The Yonex Nanogy (NBG) 98 badminton string is a pretty popular string. It has various ups and downs, but overall, it is an excellent choice as a badminton string for control players. After playing with the string for some time, I do feel like this string has been branded in the wrong category by Yonex though. Let’s talk a little more about it in my Yonex Nanogy 98 badminton string review.
Summary – Yonex NBG 98 Review
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Power: 7/10
Control: 8.5/10
Durability: 8.5/10
Recommended For: Control Players
Average Price: ~$10-20 USD
Where To Buy: Amazon.com
Power, Really?
I can’t say much about the power with the Yonex Nanogy 98 badminton strings. They’re not the best strings for power I’ve used, but they get the job done.
Coupled with my Yonex Duora 10 racket, the repulsion power of this string isn’t as good as Yonex makes it out to be. Sure, my smashes, clears, net kills, and drives still feel okay, but the power just isn’t deserving of the rating of 10, the same as the Yonex BG66 Ultimax, that Yonex gave it.
I would say that the Yonex Nanogy 98 badminton string’s power is about the same as the Yonex BG65 badminton string and thus I give it a rating of 7 out of 10.
Don’t get me wrong, smashes and clears still feel decent with these strings. I just needed to add in a little bit of extra strength in my swings to get the power that I wanted, and it doesn’t have the satisfying sound other strings produce.
I would consider the power on these strings good if Yonex did not put it a part of their Repulsion Power string lineup. It just feels out of place and better as a control string.
At least, that is my opinion in my review of the Yonex Nanogy 98 badminton string. Do you have different thoughts? Comment below.
Control, Where The Nanogy 98’s Strength Really Is
Yonex should have branded this string as a control string. My ability to play accurate and clean shots improved when I played with these strings. The extent of how much my accuracy improved was genuinely astounding.
I was switching back and forth with the Yonex BG80 while playing and I found that the Yonex Nanogy 98 had a notable difference than the BG80. Although both are branded as power strings, my smashes were significantly weaker than the BG80, but my accuracy was substantially better.
I also found that I was able to net roll more and play extremely tight net shots and drops that my brother had an adamant time returning. Clears and smashes were also towards the sidelines and in the corners allowing me to put extra pressure on my opponent.
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Another shot where my skill increased significantly was my overhead backhand shots.
Usually, my backhand shots would often be a little too high above the net. It would be enough for my opponent to net kill and get easy points.
But with the Yonex Nanogy 98, I saw that my backhand, while not as powerful, hit shots that were way tighter to the net which my opponent could not net kill.
It really does feel quite good coupling the Yonex Nanogy 98 with the Yonex Duora 10 racket. Everything just feels so smooth and relaxed when I play with this combination. I highly recommend using this string if you’re a control player that plays similarly to Chen Long.
The power is enough, and the control is excellent.
It doesn’t take my top spot for a control string as of May 20, 2019, though. The Yonex BG66 Ultimax still remains as both the best control and power string. But getting the Yonex Nanogy 98 still has advantages.
Durability, The String’s Secret Ability?
What the Yonex Nanogy 98 doesn’t have in the extra power or control sectors, they have in the durability. This Yonex string seems to be quite durable.
This is one of the strings that we put a lot of pressure on, by accident. Let me tell you a story about this string while I was testing it.
The Yonex Duora 10, coupled with the Nanogy 98, is what my brother uses. He doesn’t like this using the Nanogy 98 because of the lack of power, so he wanted to try and break the strings. The catch is, he didn’t want to use scissors just to snip it up.
So then, we played a smashing game. My brother smashed as hard as he could multiple times with the strings. Once he was tired, he took a look at his strings, and saw absolutely no signs of wear at all. I took a look at it and told him, “Let me try, my smashes are stronger.”
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With my stronger smashes and being known as someone who breaks strings all the time, I took the racket, jumped up a whipped the shuttle down. Then the shuttle came up, and I whipped it as hard as I could again. Then I did it over and over, again and again, and finally got tired.
I looked at the racket. There was not a single sign of the string breaking and mind you, the Duora 10 was already strung with the Yonex Nanogy 98 for half a year now.
The Yonex Nanogy 98 is 0.66 mm thick and comes with Multifilament as well as Cup-Stack Carbon Nanotube technology in the strings. This makes the string a lot more durable compared to other Yonex strings.
The main reason I didn’t give the Yonex Nanogy 98 a higher rating in the durability section is that other strings could potentially be better performing in this category. The main strings contesting right now are the Yonex BG85 and the Yonex BG65 which both have shown pretty good durability so far.
However, I haven’t had either of those strings break on me yet, and all three don’t look like they’re going to break anytime soon either. But because Yonex and other people rate the Yonex BG65 as the most durable string, I will respect that opinion and lower my score on the Yonex Nanogy 98.
Conclusion – A Top Badminton String Overall
I recommend the Yonex Nanogy 98 string to control players despite being listed as a power string. I feel like the power just isn’t up to par with the other repulsion power strings, yet the control factor is almost rivaling the Yonex BG66 Ultimax which is the best one I’ve played with.
But power certainly isn’t lacking, and durability is one of its strong points too. So now it just comes down to price.
I am happy to tell you that this string ranges in the same price range that other Yonex strings are in which is about $10-20 USD.
Any questions or comments? I would love to hear what you have to say and will respond as soon as possible. Thank you for reading my Yonex Nanogy 98 badminton string review!
Hi i just wanted to know too if the nbg 95 has also good power? Since yonex rated it as 8/10 in repulsion. So if you rated nbg 98 as 7/10, how would you rate nbg nbg 95 with your own testing. Anyway, Thank you for your contents mate.
Hi, for all my reviews, I base them on my own experience using products in comparison to products I have used before. I look at the Yonex categories as well as other reviews after just to see what other people are saying. So since I haven’t actually tested the NBG 95 yet, I can’t really give a rating. I would imagine it would feel like a BG65 string given its thickness of 0.69 mm, but I don’t know for sure. When COVID restrictions are lifted, I’ll make sure to test the NBG 95 next. Sorry I couldn’t help much.