So, does anyone know why the mp100 has been discontinued? Among the people I've spoken to, there seems to be a consensus that the Armortec is not quite as good, so why would Yonex decide to stop production on their best racquet to date? I had to call 20 racquet shops in the UK (probably all that there are here) just to find one, and that was the last one in stock. And I wasn't too chuffed about having to pay £120 for it. There doesn't seem to be much stock of them in Europe either (Belgro, for example, has none of them left).

Is it a durability issue or the high price of them? Were they not popular? If so, why not?

really?
has it been discontinued?

if it is it think its because the mp100 is the "latest" model after ti10... so since ti10 is discontinued, the next on the line would be mp100...

I've also not heard of it being discontinued. You can still find MP100s here in Singapore very easily. Ti10s are still common in singapore shops, but they'll soon be harder to find.

AT user, u seem to jumped to conclusion about mp100 discontinuaty without real fact from reliable source(s). Are u trying to start a rumor? That's how rumor is started. Off course mp100 will be discontinued, one day but for now, i can buy mp100 anywhere.

Originally posted by cooler
AT user, u seem to jumped to conclusion about mp100 discontinuaty without real fact from reliable source(s). Are u trying to start a rumor? That's how rumor is started. Off course mp100 will be discontinued, one day but for now, i can buy mp100 anywhere. the mp100 has been said to be discountined in a few places on BF here. I belive this includes singapore and hk but not western countries yet.

I think it is only the marketing strategies for each regional distributors.

In fact that, AR series is out in all countries other than Japan. Japan is still selling Aerotus 100.

Cab 21 and Iso 800 are still avaliable in Korea.

Hong Kong still have Cab 21 and Iso 900 (the old stock is stamped serial number, but the new stock is laser engraved number)..........

IMO, regional distributors would ask Yonex to provide some sellable old models to ensure the marketing share and also try to introduce new items to increase their sales volume and amount. MP100 may discontinue in UK because of distributor's arrangement, but it is still available in Asian market.

If this information is true, then, I am guessing maybe Yonex just discontinued it......and most of stores still have some MP-100 in stock......just as Ti-10.

However, I can still find MP-100, Ti-10, and even Iso-SS-900 in Taipei now.


:)

Originally posted by cooler
AT user, u seem to jumped to conclusion about mp100 discontinuaty without real fact from reliable source(s). Are u trying to start a rumor? That's how rumor is started. Off course mp100 will be discontinued, one day but for now, i can buy mp100 anywhere.

I have the information from the horse's mouth: Yonex UK. The MP100 has been discontinued for a while, and there are practically no shops in the UK, which have any stock of them left. Check out some UK websites and you'll notice that the higest model on the mp series they now stock is the mp99.

I hope that the manufacturers have not completely stopped production on the mp100; by some of the responses, it seems that Yonex UK is the only distributor to stop carrying it. However, I have heard from some European stores in Holland and Belgium that there has been some problems in getting new stock of the mp100. So, back to my questions: what reason would Yonex UK or Yonex generally have for not stocking this item any more?

Originally posted by armortec user
I hope that the manufacturers have not completely stopped production on the mp100; by some of the responses, it seems that Yonex UK is the only distributor to stop carrying it. However, I have heard from some European stores in Holland and Belgium that there has been some problems in getting new stock of the mp100. So, back to my questions: what reason would Yonex UK or Yonex generally have for not stocking this item any more?

Could that just be a "regional" issue? I mean, a regional distributor / local dealer will manage their stock based on demand. If such product has fairly low demand, then u will have a hard time to buy it.

In US and CAD, we have tough time to get CBN100 and 88TI strings. Even sometimes find it, the price is way higher than, say Asian market. In CAD, I believe even 80, 85, 68Ti was not officially being carried by various dealers. Why, low demand according to market report.

Sometimes, ur favorite item (even say, it could be popular in ur club or town), might not be the top choices regional vise.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
Could that just be a "regional" issue? I mean, a regional distributor / local dealer will manage their stock based on demand. If such product has fairly low demand, then u will have a hard time to buy it.

In US and CAD, we have tough time to get CBN100 and 88TI strings. Even sometimes find it, the price is way higher than, say Asian market. In CAD, I believe even 80, 85, 68Ti was not officially being carried by various dealers. Why, low demand according to market report.

