I had a great meeting with my local Yonex representative last Tuesday.

I’d been looking forward to this because I knew he had the new Voltric 70 in his bag and the main reason for this meeting was to show me this new racquet together with other new racquets that had/were about to be launched in UK.

Whenever a new racquet is about to be launched in UK, it’s an exciting time. It’s also frustrating as we always seems to be last to bring the racquet to market. On with my story…

Out came the racquet in a full cover. There’s no mistaking this is a new range, not just a new racquet. There was the name “Voltric” on the the racquet bag.

In no time I had the racquet out of the bag and disappeared for a few minutes to have a good swish around.

First impressions

You’ve probably seen the pictures by now so you’ll know the racquet is a combination of black, white and red – it looks good.

The most striking part of the racquet was the ultra thin frame, which looked thinner than Nanospeed 9900 in places. And then, at certain points on the racquet there was a bulge. This is where the strength, weight, and sound filters are positioned.

Yes, you read correctly, this racquet has sound filters built in. Please don’t ask me why, but, I can tell you that the racquet doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever used before.

OK, so what does this racquet feel like? The racquet was a 4UG4 which is the thinner of the grip sizes available in UK. I’m not sure whether the final racquets on the shelves will be the same as this model as there has been a tendency for Yonex only to provide 3U weighted racquets in UK.

First impressions are very favourable. There is some weight in the head which is reminiscent of Armortec 900 Power or Arcsaber Z Slash. In addition to this, the shaft is thinner so I expect will be a little bit whippier. This added to the aerodynamic frame gives this racquet a lot of speed and I expect, this will translate into a fair amount of power too.

This is almost a combination of the best of Z Slash, Armortec and Nanospeed ranges.

Summary

Sadly, I wasn’t able to keep the racquet and therefore provide a full review. What I can say from my limited time with this racquet is that it’s an exciting combination that could be THE game changer for many players. It won’t have the timing issues of Z Slash, but has many of its positive characterics.

Release date in UK is 1st December so watch out for another full review in due course.

Is the future with Voltric technology? That remains to be seen. I can tell you there are plans for a Voltric 5 and 7 and I suspect we will shortly see the emergence of the Voltric range, and sadly be waving goodbye to our trusty friends Armortec series.