Background

The Kawasaki badminton business has long been sold to Chinese business interests and nowadays is best understood as a mainland factory brand. They produce some fairly nice rackets in the budget and middle price tiers, attracting mostly a local Chinese customer base. They've produced some fairly well made racket series including the King rackets and Master Mao rackets. This K8ii racket is the middle tier of their King series, and is a fairly representation of Kawasaki rackets. In general, all the basic tech is there: 30/40T carbon, foam filling, hot melt, etc. Let's have a look.

Handling This is a reasonably head heavy 4u racket and plays like an offensive power stick. It's not particular easy to manoeuvre given its head weight. With default handles this racket has poor shock absorption and I had to remove the factory grip in order to rebuild the handle with cushion foam, otherwise it does hurt the forearm a little. Overall, shots feel very solid but the frame is a little wooden. The shaft is reasonably easy to flex, and has a interesting fluidity to its bounce.

Control The frame proves stable and the solid head guides birdies easily. The shaft is not quite rigid enough to offer extreme precision, but overall it offers a I've average birdie placement. Defensively the fluid shaft helps with pushing birdies back. At the net this racket is slightly clumsy.

Speed The K8ii is not particular fast, playing as fast as you would expect an average HH 4u rack to be. Swing speed is average, and it doesn't feel particularly sharp.

Power Good power, speed and extension are available on big hits. Angling on smashes is easy. Clears and drives go far as the heavoer head slings the birdies forward. The K8ii is an attacking racket and is power focused indeed. The shaft is reasonably easy to bend and the head nods nicely. This domain is where the K8ii excels.

Overall If you're looking to spend less than 150 AUD then Kawasaki's rackets offer better performance than the average Yonex Play/Game rackets but require a bit more experience to wield. Most higher end Kawasaki rackets I've tried has a stiffer, wooden feel and this K8ii is no different - but readily improved with a handle rebuild. This is an excellent power focused racket for its asking price, but does play one or two tiers lower than the top rackets from the Big 3, feeling a bit more like a racket from 10 years ago. Worth checking out if you're ever making Taobao orders.