Monday, December 24, 2012

Protech PT-20

The PT-20 is exclusive to Protech Singapore, as per PT-10.

Have not played with the model before and am curious as to why the samples I obtained from a nearby local hall has two broken feathers on both shuttles?

The PT-20 has a 3-layer cork structure.

 

Monday, December 17, 2012

Sealion C1101 (Black & White)


Have not played with the following model and found the sample in one of the badminton halls I frequent.

We have tried the Sealion C1101 in Gold and Green tube just over 2 weeks ago. Feedback from my regulars was not  positive for the Sealion in the Gold and Green tube.

Enclosure of the Sealion in Black and White tube for documentation purposes only at this point in time.



Saturday, December 15, 2012

Victor No:2


Have not played with the following and found the sample in one of the badminton halls I frequent.

Enclosure for documentation purposes.


Monday, December 10, 2012

Ashaway from Dark Blue, Silver and Gold tube



Found these shuttles in the badminton hall.

Cork structure seem to be the same for the various models. Hence difference in quality of feathers only.

In the past, we have played with the Dark Blue, Silver and Gold tube Ashaways.

Personally I think the Dark Blue model to be best value for money for Ashaway shuttles. It was average in terms of durability. Quality control was good for the Dark Blue shuttles.

My group have since shifted away from Ashaway shuttlecocks over the years e.g after 2006.


Order as per pix before it

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Sealion C1101 (Gold & Green tube)



Purchased 2 tubes to try out upon good hear-say from 3rd parties. Cost per tube is close to our standard de facto - so they are not cheap.

The shuttle has a 3-layer cork and provides a reasonable feel when hit. Flight characteristics was initially good.

Unfortunately the rib cage structure of the shuttle is not as strong as it should be. Thus the used birdies tend to have non-uniform rib structure after a smashing game. We had to change birdies atleast once during a 21-point game.

At the end of our weekly session, total number of shuttles utilised was up by 30%!

One of my more capable regulars commented the shuttles does not provide much control-ability.

Safe to say we will not be using this particular model and brand of shuttles again.




Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Protech Nemesis 2

Tried one of the newer Protech shuttlecocks, Nemesis when I joined a different group for a game tonight.

The Nemesis provides a nice feel when hit.

Good news is the feathers on the shuttle does not break even when you smash it hard. 

Unfortunately it slows down after being smashed hard several times. Hence it was normal to change shuttles atleast once or twice during a game. 

Do not have any pix of the shuttles but the sticker label design on the inside of the shuttle is similar to the PT-10 e.g gold background with black lettering. The tube colour scheme is similar to the Masterpiece.


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Sintec birdies


Found the following samples from the hall.

In the past, we tried their Black and Blue tube of shuttles (forgot the model numbers). These shuttles provided a nice feel when hit, but were not durable for a smashing game. Hence we stop using the brand for quite a number of years now e.g since 2007.



Monday, November 12, 2012

Flymax 5

Another birdie which I have not had the opportunity to play with yet.

2-layer cork structure.

Adding for recording purposes.


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Li-Ning A-90

Have not had the opportunity to play with this model yet.

Holding both A-80 and A-90 together, the A-90 feels heavier than it's sibling.

As the pix below shows, the A-90 has a 3-layer cork structure vs 2-layer for the A-80.

 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Nami Gold

Was surprise to find the following brand and model in the hall, as I have not came across them in the sport shops.

When I searched BadmintonCentral, there were reference(s) to them in Singapore. Hence some party must be supply them. 



Thursday, November 1, 2012

Fleet Platinum, F-9000, F-2002 and F-300

We do use Fleet shuttles from time to time, when our de facto standard is not available.

Of the following illustrated here, we have not use the F-300 before - found a sample in the badminton hall.

We discovered the F-2002 was not suitable for smashing games as the shuttles need to be changed after about three hits.

The F-9000 is pretty good quality but hard to came by. It is quite durable and retains the shape even after many hard hits.

The Platinum is the most expensive of the available models. It was our preferred birdie a number of years ago. Quality has drop since. Though the Platinum is still a good shuttle, it tends to be a bit light and the feathers tend to be unforgiving if the player hits it.

Cork structure for the shuttles seem to be the 3-layers, except for F-9000 which has 4-layers.

We currently prefer a different model of the Fleet shuttles. Will update once I open a tube.