Sometimes, ur favorite item (even say, it could be popular in ur club or town), might not be the top choices regional vise.

hmmm...possibly. So, does anyone know whether mp100 is still being made?

The reason most shops don't have the MP100 anymore in the UK is because they operate on a policy from Yonex, they have to stock what Yonex want them to or they don't get the stock.

Yes I can confirm that the MP100 has been discontinued in the UK for the best part of a couple of months, shops that still have them are ones that buy their stock from Yonex in a fixed quantity and are not linked into the sale or return policy and are left with their rackets until they sell out. Many of these shops put their MP100's for sale at £110 or close to it about 6-7 weeks ago.

They tend to be smaller retailers or independants.

There is one place in Glasgow that might still have them AT user if you want the name mail me as I dont know if I can post the name of the place, if they don't have them in stock they are on good terms with the rep and are usualy able to get me items that are no longer in their catalogue.

Dill

yes, there is a big difference of meaning of 'discontinued' between Yonex Japan HQ and yonex UK. What yonex UK does is for marketing reason in regional sense. We can only make guesses. My guess is that mp100 and mp 99 plays similarly and are high price item. Players who own mp100 likely not want to buy a mp99 and vice versa. Therefore, it is not wise to stock 2 high ticketed item. There are more to this marketing decision but I'll pause on this for now.

AT user, u seem to jumped to conclusion about mp100 discontinuaty without real fact from reliable source(s). Are u trying to start a rumor? That's how rumor is started. Off course mp100 will be discontinued, one day but for now, i can buy mp100 anywhere.

Watch what you're saying, Dill, you might offend someone;) . I can only think of one store in Glasgow which still has the mp100, and the reason they have it is because they are selling it for £150. TagSports has one 2u mp100 left, which they are selling for £120 inc. postage and a restring w. bg-68ti. Incidentally, do you know what the best string combo is for this racquet? I think Ashaway MicroLegend goes well with Prince Racquets, but I don't like Ashaway on Yonex.

So, which store are you thinking about? By the way, the Armortec has been sent back. I'm surprised you liked it. I found it far too light, and so did the others who tried it. MP100 is still Yonex's best racquet.

I'm old school I use a Carlton 85g, over the last yaer or two getting back into badminton I have bought many new top end rackets and have not warmed to them, they are just too heavy. I like the light weight of the AT700, it seems powerfull enough to cope with my kind of play but on the other hand the AT500 seemed a more balanced and precice racket.

Cooler, the MP99 is relativley newish - about 6 months or so, many of the youth squads seem to be using the swing power or one of the lower (77-88) end muscle powers, the majority of club players seem to go for the shiny MP100 but there has been a move recently towards the even shinier MP99. And yes you are right the prices are quite evenly matched, about £10-£20 difference depending where you shop.

If Yonex were moving away from stocking two high end items then why still cary the MP99 and replace the price viod with the AT700? They still have two high priced items

The one problem that I have is that for me the two rackets were completley different, although I did not like the MP100, it was a seller. The MP99 was a better racket and as far as I knew was being promoted quite heavily by Yonex as the replacement to take over the crown of the MP100.

But again the MP100, MP99, AT500 and AT700 are completley different rackets. For me they do not feel or perform even slightly simmilar.

I don't know what the sales were like for the MP100 in the UK, maybee it was just not cost effective.

AT user, when it comes to strings i'm even older school than with my racket, GUT at 23lbs. The only thing I know is that I don't like the Ti strings, I find the coating of Ti too slippery.

gut? Jes'; you are old school, alright. Weren't they using gut to string racquets in the '30's?

Do many top players still use natural gut? I should think that some of the new synthetic strings would offer as much resilience (if not feel), and would certainly be more durable.

I would think that packing string that butchers use is more durable that gut, hence the old adage about a fluffy sting, no I don't think any of hte top players still use gut.

Although Babolat sponsor players I don't think they promote the gut since the max tension is about 23 lbs (or so i've been told) and many top players use much higher tensions.

When they got their rackets back from the stringers they would be fluffy without the need to play and on impact they would just burst.

So, why on earth do you use it? You seem to use new racquets, so why don't you just go modern on everything?

