Our club and league will be making switch from plastic to feather shuttles at the start of September. Our club has tested a variety of different shuttles to try to determine which one we should play with cost as a major factor. The reviews are brief as I made short notes after each trial. All shuttles were steamed at least 24 hours befoire use. Yehlex Tournament - medium speed (78) Felt good when hit, fly well even with a broken feather. Slow. Yehlex Tournament - fast speed (79) Felt like a plastic shuttle (Yonex 370) when hit. Yehlex Championship - medium speed (78) Good feel when hit. No good if a feather is broken Yehlex Premiership - medium speed (78) Good feel when hit. Feathers tended to break at tips but flight remained good. Yonex AS50 - medium speed (78) Very good feel and control. Feathers hardly broke, just frayed. RSL No.1 tourney - medium speed (78) Good feel and control. Slow. Flight OK if a feather is broken. Our club will be using Yonex AS50. Even though they are the most expensive per dozen, because they last well the overall cost will be less. For those looking for a budget shuttle I would suggest the Yehlex Tournament medium (78). Finally I would rank the shuttles as follows 1. Yonex AS50 (medium 78) 2. Yehlex Premiership (medium 78) 3. Yehlex Tournament (medium 78) 4. RSL No.1 Tourney (medium 78) 5. Yehlex Tournament (fast 79) 6. Yehlex Championship (medium 78) One of our members also got hold of a tube of Yonex AS30 copies. These were very good (and cheap < £5/dozen!!) but because they are copies, there's no guarantee of consistency.
Yonex AS 30 (real ones!) - medium speed (78) Couldn't really tell any difference between these and the AS50 when playing. They are not as durable as the AS 50 though. I estimate that we would use 25% more AS 30 than AS 50, therefore the AS 50 is still better value for money.
