Voltric Z-Force (original)
Model VTF · Lee Chong Wei
Price history
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Voltric Z-Force: Lee Chong Wei won two titles with it before it reached shops
Two titles before launch day
Lee Chong Wei opened 2012 with a racquet nobody could buy. At the Korea Open in the first week of January he beat Lin Dan in the final, 12–21, 21–18, 21–14, with an unfamiliar frame and a white grip, and a BadmintonCentral thread opened on January 4 was soon trading guesses about what it was. A week later he won his eighth Malaysia Open, 21–6, 21–13 over Kenichi Tago. Yonex then named the racquet: the Voltric Z-Force, which it said he had used since the Korea Open and which went on sale worldwide on March 3, 2012. At the All England days later Yonex quoted him saying he felt an improvement with every new racquet. He reached the final there but retired with a shoulder injury, trailing Lin Dan 19–21, 2–6.
Yonex’s most head-heavy Voltric
Yonex’s February 2012 release set out the aim: a heavy smash that wins the point outright. The Z-Force was the most head-heavy design in the Voltric series, with a thicker frame all round for rigidity and a compacted frame face so the heavy head still swung through quickly. Its Tri-Voltage System, which Yonex describes as common to the Voltric line and which the Voltric 70 and 80 already carried, enlarges the frame’s cross-section at 10 and 2 o’clock and around the joint, slims the frame sides and uses tungsten to set the balance. The shaft used Nanopreme, a carbon-nanotube material Yonex said took more than five years to develop, and Yonex called it the thinnest shaft it had made. The racquet was extra stiff, made in Japan in Bright Green, 3U and 4U, at ¥24,000 before tax in Japan. Yonex’s launch smash figure, 19.0 kgf from a Tan Boon Heong smash, measured impact force, not shuttle speed; Tan’s record smashes came on the ArcSaber Z-Slash and the Nanoray Z-Speed.
Lee Chong Wei, 2012 to 2014
Before the Z-Force, Yonex’s player page listed the Voltric 80 for Lee; it showed the Z-Force by March 2, 2012. In May its Thomas Cup report credited the Z-Force LTD, a limited cosmetic edition, and in September it listed the LTD again as he won his third Japan Open without dropping a game. That title returned him to world No. 1, which he had lost in June after a record 199 consecutive weeks. Yonex lists the standard Z-Force for his ninth Malaysia Open in January 2013 and for the 2013 World Championship final, where cramp forced him to retire against Lin Dan at 17–20 in the third game. It still listed him on it in January 2014; by that March he had the Z-Force II. The match most often attached to the racquet is the one no source documents. Lee lost the London 2012 final to Lin Dan 15–21, 21–10, 21–19, and retail copy sells the LTD as an “Olympic edition,” but Yonex never used that name and no Yonex, BWF or press report names his racquet in London.
The LTD, the Z-Force 88 and a code clash
Yonex’s item code for the racquet is VTZF. The similarly named Voltric Force, which Yonex coded VT-F, is a different, Taiwan-made racquet that Yonex USA listed from 2015 to 2020; it has its own page. Yonex calls the standard color Bright Green; a 2012 reviewer described a matte black, dark-green and white finish with metallic lime flashes. In 2012 Yonex added Limited Edition Models with special cosmetics for three Voltrics, the Z-Force among them, and Yonex USA listed the Voltric Z-Force LTD (VTZFLTD) in white and gold with the standard specification; the LTD has its own page. Late that year came the Z-Force 88, a retro-painted frame sold as marking Yonex founder Minoru Yoneyama’s 88th birthday. Owners posting on BadmintonCentral from December 2012 reported frames individually numbered out of 12,000; no Yonex announcement of it is documented. Its successor, the Voltric Z-Force II, arrived in February 2014 and has its own page.
A short run
Verified sales of the original Z-Force are few so far, all pre-owned standard frames from Asia resale, so the value shown above is an estimate. The LTD and the Z-Force II are separate models with their own pages, and many listings say only “Z-Force,” which could mean either generation. Its time in shops was short: Yonex Japan classes it as a 2013 production end, and Yonex announced the Z-Force II in January 2014. Yonex’s launch release set a target of 60,000 racquets a year across Japan and export markets. That is a sales goal, not a production figure, and Yonex never said how many were made. The racquet was sold to be played with, so most surviving examples are strung, gripped and used. Check which edition a listing offers before comparing it with anything else: the green standard frame, the white-and-gold LTD and the numbered retro Z-Force 88 are three different things.
Copies from the first year
A flagship tied to the world No. 1 was an obvious target, and copies appeared within a year of launch. In March 2013 a BadmintonCentral member set a counterfeit bought from a club player beside a friend’s genuine 4U. The copy reproduced the Tri-Voltage bulges, the green flashes, the decals and the butt cap well enough to pass at a glance. The differences showed on inspection: the fake flexed more, its shaft was a few millimeters longer, the code on its shaft was easier to read than the faint one on the genuine frame, and the small reflective “Yonex” behind the hologram logo looked slightly off. Other members noted that counterfeiters were already using plausible serial numbers, so a believable serial proves little on its own. The Z-Force 88 adds its own wrinkle. Taiwan-coded frames numbered out of 12,170 also surfaced, which owners put down to a late extra batch; Yonex has published no explanation.
The template for the Z-Force II
The Z-Force set the recipe its successor refined: the Voltric line’s most head-heavy balance at the time, a very thin extra-stiff shaft and a compact head. Yonex Japan billed the Z-Force II as having the thinnest shaft yet and a powered-up Tri-Voltage System. Reviews were positive with reservations. UK coach Paul Stewart gave the original four stars for overhead power, feel and accuracy, and found it slower than the Voltric 80 in quick exchanges at the net. Yonex said Tan Boon Heong, Koo Kien Keat, Peter Gade and Carsten Mogensen switched to it in 2012, and professionals kept playing it after production ended. Yonex’s report of the October 2015 French Open lists Chou Tien Chen, the defending champion, on the Voltric Z-Force in the final, which he lost 21–13, 21–18 to Lee Chong Wei and his new Duora 10.
Yonex’s item code is VTZF, and the frame should be marked Made in Japan. Weigh the frame unstrung against Yonex’s bands: 4U is 80–84.9 g and 3U is 85–89.9 g. The standard frame is Bright Green; white and gold is the Z-Force LTD, and a retro finish carrying an edition number is the Z-Force 88. A “Voltric Force” or VT-F is a different, Taiwan-made racquet. If you can, flex the frame beside a known-genuine Z-Force: the documented 2013 counterfeit flexed more, had a slightly longer shaft and a shaft code that was easier to read. Check the hologram under good light for a crisp secondary “Yonex” in the reflective layer. Yonex’s own guidance: production codes on the cone are laser-engraved, a genuine hologram sticker is hard to lift, and a counterfeit butt cap is often the wrong shade of green.
Buy on condition and identity. This is an extra-stiff frame more than a decade old, so ask for close photographs of the head, the T-joint and the shaft, and look for cracks, repairs and repainting. Confirm the edition before paying for one: standard, LTD or Z-Force 88. Treat any claim that a frame is the London 2012 racquet, or an “Olympic edition,” as unproven, since no Yonex record names the racquet Lee used in that final. The Z-Force II carries the same idea in a later frame.
Verified prices last updated Apr 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.