So I gave away my old Carlton badminton racquet to a co-worker who complained that the racquets used by her church league were not very good. I figured that since I have no interest in using the racquet, it’s better that someone else uses it; lest it sit in my racquet bag forever. Besides, it’s about 15 years old. So I was probably going to junk it.

I would say that it is equivalent to your low-end full graphite racquet at Sportchek (~$60 CAD).

Good bye Powerflo BR (Boron)!

It’s was a good racquet—very light, medium flex, easy to defend. Good power for a racquet that light (It is called “powerflo” after all).

Surprisingly, it still has a very innovative design. The Powerflo series are distinct in that they were molded out of a single piece of graphite composite (KR – Kevlar, GR – Graphite, BR – Boron, CR – Ceramic): Frame, Shaft and Handle. Typically, badminton racquets have a wooden handle with the shaft glued in. It’s unfortunate that Carlton abandoned the design—it made the racquet super stable.

It is however not the best racquet in its class (I think the Yonex Cab 20 takes the cake for its generation). It is very unforgiving. The most annoying thing is the length of the handle. It is a little short in my opinion.

I insisted on not taking any money for it. Just not worth it in my eyes. (There are also surface cracks on the shaft, but they’ve been there forever, and the entire series of racquets were known for this defect).

I did wax sentimental for a bit. Kind of like giving away a pet to a household that can better take care of it (in this case, use it on a weekly basis). If only someone queued dramatic music while I reminisced about the many victories (and many, many losses), I’m sure there would have been tears.

Tai