Monday, December 1, 2014

RCL T-1000

One of the groups I frequent bought a few tubes of the RCL T-1000 after being told these were the Black Silver in new packaging (by unscrupulous shop in Malaysia) !????!

Pix from the RCL website

After using the T-1000 for a couple of sets, I traded notes with the other players from the game. The feedback were pretty similar.

The T-1000 is lighter than the Black Gold/Silver and closer to Black No1. It does require more energy when hitting low powered shots eg drops, tap(s) around the net area, etc. The T-1000 seem to perform as expected during clear(s) and smashes(s).

Durability wise was much better than Super Top and Gold No1. The T-1000 durability is about that of  RCL Black No1. Hence you would require atleast 2 shuttles for a smashing game.

Flight characteristics wise, the T-1000 is not as accomplish as Black No1.

Overall it is a good shuttle for amateurs players.


Saturday, November 1, 2014

Fake "Yonex" shuttlecocks (***Updated via Feedback***)

Was a visitor to a newly formed group in the East the other night. They advertised using Yonex shuttlecocks in Badmintoncentral. The organiser is active in MEETUP when I did a search on the net referencing the contact number.

Had a shock of my life once they passed a new shuttlecock for a game - you know it's a fake as the tube and the logo colour(s) are "off-tone", the shuttles are light with a flimsy rib-cage structure.

The fake AS-40 deforms after any 2nd or 3rd clears - not even smashes ...

Did not get a sample. Hence I found the following pix from a Chinese website. Atleast the selling website was honest and stated these are more suitable for cost-effective training.

Sample from the net

Quality of the shuttle cock structure is similar to the Prince Red in one of my previous post(s). Shuttlecocks in the above pix looks okay but trust me ... these must be the better condition ones from the tubes.

 Definitely will not be visiting this particular group again!

Friday, October 24, 2014

Badminton Coaching videos from Victor

Came across the above while checking the Victor website.

Link to coaching videos

Although the videos are in mandarin, there are subtitles in English.

Enjoy!

New material will be added to my new blogspot website at badmintontrainingvideoandlinks.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Shuttlecock durability spray????


Has anyone tried any of these products?

Am wondering if these are the equivalent of  snake oil  for the badminton world?

Found the following examples on the net.

Example-1
Example-2





Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Li-Ning shuttlecock with replaceable feathers

Found the following sample in one of the halls I frequent.

Here are close-up(s) of the shuttle.
Li-Ning shuttle with replacable feather rib-cage

2 replacable feathers removed from the shuttle
The tip of each of the feathers has been made into a uniform "shape" eg alike a chisel.

Close-up of the rib-cage structure

Another view of the rib-cage structure

I called the local Li-Ning agent to enquire of the cost for replacement feathers.

Surprise surprise ...

Replacement feathers are not available separately. Only a few replacement feathers will be provided in every tube sold.



This is like discovering the wheel but then deciding to lock it away!!!



Guess the only thing which matters nowadays is the bottom line ...

Monday, September 1, 2014

Prince Red

Have not played with this model of shuttlecock before.

Found the sample at one of the halls I frequent.

Initial impressions are flimsy rib structure. Quality seem more alike the budget shuttlecocks.


Friday, August 1, 2014

Xzile RF-X2 and X3 (***Update***)

Have not use the following before and including for documentation purposes.



31May2015

Just tried the RF-3 today and must say it is a terribly overpriced product which does not deserve $25 per tube!!!

We were playing a friendly game where say 40-45% of the shots were smashes - required atleast 4 to complete a set???? We played a few sets ...

Only pro is it does not slow down as quickly as the Sintec shuttles.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Protech Silver (SG)


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

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

Enclosure for documentation purposes.


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Li-Ning A+62 XD

Tried the below with a different group and could not honestly tell the difference with the Li-Ning Grandprix Gold.

All I will say is that the shuttlecock was good only for 2 above average smashes before it has to be replace. 

Both of the Li-Ning shuttlecocks were light-tish and not very durable. Flight characteristics were passable only.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Protech Platinum Edition


The Protech Platinum edition is sold with a black tube in a black box (matching colours right?)

It is one of the more expensive shuttles from their lineup.



How does it fare?

The shuttle feels lighter than the WorldClass but with better flight characteristics.  Speed DOES NOT change drastically ... even after heavy smashes.

