Victor Super Waves 35 Review

 

 

Hey everybody, so my order finally came and I could not be more excited to try these two rackets out.   Last Thursday I ordered two Super Waves 35s after heading nothing but good things so I could see for myself if this was truly the racket that will stop me from looking any further. After playing for a few hours, here’s what I thought.....

Victor Super Waves 35

3U G2 (G4.5 equivalent?)

Balance Point -  300mm original grip (blue overgrip à 297mm)

                                295mm original grip (yellow overgrip à 292mm)

Stiffness – Slightly less than NS9900

String – both with BG80 at 25lbs.

Both TW code.

First Impressions – 

This is a really good looking racket by Victor, amongst the best if not the best looking one I have ever used (I kind of REALLY like the NS9900). Paint appears to be of excellent quality, a mixture of red, white, black and chrome. The racket felt very good when I swung them around, you could definitely feel the weight in the head (more so for the blue grip), and the stiffness can be felt too.

Warm Ups – 

Yellow- Clears were easy and smashes were great. The stiffness of the shaft really does help but this one was only slightly head heavy so I was a bit disappointed, although drives were quick. One thing that really stood out for me was how stable and solid the racket felt. Although I would never do this, but it felt as though this racket could really take a beating without me having to worry about it breaking.

Blue- My comment about stability and solidity apply here as well for the blue grip. They felt pretty similar except this one definitely had that POWER I was craving for. Clears were once again effortless and drives were still pretty good but smashes were out of this world.

Game Time – 

Yellow- When I was researching this racket I was really worried that my defence would suffer a fair bit but luckily the balance point definitely helped out here. Smash returns were quite effortless although much slower than when I use my RKEP racket. Smashes once again were quite good but it kind of irked me that they weren’t as hard as I was used to but this could be due to not playing for a week or so, definitely felt a bit rusty. Net shots were superb as I was able to “feel” the shots very well. The only thing that I had trouble with regards to the Yellow one was dropping the bird from the back, a shot that I’m usually quite proud of. Backhand drops though were no problem at all and were a lot more effortless than with my other rackets.

Blue- POWER. POWER. POWER. Although the balance point on this racket was not as high as in some other rackets I have used before, this thing was truly a cannon. Clears were effortless of course and smashes were simply out of this world, for me at least. Backhand clears were easy as well, same as with backhand drops and net shots. Once again, the problem I had was with forehand drop shots, they were quite inconsistent leading to a lot of easy kills. Defence was a bit slower but those armchair exercises by Paul Stewart were of great help. Thanks Paul! In anticipation of the arrival of this racket, I was doing a lot of those with a squash racket to work up some more strength. 

Conclusion – 

Both rackets played really well but the one thing I can say is that like what people have said, the balance points can really vary quite a bit. If you want a power racket, ask for a more head heavy one. This racket is definitely quite difficult to use. For the first game, I was constantly missing or not getting enough on my shots but after a little while, all shots were awesome. Control was generally great and once again, power was out of this world. Although it will take a few more sessions to fully be accustomed to this racket, I can truly without a doubt say this. I have found my racket. 

For ratings, I’ll be giving two scores for each category. The first one will be for the Yellow grip and the second one will be for the Blue grip. 

Power -                9/10       10/10

Control -              9/10       9/10

Defence -            9/10       8.5/10

Value -                  10/10     10/10

Feel -                     10/10     10/10

This is definitely not a beginner-friendly racket. It will take some time to get used to it and there is a chance that you might hurt your arm if you use one of a higher balance point... especially if you elect for high tensions as well. 

This review was done as a hobby and reflects my own feelings towards the rackets. You may not feel the same so it is important to try them out as much as possible before you open up your wallet (although this racket didn’t require me to open my wallet too wide XD).

Wallace