp power shots. Only using your
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arms in this instance will not get you much power. As with a lot of super light rackets
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defensively this thing is amazing and counter attacking with it is super fun as I felt I
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was able to get on top of the shuttle and get away with most things, although I certainly
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did struggle to get good length on my backhand clears when I was caught and was late to the
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shuttle. Again, if the racket had a bit more weight, then I might have been able to get
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out of trouble with this one. But I should have been better prepared for the shot and not get
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caught in the first place. All in all, this racket will be very nice to play with in doubles
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although you will need to have good technique and physicality to fully maximise its potential
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For casual players, this will be a light and relatively easy racket to play with. Some final food for thought here, I'm not too sure if Leaning had to stiffen up the bottom
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side of the frame close to those four air gaps during manufacturing process to increase durability
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and from this process it sacrificed some form of percentage of usability for us in that
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regard. I personally thought the four air gaps did nothing whatsoever and is completely a gimmick
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You'd expect these rackets to be crazy fast just by seeing holes and gaps on the frames
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but now that I've had a closer look at the design as well as testing them out completely
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the rackets play just like any of the rackets and these air gaps are for looks. They don't
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impact performance, at least not for us. My personal sweet spot was certainly the 9000
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although some of us might find that you'll need some time to get used to it, to a slight difference in timing, but it will grow on you. In terms of racket appearance
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I certainly think the 9000C and 9000I are certainly two of the best looking rackets
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I've ever come across. Leaning has a lot going on with its fashion design, it's certainly transferring
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over to its rackets too. And that can only be a good thing. All three rackets certainly play
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very differently to each other and I hope this helps you pick the right one. What do you think
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of them? I'll see you in the next one