Feedback from my regulars include good flight characteristics and the nice crisp feeling when hitting the shuttle.

Bad news is that atleast 2 shuttles are required for a heavy smashing game as the feathers tend to be give way after a bit of abuse.

Oh well ... can't win them all!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

RCL Super Top

As promised, Mr Ang of RCL sent the following tube of RCL Super Top along for review with the RCL Black No1.

Tube colours

Shuttle cost lower and is lighter than the Black No1. Looks a bit more fragile as well.

From the next pix, you can see the cork structure is the same for the Super Top and the Black No1. Hence the difference in price reflects the quality of feathers used.

Black No1 (RHS) and Super Top (LHS)

How does the Super Top fare?

As per reflected from the cost difference, feather quality of the Super Top is below that of the Black No1. 

We tried 2 shuttles and initial impressions was ok ... until we started smashing. We used 2 Super Top shuttles and both had a feather snap after being smashed hard twice - quite evident from the the last (and large) pix below. Hence the Super Top was not suitable for my group of smash-happy players.

Feedback from another group I provided samples of the Super Top to ... the shuttle a bit fast.

My conclusion is the Super Top would be suitable for players who are beginners or social players, rather than competitive players.

Rear view of both shuttles
Close-up of one of the used Super Top shuttle

Saturday, February 1, 2014

RCL Black No1

As promised, Mr Ang from RCL sent myself a tube of RCL Black No1 and Super Top for review.

We begin with the Black No1. It is sold in tubes with the below colours. Please note the difference of the wordings when compared against the Black Gold/Silver.

Tube colours

As you see below the cock structure for both Black No1 and Super Top are same. Hence difference is the grade of the feathers deployed.

Black No1 (LHS) and Super Top (RHS)
Rear view of the Super Top (LHS) and Black No1 (RHS)
How does the Black No1 fare?

Speed is consistant throughout most of the game - you know when it has to be replaced. Nice feel upon impact. 

Feedback from my regulars includes nice shuttlecock, a bit fragile when compared to the Black Gold/Silver (when playing a heavy smashing game). I observed up-to 3 shuttles were required for a heavy smashing game.

Guess like everything, it's a compromise of performance, feel and durability!

Overall I think it's a good shuttlecock.

A point to note (does not impact the shuttle performance in any way) - the sticker on the shuttles tend to came off easily. At the end of the night, I could only locate the 3 shuttles below with the stickers intact!
Used Black No1 with labels still intact - only ones from the whole tube!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

CQ(?) red and blue

Found the following in one of the nearby halls. Never use this shuttle before ... actually never came across this brand before as well.

The ribcage felt squishy???

Upon cut-up, discovered there was no cork base - total rubber replacement head.



Wednesday, January 1, 2014

How many of us actually count the number of shuttles from a tube?

This is a real incident from 2013. Personally I do not believe it was intentional but rather caused by the processes in-use.


How many of us count the number of shuttles in a tube? I didn't.

We trust the manufacturer to provide what we paid for - a dozen shuttlecocks per tube.

A few months ago I received a puzzling call from another organiser (I know) requesting assistance to confirm his findings. He was retrieving a freebie item which the manufacturer placed inside the tube of shuttlecocks and just decided to count the number of shuttles since he had open it. He was SHOCKED to discovered several tubes had one less shuttlecock than what it was suppose to contain???

He then called myself to request for assistance to go thru my stockpile since I had over 20 tubes of the same brand and model of shuttles then. I WAS FLABBERGASTED when I discovered I had 3 such tubes - 2 tubes with 1 less shuttlecock and 1 tube with 1 more shuttlecock! He had more than 3 tubes with lesser shuttlescocks!!!

We then feedback to the shop and they, in-turn to the manufacturer. I even called the manufacturer to update them on the incident. After a few calls, the manufacturer reimbursed the difference since the shop confirm we were frequent customers for their brand of shuttles.

I personally believe the automation used to fill the tubes is based on weight and not on actual number of shuttlescocks shoved into the tube. In theory one possible cause of the discrepency could be the weight of the container was at/more than the maximum tolerance and the shuttlecocks were a little heavier than norm.

I dare say nearly all of us would just take a tube at random, break the seal from the head/top of the tube and withdraw shuttles for a game - myself included!!!

What's the take-away from the above?

For myself (anyway) - I will perform random sampling every once in a while, especially when the manufacturers place gifts inside the tubes!!!