Li Ning Blade X 800 - Demanding head light badminton racket?
Updated: Oct 4, 2022
The Blade X is Li Ning’s new badminton racket series alongside the relatively new AxForce series so I was super excited when I came across the Blade X 800 during my recent trip to Malaysia. However, getting the racket was the easy bit, finding information about it was, surprisingly, challenging.
In my quest to give you a comprehensive review of every single piece of equipment I test, I often test them blind. This means every time I test a racket, I will refrain from searching for and reading any of the racket's marketing material published by the manufacturer. Instead, I form my view of the racket solely based on my personal observations, experience and feel from testing and playing with the racket.
To start, I would normally string the racket with my usual Yonex Aerobite string at a tension of 27 by 29 lbs. Then, I would observe the racket closely, taking the necessary physical measurements, followed by spending a few hours on court with the racket to get a feel of its playing performance. Only after I have completed all the above steps, I would compare and supplement what I have observed, felt and experienced with information from the manufacturer. This is where I hit trouble with the Blade X 800.
Some of you may be aware that finding Li Ning equipment in Europe, especially in the UK, is a lot harder than in China or Southeast Asia, even though it is one of the big three badminton racket brands besides Yonex and Victor. As a new series, it was incredibly difficult for me to find any information about it, even Google didn't provide me with anything usable until I searched for the racket in Chinese I was then able to get slightly more information from Li Ning Taiwan site.