I've been seeing some Yonex branded/styled/modeled racquets lately which sell for about less than half the price of the real ones. An example will be a NS9900 selling for SGD100 compared to the real one which sells for around SGD300. However upon close inspection the shaft and cone are adorned with the usual Yonex laser engraved serials. I didn't read them properly but they felt passable; the one I saw even reads 'JP' at the end of the cone serial number. I asked for the difference between this racquet and another SP version NS9900 (both are in the same store, the latter is the one which costs SGD300) and the sales person told me that the earlier one is what they call a "Grade A" quality racquet. He said that they cost a lost less because they don't really comprise the fully qualified materials as compared to the genuine Yonex racquets. I did notice that there was some minor inconsistencies with the paint on the "Grade A" racquet though. These include slightly fragile decals and some areas being too thickly painted (the NS9900 I saw has a bit of the orange spiral chipped off, but the sales person brought me another one from the store and it looked almost perfect). Has anyone heard of these "Grade A" racuqets? I read somewhere else on the internet that they're copies of the genuine Yonex racquets. IMHO I think they could be Yonex made but did not pass through QC and thus were sold at cheaper price for clearance, or is it?
i can sum up your whole post in 2 words. "Fake Rackets" or "Cloned Rackets" IMO, don't waste your time with them, just save up and buy a good one.
agree. people who sell fake rackets will make up all sorts of story to cover up what they are selling. the bottom line is that their rackets are fake.
Okay, I see the point. But relatively, since now that it is confirmed that these racquets are not genuine, is it still wise to spend the minimal money (around SGD100 or less) on one of these for cases when I need a flunk racquet to use for playing in doubles game where I have no idea of my spontaneous partner's skill level? I have had cases where some of these people would just run into your racquet's motion when you're hitting a shot behind them which they can't reach but then they still back into your way to attempt to reach it. Worst case I had was a month ago when my AT700LTD got hit by someone's racquet and it snapped the frame in half. I guess we all have had experiences like this before.
If you want it as a back up then get it, no point spending hundreds on a racket you wont use much. Cloned/fake rackets are quite common but the grade A thing could be true it quite often happens with products in other markets and they go by the name grade A and as you guessed its just a QC thing. Never seen a grade A badminton racket before though!
I think I may get one of these sometime in the future since my brother is also interested in it and I can just give it to him if it doesn't play too well (he plays a bit of badminton and is not totally fussy about buying an expensive genuine Yonex racquet). IMHO they should come off as pretty disposable (in terms of money spent also) when the real deal genuine Yonex racquet is not needed to partner with an beginner player, or just for plain fun for training or play against beginners. I'll try to get it photographed and posted here when I buy one. By the way here is one on ebay. Take note of the price and item details.
said fake rackets can be had in China for around SGD25. i bought one for comparison and the material was the cheapest there is. there is no resemblance to the real one in terms of performance.
The feel of these rackets are different from the original ones...even down to the racket cover....I tried one from a China website...they advertised the arcs 10 as being manufactured in the original yonex factory with the same materials..only it was done secretly..hence the ability to keep the price down; the paint job, stiffness all felt different (I have an original arc10) and the racket cover was made from some polyester cheap looking material...not like the original cover... the funny thing was that they even made a distinction between made in china ones and made in taiwan ones... apparently the made in china ones are 1 grade above the made in taiwan ones and cost slightly more.... all in all, dont think you would want to try it; btw I paid about $50 (sing dollars) for it
no point in buying these grade A racquets it's a fake I have a thread in the Market place section about fakes where I came across one called 'grade A'
Mind you! In China, people call fake or imitate stuffs as A-goods. So often women carry 'A-good' LV or Gucci handbags. There are also plenty of 'A-good' Rolexes. That is a Chinese term, and it is not a direct translation of 'Grade-A' in English term. Yes, we have 'B-graded' electronics, those are factory seconds. But for Yonex, there is no seconds. Those rackets which fail the QC testes will be destroyed, that is also one of the reasons why Yonex rackets are expensive, and chucking low grade rackets is just part of the QC process, as of many Japanese manufacturers.
To me, the definition of "back up" should be perform as close to the "starting lineup" as possible. If some "back up" is a completely different racket to begin with, what's the point of "back up"? Of course, my definition is from the performance perspective. If you purely means, "something to use" instead "nothing to use", ok, fine then. But still, there are a lot of well made non-yonex rackets there, which covers with decent quality and warranty, why have to stick with a fake?
If u have to buy a fake racket just buy a fake fake and not a grade A fake and save money However it would be better to save up and buy a real one
