Which kind of shuttlecocks do you use?

You can try Yonex Mavis series synthetic shuttles. They are more playable in casual games, and good for practice and beginners' use.

Feather shuttles are all very fragile because if you can't hit them right, the feathers will fall off within 1 minutes.

 

I wouldn't recommend the use of plastics or the cheaper feather shuttles. The reason is that both will adversely affect your stroke making.
The reason is that only very good shuttlecocks have that lift property and high rotational spin on its axis that make stroke making so deceivingly powerful.
There are two ways you can test this out.
Among feathers shuttlecocks of the same speed for the hall : try the BWF's "Testing a shuttle for speed" and see if the bird will fall a distance of 12.4 meter to 12.9 meter. There is simply no way a cheap shuutle can even reach close to this. To reach this distance the shuttle must have good lift and high rotational speed. If the feel of the shuttle is hard this is one lousy shuttle and you will never ever be able to execute real badminton strokes. That hard feeling comes from too much air resistance caused by slow rotational speed and poor lift property. Plastic is even worse. There is no surer way to be stuck in playing badminton with tennis like force or arm swing than playing with plastics or hard feeling feathers shuttlecocks.
Another way is to play a game with the best quality shuttlecock you can afford. Then switch back to your own shuttlecock. The greater the "shock" difference between the two the higher the quality of the quality top shuttle. Going back to your cheaper shuttles will require more energy, the feel is hard, the shuttle weighs a ton. This, by the way, is also a test to compare the best of the best quality shuttles.
Also, I happen to have this highest quality standard shuttle for testing.

 

In that case the shuttle is more important than the racquet. With a hard feel shuttle the best racquet is of no help in hitting that magical testing distance of 12.4m to 12.9m, even with the Li Ning N90. A MYR 50 racquet will be able to reach that distance with an AS-50 made by the best contarct manufacturer, not any manufacturer.
I was shocked to find out some so called powerful smashers could not clear that BWF shuttle speed test. I am almost twice their age and I have no problem. I also notice that their powerful smashes were mostly executed with shots well short of a good length. I suspect and in fact I told them they might have the "hard" feel shuttle "disease", that is so welled honed into their strokes and power execution that more physical power with less deception, ala tennis, has already been set in stone.

 

If you play in the metro area, most clubs do sell shuttles, and a lot of members bring their own. therefore, you can simply purchase a very small amount of a few kind and compare. I do not recommend to order large amount blindly, as it can be a waste of $$$.

Yonex feathers are really expensive, and most clubs I attend do not use plastic shuttles. Popular brands I see ppl using in clubs are TaiLai, RSL, HiQua, Aeroplane, etc.

 

I seriously do not recommend getting expensive feather shuttles when you first start badminton.

To a beginner:

1. Expensive shuttles = money.
2. Breaking expensive shuttles = waste of money.
3. Feather expensive shuttles = very easy to lose money.
4. Poor techniques with expensive shuttles = money not-welled spent.
5. ......

You get the point.

So you can purchase affordable (not necessarily cheap) feather shuttles if you REALLY want to play with feather ones. Or, you can play with synthetic shuttles if you want longer playability.

Ultimately, it's up to you.

 

Yes, high quality feather shuttlecocks cost a lot more but their playing life is also better than cheaper ones. A cheap feather shuttle becomes unplayable in a short time, and even if still playable it starts to slow down. A high quality feather shuttle has much higher durability, and even after being bashed around it can still be hit from end to end.
The rule is to use a shuttlecock that is of the required speed for the hall and to select a brand or grade that can be hit, using an underarm stroke and hitting it at an upward angle, to reach a distance of 12.4m to 12.9m. Failing that, use a higher speed although that is always at a cost of extra weight. There are many players who also use AS-50 or Aeroplane Black of the wrong speed. This is a waste of money. To play a full and real game of badminton using the full length of the court, one must be able to hit from end to end. To do this you must use a shuttle of the speed consistent with the hall that also can be hit from end to end. Cheap and hard feel feather shuttlecocks cannot even come close, effectively reducing your badminton to a truncated game with a "truncated" court. Do you want this?

