has anyone noticed that Gosen has been very active lately?

they snatched the sponsorship for the whole Malaysian team and the Hongkong team.

and recently, they started sponsoring Anna Kournikova in Tennis.

looks like they are giving Yonex some marketing headache.

what really counts though, is how good their product is. has anyone used Gosen rackets extensively? how do they compare to good ole Yonex?

I really want to see How well Their rackets are1 That is why i am Buying The gosen 2K from Byro!

I have tried the Gosen, Blue color, forgot the model number. it was not bad. I will try the birdies soon too

Dear all,

In terms of graphite quality, Yonex rackets are much better than Gosen's. Gosen rackets are not made in Japan, though it is a Japanese brand name. Gosen rackets are licensed to be manufactured in Taiwan instead.

Gosen rackets are selling at high prices also, which is comparable to that of Yonex. In terms of the same price, I shall definitely go for Yonex for its sever QC, besides, all the Yonex top rackets are manufactured in Japan. Frankly speaking, nowadays, all the brand name rackets like Carlton, Gosen, Mizuno, Yamaha, Victor or Kason are made in either Taiwan or China or both. Only Yonex top model rackets are made in Japan.

Moreover, Gosen rackets cannot stand high stringing tension. Gosen has offered a lot of benefit like monetary reward to its players, so even the famous HK ladies singles player Wang Chen has abandoned Yonex but turns to be in favour of Gosen for its better reward, but actually not for the good performance or the quality of Gosen rackets.

Therefore, please take my advice to go for Yonex as Yonex rackets are more reliable, powerful and durable, if you are going to pay a high price for a racket.

please tell me why products from japan are better than those from other asian countries? i am not familiar with the SE asian manufacturing quality control.

My friend has got Roots Gavun 5000Ti. It's a very good racket. Power and controll are ok. I've tried a couple of top Yonex rackets (Ti8 and MP100) and I think it is the same level in quality. And this Gavun shaft really works! I guess that's why thay made it less head heavy than the above Yonex rackets (that's how I feel). He stringed it 11 kg - he likes this tension. No problem yet. Nice thing.

2YY Fan -> I tought Gosen is an american brand. Japan? Hmm... As for price, well, my friend bought this 5000 for 75 USD, Ti8's price in me country (Russia) is more than 100 (don't remember exactly) MP - about 200 USD. Should I explain why he went Gosen? :)

Well i can;t tell you exactly why. But most of the large companies in the badminton line are either based in Japan or started up by the Japanese. eg Yonex and Gosen.

All the pros use these rackets. Well most of them. The Malaysian badminton team and HK team play with Gosen. As well as some Indonesian players like Ellen Angelina. The majority of the rest of the pros use Yonex, eg Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, China and even Roslin and Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia as well as some Danish players as well. The pros string their rackets at very high tensions Taufik had his strung at 31lbs, Peter Gade at 32lbs etc.

But many rackets won't be able to hold this type of tension. From personal experience i've had rackets break at tensions like 24lbs. These racekts are all made by other companies.

I don't believe there is any real solid evidence to say Japanese products are better, but by the way they stand out in the market and the way the pros use them at such high tensions, the Japanese have done 1 heck of a good job with their products

Gosen is not American! Its Japanese !!!

Sorry. :) No offence, ok? ;)

I didn't know that Gosen was sponsoring Anna Kournikova now in tennis!!
hmmm..................................

First and foremost It is Not available here! This nation is one of the Biggest Badminton Playing countries in the world1 even though it is not anything big atleast plp play to reduce their big fat belly!

I think Gosen does not Subscribe to all sectors of the Badminton Population!Neither do they educate The badminton Community! It does not make sense to sell a Top of the line gosen racket at arnd the same cost of Yonex top of the line rackets!

If alone Gosen is made available at cheaper rates i am very positive that More plp would go in for it! I am willing to try the gosen Br 5000Ti. But then if i have to buy a new one I have to pay abt 140Sg! I am very sure that is close to Ti 10which sells at abt 155Sg here! Why On earth would i pay so much and buy something that i might not like!But if i like it i am very sure that It would not perform Heads over rackets Like Cab 20 Orginal which i can get at very decent rates!

If i can procure a Gosen for abt 80Sg then I might def try It! The person from whom I buy can procure a Iso 900 for abt 90Sg! So i think 80Sg is a Decent spending for a New racket of a Unknown Brand!

