Babolat & Yonex bags. Opinions?
- Thread starter Shaolin
- Start date
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
The zippers on Babolat bags have become worse in the last 3-4 years while they used to be solid before that. Since I play with Babolat racquets, I use their bags out of a misplaced sense of brand loyalty and I keep having to replace them within two years lately.
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socallefty
G.O.A.T.
The old bags were good - keep using it for as long as you can.
stapletonj
Hall of Fame
I have a babolat 12 pack that I like a lot. my only criticism is that the small "wallet and phone" pocket zips in the opposite direction of the others. When you sling it over your shoulder, if the zipper is not fully closed, real risk of the contents spilling out onto the ground. Real chance of that falling down onto the parking lot as you walk to the courts and dont even realize it. Other than that, best bag out there. Holding up well in 3rd year.
metadave
New User
I should mention the only knock on the bag I bought is the design of the middle section zipper. It looks as if I bought the 'Yonex Pro Racquet 9 Pack Bag Black' thats listed on TW (from a local store). It has a the ']' shape middle zipper compartment and tends to snag a bit on the corners when zipping up. A straight line zip would be preferred IMO, but I also store half of my practice balls for the ball machine inside.... so im not the standard case. Minor gripe at most though.
tlsmikey
Rookie
We have one babolat 6 bag and a yonex 6 bag. I think the quality is very similar with the nod going to yonex for what feel like slightly better zippers and better pockets, but they are both really close. What I don't understand is that neither of these bags have dual insulated pockets for the racquets. Each bag only has one insulated pocket compared to my wilson which has two. This seems like a strange oversight to me, so something to consider if you live in warmer climates.
RF_PRO_STAFF
Professional
Another Yonex bag fan here. Top quality.
I got a Babolat Aero 12 bag in 2012, or 2013.
Almost 7 years of good service.
Some small issues with the zippers, but nothing critical.
Had to change it, because it was looking beaten up, though honestly, if I knew what awaits me, I'd keep using it.
Ordered a Pro Kenex bag.
Overall solid, but people that designed it likely never played tennis.
The small compartments are totally unusable, and if you don't pay 100% attention every time, you'll likely lose your wallet or mobile phone one day due to poor design.
Then the zippers started to fail few weeks after purchasing.
Then the back strap failed so I sent it back.
Ordered a Head Elite bag.
Overall so far so good.
But man, those small pockets on Babolat bags, with proper design of zippers where you can fit everything, and even a bit more, that's un-beatable.
If you are like me: keys, mobile phone, wallet, RFID proof credit card holder, strings, overgrips - I think nothing will beat those Babolat bags
I have a Babolat Pure Aero bag I bought 1.5 years ago and it's still ok. I like the bag. One of the zippers on the side pocket can get stuck slightly but that's due to me not being careful.
I switched to Yonex rackets and will be switching to a Yonex bag too due to brand loyalty. I will be getting an "old" (last seasons) bag that got beat up on tour a lot but it still looks barely used.
So I guess the quality must be outstanding.
P.S.: I don't think the bag for a pro would be of higher quality than the retail ones. The strings, grips etc are also the same.
I switched to Yonex rackets and will be switching to a Yonex bag too due to brand loyalty. I will be getting an "old" (last seasons) bag that got beat up on tour a lot but it still looks barely used.
So I guess the quality must be outstanding.
P.S.: I don't think the bag for a pro would be of higher quality than the retail ones. The strings, grips etc are also the same.
funny
I had a Babolat bag for almost 7 years, and never had such issue
to the level where I took their design of small pockets to the industry standard
and when I took a Pro Kenex bag, that's precisely what happened
due to poor design of the small outside pocket and zipper weird direction, as soon as I didn't pay attention I was always at risk of losing something valuable
in my old Babolat Aero bag, the zipper was closing towards the shoulders
so, even a 95% closed zipper had virtually zero risk of losing valuable items
Pro Kenex on the other side was closing the zipper towards asphalt, so in a few days of using it, actually some items fell down
Shaolin
G.O.A.T.
