Aeroplane Black, quality degraded or fake?

**Alapongtai** · 06-19-2012, 03:49 AM

ok, after reading this, i got really intrigued and just had to cut open 2 aeroplane black birds that were sitting in my tube.

as you can see, both birds seem fake..... i forget where i bought these from but it wasnt from china i believe... ill try to recall. im not buying aero blacks anytime soon lol

btw, how the heck did u guys cut them open so cleanly?

**RocKai** · 06-19-2012, 03:50 AM

I'm interested as well, we use Aeroplane Black here in New Zealand for our games. I will cut one up later on to compare with the results here. But it's most likely that mines are good because they still last forever. What about the tube itself? Were there any differences between them?

**Cillu** · 06-19-2012, 03:57 AM

Very interested in these findings. Will definitely be anticipating your guys' findings.

***kwun*** · 06-19-2012, 04:17 AM

quick analysis in the two explanations.

1. Quality degraded

this means that Aeroplane has chosen to use inferior material to manufacture the Black shuttlecock. but not only the cork material changed, the leather, the fonts on the color band, as well as the knot tying technique are different. it is as if they contracted out the manufacturing to a completely different factory and didn't tell them the technique they used to make the Black. possible. but i would be rather surprising. esp since this is their flagship product and their reputation rest on it.

2. Fake

in some ways, this is a more plausible explanation. the low quality one is like we went from premium quality to just so-so quality. and that the fonts and others are different maybe because we are looking at fakes. the only part that doesn't make sense is that we have 3 people who have posted photos and esp i managed to just pick up some used ones in the gym and i managed to find the poor quality ones. either we hit the jackpot or the fake is so widespread in the market place. i would be really surprised.

we need more people to post photos of their findings, esp photos of the cutout. it is ok if the shuttlecock is used so you don't waste any money doing this. in fact, used ones are better as we can easily see how the cork deforms.

**badder** · 06-19-2012, 10:01 AM

OK, I made a assumption, and it could be a wrong assumption. I go to a gym that people often come to me to share shuttlecocks that I bought. So when I found those bad quality ones, I assume these shuttlecocks are from what I bought. However, this may not be true.

The picture I posted here, left one is from most recent (a few weeks ago) lot I bought. To avoid mistake, I picked up a new tube from the box, so the picture shows the head is still good one. The right one (bad quality) is from a friend. After the game, I picked it up because the head is deformed.

Several months ago, I heard people complaining about the Aeroplane Black, especially the head qualify, which I didn't understand. I keep buying Aeroplane Black because the head is all natural cork. Until recently, I noticed some used Aeroplane Black on the floor with badly deformed head. So I picked them up and cut off to see, that is what I noticed why it is bad. But I assumed they were from mine lot. So make it clear here, I have not found a bad one from my stock. I will continue to follow up see if I will find a bad one from my lot. So far, I don't know the source of those bad ones yet, but I have heard these bad news several months ago.

Aeroplane Black is no longer made in Shanghai. The business is bought and transferred to another location. Whether the manufacturer changed their raw materials sources is unknown but it is not normal they would change the business logo font. So it is possible faked ones have penetrated US market for several months.

Originally Posted by badder

Here is the picture. I have mixed results. Left is still good, right is not.

Attachment 124294

**badder** · 06-19-2012, 10:28 AM

I am not sure how much you noticed the tube package has changed. I bought some Black one back in 2009, and later around 2010, the tube package has been redesigned. They are similar but definitely different. I do not have picture to show because I no longer have the old tubes. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the different font style on the band tape around the head.

As for the low quality ones, I called it faked one but it is a little hard to believe. I have seen faked Yonex ones. Normally, faked ones doesn't have any quality that is close to the real one. Faked one only has the similar package. These low quality Aeroplane Black has reasonably good qulity, so it is too good for fake.

Originally Posted by kwun

quick analysis in the two explanations.

1. Quality degraded

this means that Aeroplane has chosen to use inferior material to manufacture the Black shuttlecock. but not only the cork material changed, the leather, the fonts on the color band, as well as the knot tying technique are different. it is as if they contracted out the manufacturing to a completely different factory and didn't tell them the technique they used to make the Black. possible. but i would be rather surprising. esp since this is their flagship product and their reputation rest on it.

