Is my MP99 fake?

[smash007]

I recently bought a MP99 racket strung with BG65Ti from an online store in China. I have someone brought the racket back to US. Here are some pictures of the racket. Can someone take a look and tell me if it is genuine or fake?

I heard that there are a lot of Chinese sellers selling Yonex fake rackets. I decided to give it a try.

http://community.webshots.com/user/stevenyee100 (http://community.webshots.com/user/stevenyee100)

[kwun]

you forgot to tell us the 2 most important info, the store name and the price.

[smash007]

you forgot to tell us the 2 most important info, the store name and the price.
Opps! It is from www.shanghaibadminton.com (http://www.shanghaibadminton.com) and I paid RMB930 (US$112).

[kwun]

hm... most of the racket looks ok. except for the grommet and the muscle bumps. looks a bit off but i don't have a mp99 to A/B compare. do you have a metal detector? or do you plan to take the original grip off?

you can tell by looking for the metal t-joint embedded in the "T" of the racket. or by looking at the stickers and scratch mark underneath the original grip tape.

if this indeed turns out to be a fake, i think Yonex is in real trouble.

[604badder]

Based on the pictures on the cone, and the non-standard YY logo superimposed over the big "CH", I am of the opinion that this is a fake. I have in my hand a genuine MP99 in front of me and I have to say your's has many differences.

Some of the evidence I am basing my conclusion on.

1- First off, there is no fuss about the "CH" on the real rackets. The shaft does not say CH on a real model.

2- The colour of the red on the shaft is almost pink, and is a darker red on real racquets.

You can also do a search. There has been a previous post with a side by side comparison of a fake and a real 99.

[civ11c]

Hi

I did a li'll bit comparison with my mp99. don't worry your racket is not fake.
grommet looks good, and the muscle power logo on the shaft looks perfect.
what's the serial number both on the shaft and on the cone??

[smash007]

Hi

I did a li'll bit comparison with my mp99. don't worry your racket is not fake.
grommet looks good, and the muscle power logo on the shaft looks perfect.
what's the serial number both on the shaft and on the cone??
5032151 050742CH

One of the picture is showing it. I think is picture 100_0017.

[cooler]

it doesnt look like to be a fake
112USD is quite good

[pandee720]

looks good to me...

[jcl49]

IMHO it is real...


Based on the pictures on the cone, and the non-standard YY logo superimposed over the big "CH", I am of the opinion that this is a fake.
I think that all China distributed racquet have them. When I went to BBEsports (the physica branch) in Beijing, they were like this.


1- First off, there is no fuss about the "CH" on the real rackets. The shaft does not say CH on a real model.
The real ones have this too. See:
http://www.bbesports.com/yonex/images/ra_yy_Cab-30Musle_2.jpg

[smash007]

IMHO it is real...


I think that all China distributed racquet have them. When I went to BBEsports (the physica branch) in Beijing, they were like this.


The real ones have this too. See:
http://www.bbesports.com/yonex/images/ra_yy_Cab-30Musle_2.jpg
Thanks for pointing that out. It makes me feel good. I did not purchase from BBEsports because I do not feel comfortable with the paying and delivery method. Shanghaibadminton offered door delivery and payment plus they located in Shanghai.

[jcl49]

Thanks for pointing that out. It makes me feel good. I did not purchase from BBEsports because I do not feel comfortable with the paying and delivery method. Shanghaibadminton offered door delivery and payment plus they located in Shanghai.
Wow do they really do that...nice service/no breakage. How much is delivery. I get around a fair bit visiting relatives in ChangShu and Shanghai.
jl

[xtag.my]

I recently bought a MP99 racket strung with BG65Ti from an online store in China. I have someone brought the racket back to US. Here are some pictures of the racket. Can someone take a look and tell me if it is genuine or fake?

