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.

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!!!

Victor No:5

Found the following sample in one of the local halls. Not use before.

Adding for documentation purposes.

Protech Tournament

Have not played with this model before. Adding for documentation purposes.

APACS AP70 and Aero-Tech75

Have not used the following shuttles before and are adding them for record purposes.

Both shuttles have the same 3-layer cork structure.

RCL Black Gold

One of the groups I regularly join bought this high-end RCL shuttle to try out.

Pix from the web

Good news is the shuttle is tough and it is very rare for any feathers to break, even during a smashing game.

Bad news is that it is fast initially before slowing down towards the end of the flight path - after being smashed 5-6 times. Although the shuttle may still look like it is in good condition, it has to be replace. Therefore atleast 2 shuttles would still be required for a heavy smashing game - reminds me of the RSL Supreme and Protech WorldClass.

Victor Service

Including the following shuttlecock for documentation purposes, as have not played with it before.

Starting new sub-blog - Badminton Stringers

Hi everyone,

Have just started a new sub-blog, badmintonstringer  for players who maybe interested in stringing their own racquets.

Will add information from my own experiences to the blog on monthly basis.

You are welcome to contribute to the blog as well.

Thanks for visiting!