2. Fake

in some ways, this is a more plausible explanation. the low quality one is like we went from premium quality to just so-so quality. and that the fonts and others are different maybe because we are looking at fakes. the only part that doesn't make sense is that we have 3 people who have posted photos and esp i managed to just pick up some used ones in the gym and i managed to find the poor quality ones. either we hit the jackpot or the fake is so widespread in the market place. i would be really surprised.

we need more people to post photos of their findings, esp photos of the cutout. it is ok if the shuttlecock is used so you don't waste any money doing this. in fact, used ones are better as we can easily see how the cork deforms.

**khoai** · 06-19-2012, 11:00 AM

People from my club always buy from shuttlecock101 and I've never ever come across any birdies with deformed cork. Will cut one out when I get home after work.

***kwun*** · 06-19-2012, 01:49 PM

i have acquired a tube from a local retailer. they got them from the US distributor within the past month or two so that is probably recent enough.

i will do the comparison tonight and post my findings.

**zipperat** · 06-19-2012, 02:10 PM

I recently received 5 boxes of Aeroplane within Canada. Opened one tube, corks look okay.

Haven't used any of the shuttlecocks yet but are those pics taken after the shuttles were used. I'll have to test one to see if it goes out of shape.

***kwun*** · 06-19-2012, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by zipperat

I recently received 5 boxes of Aeroplane within Canada. Not problem with deformed cork.

Haven't used any of the shuttlecocks yet but are those pics taken after the shuttles were used. I'll have to test one to see if it goes out of shape.

yes. the cork will deform only after use.

**zipperat** · 06-19-2012, 02:16 PM

I'll test a few shuttles this week and let you guys know.

***kwun*** · 06-19-2012, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by badder

I am not sure how much you noticed the tube package has changed. I bought some Black one back in 2009, and later around 2010, the tube package has been redesigned. They are similar but definitely different. I do not have picture to show because I no longer have the old tubes. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the different font style on the band tape around the head.

i have some that i bought in early 2010. and i just got a tube from recent production. i will go and do a comparison when i get home tonight.

As for the low quality ones, I called it faked one but it is a little hard to believe. I have seen faked Yonex ones. Normally, faked ones doesn't have any quality that is close to the real one. Faked one only has the similar package. These low quality Aeroplane Black has reasonably good qulity, so it is too good for fake.

i am not rejecting the possibility of fakes. just that i find it unbelievable for fake to penetrate that much in the market. we have seen a few here already and i managed to casually pick some up from the local gym just like that.

***kwun*** · 06-19-2012, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Alapongtai

btw, how the heck did u guys cut them open so cleanly?

i also wonder how badder cut his so surgically. i used a box cutter and while it look better than your, it is no where as clean as badder's job.

**badder** · 06-19-2012, 03:03 PM

Have ever you guys seen what a Chinese chef use? You need something like this, get one if you don't have already, lol.
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Originally Posted by kwun

i also wonder how badder cut his so surgically. i used a box cutter and while it look better than your, it is no where as clean as badder's job.

**badder** · 06-19-2012, 03:10 PM

Well, this is more confusion. I went home for lunch today and took some out to look at the font.

I have one that was cut off a week before, which was good, but the font is as thin as the bad one on the left. I also found an open tube shuttlecocks with thin font, but these are from last year and I believe they are all good ones, but will check them out later.

The most recent ones bought a few weeks (yes, from shuttlecock101) have thick font. Will post some photos tonight. There is also minor detail changes on the tube package from last year.

Originally Posted by kwun

what is more interesting is this. i have enlarged and inverted the previous image, so we can see them in more details.

1. the reason i inverted the image is to look at the fonts. it is obvious that the bad quality one has fonts with thinner strokes. the good quality one is more "bold"

2. if you look at the white leathery cover, they have different texture! the good quality one has finer texture while the bad quality one is rougher.

Attachment 124317

**badder** · 06-19-2012, 06:31 PM

OK, I traced down to a friend, who bought a box from shuttlecock101 after asking me where I bought mine. This is back in Feb this year.

I suspected the bad one I had yesterday is from him. So here is the picture he passed over to me.

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