Yonex Nanospeed 100 Racquet in Blue&Silver

Yonex Nanospeed 100 Racquet in Blue&Silver

The Nanospeed series are head-light racquets developed to increase racquet head speed, which can increase power and yet still be lightning fast around the net and in defensive situations. Do they live up to the hype?

Introducing the Yonex Nanospeed 100, a good looking racquet in silver, purple and black graphics. An alternative colour scheme with pink is also available. It arrived in a three quarter length cover which is a surprise as all racquets so far have been in full covers. That said, I prefer these covers as they’re great for practicing armchair exercises (see my videos).

I recently reviewed the top of the range Nanospeed 9900 so whilst I’m relatively unfamiliar with this series, I can at least compare to the very best.

Out of the bag, what initially surprised me was the loo of the racquet. At this time I hadn’t read the specifications, but something was different.  Then  I read the text on the shaft “light weight/headlight balance/long size. Mmm.

Out comes the Nanospeed 9900 (which I’m currently testing again) and wow, this 100 racquet is marginally longer. Butt to butt, the handle is slightly shorter by around 1.5cm, the ferrule is longer by around 2cm and the shaft is longer by around 1cm.

The head itself has a thicker frame by 0.5cm which reflects the difference in ingredients and is therefore not as strong as 9900. It’s also not quite as light in the head albeit marginally.

Technical specs re weight and grip size are as follows. 3U (85-89g) G3 larger grip size. Good retailers have the tools to alter grip size to suit so it’s relatively quick and easy to customise your racquet to meet your exact requirements.

String tension is very good so the racquet is ready to play, straight out of the bad. It would appear that Yonex have chosen to increase factory stringing tensions on all of their better racquets these days and what a difference. This can save you up to £15, not having to have your racquet re-strung in order to play at your standard.

Compared to 9900 this isn’t particularly head light. It’s marginally lighter than Yonex Armortec range so a little bit faster around the net and in defence.

The racquet also has a flexible shaft so I was expecting a fair amount of “whip” with power shots.

I wondered what difference it would make with this “long” racquet so was looking forward to testing. Power shots are crisp, once you make the adjustment to the flexible shaft which takes very little time. There is a fraction of “delay” as you would expect when moving the racquet at speed as the head lags behind a little but you’re more than compensated when the power comes through.

Around the net the racquet will not disappoint. It’s very similar to many of the Armortecs I’ve tested as there is still some weight in the head.

RRP is a mere £30.00 so at this price it really is a fantastic bargain. I’ve rated this four stars which may be a bit generous but the price alone is staggering for this quality.

The Yonex Nanospeed 100 racquet plays well and will suit social and club players. It’s a bit head heavy for me although balanced well and looks great.