has anyone noticed that Gosen has been very active lately? they snatched the sponsorship for the whole Malaysian team and the Hongkong team. and recently, they started sponsoring Anna Kournikova in Tennis. looks like they are giving Yonex some marketing headache. what really counts though, is how good their product is. has anyone used Gosen rackets extensively? how do they compare to good ole Yonex?
I have tried the Gosen, Blue color, forgot the model number. it was not bad. I will try the birdies soon too
Dear all, In terms of graphite quality, Yonex rackets are much better than Gosen's. Gosen rackets are not made in Japan, though it is a Japanese brand name. Gosen rackets are licensed to be manufactured in Taiwan instead. Gosen rackets are selling at high prices also, which is comparable to that of Yonex. In terms of the same price, I shall definitely go for Yonex for its sever QC, besides, all the Yonex top rackets are manufactured in Japan. Frankly speaking, nowadays, all the brand name rackets like Carlton, Gosen, Mizuno, Yamaha, Victor or Kason are made in either Taiwan or China or both. Only Yonex top model rackets are made in Japan. Moreover, Gosen rackets cannot stand high stringing tension. Gosen has offered a lot of benefit like monetary reward to its players, so even the famous HK ladies singles player Wang Chen has abandoned Yonex but turns to be in favour of Gosen for its better reward, but actually not for the good performance or the quality of Gosen rackets. Therefore, please take my advice to go for Yonex as Yonex rackets are more reliable, powerful and durable, if you are going to pay a high price for a racket.
please tell me why products from japan are better than those from other asian countries? i am not familiar with the SE asian manufacturing quality control.
My friend has got Roots Gavun 5000Ti. It's a very good racket. Power and controll are ok. I've tried a couple of top Yonex rackets (Ti8 and MP100) and I think it is the same level in quality. And this Gavun shaft really works! I guess that's why thay made it less head heavy than the above Yonex rackets (that's how I feel). He stringed it 11 kg - he likes this tension. No problem yet. Nice thing. 2YY Fan -> I tought Gosen is an american brand. Japan? Hmm... As for price, well, my friend bought this 5000 for 75 USD, Ti8's price in me country (Russia) is more than 100 (don't remember exactly) MP - about 200 USD. Should I explain why he went Gosen?
Well i can;t tell you exactly why. But most of the large companies in the badminton line are either based in Japan or started up by the Japanese. eg Yonex and Gosen. All the pros use these rackets. Well most of them. The Malaysian badminton team and HK team play with Gosen. As well as some Indonesian players like Ellen Angelina. The majority of the rest of the pros use Yonex, eg Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, China and even Roslin and Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia as well as some Danish players as well. The pros string their rackets at very high tensions Taufik had his strung at 31lbs, Peter Gade at 32lbs etc. But many rackets won't be able to hold this type of tension. From personal experience i've had rackets break at tensions like 24lbs. These racekts are all made by other companies. I don't believe there is any real solid evidence to say Japanese products are better, but by the way they stand out in the market and the way the pros use them at such high tensions, the Japanese have done 1 heck of a good job with their products
I didn't know that Gosen was sponsoring Anna Kournikova now in tennis!! hmmm..................................
Availability and marketing Tech! First and foremost It is Not available here! This nation is one of the Biggest Badminton Playing countries in the world1 even though it is not anything big atleast plp play to reduce their big fat belly! I think Gosen does not Subscribe to all sectors of the Badminton Population!Neither do they educate The badminton Community! It does not make sense to sell a Top of the line gosen racket at arnd the same cost of Yonex top of the line rackets! If alone Gosen is made available at cheaper rates i am very positive that More plp would go in for it! I am willing to try the gosen Br 5000Ti. But then if i have to buy a new one I have to pay abt 140Sg! I am very sure that is close to Ti 10which sells at abt 155Sg here! Why On earth would i pay so much and buy something that i might not like!But if i like it i am very sure that It would not perform Heads over rackets Like Cab 20 Orginal which i can get at very decent rates! If i can procure a Gosen for abt 80Sg then I might def try It! The person from whom I buy can procure a Iso 900 for abt 90Sg! So i think 80Sg is a Decent spending for a New racket of a Unknown Brand! I guess Yonex has been the benchmark for a long long time! It is Like XEROX of Photocopying! I guess to change It They should produce rackets of very good Quality adn Consistency and then make it available cheaply! I think Their promotion abt Malay,Hk teams are great But then availability and Customer being educated shoudl really work1 A yonex dealer actually cons every customer by Bullshiting abt Titanium, swing power, smashpower and NOnsense! But it works! Let us Hope that Gosen is one brand who might challenge Yonex atleast in the Asian market! I guess it might atleast make the customer have a wider variety and better standards!