 

Haha....I've read your essay (yet again), but I don't think beginners will understand a thing you mentioned in there.

Is it possible that you summarize all your points into lines?

Thanks!

 

Highschool Badminton sucks, most schools use syntethic, the yellow one :V but its still good anyway

 

Of course a beginner cannot hit from one end of the court to the other end. That is not the issue here. The crux here is to get a shuttle that can be hit end to end by a reasonably good stroke player and then to use this shuttle. Beginners cannot expect to hit this selected shuttle from end to end but they can hit this selected shuttle farther than any other shuttle that cannot make the grade. A beginner, unlike a better player who can hit a distance of between 12.4m to 12.9m with a select shuttle, can at least hit perhaps 10m instead of a very short 8m with a lousy shutter.
Training with used old high quality feather shuttles by beginners and trainees for training is better than using new lousy shuttles. Trainees will then feel and see the power of using wrist whip and stroke play with such shuttles, even if used. Hard feel shuttles, even when brand new, preclude such subtle use of the wrist and its role in stroke making because of the shuttle's high air resistance and very slow turnover at impact.

 

Let's not start a fight here....Haha

@taneepak: We have to deal with reality here. Not everyone can afford a nice tube of shuttles, especially with beginners. Realistically, I don't even think beginners care about the shuttle being hit from end to end as all they need is a good quality and durable shuttle that will last them very long. Therefore, their definition of quality is different from your definition of quality. Sure, good used hi-quality shuttles are good to use for beginners, but seriously, who cares? Are you suggesting they should go check out the dump of shuttles just to pick up the nice ones? I don't think they will do that. If the students are with a coach, he/she will definitely take the time to select the better shuttles for his/her student to practice. But, the students will not bother with such stuff. Thus, we have to understand the real situation here, not following what theory says. Theories are just theories, they can't apply to all situations.

Hope my essay didn't bore you.

 

My suggestion for a Beginner:

a) inexpensive light midbalanced,flexy racket (100% graphite of course).
b) inexepensive Low tension string, any brand/model.
c) Decent grade goose shuttles (Find the least expensive goose feather with acceptable durability with care taken that the speed is correct for location and season/climate ).

The above is for a beginner with ambition to get better at the game.

If theere is no ambition to improve his game for the beginner, and badminton is just a way of passing the time and get some fun body excersice, any equipment (steel-racket, plastic hsuttles etc) will be just fine... (just as soccer, running, swimming would be fine as well)

/Twobeer

 

How about putting them to the real test? Use the BWF's testing for shuttle speed test and see if the shuttles can reach 12.4m to 12.9m, hitting using an underarm stroke and the hitting it at an upward angle. All the desired qualities of a high quality shuttle rest on this test, i.e. high lift, fast turnover, very fast rotation, pin point accuracy, excellent flight trajectory, ability to be hit to extreme height with little effort. Only shuttles that can reach this distance has the desired properties to punch through the air with almost no air resistance.

 

I have to agree. Different players coming into the gym with totally different purpose. What fits for my "satisfaction" might not be the same for others.

No offense against any new players, but I did saw many of them even using super beat up shuttles (missing at least 2 or 3 or even more feathers) and smacking around like a ping-pong ball. If I use such in a competitive match, I might be kicked out right away. However, I do not see it's wrong, when they are having fun among themselves. Sure, a brand new tube of AS50 might be nice, but with their inconsistent "chopping" strokes (and some of them hit quite hard), I assume it will turn out to be the super beat ups in less an hour anyway.

So, again, my suggestion is to purchae small amount and try. Everyone's definition of "playability", "durability", "affordability" and "level of playing" are quite different. I do not believe there's a generic solution which can make everyone happy.

 

Sure, I wonder how many real beginer can even hit 12.9m to begin with, regardless whatever strokes they are using. Yes, many of them have more chance to chop the feathers, then hitting the cork in a solid way.

Many times I watch the super beginner's play, both sides tend to stay in front of the service line, and both trying to even touch the shuttles. Whether a shuttle can reach 12.9 m or 5.9m, does not seem any differences.