It's finally here! My new Yonex Precision 3.2 finally arrived!

I ordered back in December 2024 from a local badminton club as a Precision 3.0. I was told it would be a 6-month wait, so it took a bit longer than expected, but I was able to pay a portion of the purchase price by stringing a bunch of rackets during that time it took for the racket to arrive.

Background
The go-to machine for me for the past 15 years has been my Victor C-7027 paired with a Wise 2086. It has served me well and everything on it is still in top-notch shape, but I was looking to upgrade to a modern machine. I initially was looking for a used Yonex ES-5 ProTech, but those are hard to find locally or nationally, for that matter. The new Precision 8 was definitely on my wishlist, but out of my budget. I was also looking mainly at badminton-only machines because at this point in my life, i don't think I would take up tennis, nor want to do tennis rackets for other people. Ended up narrowing my choices down to Exthree-made machines are those are fairly accessible here in Canada, with machines from Victor (C-7032 Ultra), Li Ning (E5000), and Yonex (Precision 3.0). Had an offer for an used Li Ning E5000 as i wasn't sure which features it had (other E5000 lacked some features like pre-stretch and pull to activate), the newer ones were the cheapest out of the three, but it wasn't clear what version I was getting as my Li Ning rep didn't know as well. The Victor choice is the C-7032 Ultra; Victor Canada had these in stock, and price-wise they were about $1000 less than the Yonex Precision 3.0. At around the same time, I was looking at a new machine, one of my friends had an old OG C-7032 he was selling and gave me a pretty good deal on. I decided to grab his C-7032 and use it as a "trial run" to see how it liked it. I lacked many of the modern electronics and features of the current C-7032 Ultra, but it was the same form factor as Victor kept the same body style for the C-7032 series. After a few months with it, i decided to sell my C-7027+Wise to a friend and go for a new machine. I also had a buyer lined up for the C-7032 if and when i got my new machine. I decided to go for the Yonex Precision 3.0 over the C-7032 Ultra mainly for the looks; I like how bold and bright the colour scheme was, and just have Yonex machine or something different as most people i know have the Victor machines. I knew internally, it wasn't much different than the C-7032 Ultra, both being the latest badminton-only machines from Exthree and i was okay with spending a bit more for the yonex branding and colour scheme.

A few weeks after i ordered my Precision 3.0, Yonex released the Precision 3.2 and 5.2; the 3.2 it was just a minor update (upgraded bearings on the rails) so i was okay if my machine was still the 3.0. My order ended up getting upgraded to the 3.2 without any added costs.

Got the message on Friday that my machine arrived at the Yonex Canada warehouse and that I could pick it up directly from them that day, which I promptly requested, as their warehouse was only around 10 minutes from my work.

Got it all loaded up! Barely fits, but we got it to work lol The machine came in two boxes - one larger one for the tension unit and turnable and one for the stand and base

Box 1 (Tension Head + Turntable): 114 x 52.5 x 45 cm / 45.16 kg (Gross Weight)
Box 2 (Base + Stand): 91.5 x 51 x 44.5 cm / 30.43 kg (Gross Weight)

I was busy Friday evening so I didn't end up assembling it until yesterday. First impression was it was packed very well, edge of the top carboard flaps were glued down in addition to being taped and strapped. I made the mistake of opening the box with the base first as the tools and instructions were in the first box.

Box 2 (stand + base)

The base was a solid metal piece, which is a big improvement over the OG C-7032 which had a metal tube structure with a fibreglass cover - i believe the newer Victor now has solid all-metal bases as well.

The first thing I always try to do with new machines is to install caster wheels instead of the regular feet. This machine has 3 locations for feets / wheels, which for the front ones are a bit weird as they are not in the center (the middle of one is used to mount the power supply)

Setting up the base was pretty straightforward - even without instructions and tools (i used the tools from my previous machine)

On to Box 1!

At the top of the box, we get a very nice and detailed full colour instruction manual, a stringing tool kit, and a cover. Having the Yonex logo and model name embossed in the packing foam is a nice touch.

Very nice tool kit, although not as nice as the ones that come with the made in Japan Tokozuki machines. But definitely a step up compared to other Exthree made machines like Victor and Li Ning