Badminton Racket First Impressions: Karakal M-Tec 70 Gel Iso

The first time that struck me about this racket was how good it looked - white body with black tattoos all over the head, ending with the striking red and black Karakal logo at the T-Joint.

The specs of the racket are printed on the 2 and 10 o'clock positions of the racket head, something that I've not seen often, leaving the shaft free for some pretty awesome (insert sarcasm here) decals.

Karakal are known for their superlight rackets, and the M-Tec 70 Gel Iso is among the lightest they have to offer alongside the oval-headed SL70 Gel.

Another observation apart from how nice it looked was the weight difference between the unstrung and strung racket. What felt like 70g unstrung bloated to what felt like a respectable 80-85g after the Yonex BG66 Ultimax was applied at 26lbs.

The racket also came default with a black Karakal Super PU Grip, a nice surprise after the wrapper was torn off the handle.

And the surprises kept on coming!

On the court the racket was a dream, sending clears high and far, drops clean and controlled, smashes fast and hard. The slight complaint I can make is the lack of control that I experienced from the straight smashes and offensive cross-court clears.

Otherwise the Karakal M-Tec 70 Gel Iso is a very pleasant surprise. I spent about 1.5 hours on the court with it, playing mostly singles.

More to come when I get a better feel it the racket.