Yonex Target Swing Weights

[Curtennis]

Huge Yonex fan, but I find myself wondering why their average (targeted?) swing weights are so low.
I’m not saying poor QC, but the actual spec that TW comes out with. It’s abundantly clear that Yonex is consciously trying to get sub 320 on all their main frames, including the more advanced lines/versions.
Ezone 98: 318
Vcore 98: 318
Percept 310: 315
Percept 100d: 318
Vcore 95: 321 (this is several points higher than the last gen)

Yes they’ve come out with tours and H model, but still seems odd to me that their main lines are all targeted like this. 98 versions and Percepts should already be more of an advanced stick anyways.

This is not coming from someone who thinks you need a sledgehammer to play rec tennis. I’m not even criticizing, I’m just genuinely curious why they want to position themselves in the market like this.

Are they assuming people will add lead? Do they think that this is just what the market wants and suits a wider range of audience?

The following are racquets from brands that compete directly with something from the aforementioned Yonex lineup:

Blade: 324 and 330 (18m)
Aero 98: 327
Pure strike: 330 and 332 (18m)
Rad MP: 323
Prince ATS: 325
Whiteout: 327 and 324 (18m)
Prestige MP: 334
Pro Staff (yeah it’s 315 grams): 325

I’m not complaining. I’m just genuinely curious what everyone thinks is their marketing or engineering strategy behind this.

 

[aaron_h27]

I have 2 2022 Ezone 98's that came with 303 SW strung

I have 3 SV 95's that came with 307-308 SW strung.

strung with Poly Tour Pro 1.20

I had a DR 98 a while back and im pretty sure that had a healthy SW of around 322

 

[aaron_h27]

Huge Yonex fan, but I find myself wondering why their average (targeted?) swing weights are so low.
I’m not saying poor QC, but the actual spec that TW comes out with. It’s abundantly clear that Yonex is consciously trying to get sub 320 on all their main frames, including the more advanced lines/versions.
Ezone 98: 318
Vcore 98: 318
Percept 310: 315
Percept 100d: 318
Vcore 95: 321 (this is several points higher than the last gen)

Yes they’ve come out with tours and H model, but still seems odd to me that their main lines are all targeted like this. 98 versions and Percepts should already be more of an advanced stick anyways.

This is not coming from someone who thinks you need a sledgehammer to play rec tennis. I’m not even criticizing, I’m just genuinely curious why they want to position themselves in the market like this.

Are they assuming people will add lead? Do they think that this is just what the market wants and suits a wider range of audience?

The following are racquets from brands that compete directly with something from the aforementioned Yonex lineup:

Blade: 324 and 330 (18m)
Aero 98: 327
Pure strike: 330 and 332 (18m)
Rad MP: 323
Prince ATS: 325
Whiteout: 327 and 324 (18m)
Prestige MP: 334
Pro Staff (yeah it’s 315 grams): 325

I’m not complaining. I’m just genuinely curious what everyone thinks is their marketing or engineering strategy behind this.

I think because Yonex generally does more headlight rackets compared to the other brands in the same weight class.

The Ezone 98 is targeted as 6 pts HL strung and the Blade/Pure Aero are more so 3-4 pts HL.

The Pro Staff 97 has a nice SW but thats a 315 gram racket...

 

[PurcellPower]

What if their target swingweights are part of the engineering and the frame is designed to play best at that target? Just a thought. And maybe they don’t want to have a US spec and an Asian market spec so they just do one based on that design and don’t really care that the US market prefers heavier SW (which is also not true for everyone despite what it seems like on this forum).
Other than that guess, I have no clue. Interesting question. I play 2 2022 Ezone 98s.

 

[ollinger]

A study found the average Japanese man's hand length to be 190 mm, while it was 202 mm for the average American man. Perhaps the Japanese home market prefers a racquet that demands a little less leverage capability.

 

[Nate7-5]

I would rather it be too low than too high. The lead I do today is usually 1-2g at 12.

 

[snoflewis]

i think that's what helps them be competitive. they have stable sticks that aren't unwieldy with high swingweight or twistweights. they respond quite well to additional weight as well. there isn't much point to a 305g stick that needs 20g to make it swing decently in my opinion