Just wondering, where do most of you buy your badminton racquets and other equipment? At local shops near home? Or for lots of us that don't live in Asia, order online, or shop overseas during a vacation?
i just buy my stuff here in Calgary where ever i dont get ripped off, shopping online eh ill pass on that for now. if i have a friend going overseas to asia i will give them some mony and ask then to pick up a few racquets for me...well ill be doing that next time one of them is going.
I try my best to settle for a good deal around local area. This way, u can try it out, and save on shipping. This is especially important for things like shoes, as if it does not fit, u can't use it, and hard to re-sell. If I have no choice, I will try to demo the product (i.e. shuttle, racket) in local stores, and shop online. Try to go with the reputable dealers, and hope for the best.
Internet or Asia. I'm on holiday there reguarly, like twice a year (I'm a Malaysian). As for the U.K. there are no decent shops anywhere near me.
Do all shops in Calgary sell with prices fairly high? I find it particularly hard to find high grade racquets here so I have to go up to NW or SW to some higher grade retailers and find out they sell a lot more than regular price. And those retailers are few in numbers (unless you want to introduce me to some )After I paid 166$ CAN for my MP-44 I decided to wait until various vacations to HK to shop there, bought a MP-100 for an equivalent of 134$ CAN last month.
I don't think you'll find anything cheap here compare to HK. You're best bet is to see who's going and get it from HK. I don't want to say its bad here, just here, they have too much overhead cost to cover. So they can't reduce the price to the level that Asia have it. D.
I got all my raquets in Taiwan except Cab30MS because it is not sold in Taiwan. In Taiwan the price is much cheaper than in US or CA. Get some asian friends so you can save on racquets
Online, there are couple reliable supplier like san diago badminton supply. Yes, some item are more expensive than asia. However, they are cheaper than regular local even after s/h.
Lately, I've been looking for lightly used rackets for sale at local badminton stores. I got a pretty good deal on an Armortec 700 that had some light scuff marks on it... I just got a wet paper towel and all the marks came off, you'd never know it was used now.
Cab30ms is not available in TW??? :crying: Damn it, I am going to TW in the winter, and thinking about picking up another 2 (prefer G5 grip)... Hmmmm...
I buy my equipment from all over: 1) SGVBC 2) www.waynesporting.com 3) eBay: Tum98, Sumai03, et. al. 4) www.badrus.com 5) www.hiqua.com 6) www.e-badmintonusa.com There are about another 5 stores I buy from, don't have the links handy.
in most of the shops yes its rather expensive, going to asia to buy racquets would be so much nicer but i wont be going anytime soon...but i buy all my stuff at the calgary winter club so i get memeber price and i save some money.
I'd go to CWC, except I live in NE. By car it takes me at least 25 minutes, when it takes a 6 minute walk to Village Square Leisure Center . Yeah, I suppose the prices at CWC are pretty fair, overpriced compared to Asia, a little overpriced, 10$ more than average Calgary stores, but at member price and at the convenience at being right in the same place you play badminton, I'd say it's right. Someone told me CWC was selling a MP-33 at 30% off about a year or two ago, and even at non-member price that was a good deal, but when I got there, 30% off no longer existed.
yeah i live in the NE to but for me i think its kinda worth it to go down there, there always having sales with a minimum of like 20% of racquets ad almost everything ealse so thats always good. i remember last christmas when i went down they were having their christmas wheel of savings and you spin and get a discount min was 20% and max was 50% ended up getting 40% so from my Forza Legend 80 was $110 regular got it for $88 member price and just over $51 with the sale. but i like going there cause they know what their stuff and i like the stringer so for me its worth the trip. so you play at Village Square hum we should go play there sometime.
You know i had an experience at CWC where i asked them to string my racket with bg80 and the lady that works there told me that there's no such thing and she think they don't make such string. I was surprise. I hope your stringer know his/her string, better than the sales associate. And LC is opening up on Monday, i think most people will be there to try out the "clean" gym. d.
I am interested to buy some shuttles. Wondering brand like A+, Flex Pro (e-badminton) and Badrus (Badrus) are any good for their price. How much they usually charge for shipping, if you know...
Depending on the quantity, I can get you in touch with Andy Tran, the Owner of Bad R Us and give you and other BCers a better price. Please e-mail me: dan@dcautoparts.com and I'll see what I can do.
Thanks for the offering! I would like to know the quanlity for BadRus shuttle 1st. If u ever used it before.
I play with Bad 'R Us pink-label shuttles occasionally. They're quite good, durable and consistent. I just think they're a little expensive at $17/tube. But, that's strictly MHO.