Victor Auraspeed Fantome Badminton Racket Review - Does The 5mm Frame Make A Difference?
- CKYew
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Victor’s latest flagship badminton racket in the Auraspeed series, the Victor Auraspeed Fantome, has caught the attention of the badminton world because of its super-thin 5 mm frame. Designed to be lightweight yet resilient, it's said to produce super-fast swings and sharp attacks. So does the ultra-slim frame really make a difference on court? Let's find out!
A Funny Little Backstory
When Victor promoted this Auraspeed Fantome badminton racket with a headline number of 5 mm in terms of frame thickness, I was incredibly excited to actually see it for the very first time. If you've been following my racket reviews for a while, you will know that I measure frame thickness by the side of the racket. I wasn't aware that this racket’s thickness was actually measured differently!
I was incredibly excited because some of the thinnest rackets in terms of frame thickness that I have tested before were nowhere near 5 mm. I was already thinking in my head how buttery smooth this is going to swing, and also imagining how mind-blowingly smooth the racket will be when it cuts through the air. But then again, what about durability, etc?
For me, the thinnest racket frame that I have ever tested was the original first-generation Yonex Nanoflare 800 (UK here, US here) and 800 LT, which had a frame thickness of 9.5 mm and 9.3 mm respectively. So you can tell the mental gymnastics that I was already doing in my head when the 5 mm number came up.
When the racket finally arrived, you can imagine the face I made when I pulled the racket out of the box and realised it was COMPLETELY different than what I expected. The thickness that Victor referred to and promoted for the Auraspeed Fantome racket was from the front of the racket, not the sides!
Granted, it was my own fault that I never look at any marketing material until I start testing any of the rackets that I receive. But it was quite funny thinking about the reaction I made when I first saw the racket. I just went, ehhh..?!
Review Of Appearance & Materials Of Victor Auraspeed Fantome Badminton Racket
Despite that initial shock, I do really like how the racket turned out in terms of looks. It felt quite bare, but the purple colour scheme with the holographic detail that's on the racket turned out quite well in my opinion and I like it!
There were two types of new material and technology that was promoted by Victor on this racket, the PBO High-Performance Fibre and the Nano Aerogel, but you can't see them visually on the racket so we’ll wait to see if it feels differently when testing later on!
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Specifications & Measurements Of Victor Auraspeed Fantome Badminton Racket
In terms of specs, the Auraspeed Fantome comes with a racket frame height of 23 1/2 cm and a width of 18 1/2 cm. With my version of frame thickness measurement, the one that’s from the side, I measured the Fantome’s frame thickness to be at 10.7 mm, which is pretty thick compared to other Auraspeed rackets but totally normal in the modern world of badminton rackets.
So when measuring the thickness from the front of the frame, I measured the Fantome to have a thickness of 5.4 mm, which is close enough to the advertised 5.0 mm. But is this a big difference in thickness compared to other rackets?
Here is a list of some recent rackets that I have measured:
Hundred Battle 900: 6.4mm
Yonex Nanoflare 700 Pro: 6.3mm
Second generation Yonex Astrox 88D Pro: 6.4mm
Victor Auraspeed 100X Ultra: 6.4mm
So as you can see, most rackets are slightly above the 6 mm mark, whereas this Fantome is 1 mm thinner. Every mm counts, so I’m keen to see if I can feel any difference during testing!
I also want to mention that the recessed area on the bracket frame is approximately 60% on this model. I have noticed Auraspeeds tend to have a recessed area of around 40% on the top half of the racket frame, but this one has 60% which is slightly different.
As for the rest of the racket, it had a shaft length of 21.5 cm and a shaft diameter of 7.2 mm. The 7.2 mm shaft diameter from the Fantome has been equalled as the thickest shaft from Victor rackets that I have tested so far. The other 7.2mm shaft Victor badminton rackets are the Victor Auraspeed 90K 2 and the Thruster Ryuga Metallic.
The Fantome is then connected to a free core handle, which has a length of 17 cm. This test model is also a 4U G5 model and is rated to a string tension of 29 lbs. I have the racket strung to my usual string settings with Yonex Aerobite (UK here, US here) at 27 lbs x 29 lbs.
I often also get this question of why I string all the rackets I test with Aerobite at the same tension. Well, for me, I think it's incredibly important to be as consistent as possible for each racket test. I want to be able to tell you guys accurately if a racket is feeling softer, stiffer, and every other little detail in between. And having a consistent string and string tension would allow me to feel, identify, and compare much better.
Playing Feel & Performance Of Victor Auraspeed Fantome Badminton Racket
In terms of playing feel, the first thing I felt was that this boy is head-heavy! However, it also feels quite soft. Many of you would consider the Yonex Nanoflare 700 Pro (UK here, US here) a racket that has a gentler and softer feel because of its more forgiving and slightly more flexible racket shaft. In my test, I thought the Fantome felt softer than the 700 Pro! Softer but not exactly spongy, just a good level of damped feeling.
So to me, the Fantome does have some specific set of specs that’s quite unique because it's a head-heavy racket with a nice, damped hitting feeling. And because of the head weight, anything overhead is very lovely and incredibly easy to generate power. It’s also quite a nice, user-friendly racket to play with as it's quite forgiving.
Personally, I also enjoyed the sound that comes off the racket as well. Normally, it's the strings that contribute to the majority of the sound generation. However, the racket frames do make some difference, and I liked what I felt and heard coming off this one.
However, because of the head heaviness and the slightly more flexible response, I felt I had to adjust my squeeze timing on the racket quite a bit, as the shots that require a bit more finesse suffered a bit in my first session of playing with the Fantome.
Shots that also required sharp, fast inputs, such as fast lifts and drives, which focus on finger squeezing, felt slightly slower because of the head heaviness. Additionally, I also felt my deltoids were very tired during my training session, especially during defence practice. It was a high-intensity session, and the head heaviness made me struggle a little.
In conclusion, I was quite surprised at how head-heavy this racket was, especially when this was marketed as an Auraspeed, although I really enjoyed how easy it was to get good, clean shots with power. This makes the Fantome pretty easy to play, and even with its head heaviness, it was forgiving, and that makes it something that’s really quite enjoyable to play with.
Did the 5mm frame thickness make it any faster? I’m not too sure really. Yes, it swings fast and smooth, but blind folded, I’m not sure many of us would’ve felt much difference.
Is it the fastest badminton racket out there? I don’t think so, but it’s one that feels good and one that I’m happy to recommend to you guys!
Let me know what your thoughts are on this purple machine, don't forget to use my code 'CKYEW' for extra discounts, and I’ll see you in the next one!
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