Ling Mei Golden

A friend recently switch to the following brand and model of shuttles after trying out various shuttlecocks available in the Johor and Singapore market.

Tube colours for the Golden

Ling Mei states it is a China branded product. Searching the China market for the Golden, there is clearly no such model as Ling Mei uses numeric designation(s) in PRC. My guess for the most likely equivalent is the L-10 (see pix below), based on the colour of the sticker on the back of the shuttle head.

Ling Mei line-up

How does the shuttle fare?

Durability - Enough to last a set most of the time, for a game with about 50% smashing. Very apparent once the shuttle need to be replaced. 

Performance - Nice and consistent performance at the proper speeds. Shuttle itself does not feel heavy nor light - in the middle.

Cost - At RM68 per tube in the shop in Johor, it is priced at the lower end of the upper bracket.

In summary, this shuttle provides a good alternative to the established products with similar pricing as it provides good consistent performance with reasonable durability. Why? Because the established products in that price range has either performance or durability but not a decent balance of both these attributes.

Information from internet - Victor Carbonsonic

I did try to buy a tube of Carbonsonic No1 to try-out from the local Victor agent but was informed they have no plans to make the Carbonsonic available to the Singapore/Malaysian market. No further clearification received on the matter. Sometimes you really must wonder why the local agent would not want to bring this shuttle into the market ....

Checking around on the internet, the Ozzie agent is selling the Carbonsonic at more than AUD34 per tube of 6 shuttles in Australia!!! Hence importing a tube for testing would became extremely expensive.

Thus I did the next best thing - search the internet for any additional information and found the following.

Carbonsonic cork structure and external appearance

Real feather shuttle (LHS) vs Carbonsonic (RHS)

Feather length of feather shuttle

"Feather" length of Carbonsonic shuttle

Width of feather (LHS) vs Carbonsonic (RHS) shuttle

Weight of feather (LHS) vs Carbonsonic (RHS) shuttle

The only real review (not staged) I could locate on the Carbonsonic was on YouTube by couple of Canadian(s) sports shop owner who are also professional badminton players. Basically they rate the Carbonsonic as an stand-in between feather shuttlecocks and nylon shuttlecocks - as a good replacement for the lower end feather shuttlecocks eg AS10, etc. The Carbonsonic is a bit faster than a feather shuttle when they were stroking. Durability is reported to be outstanding by the original Victor demo on YouTube by Zhao Jian Hua, Martin Frost and Sun Jun.

Will update once I am able to obtain the Carbonsonic for testing.

Revisit - Yang Yang 300B

Joined a friend for a game and they were using Yang Yang 300B shuttlecocks.

It was a hot day and we were playing at the new Tampines Hub in Singapore. There are 16 badminton  courts available for booking in the facility.

The Yang Yang 300B shuttlecock feels lighter than the past review.

Flight was acceptable. However did note that the shuttles tend to fly faster as time goes by as the ribcage structure tend to shrink inwards and became a little more arrow-like after few hard whacks.

Durability was acceptable for non-competitive games. Did note it was necessary to use 2 shuttles for a smash happy game.

Babolat 2

Received a few samples for testing.

Initial feel of the shuttles were not light but not heavy as well. Shuttles does not have a solid feel to them. 

We were provided with Speed76&77 for testing.

Honestly I could not really distinguish between the 76&77 during play. The shuttle performance and feel are quite nice. A shuttle could almost last a set with about 50% of shots were smashes - the ribcage structure on 3 of the samples were lobsided, by about 16 or 17 points in a 21 point set. The last sample had a broken feather 3/4 way along the stem.

Condition of the samples after the session.

3-layer cork structure

As these are by Babolat, they won't be competitively priced. On the net, they are priced in the mid-upper range with more established competitors. Unless Babolat reduce the prices, they will be just another of the major tennis manufacturers who may quit the badminton market in the long run.

Ling-Mei Dimgray

Received couple of samples for testing. The Dimgray is one of their better products.

The Dimgray has a nice solid feel when held. Ribcage structure feels solid. Each shuttle was only good for a game with heavy smashing. Feedback received from the players indicate the shuttles had a nice feel to them.

These are the pix from the rear after usage. Although the pix does not show it so well, both samples are deformed.

Condition of both Dimgray after the game

Here's an interesting "feature" for one of the shuttles tested. Please note the uneven cut of one of the cork layers - it's actually slanted at an angle on one of the samples.

Uneven cut of the layered head

Uneven cut of the cork layers on one shuttle vs the other Dimgray

Prices on the internet for the Dimgray are not cheap. One of my regulars from Malaysia inform that another Ling-Mei model had better durability.

Babolat shuttlecocks found in the hall

Found these Babolat shuttlecocks in a hall.

Will be requesting for samples in the near future.

Judging from the cork structure, model#2 has 3-layers and should be a better grade than model#5.

FYI - Where to obtain list of BWF approved shuttlecocks

The following is the link to the BWF webpage which lists BWF approved of shuttlecocks.

Please note there is an expiry date for every approval.

There are some products which claim to be BWF approved and show a certificate on their blog or website ... hey I can photoshop too!!

Please do note the BWF approval is for a specified batch number for a specific brand and model of shuttlecocks, not a model of shuttles with BWF in the name.

Different shuttlecock feathers

Shuttlecocks are manufactured using two type of feathers, duck and goose. 

You often hear of the many complicated descriptions on how to differentiate between the type of feathers used on a shuttlecock.

Worry no more - the following picture is worth a thousand words!

For the newbies:-

Duck feathers are used for lower quality shuttlecocks eg training, etc. 

Basically thicker stem with shorter, wider and thicker "featherspan" (alike term wingspan)

Goose feather shuttlecocks are used to manufacture the tournament grade shuttlecocks.

Longer and thinner stem with narrower, longer and finer "featherspan".