Yonex Astrox 88D Pro, 88D Game & 88D Tour Badminton Racket Video Comparison

Here are the quick links to my individual written reviews of the Astrox 88D Pro & the original 88D.

On this video, I am reviewing 3 88Ds.

These are the Yonex Astrox 88Ds that were launched in March 2021.

So the intention of this video is to give you a comparison between the Pro, the Tour & the Game in terms of physical properties & also playability.

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So, let’s get on with the reviews & let’s compare the 88D Tour & the 88D Pro.

The Pro is now stable in my bag at the moment & it’s going to be a racket I’m going to use a lot with the Astrox 100ZZ to compare other frames to in the future but I found it’s an absolutely brilliant racket. There is a full review already on my website which is www.badminton-coach.co.uk. There is also a video on YouTube with a comparison to the original Astrox 88D.

So you’re pretty aware that this is a great racket very very maneuverable, lots of power & I’ve really enjoyed using this racket over the last few months. So now we want to compare it to the other 2 rackets that I’ve been testing over the last few weeks.

So let’s start with the Game.

The Game you will already see has a different head shape, although colour scheme is absolutely identical, the only difference being the decal here says Game whereas on the D Pro, it just says Astrox. Racket length is the same, handle length is the same, shaft length is the same. But you will notice, there is a difference here in shape of the ferrule. There is also a difference in the thickness of the shaft. You’ll also find that this, the Game is a little bit more flexible compared to the D Pro you see that doesn’t bend quite as much. D Pro is manufactured in Japan, & the Game & the Tour are manufactured in Taiwan. So this is probably the furthest removed in terms of specs that we’re going to have compared to the original D Pro, but still a very very good racket in its own right.

We’ll talk about budgets later, but this is still a head heavy racket, this is got a balance point of 310 so it’s still good, it’s still head heavy. But again what we have noticed is the weight isn’t at the top of the head but there’s definitely weight here that carries the racket head through really, really well. It’s still quick, not as quick as the D Pro but it’s still a fast frame. But this is a budget racket.

One thing I will mention, this is a G5 grip, this is a G5 grip. For some reason the G5 grip on the Game & the Tour is slightly bigger than the Japanese model. No idea why, but it is ever so slightly bigger, not too much that it becomes a G4 but it’ll probably fit in somewhere in between, but just that’s just a quick little thing I did notice.

So we know that playability is good with this racket. Good in defense, good in attack.

Budget price for this racket, this is retailing for around about £80 in the UK whereas the D Pro is retailing for around about £150. So you more or less can buy two of these, for one of these. And for the intermediate player, this (the Game) could be an absolute bargain at £80. It’s a really really good racket. And as I say with it being slightly more flexible, not quite as heavy as this one, so therefore a little bit more forgiving, and a lot more familiar in feel to other Yonex rackets compared to the new head shape & the stiffness of this one. So you might actually find that this is going to be an absolute star for you in club badminton & you’re going to get a lot of value for money with the Game.

So well, worth a look at, if you get a chance to test it against this one then please do, you will feel the difference but it’s not going to be absolutely huge but it’s well worth testing. But as I say, you can more or less buy two of these for one of these. So in terms of going to club night if you get 2 of these if you break a string go & get your replacement, fantastic can’t do better than that.

Let’s have a quick look at the Tour.

Now, the Tour is a closer copy of the Pro. The head shape is the same & if I line them up, we’ll see the handle size is the same, ferrules are the same, they are both stiff shafts they are both the thinner shafts, so very, very close copy indeed. What you will see there is a Tour logo on this racket the same, we’ve only got the Astrox logo on this one.

Again, not quite as heavy as this, although the BP on this is 308. So it’s still a good head heavy racket. This is a stiffer shaft compared to the Game that you saw before and you’ve already seen me flex that one already.

So you got a good idea that this is a lot lot closer in terms of playability. Yes it’s a touch lighter in the head, but still maneuvers really really well. Yet again that G5 grip is slightly bigger than the Japanese version, but ever so slightly. So it just means you just going to have to watch it if you’re going to change your grips at all & watch the thickness a little bit, if you like to be a lot more specific. Aside from that 2 brilliant rackets, love the Tour as well. This is going to retail for around about £115 against £150. So saving there for you. Identical in looks apart from the one decal. So very, very good value for money, plays brilliant, nice quick racket as you would expect, still got power, still got maneuverability, which is what we’re really looking for. So that’s the Astrox 88D Tour.

So, there we have it, we’ve had the Game, we’ve got the Tour & we got the Pro, all three really good rackets in their own right.

Three different price points, so £80, £115 & around about £150 for the D Pro.

Really, really good value. I think they’re all great rackets as I said before, all maneuverable, one’s a little bit more forgiving with that medium flex shaft on the Game & is probably going to a suit a lot more plays of intermediate standard. But all three great rackets & well worth testing if you get a chance.

So there you are, look out for my website where I’ll do individual reviews of the Tour & the Game very soon. Please do subscribe to the channel so you can get further notifications on the next video where I will probably be reviewing the Astrox 88S comparing the Pro & the Tour & the Game. But for now three great Astrox 88’s.

I hope you enjoyed the video & I hope to see you again very soon.