I've 4 Gosen racquets - one BR5000Ti (bought in HK), two BR4000 (bought in Japan) and one BR3?00 (forget the exact model #). Basically, I've similar opinion as YY Yan - build quality for most Gosen racquets is poor. I've recently back from Japan and I found that the situation is the same for those new Aermet series racquets. When I said poor build quality, I meant those you can see from the appearance of the racquet, such as pain job, rough edges or connections, etc. Consider the fact that these Gosen racquets are not cheap at all, I really think they should do a better job - in compare with Yonex racquets at the same price, you are hardly willing to pay for a Gosen racquet, just by judgement from their appearance. For performance, I can't say Gosen racquets are poor, but there is no surprise either. I do believe their technologies (ROOTS, Aermet) work, but probably I don't feel at home with Gosen racquets so far. Regarding manufacturing quality of Japan and other countries (mainly PRC), one thing I can sure is those products being manufactured in Japan usually have high QC standard. As YY Fan said, most brands other than Yonex manufacture racquets outside Japan. Based on my experience (I've many racquets from Yonex, Gosen, Mizuno and Carlton), there is no doubt that Yonex racquets have the best build quality among the competition. Again, I must stress the point once more time - better build quality doesn't necessarily mean better performance, but it usually correlates to reliability and durability. Performance of a racquet is more depended on its design in my opinion. For intermediate and professional players, I still think Yonex makes the best racquets. However for beginners to intermediate level players, some other brands do make very good product as well, such as Mizuno. Fyi, I've also tried a number of Gosen strings so far - just like their racquets, not bad, but no surprise too.
Re: Kason a "brand name racquet" ?? If Yonex QC is so good and the professionals strunk their racquet at 31 or 32 lbs, Why on earth YY only recommends us motals to string at 18-20lbs??? If their racquet can withstand higher tensions, why they chicken out and put up such a low recommended tenson? If they are so sure of their manufacturing quality, why not put up a more realistic recommended ranges? Do any players here not strung over their recommend range? I'm not pro Yonex or Gosen. You should select your racquet (weapon) rather than letting the weapon to select you. It is just what happening out there with all the brands and sponsorship. Find the racquet that suit you and play with it. On Asian manufacturing quality, the OEM products can be at par with Yonex if the buyers (Calton, Gosen or whoever) willing to add 5-15% on the OEM cost (which is no much). Instead these branded buyers spend it on promo or sponsorship. Mind you, the cost of manufacturing the racquet is only 15-25% of the retail price. The materials used between Yonex and OEMs are the same becasue the cost difference is insignificant (forget the hype of Ti or any space-age materials. It's so tiny that if it drop onto the floor, you can't find it). The manufacturing technology is not space-age, more labour intensive I would say. On QC, it is just how many racquet you afford to throw-out rather than ship to your customers. Yonex build it in the cost. OEMs shipped it to the buyers hoping their buyers won't detect. But the bottom line is "you can find very good products from OEMs".
Re: Availability and marketing Tech! Anna Kournikova is sponsored by Gosen only for her strings! Her rackets are still Yonex
Well I don't remember any appearence problems with the 5000Ti my friend bought. I'll take a closer look the next weekend but I doubt I'll find them. Anyway are you really sure that appearence (IMHO it is not the same thing as build q) of the racket can affect durability and reliability? I think 'build q' is not paint job and rough edges(as for connections - what exactly is wrong with them? how do you mean "rough" in this case - are they not solid? shifting?) but mostly graphite q and q of armored places. And you can't judge it just by the appearence. Prices. Can't agree with you. Gosen rackets are quite cheap comparing to Yonex. At least here - you can buy 3 5000Ti or 1 Ti10. Of course prices can be different depending on countries. As for QC - guess nobody knows details of OEM agreements between brandholders and factories in asian countries as well as Yonex QC standards for its plants in Japan, so I doubt that Yonex QC standarts higher than e.g. Carlton's or Gosen's. Or Yonex is better only because it is produced in Japan? Maybe, maybe. But you see - not convincing. The only really good argument is that Yonex is always chosen by pros. Well,the world is not constant - things can change very quickly. BTW you sell rackets or collect them? Or I can't understand why having a stock of things you don't like...
"Yonex is the choice of the pros". Come on, top players don't chose their sponsor after how good their racquets are. They go to whoever pays the most. In fact, the pros really don't have a choice if Yonex comes with a fat sponsor deal, because no other brand can compete in terms of money. That bit has NOTHING to do with the quality of their products.
Re: Mike! Why, I thought I wrote where... Russian Federation. Lucky... Heh, well from this point of view, maybe...
