I'm curious to know which nylon birds fly and perform the closest to feathers. From the reviews here, it seems the Mavis 2000 and the RKEP M9000 had good reviews. Can anyone provide an updated review on these birds compared with feathers and also against the Mavis 350? On the side note, if I were to go with the Mavis 2000, should I go with the blue or green cap? I'm located in Central Canada where the climate is dry and cold. I'm thinking blue since we normally use the Mavis 350 blue cap.
Ashaway bird2 is the closest to feathers that I've used. One of the clubs I changed from mavis 370 or 300 (can't remember exactly) to 2000. Initially people complained, because it was slightly harder to clear, but after a few more sessions, everyone had grown to love them. Both were same speed. I had a tube of Rkep m9000 and I didn't notice any significant difference to mavis 2000.
Who makes Rkep M9000? Where can I buy M9000 or Ashaway bird2? Which color code should I go with for my type of climate?
RKEP M9000 is squashmart. He's got an ebay store, but you can email him directly. Ashaway bird2 is much harder, maybe only in UK. Check the thread, some people suggested emailing the Ashaway distribution in their region. I'll stick with the same colour code you're using at the moment. It was only harder to clear, because people were still adjusting to the way M2000 slowed down like feathers would.
M2000 is slightly too slow for what I know... I had the blue tipped M2000s, and they are quite slow, slower than my 77-speed Aeroplane Black Label shuttles... Also M300/M350 are a bit too fast (blue tipped) unless you get the green tipped ones.... Nowadays, I just use RSL Classics, Aeroplane Blacks, Li Ning A+300s, and Victor Champion #1s shuttles for all my warm up, rally, game all day every day... I don't really save too much money using plastic compared to good quality feather anyways. Victor Champion #1 (BWF approved) 1 tube (12 shuttles) is around $18-19 over here. $1.60 per shuttle cost. I steam all my shuttles before play, and having GREAT results. Usually lasts around 20-35 minutes of long rallies and smash rallies as well as drive rallies... Some slice shots are used as well. Mavis 2000 shuttles (6 shuttles per tube) costs $15-$16 per tube That works out to be around $2.67 per shuttle... Each M2000 plastic shuttle only lasts around 50 minutes to just over an hour of a long rally with combined clears, smashes, drives, drops, slice drops, net slices etc.... I only save about 50 cents or so to rally with a steamed BWF approved feather shuttle for the same rally time (about an hour)
Your price for M2000 is quite high. It's £14 for 12 here in UK and consequently quite cheap for Victor Champion #1. Anyway if I were to use similar calculations, my work lunch time group uses 2-3 Carlton GT1 (£16 per tube/£1.33 per shuttle) per hour session. If I assume we use one M2000 for 1 hour (which I think might actually be greater than 2 hours for my other club) it's 1.67 per shuttle. So from my experience, feathers are at least double the cost. Notes: Our badminton club at work is small and cannot afford to bulk purchase in large amounts or test a wider range. We switched to Carlton GT1 from RSL #1 (brought from HK), because the real cost was lower and the ease of sourcing from UK. Also, the plastic and feather usage is from two different clubs. Both groups are what I call social standard.
M2000 are what I generally like to play with, M300 are lightest, M350 are heavier, maybe closer to M2000 in weight but because of the skirt design on the M2000, M2000 fly closer to feather, M350 with the heavier weight and their skirt design, fly faster. Bird2 are the latest to challenge M2000 for the "close to feather" bragging rights but Ashaway had some contamination in their lot and production will not be up until probably around the new year. Bird2 in North America may be hard to come by, I have emailed the contact for the region but have not receive a reply for weeks now. M2000 for me cost roughly $1.95 per shuttle and we play them until they fly funny or cork comes off, parts of the end of the skirt will break over time, but it's not an issue until the flight is affected. When that happens, the shuttles become practice shuttles for the less experienced or children in the class. Just my own experience and opinion.
At this time, I'm not worried about the prices of feathers compared with nylons. This is not my concern at the moment. If I can play feathers, I would but most of our club members won't pay for feathers or they are not skillful enough to play with feathers. Not skilful as in they will kill the bird in no time the way they hit the birds. So it seems the Mavis 2000 is what I will try and see.
I have used Mavis 2000 for warm up, mostly doing clears. In the past, I have used it on other shots, such as drops and netting, but I realize it affected my play and stopped doing so (I play with feathers, but warm up with plastics). Mavis 2000 flies very much like feathers, but for more delicate shots such as drops and netting, it doesn't. Players who have decent techniques may like it, but will need control because it can fly quite far out. Or on delicate shots such as netting it can be quite high, making it easy for net kills/taps.
Mavis2000 lasts about 1 session (2hrs). Same session we use about 6-7 feathers. Feather is 3-4 times higher cost compared to Mavis2000. Play Mavis2000 blue in TO. They do fly slightly slower than 350 blue, but none of our players complain about not able to clear...
M9000 medium speed is faster than mavis 350 in my humble opinion, so i tried the slow speed m9000 but it is too slow to be the substitution. So i stick with mavis 2000 now.
M2000 has excellent flight characteristics, but the skirt tears too easily at the top (between the "feather" tips).
You mean at the ends, right? If so, I agree, it does tear but I don't recall it compromising the flight much. We switch around with 300 and 2000 depending on members. I'll have to pull out some used 2000s again during our next meet.
Mavis 2000 is extremely good compared with Mavis 350, Mavis 500, Mavis 10, Mavis 03, Lining Nylon and Cartlon Nylon. Mavis 2000 flight is very good and it is faster compared with others. Also it is more resistant to air and thereby it has got excellent flight characteristics. But it is less durable compared with Mavis 350 and 500. But in general except for the durability, training and playing outdoors, playing with Nylon shuttles generally spoils the game as they are slow compared with feather. Feather is the best.
Yep, agree. Mavis 2000 is probably the best of the plastics in terms of feel, flight... though of course feather is best. Even though the skirt edges break faster than 300 etc, the flight and feel is not much affected, unlike the other plastics. Although we haven't tried Bird2 the yet.
I've just recently switched to the Mavis 2000. Another player used one in a game and Mrs Badrad and I immediately felt comfortable with the shuttle, closer in flight and response to feather shuttle than any else we have tried so far. The Ashaway Bird2 sounds very interesting as well, but not exactly sure how we can get hold of some in Vancouver. But for now the Mavis 2000 will do - when we aren't playing feathers.