I guess Yonex has been the benchmark for a long long time! It is Like XEROX of Photocopying! I guess to change It They should produce rackets of very good Quality adn Consistency and then make it available cheaply! I think Their promotion abt Malay,Hk teams are great But then availability and Customer being educated shoudl really work1

A yonex dealer actually cons every customer by Bullshiting abt Titanium, swing power, smashpower and NOnsense! But it works!

Let us Hope that Gosen is one brand who might challenge Yonex atleast in the Asian market!

I guess it might atleast make the customer have a wider variety and better standards!

nt

I've 4 Gosen racquets - one BR5000Ti (bought in HK), two BR4000 (bought in Japan) and one BR3?00 (forget the exact model #). Basically, I've similar opinion as YY Yan - build quality for most Gosen racquets is poor. I've recently back from Japan and I found that the situation is the same for those new Aermet series racquets. When I said poor build quality, I meant those you can see from the appearance of the racquet, such as pain job, rough edges or connections, etc. Consider the fact that these Gosen racquets are not cheap at all, I really think they should do a better job - in compare with Yonex racquets at the same price, you are hardly willing to pay for a Gosen racquet, just by judgement from their appearance.

For performance, I can't say Gosen racquets are poor, but there is no surprise either. I do believe their technologies (ROOTS, Aermet) work, but probably I don't feel at home with Gosen racquets so far.

Regarding manufacturing quality of Japan and other countries (mainly PRC), one thing I can sure is those products being manufactured in Japan usually have high QC standard. As YY Fan said, most brands other than Yonex manufacture racquets outside Japan. Based on my experience (I've many racquets from Yonex, Gosen, Mizuno and Carlton), there is no doubt that Yonex racquets have the best build quality among the competition. Again, I must stress the point once more time - better build quality doesn't necessarily mean better performance, but it usually correlates to reliability and durability. Performance of a racquet is more depended on its design in my opinion. For intermediate and professional players, I still think Yonex makes the best racquets. However for beginners to intermediate level players, some other brands do make very good product as well, such as Mizuno.

Fyi, I've also tried a number of Gosen strings so far - just like their racquets, not bad, but no surprise too.

Kason; more significant presence in China

If Yonex QC is so good and the professionals strunk their racquet at 31 or 32 lbs, Why on earth YY only recommends us motals to string at 18-20lbs??? If their racquet can withstand higher tensions, why they chicken out and put up such a low recommended tenson? If they are so sure of their manufacturing quality, why not put up a more realistic recommended ranges? Do any players here not strung over their recommend range?

I'm not pro Yonex or Gosen. You should select your racquet (weapon) rather than letting the weapon to select you. It is just what happening out there with all the brands and sponsorship. Find the racquet that suit you and play with it.

On Asian manufacturing quality, the OEM products can be at par with Yonex if the buyers (Calton, Gosen or whoever) willing to add 5-15% on the OEM cost (which is no much). Instead these branded buyers spend it on promo or sponsorship. Mind you, the cost of manufacturing the racquet is only 15-25% of the retail price. The materials used between Yonex and OEMs are the same becasue the cost difference is insignificant (forget the hype of Ti or any space-age materials. It's so tiny that if it drop onto the floor, you can't find it). The manufacturing technology is not space-age, more labour intensive I would say. On QC, it is just how many racquet you afford to throw-out rather than ship to your customers. Yonex build it in the cost. OEMs shipped it to the buyers hoping their buyers won't detect. But the bottom line is "you can find very good products from OEMs".

Anna Kournikova is sponsored by Gosen only for her strings! Her rackets are still Yonex

Well I don't remember any appearence problems with the 5000Ti my friend bought. I'll take a closer look the next weekend but I doubt I'll find them.
Anyway are you really sure that appearence (IMHO it is not the same thing as build q) of the racket can affect durability and reliability? I think 'build q' is not paint job and rough edges(as for connections - what exactly is wrong with them? how do you mean "rough" in this case - are they not solid? shifting?) but mostly graphite q and q of armored places. And you can't judge it just by the appearence.
Prices. Can't agree with you. Gosen rackets are quite cheap comparing to Yonex. At least here - you can buy 3 5000Ti or 1 Ti10. Of course prices can be different depending on countries.
As for QC - guess nobody knows details of OEM agreements between brandholders and factories in asian countries as well as Yonex QC standards for its plants in Japan, so I doubt that Yonex QC standarts higher than e.g. Carlton's or Gosen's. Or Yonex is better only because it is produced in Japan? Maybe, maybe. But you see - not convincing. The only really good argument is that Yonex is always chosen by pros. Well,the world is not constant - things can change very quickly.
BTW you sell rackets or collect them? Or I can't understand why having a stock of things you don't like...