I feel the same about the small compartments on my bag. It's designed by people who never played tennis in their life. It has a tiny pocket on the side at a slant so its easy for things to fall out and not big enough for anything either. The insides of the bag are black so it's hard to find things. Its durability has been great but I need something more functional and actually designed by tennis players.
the Babolat Pure 12 bag is great. i agree the smallest pocket on one side is abit on the smaller side.... but the rest works well... especially the 2 x thermo compartments. keeps my drinks and spare clothes cool in summer. the dedicated shoe compartment is also useful. it is big enough to fit a pair of "basketball shoes" to change after a session (currently it is a pair of retro Jordan 3)
i like racquet bags with shoulder straps on the top and a string handle strap.
i like racquet bags with shoulder straps on the top and a string handle strap.
order 6 of them and return 5.
If i wasn't set on TF bags (because they are burly and a top notch/best "string" brand doesn't
pigeon hole you into the whole BagMatchesRacquet silliness)....... I would do exactly that. Just
order ALL of the potential selections and return all that didn't make the cut.
Simple stuff (wow).
If i wasn't set on TF bags (because they are burly and a top notch/best "string" brand doesn't
pigeon hole you into the whole BagMatchesRacquet silliness)....... I would do exactly that. Just
order ALL of the potential selections and return all that didn't make the cut.
Simple stuff (wow).
quicksplitstep
New User
I posted the below on a different thread and thought it would be applicable to your question about insulation:
EXPERIMENT RESULTS BELOW
I'll start off by saying I'm not a scientist and that this experiment was a fun project for me. Please don't knock me for trying.
I've recently completed an experiment that clearly shows that the silver lined thermal insulated side of a tennis bags provides ZERO benefit vs. the non-thermal insulated side of the bag. I measured temperature readings of both sides of the bag every 15 minutes when the temperature outside was a cold 40 degrees F. I did this for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I ran this experiment twice and the results were the same.
Summary of the data:
- Both sides of the bag dropped in temperature at roughly the same rate during the experiment
- Shockingly, the silver lined insulated side of the bag ended up being 1.5 degrees LOWER than the insulated side of the bag.
My interpretation of the data:
- There is no benefit to most tennis bags marketed as being thermal insulated. In fact, you may actually be better off choosing a bag that doesn't have that silver lining because it may actually be counter productive AND that silver lining is fragile and ends up being a common failure point due to rips and tears. My best guess as to why it's performing worse - the lining might be made of something metallic and that metallic material is somehow responsible for the result. Not sure of the science behind this.
- The big racket companies may be lying to us. At the very least, they are promoting a feature that they didn't validate.
Can I ask if you are planning to experiment the opposite. How about say 95 degree F/35degree C and see if the silver thermo compartment will actually keep your cold drink cooler than the non-silver side?
Suggest you can measure two types of temperature - 1 x directly indie the comportment when open the zipper and 1 x the actual temperature of the cold drink from each compartment.
would love to see if this one makes any difference.
FlamingCheeto
Hall of Fame
VOLKL Bags are GOAT like, especially the ORANGE ones.
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Yeah, this.
The ThermoGuard and the like are to prevent things from getting too hot, at least from what I knew.
On the broader topic, I have never used Yonex bags but they get awesome reviews/feedback.
I have a Babolat 12 pack Aerowhatever and I love it. Recently I've been using my older, black/orange Wilson Burn 15 bag because I don't want to use my white Bab bag thru the outdoor winter season, and I'm finding that I REALLY miss all the small pockets of the Bab one, as well as the ability to separate dirty laundry/shoes.
quicksplitstep
New User
quicksplitstep
New User
Why don't you want to use a white bag during the cold season?
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Dirt, mostly.
Also, keeping the things inside cool is less of a concern, so a black and orange bag might actually keep things warmer during the winter.
My Yonex nine-pack bag is over a decade old and I see no reason to replace it. The only damage to another Yonex luggage bag came when the airline tore holes through the side when it was in the mechanized bin. Just purchased the large Yonex trolley bag and am looking forward to trying it once the pandemic is over.
RickySpanish
New User
I loathe babolat racquets but some some reason I bought an 8 racquet bag about 10 years ago. It's still in phenomenal shape despite frequent use.
