http://www.mizuno.co.jp/whatsnew/news/nr091026/nr091026.html Looks like someone has finally made a plastic shuttlecock that are close to the feather ones. Anyone tried it yet?
Wow, if they perform to what it is described as. We will save alot of money in the long run even if this plastic piece is expensive.
Of course it will not come close if at all. Natural feathers have natural oils and toughness as well as resilience in both the feathers and shafts that plastics cannot make. Plastics will still collapse at the skirt when hit hard if they are made to lift or fly at all. If the plastics shafts are to be as tough and yet as resileint as feathers' shafts, they will be too thick. Just cut a cross-section of a grade A+ goose feather's shaft and look through with a microscope.
Look at M-2000 from Yonex, they said it flies closet with a feather. And look what happened, it's not even close. Hopefully Mizuno will be 'closer'
The mizuno article is in Japanese text. Can anyone who understands it, do a simple and short translation in English? The flight diagram looks nice thou. However we have to play it to find out how good is it.
looks promising. synthetic material and retains the overall structure of a feather shuttlecock. in fact, from a distance, it will be difficult to differentiate it and a feather shuttle. will have to wait to see how it plays.
i seriously would like to test these...i think the M-2000s are somewhat close...they're heavier...that's for sure...but still feels like plastic...blech...
This kind of plastic feather shuttlecock had been patterned in the 80's. Not sure Mizuno has purchased the pattern right from the pple or they will put themselve into trouble. If it really launch into the market, say goodbye to feather shuttlecock soon.
There a lot of different plastics out there. You can pretty much make anything you want out of plastic.
I was disappointed by the M2000P. I always thought there must be some reason for plastic shuttles not directly imitating the look of feathers - it seems such an obvious concept.
I doubt it. I just don't think that a synthetic shuttle is going to be able to come close to imitating the feel of a feather shuttle for some time yet. Eventually maybe; but currently, I just can't see it happening. Of course, if the Mizuno plastic shuttle is good, it may be useful in environments where feather shuttles aren't practical but for tournaments and amongst serious players, I think you can expect feather shuttles to be around for a good while yet.
cost relative. sticky price will cost more for sure BUT if it last more than twice as long, overall cost is still cheaper.
The feeling is depend on the cork used and the feather stiffness is adjustable. Ever in today market, there are so many different feather shuttlecock that do not have the same feeling. Feather has been dominating the market because someone has patterned the innovative 16 plastic feather shuttlecock and not launching the product.
hope they're available in yellow and as durable as regular plastics or even better. feather just doesn't last long and cost way too much.
synthetic products are meant to replicate performance, not compositional make-up or material source. Ask yourself, why don't you use cat gut string at 22 lbs, leather overgrip, wood racket, dragonfly shoes to match up to the same era when feather shuttles were first played??
heres the translated version. just use the google translate on top of the page. http://translate.google.com/transla...arch?q=mizuno+ns300&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS256