HNDRD (Hundred) Nitrix 70 Venom, Nitrix 70 Volta, Flareon 700, Hyfonic 7 - Pro Level Badminton Rackets Review
- CKYew
- 7 minutes ago
- 8 min read
When a new brand enters the badminton racket market, it's always exciting to see how they measure up against the big names. HNDRD or Hundred is one new brand that has quickly caught the attention of dedicated badminton players!
Their latest batch of four flagship badminton rackets, including the Nitrix 70 Venom, Nitrix 70 Volta, Flareon 700, and Hyfonic 7, offers something for everyone, from power players to those who prefer stability and control.
HNDRD's own sponsored players will also be playing with these rackets too. For example, Callum Hemming is already playing with the Nitrix 70 Venom and Estelle Van Leeuwen will be playing with the Flareon 700.
Flagship Badminton Rackets
Previously, I spoke about HNDRD's Battle 900 racket, their first flagship racket and they've now taken those learnings and created these three new racket series which are defined as the Pro series.
In terms of racket series, you see all the major brands have three main series and HNDRD is amongst the same. Yonex have the Astrox, Arcsaber and Nanoflare series, Victor have the Thruster, Auraspeed and Drive X series, and Li Ning have the Axforce, Blade X and Halbertec series. Now, HNDRD have the Nitrix, Hyfonic, and Flareon series!
HNDRD has designed the Nitrix to be an attacking power focus series similar to the Astrox, Thruster and Axforce in the other brands. The Hyfonic focuses on stability and precision, similar to what Arcsaber is from Yonex, and the Flareon focuses on speed, similar to Nanoflare, Auraspeed, and Halbertec for the other brands.
In this review, I’ll break down each of the new HNDRD rackets, including the appearance, materials, specifications, measurements and playing feel and performance of each racket. Let’s get into it!
Appearance And Materials Of HNDRD Flagship Badminton Rackets
HNDRD Nitrix Series
The Nitrix 70 Venom racket comes in a straight matte black colour with shiny gold accents, which I like. The clean design makes it visually appealing and it has the super thin shaft, advertised at 6.1 mm. The frame is boxy and fully recessed, which sounds like a fast racket to me!
The Nitrix 70 Volta offers a clean white finish with a design that’s quite different from the Venom. It features a longer shaft, shorter handle, and top-half recessed frame. The frame shape actually reminds me of the Li Ning 3D Calibar racket series!
HNDRD Flareon 700
Looking at the Flareon 700 racket, it is a wide frame speed-based racket and I love the pink and orange accents on top of the black. Initial vibes feel like a Halbertec paired with a Nanoflare racket. This is pretty unique! I love the holographic hexagonal dimples at the top of the racket and you can actually feel them. This racket also has a fully recessed frame profile, which helps to increase the swing speed.
HNDRD Hyfonic 7
Finally, the Hyfonic 7. This Hyfonic 7 is a unique one because of the racket frame shape. It reminds me a lot of the Victor Bravesword 12, but it's got a slight angle on the frame. The Hyfonic 7 has a slightly rounded frame shape compared to the straight diamond shape that the Braveswords have. This is very unique. In terms of colour combinations, whilst I love the pearlescent deep purple that's on the racket, I'm not too sure about the green that's all over the frame. It's probably too futuristic for me.
Also, I've not come across a racket where the recessed area on the frame is only the top 1/3. I've seen rackets that's top half, fully recessed, top 2/3, 60%, but only the top 1/3 is a new one. So, this guy is interesting!
Specifications And Measurements Of HNDRD Flagship Badminton Rackets
Firstly, all rackets released here do come in both 3U and both 4U weights.
Now in terms of specs, the Nitrix 70 Venom has a frame height of 23.5 cm and a frame width of 18 cm, making this a compact frame racket. Frame thickness is at 10.4 mm with a fully recessed frame design. The shaft length is 20.5 cm and the shaft diameter is 6.3 mm. Handle length is 18 cm which is pretty standard there.
For the Nitrix 70 Volta, the frame height is 23.6 cm with a frame width of 18.5 cm, making it a normal-size frame, with a thickness of 10.9 mm, and its top half recessed. The frame length is 22.5 cm, which is the joint longest ever measured on my channel alongside the Li Ning 3D Calibar 900 C, which is a legendary racket in this respect. The shaft diameter of the 70 Volta is 7.1 mm and the handle length is 16.5 cm.
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For the Flareon 700, frame height comes in at 23.4 cm with a width of 18 cm, making this again a slightly compact racket frame. Frame thickness is 12.3 mm, again paired with a fully recessed frame profile. The shaft length is 21 cm with a diameter of 7.2 mm, coming with a handle length of 17.5 cm.
Lastly, the Hyfonic 7 has a frame height of 23.5 cm, frame width of 18.3 cm, frame thickness of 10.9 mm, top 1/3 recessed frame profile, shaft length of 22 cm with a diameter of 7.1 mm, which is paired to a handle length of 16 cm. Again, fairly short handle here.
I have all the rackets strung with my usual setup of Yonex Aerobite (UK here) at 27 lbs x 29 lbs. And here are all the swing weight measurements for all the rackets:
Both 3U and 4U rackets are all rated to 32 lbs in tension, and it's also fairly rare to see no difference in the rated tensions between 3U and 4U racket weights. But, how do they all play?
Playing Feel And Performance Of HNDRD Flagship Badminton Rackets
I started testing these rackets first in 4U before introducing the 3U models into my testing process. For the Nitrix 70 Venom, it is fast and enjoyable! I liked it a lot. It's got good power, very responsive with a fairly crisp feel. I did feel that the frame was a bit compact and I did mistime shots a little, especially when under pressure. For some reason, I also felt that the racket felt a bit short at times, especially if I've just swapped onto the 70 Venom from another racket. If you don't catch the sweet spot and only get the edge of the string, then I think you might be in trouble!
The 70 Venom is like an Astrox 88S Pro, which is slightly shorter than the Ruse racket by a few mms. Hence, this explains why I felt it was a little bit short. In terms of overall feel and performance, this 70 Venom is not a 10 out of 10 yet, but a good 8.5 out of 10 already. It's not crazy head-heavy, but also more than enough head weight, speed, and power all combined. This is a good attacking racket that's responsive, fast, and I actually really enjoyed it!
Moving on to the Nitrix 70 Volta - coming from the Venom, the Volta felt headlight for me. It's not headlight in the grand scheme of things, but it did feel like it was headlight coming from the Venom. So, I was very conscious about the short handle instantly, and with the long shaft, it feels slightly whippy. Because of the lack of headway compared to the 70 Venom, the 70 Volta felt faster than the Venom, but less smooth with that slight drag that's coming from the unique frame design.
I get that the frame also gives you a little bit more frame stability during the hitting phase, and that gives you a little bit more confidence. The 70 Volta is quite enjoyable in 4U, but to be honest, I preferred the 3U model because it offered that little bit more overall weight, which helped with energy transfer onto the shuttle.
For the Flareon 700, this one felt quite even balanced with that little bit of headweight in it. It was also quite unique as it feels like a cross between a Yonex Nanoflare 700 Pro (UK here) and a Li Ning Halbertec 8000. It had the racket head of the 700 Pro, but the shaft and handle of the Halbertec 8000. Quite an interesting combo, which I didn't realise I would enjoy.
It's got a solid but damp feel and it certainly was fast. And because of the good balance, it was fairly easy to play with and I was able to control the shuttle well. Weirdly enough, I felt the handle length was just nice, neither too long or too short. And that gives me a lot of options as usually I like to hold the grip higher at the cone cap during service and defense, but like to hold it down lower at the bud cap during power shots such as smashes and clears. I didn't struggle with power with the 4U model. So, if you're someone who wants an even more solid feel, I'd suggest going for the 3U option.
Lastly, the Hyfonic 7. This one I had problems with. I found it very hard to time with this guy. It has lots of power and a crisp hitting feel, but that's not the only thing that you should be looking for in a racket. The frame feels big, and that normally equates to a bigger sweet spot, but it doesn't feel that way.
The hitting field was quite stiff, which I guess is needed for a precision-based racket, but something still needs to help the player get the shuttle to where it needs to go. In many of the more technically demanding shots, such as controlled defensive shots that are coming at you fast, I found it was quite hard to time these shots, and often the shuttle isn't coming off correctly. You squeeze it and something happens to the shuttle, but it's not in a way that you want.
Whilst I like the concept and the direction of what the Hyfonic 7 is designed and heading for, the racket still needs to be a little bit less demanding and should help the player a little bit more. For the 3U, I couldn't hack it. It was stiff, hard to time, and heavy. The 4U was a lot more user-friendly, but compared to the rest here, it was the hardest one to use.
I would actually really like to hear what you guys feel if you have already tried the Hyfonic 7. Let me know down in the comment section below if you found that the frame was very unique or actually matches what I found here!
Final Thoughts
All in all, I like how HNDRD is being serious with their racket development by producing these sets of Flagship badminton rackets. Pricing-wise, I hear that they're competitive in the markets that they're in, and that's great for us players.
The first batch of release is a sign of good intent, where I can see how HNDRD can continue to improve on their products, and because of HNDRD's pricing structure, these rackets offer good value to players. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more rackets being released!
Lastly, remember to use my discount code 'CKYEW' for additional discounts when purchasing your products! Let me know your thoughts of these rackets in the comments and until then, I'll see you in the next one!