Best Badminton Strings

A common misconception of beginner badminton players is that they need to buy 200$+ rackets in order to have great feeling shots. As a result of this, players will often end up spending more money over what could’ve been easily accomplished by just a simple purchase of new strings and stringing service.

Ask any advanced or advanced-intermediate player at the club and they will tell you that a racket’s strings are usually as important as or more important than the racket itself, provided that the racket has decent construction (price range 60-200+).

This article will cover some of the strings I’ve used over my years of playing badminton, in which I will cover what level the player should be to use this string as well as the attributes of the strings such as repulsion, control and durability.

Best Badminton Strings: Summary

If you don’t read any other part of this article, read this brief section.

For beginners, I’d suggest sticking with BG 65s at around 24lbs till you start to see improvement in your technique, after that you can decide between some of the strings I’ve listed here or some other strings that interest you.

For advanced and intermediate players, hard hitters should stick with BG66 Ultimax and Zymax 65, control players should try the BG80, BG80 Power or Zymax 66 Fire.

For advanced and intermediate players, hard hitters should stick with BG66 Ultimax and Zymax 65, control players should try the BG80, BG80 Power or Zymax 66 Fire.

How to Choose a Badminton String

First, let’s learn a little bit about how to choose badminton strings.

Badminton String Material

Badminton strings can either be a monofilament or multifilament. Monofilament strings are made out of only one material which is typically polyester for badminton racquets. These strings are very durable but transmit alot of vibrations.

Multifilament strings are composed of a mixture of different materials. This gives them a much more comfortable feel than monofilament strings. Most badminton strings are composed of a mixture of Nylon, Vectran , Zyex and Kevlar.

Multifilament strings generally have lower durability compared to a string composed of only one material due to this mixture of different materials. However, multifilament strings have one major advantage in that they are highly elastic strings. This means that they generate more power.

Tension and The Sweetspot

Tension is how tight the badminton strings are pulled when stringing the racquet. Generally the higher the tension, the smaller the sweetspot. This is why I recommend beginners start out with a lower tension on their badminton strings. A bigger sweetspot will give you more forgiveness for off-center hits and allow you to get the most of your badminton racket.

Lower tension also gives you more power in your badminton racquet. Once you start developing your badminton skills, you might want to move up your string tension. As your string tension increases, the size of the sweetspot decreases but you gain more control over the shuttle.

Top 7 Badminton Strings

#1 Yonex BG 65

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One of the most popular strings in badminton, used by a wide range of players, from beginners to advanced players. The Yonex BG65s are 0.70mm thick which give it extreme durability. The strings are so durable that I’ve seen rackets break before the BG65 snap. The soft feeling of the strings make it very popular for players who enjoy this type of feeling when they hit, players who don’t want as much softness will often string the BG65s at 28-30lbs.

The downsides of this string is that since the string is 0.70mm thick which by badminton standards is an above average thickness and thus reduces tension faster than thinner strings. This reduction in tension will often leave the racket feeling too spongey if the initial tension wasn’t high enough (28lb+). For advanced-intermediate players, loose BG65 strings won’t give them the control they need so stringing at higher tension is recommended for them.

A nice thing about these strings is that they come in many colors!

Overall this string can be used by any level of player, for beginner I would recommend (20-24lbs of tension), for intermediate and advanced I’d recommend somewhere between (25-28), however at the advanced level a player should be able to decide what kind of tension they want.

#2 Yonex BG 80

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Another very popular Yonex string that’s often used by intermediate and advanced players. This is a string that I’ve personally used 3 times myself (BG80 x2 and BG80 Power x1). It comes in at 0.68mm which is thinner than the BG65 and is a decent thickness for a string. It has good repulsion for a string at high tension but the hard feeling is why some players avoid it.

(Many colors too!)

This is a string I don’t recommend for beginners as their hitting technique is not developed enough for them to generate good power using this string. Beginner players may feel like they are hitting a wall when using this string and generating a lot less power compared to if they were using a medium or soft feeling string.

For intermediate and advanced players, they will be able to generate good power using this string so the hard feeling is something they welcome because they will be able to place the shuttle exactly where they want it to go. Even then however, there will be some players at those levels who still want more repulsion. This is why I suggest to go for the following string.

#3 Yonex BG80 Power

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To try and attract the group of players that stay away from this string due to its hard feeling, Yonex created the BG80 Power to give extra power to the original design of the BG80. This version of the BG80 has all the same properties as the original however generating power is easier with this string.  I’d suggest players who are looking into the BG80 to look into the BG80 Power first and see if that this is the string that fits them.

#4 BG 66 Ultimax

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This is string comes in at 0.65mm which is quite thin for a badminton string. The thinness of the string gives it a very strong repulsion as well as a medium feel. Currently this string is my personal favorite and I use it with 2 of my rackets at the moment. The strings also have a medium feeling which is a perfect middle ground for people who want control but don’t want that hard feeling that comes with other strings.

The main downside of this string is that since the string is so thin, repeated hits in the non-center areas of the string bed will result the strings snapping. Some players have said that these strings may break within a month to a few months depending on frequency of play and the skill of the player. Players who have excellent hitting technique but end up missing may pop the strings while doing a powerful smash.

With my personal experience, I feel that the string will last long enough that it would make it worth its purchase while delivering excellent power and control.

Intermediate and Advanced players should suggest looking into this string if they enjoy lots of power and good control.

#5 Ashaway ZyMax 65

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The Ashaway Zymax 65 come in at 0.65mm just like the Ultimax and shares a lot of the same properties. The one difference is that these strings compared amongst each other and the ZyMax 65 are often said to retain the initial stringing tension for longer than the BG66 Ultimax.

I’ve used this string twice on the same racket, the first time I strung it, and the string broke within 1 practice session. Maybe this was due to a defect in the string or maybe I didn’t stretch the string enough with lighter hits before going into power smash mode.

I decided however to give it a second chance because it could’ve been a defect or some other cause. The second set of strings lasted a few months (fortunately) so I think that there may have just been a defect or maybe the strings were not stretched enough before doing power hits.

The feeling is fairly similar to the ultimax, great power due to strong repulsion and good control with a medium feel.

#6 Ashaway 66 Fire

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If I had to place this string somewhere, it would be a spot between the BG80 and the ZyMax 65 as it has a similar hard like feeling and lots of repulsion. This string quickly became a favorite of players who enjoy the BG80 as well as players who liked the ZyMax 65.

This string would be considered more of a control string over a pure power hitting string, so for players looking for more placement and control, this string may be another choice to decide between.