Which kind of shuttlecocks do you use?

Even if they cannot hit a high quality shuttle far, I am sure they can hit a quality shuttle farther than a low quality shuttle. It is the same with racquets and strings. Give a beginner a steel racquet that comes with string and ask him to play a few shots. Then hand over your Arc 10 with BG80 string to him. I am sure he can hit better and farther with the latter. It is comparative.
BTW, I have tried this test with beginners on high quality vs low quakity shuttles. They do feel the difference very easily.

 

Yea....But are they going to buy the racquet and the shuttles from there on? I doubt it. Is there any one who just begin to play badminton willing to shell out $250+ dollars for badminton equipments? Not to mention the continuous investments into shuttles.

 

Right on the point.

I've test drived many BMW, Benz, Audi, Acura, Infinity, Lexus models as well, and clearly they are much better made and more fun to drive than Saturn. However, I still settle with a Saturn due to my own usage and budget concern.

 

For a competitive player, sure, we do not mind even put in extra $100 to squeeze out the 1% more of "potential boost" in performance. However, for causal beginners, you give them a choice of $10 tube shuttle vs $25 tube shuttle, many will settle for $10 ones. Same as a lower end all graphite racket ($30-60 range) vs. Arc10 ($200+).

A lot of things are better than the ones we finally purchase. Whether the extra $$$ worth, its down to individuals. That's why you hardly see many beginners directly having 3 Arc 10s and 2 tubes of AS50 in their bags on the 1st day.

 

For competitive playing, I usually use a better birdie and for casual playing (with my beginner friends) I use used birdie or plastic. It's not worth it to use an expensive birdie if your friends miss hit the birdie almost 80% of the time lol. It will break the feathers and making it useless, that is why I like to bring 1 or 2 plastic birdies with me for this occasion. The brand that I like for feather birdie are Victor (green tube) and Trump. I have never bought Yonex birdie and for sure it has to be good quality, but the extra cost is really not worth it. IMHO

 

Sure, value for money makes sense. Like they say "horses for courses", each is free to choose in what he or she thinks is good value.
However, there are some subtle differences in say choosing value for money between food and shuttles and racquets for badminton. In food, the extra costs of fine food is for the extraordinarily good taste but not for life sustenance. In badminton a very quality shuttle will "upgrade" the playability of your racquet more than the upgrade from a fake racquet to a Li Ning racquet. The greatest upgrade any player can avail himself of is to play with high quality feather shuttlecock, not switching from a HK$150 racquet to a Li Ning N90.
The improvement in playability is greatest from switching to high quality feather shuttles from plastics or cheap feathers. Switching to a top of the line racquet but still playing with plastics or cheap feathers gives very marginal improvement.
Yes, horses for courses, but when players switch to top of the line racquets and continue to play with cheap feathers or plastics, it saddens me. If it must be, then cheap feathers/plastics with cheap racquets-at least it makes sense with this combination.

 

I do believe those club/national players when training also uses worn out shuttlecocks and not new birdies everytime rite? So their high class racquets shouldnt be use to play this low class shuttlecocks?

Think perspectively, we're talking abt beginners/amateurs...having a top quality shuttlecock and lower range shuttles definitely wont make a hugh difference to them until they attain a certain level of play....but the cost involved will kill them

 

Luckily, I am using Kason Carvel U3 which is under $50
In my country (Indonesia), we not always use a newly fresh birdie to practice in a badminton club. We have several boxes of used birdies that is sorted out so the birdie is still playable for practice (smash, drop shot, netting, etc). It is not only for beginner player, even the top players in the club also using the same birdie as the beginner for practicing. Of course, when we do sparing, the coach will give us a new birdie.
Taneepak: Will you use your most expensive birdie to play with your friend who is never playing badminton (that you for sure know he will spend more time picking up birdie on the ground rather than hitting it) or friend who is just playing for fun without even being serious (not even count the score)? I know I won't, that is why I usually have 2 tubes of birdie. 1 tube has the best birdie for playing with serious players, another one for this casual ocassion which usually has cheaper birdie; used birdie but still playable; plastic.
Conclusion is use the best birdie you have if you know you will play a good match with a good opponents (about the same or above your badminton level). Use the cheaper or used birdie for warming up and playing with some friends who aren't even serious about badminton.

 

Yay~ Another Victor birdie lover. The Green (3rd Grade) birdies are quite sturdy, thought I never test them based on the flight test. I bring a tube of those all the time, and I have another 2nd Grade (Navy Blue) tube at home for other games. Victor Shuttles are very good to play with!

 

I'm also a beginner of badminton, played 10 months only till now.

But I suggest the guys like me try feather shuttlecock at first, yes, they cost more than yonex mavis series plastic balls, but I tried the shuttlecock around 10 brands and yonex mavis 370 in this period, I have to say, even the lowerest price shttulecock(6 us dollars one dozen)flies "beauty" and steadly than mavis 370.

I agree everyone has their rights to choose plastic or feather, in my opinion, their fly models(line or speed or quality, sorry my English is poor) are totally different, as a beginner, you may need lots practise to hit the ball, accurately and powerfully, in this situation plastic ball saves a lot, both of money and enviroment. Unfortunately, when you want to have a match with other players, you may find the feather shuttlecock flies weired and hard to control, only if both of you train with and play with plastic ball, this situation can be avoid.

The feather is fun for beginner, you will have lots happy on it while you promote you skill, in my personal opinion. I respect the person use plastic ball for enviromental reasons, and I can't imagin myself to give up the "feather fun", this is too complicated, haha.

 

If you really want to be regularly playing badminton, I would recommend you to buy the shuttlecock in bulk. Often times, the seller will give you discount that will make the cost for each tube similar to the cheaper one. Also, a good thing to do after playing a game is to pick the used birdie. Sometimes, it still fly well just not to playing standard and you can use it for warming up or smash training.

 

i think otherwise since if you start playing with plastics and "upgrade" to feather like me and a number of my friends, you can usually accept playing with either

many, like taneepak, start with feathers and upon exposure to plastics, cannot accept the usage of plastics

there's a saying that goes "if you're used to drinking rich tea, you can not revert back to drinking common tea"
the translation is pretty lame, i know

 

however, i'd like to add that there is indeed a wide chasm between feather and plastics; the others aren't kidding around.
although, as a beginner, you can overlook this and worry about it later

feather or plastics, have fun playing badminton

 

I agree with you, and I start playing badminton with feather at first, because in local, almost all beginners don't know there is good quality plastic for sale when they start to play badminton, they purchase normal price and standard shuttle to start their "career", when they play for a period time like me, it's hard to switch to plastic ball, though.

 

Yes, it is always a wise thing to buy at the cheapest price in bulk but there is a catch here. My advice is to pool together with other groups for a bulk purchase but make sure you use up all the shuttles in 3 months' time. Otherwise it may turn out to be penny-wise, pound-foolish. Feather shuttlecocks have their natural oils, the more expensive ones more lasting than the cheaper ones, and they deteriorate over time. Since almost all countries are outside China and Hong Kong, it is wise to assume the shuttlecocks you buy in your country are not less than 6-months old. Yes, buy the cheapest at bulk but buy wisely.