I've just heard from Belgro.com that there is a problem getting stock of the mp100 from Japan. Could this be more than a regional issue? Does anyone know if the mp100 is in the new Yonex catalogue (US or JP)? I can't understand why Yonex has decided that the MP100 is unpopular. Does anyone doubt that this is Yonex's best racquet? Does anyone have any reason to dislike the mp100? Those who have tried the AT-700, how do you think this racquet compares? Do you think that it is a suitable replacement?

armortec user, shouldn't you know how the armortec 700 would play? You had it in your hand at one time.:o

I tried the 4u AT-700, I haven't tried the 3u. I felt that the 4u was far too light. In any case, I was trying to find out why there has been a slump in popularity of the mp100.

Originally posted by armortec user
I can't understand why Yonex has decided that the MP100 is unpopular. Does anyone doubt that this is Yonex's best racquet? Does anyone have any reason to dislike the mp100?

Lots of people don't think that the MP 100 is the best racquet for them :P Even looking at the number of pros that use it. For the same period, Ti-10, MP99 and even cab 20 were more popular.

If you do a search of the forums you'll find that lots of people don't like the MP100 including myself ...

My theory on this is:

Most of the top end racquet market consists of amateurs. By that, I mean non professionals like you and I.

A majority of them cannot differentiate between a MP99 and MP100. To those uninformed, the newer the better. The price difference between the two are not huge, for someone to spend over a hundred pounds on a racquet.

On the International pro circuit, you see more and more players with MP99, so the fans want to use their idols racquets.

Because the MP100 was around much longer, people wanted to buy the MP99 as a flashhier alternative. Something that looked different with their friends racquets with that yellow colour scheme.

Just because racquets are not available in UK does not mean they are discontinued. You can usually find all models of recent (last 10 years or so) racquets in Asia, usually sitting on shelves eating dust. The market in UK is not big enough for Yonex to stock every one of their racquets. The newest string available to uk is BG68ti and even that is hard to come by! Too much badminton products will confuse Joe Public in UK.

I think the most overpriced racquet in UK at the moment is the Carbonex 20 MP at £90!!! The least popular of the MPs must be MP88? I think the availability will decline soon.

I think Yonex has price fixing on their products. I am surprised that no one has taken this to any consumer watchdog. If you compare with other commodidites, their prices have fallen these last few years including cars, computers and various other luxuries where as the price of racquets are still very high in comparison.

You buy a £150 item, knowing that you are going to risk breaking it within the first 5 minutes you use it, when you clash it with someone else's racquet. And then you can't have a replacement because it is not guarunteed against clashes. Silly really!

For your badminton needs, why not try www.badmintonchain.com. The owner is a member of this forum.

Originally posted by Wizbit
Everything Wizbit said.

I find the same, that many players can't tell the performance characteristics between racquets. I have a friend who says "This is the best racquet ever!," every time he gets a new racquet. We're like "You say that every time," and he replies with "I know.," and we all have a good laugh. Good thing he isn't a racquet crazy person. He buys fairly mid-range racquets since that is what is readily available in our area.

Talk about price-fixing, look at Oakley. If you look on their website, they have a special edition watch that costs $25,000 USD. That's right, there are no extra 0's there. Sure, that item is an exception, but their sunglasses are all fairly expensive, and many people question me as to WHY I would pay so much. However, in my opinion, the quality and design of their products is a cut above the competition. At least Yonex allows dealers to set their own price. Oakley does not, and the MSRP is what you are going to pay for their products.

I think that most leaders in their field such as Oakley, Yonex, or Nike are the leaders because they are the ones who take risks and innovate to bring something new. Sometimes the risks turn into duds, and sometimes they bring tremendous success. Either way, they have to make up for costs such as R&D, new manufacturing machinery, and advertising that are a result of innovating through higher prices.

Phil

Originally posted by Pecheur
Lots of people don't think that the MP 100 is the best racquet for them :P Even looking at the number of pros that use it. For the same period, Ti-10, MP99 and even cab 20 were more popular.

If you do a search of the forums you'll find that lots of people don't like the MP100 including myself ...


That's sacrilegious. How can you say that you don't like the MP100? Which racquet is better than it? It's an all-round good racquet. It's the right weight, it's well balanced and its provides lots of power and control.

It's called personal preference.

Originally posted by modious
It's called personal preference.