I heard that there are a lot of Chinese sellers selling Yonex fake rackets. I decided to give it a try.

http://community.webshots.com/user/stevenyee100 (http://community.webshots.com/user/stevenyee100)been looking at the pics u provided.. if this is a fake.. its a damn good fake..:D . But by just looking at the pics. its abit hard to tell. Would prefer to have a closer look at the gromets and the 'holes'. I have seen many fakes Yonex rackets... and the biggest give away would be the gromets.. esply those at the four corners of the frame. Original Yonex rackets..( or any good rackets.. ie Pro Ace, Apacs.etc), would have good quality gromets.
Another thing that 604badder pointed was the "pink" colour of your MP99. I have seen many fakes MP99 and strung many too.. and 604badder is right.. those fakes MP99 all have "pinky red" instead of "dark red". But honestly.. after looking at the pics u provided.. I cannot conclude the true redness of your MP99.. or may be its my monitor:crying:
Kwun pointed out a very good point too.. that is.. to verify whether the "Built in T-Joint" , which is a trade mark of all yonex rackets.., exists in your MP99.

[smash007]

been looking at the pics u provided.. if this is a fake.. its a damn good fake..:D . But by just looking at the pics. its abit hard to tell. Would prefer to have a closer look at the gromets and the 'holes'. I have seen many fakes Yonex rackets... and the biggest give away would be the gromets.. esply those at the four corners of the frame. Original Yonex rackets..( or any good rackets.. ie Pro Ace, Apacs.etc), would have good quality gromets.
Another thing that 604badder pointed was the "pink" colour of your MP99. I have seen many fakes MP99 and strung many too.. and 604badder is right.. those fakes MP99 all have "pinky red" instead of "dark red". But honestly.. after looking at the pics u provided.. I cannot conclude the true redness of your MP99.. or may be its my monitor:crying:
Kwun pointed out a very good point too.. that is.. to verify whether the "Built in T-Joint" , which is a trade mark of all yonex rackets.., exists in your MP99.
Thanks for the response. I will try to obtain a metal detector.

[604badder]

Thanks for the response. I will try to obtain a metal detector.

You can refer to this thread just so you know what you are looking for.

http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18363

[smash007]

There is no way for me to get x-ray on the racket. I might able to borrow a metal detector. Meanwhile, I figured out a quick and cheap way to "sense" the metal t-joint. I have a Stanley stud finder bought from Home Depot. I placed the stud finder on the middle of the shaft until the beeping is gone. Then, I moved slowly up to the T. I make sure the shaft is in parallel with the detection line. The beeping voice came back again. It means that an edge is found. The edge is approximately 3/4" below the YY logo. I suspect that this edge is the interface between the metal and graphite.

Of course I can't try this method on another brand of racket which I know it doesn't have a metal t joint. If you have a victor, wilson, sotx, etc, can you try to use the stud finder. Let me know what you find out.

[Hullabaloo]

I've been looking at pictures of MP99's and fake ones, and I must say, yours looks very good.

One question I have that, I hope someone else might know is, is the position of the words "Muscle Power" on the frame (near the special black strip of grommets) in exactly the same place every time? I've looked at (what looks like) advert pictures and compared them to photos others have taken of their rackets and it seems that some vary slightly. (The pictures aren't mine but have been taken from the forums by people asking if they are fake or not). This is my first ever post on BC so I'll try and attach some pictures to explain what I mean.

Note the start position of the M in comparison to the grommet and the end position of the P to the red stripe on the black strip of grommets.

Maybe I'm just being pedantic...

[chickenpoodle]

so the quality control and consistency of the production lines aren't as perfect as we'd like...
you can't forget that there isn't only one machine churning out the racquets, and not only one person and machine applying decals, paint, and such.

theres always going to be small amounts of tolerances that have to be included in mass production.

the pink hues that you might see in his photos are simply to blame on the lighting in his room for his photos. what he see's is not exactly what is going to be reproduced in the camera light sensor.
what the camera takes in is not what he will see on his monitor unless he has expensive calibration equipment.
then what he see's on his monitor will not be what we see on our monitors because everyone's monitors are slightly different due to once again, production tolerances, temperatures, small differences in settings, etc.

[iMakk]

From what I can share with you about fake CH rackets is that they would have a very hard grip. All Yonex original rackets have a soft foam under the grip to give a cushion effect. However I have seen fake rackets not to have the cushion and the grip is therefore hard. While the foam cushion is not an expensive thing and it is possible that people faking rackets have started adding those, I am speaking from the experience I have seen so far.