Where do u live mate! I guess if the Gosen is so cheap then man u guys should be lucky!

"Yonex is the choice of the pros".

Come on, top players don't chose their sponsor after how good their racquets are. They go to whoever pays the most. In fact, the pros really don't have a choice if Yonex comes with a fat sponsor deal, because no other brand can compete in terms of money. That bit has NOTHING to do with the quality of their products.

Why, I thought I wrote where... Russian Federation. Lucky... Heh, well from this point of view, maybe...

If that is true, I can't see why Yonex is better then, say, Gosen.

Gosen rackets in Singapore are scarce and overpriced

Exactly!

We don't have much of them neither. In fact it is nearly impossible here to buy a decent racket if you don't know the right man and the right place... Money is not the only thing that matters! :(

I think I better shut up as it seems that I've become a minority in this group. :(

3 5000Ti for 1 Ti-10 ? It is because Yonex racquets are over-priced in your country. In Japan (both Gosen and Yonex are Japan company), these racquets costs about the same. Fyi, the most expensive badminton racquet in Japan is the Gosen 6000.

Finally, I think my comment should mean something at least - remember, I've 4 Gosen racquets and almost 20 Yonex racquets (CN, SP, JP, TW). I was not talking based on perception, but based on something I've real experience on. If any of you have chance to come to HK, I've no hesistation to let you see and play with these racquets and let you judge yourself (just like the debate on CN and SP, you have the rights not to trust CN is better than SP, but I've these racquets myself and played for more than a year).

p.s. Mag, when I said Yonex racquets are used by pro, I was not meant to give negative comment to other brands - this is not what I meant. In fact, if I want to pick the closes competitor to Yonex, I would choose Carlton (definitely not Gosen), but unfortunately they have limited number of models available (and none of them suit my play style).

I think you need to differentiate between the cloners and the manufacturers. Yonex is definitely the later and so is Carlton, Gosen, Babolat and some of the others. The cloners would include Fleet, Winnex (to some degree), BK (to some degree), Yang-Yang (to some degree), etc.

The manufacturers products offers different models but most of the cloners goes after Yonex (for good reasons). Carlton racquets have their good and bad characters (as does Yonex racquets otherwise why produce so many different models). For example, that manufacturer whose racquets have those "kick-points" on the shaft (the name escapes me at this moment); Yonex has no such thing. Carlton with its Airblade series. Prince with its Y throat design, etc...

I bet you that just because you have a Yonex racquet doesn't mean that you can beat a player who is using a non-Yonex if you both are a similar level of play. Each person have their own preference and buys their racquets accordingly...

I think there must be something wrong with my English ... You are totally right that no one can beat others simply because of using Yonex racquet - I was not saying Yonex is better than Carlton or other brands, and everyone has his/her own preference.

I was mainly talking about the "maunfacturing quality" - I really don't feel satisfied to find appearable defect(s) on a racquet which costs almost over US$100. I'll try to take some close-up photos of my racquets to explain what I mean.

Being a minority is not a bad thing at all. I can tell as a fan and user of Carlton rackets which hold less then 5% share (AFAIR) of the market ;)))) Don't be afraid or unhappy of being a minority!

Overpriced? You're probably right.
Don't get me wrong, of course I'm not a pro but I've tried a number (but surely not all of their range) of Yonex rackets, only I didn't buy them - can't afford 27 trial rackets so have to choose, you know :) They are very good. I choosed Carlton not because I love England/China or hate Japan or so, even not because the price. I simply liked it more. I'm a fan but not a fanatic :) If I shall clearly understand that Yonex is head and shoulders better than Carlton or Gosen I'll go Yonex. Well, I haven't yet.

As for Gosen, 5000 is really a nice racket, it was a pleasure to try it. I think it's a good start for Gosen. If they keep up they can excell.

P.S. You sound distracted. Sorry, I meant no offence. Let's drop it.

when i found myself really interested in badminton after giving up golf, i realized that there was one thing both games had in common. IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RACQUET OR GOLF CLUB. you ought to see the racquets that the trainers here from the philippines use. patched up and sometimes, even the gut is actually 2 different types put together. sad that thse really good player have to play under these circumstances but don't know a lot of people that can beat them.

... and you don't need shoes to walk, right?