Fleet Platinum, F-9000, F-2002 and F-300 in LHS->RHS

Fleet F-300, F-2002, F-9000 and Platinum in LHS->RHS

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Yonex AS-10

Found the following birdie in the badminton hall and adding it for documentation purposes.

Have not use the AS-10 before.




Li-Ning A-80 (***Updated***)


In the past we tried a tube of the A-80 upon recommendation from a 3rd party - hence reason for no pix of the birdie!

The shuttle provided an extremely nice feel when hit. 

Unfortunately durability was not one of it's main attributes. We had to replace a shuttle upon almost every smash which was above average strength (not even hard yet)???

5Nov2012

Discovered the following sample in one of smaller halls this morning!

The A80 has a 2-layer cork structure.

 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Yang Yang 300B and Li-Ning A300

Both the Yang Yang 300B and Li-Ning A300 are known to be good shuttles.

Both are heavier than the average shuttle and provides a good feel upon hitting them.

Both provide good pleasure for the game thou prices vary depending on locality.

In the past I came across "hear-say" that Li-Ning obtained the A300 from the Yang Yang 300B? Hence reason for the following cut-up of the shuttles below.

Yang Yang 300B vs Li-Ning A300 (LHS->RHS)

No need for intro
The Yang Yang has 3-layers whilst the Li-Ning only 2-layers. So not exactly twins!

Please note the Yang Yang 300B has recently changed their design on the tubes and the review is of an older variation of the same model.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Yonex AS-4

Found the AS-4 in the badminton hall the other day.

Have not played any games using this model. Hence not able to comment on the usability of this particular model.

Cork structure seem to be as per AS-05.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Aeroplane Black and Red Label EG1130



I remember the Aeroplane brand of shuttlecocks from my school days many years ago. In those days Aeroplane and Pioneer were the premier brands.

Aeroplane shuttles became available again over the past few years, and, priced above average range.

I have played with both the Red and Black label. Cork structure on both shuttles seem to be the same in the pix(s) below. Hence difference must be in the quality of the feathers.

Found the Red label lighter than the Black and can go quite a distance if you do not control your strenght! Unfortunately they was a tendency to be brittle as well.

The Black label behaves in a similar fashion to the RSL(s) e.g flight characteristics. Unfortunately it is so in terms of durability as well!!!

The colourful labels tend to loosen after a few hard hits.

Cork construction seem to be the same

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Yonex AS-50, AS-40, AS-30 and AS-05


Of the following Yonex shuttlecocks, I liked the AS-40 the best - it has a very nice feel to it and quite durable when you play a smashing game. Unfortunately the AS-40 is quite expensive.

You can see the difference in the cork structure of the various models below. All the models featured were created with dual-layered cork deploying a varying degree of the thicker, denser cork.

AS-50,  AS-40, AS-30 and AS-05 from left to right

AS-05, AS-30, AS-40 and AS-50 from left to right

Feedback received on the AS-05 seem to be batch dependent - the bad are BAD and vice-versa.

I find the AS-30 lighter and not as durable as the AS-40.

The AS-50 is acceptable though more expensive than the AS40.

Monday, July 9, 2012

RSL Tourney No1, Classic Tourney and Supreme (***Updated***)


RSL shuttlecocks are quite popular and a favourite of many players.

Managed to obtain some used RSL birdies (Tourney No1, Classic Tourney and Supreme) from the badminton hall I frequent.

The following are pix of the various RSL models after the white covering over the cork on the birdie has been removed.

No1, Classic and Supreme (LHS->RHS)

Supreme, Classic and No1 (LHS->RHS)


The RSL models show the cork deployed in these models are the same.

Thus the difference in pricing for the RSL shuttlecock(s) are due to the difference in feather grade(s)!

Feedback from my regulars are that the RSL shuttlecocks have good flight characteristics but are not durable in a smashing game. We have performed a comparison before and after steaming. The shuttles do last longer after steaming but are not durable enough for a smashing game. Only Supreme does not require steaming but tend to slow down after several hard smashes.

In the past we performed an experiment to determine if the durability was due to different batches. Hence we bought a tube of Classic Tourney from Malaysia, Singapore and HK. The results were consistently the same - as per previously mention.

Atleast the quality was consistant!


Update - 17May2013

Last night, the group next door were using the RSL Tourney Classic and passed a sample four us to (re-)try.

The following pix was after a set of average smashes. The shuttle had to be retired before end of the set. 

Feedback was nice shuttle but durability could be better eg rib cage structure lobsided.