Hi folks, It's my first time doing a review of a racquet so I may not be doing it well/ right, but here goes anyway. Please by all means this should not be read as an endorsement of buying a fake/ replica racquet. Or should it be a warning to others but I always believe in choice in this world. I was given this racquet by a supplier friend in China just for giggles. So I tried it out and give him an honest opinion and here it is: 1) First Impressions and background I am an intermediate player, I used to play competitive badminton at state level a very very very very long time ago. We are talking some 20 years ago. After a series of operations on my knees, I rate myself as a low intermediate and play extremely conservatively just so I don't injure myself and can continue playing the next week. I've used many different racquets in my day, but would say my favourite racquet of all time was the Cab 20. I now use an old Aerotus 66, something I have used since I was still competitive and it has served me well. I always prefer head light and stiff racquets as I've always had a problem with control and not the lack of power. The racquet looks really really good. Decals are applied well, paint scheme is flawless. Granted I didn't have an original side-by-side to compare, but on it's own I can see how some people are fooled into buying it as an original. The specs are near identical too: a) 3U G5 b) approx 95g (strung) c) length 670mm d) centre balance point 290mm e) shaft diameter 7.2mm 2) During Play The first time I picked up the racket I felt that it was heavy. This is definitely due to the head heavy design. Swing times were slower, contact was later and general fatigue set in faster. However, after weighing it and doing some physical measurings, I realised that it is actually lighter than my current racquet. The racquet was immediately restrung with a Forten Pro Touch 66 at 26lbs to make it a fairer review as the original strings were just too low in tension. I have all my racquets strung at 26lbs on BG66 since forever. I have a theory that ALL strings actually play the same if their dimensions are the same and they are strung to the same tension. Many would disagree but my experience has been such. To my amazement, there was no change in my opinion after restringing!!! lol....the racquet still felt sluggish and heavy when hitting... 3) Attacking Play Despite the head heavy orientation of the racket, it lacked any power in smashes. The head and shaft felt extremely flexible and the racquet definitely felt like it was flexing in torque. This was confirmed by twisting the head in your hands, it was easy to rotate it even with your hands. This may be due to the non-oversized/ wide body of the head and T-joint. Shots were flying all over the place and drops were not accurate and I couldn't understand why, maybe I was having an off day. However upon closer scrutiny, I realised that the head balance was one-sided. It was heavier on one side of the racquet which definitely affected the accuracy of the shots. 4) Defensive Play Lifting, clearing and general defending was also slow. The head heavy configuration made for very sluggish shots. The flexible shaft also made for very short and innacurate flicks. In fairness it could have also been because of my inability to adjust to the racquet as I've only really used the racquet for 2 hours whereas I've used my current racquet for close to 15 years. Conclusion I think it would be pointless having a 10point ranking system because of the subjectivity of such a system, but as an overall I would rate this racket perhaps a 4/10. I ask myself repeatedly whether I was biased because I had prior knowledge that it is a fake/ replica. However I can honestly say that I have been very very fair in the appreciation of it, I changed strings, swaped grips and tried to treat it as my other racquets. IF this was an original Archsaber 10, I would then have to give the Yonex Archsaber 10 a 4/10 rating too. Again I would like to stress that this is not a review to discourage or encourage you to get a fake/ replica racquet. However do note that there are definite differences between them. My supplier told me that they are only about USD18/ racquet. That is indeed a crazy price as you can imagine how much a racquet cost to make. Next up is a NS9900, I've been told that it will be made according to the original spec and carbon layup, it cost alot more to make this. I'll post a review once I get it too just as an academic exercise. Regards, Sean
so thanks for your review on a FAKE Arc 10. so now we know how a FAKE Arc 10 feels like so can you show some pictures of your FAKE Arc 10? so that we can know how a FAKE Arc 10 looks like
Well for starters, I will assume the fake Arcsaber 10 is spelt Archsaber 10 since you keep referring to it in that way
Pls upload some picture of the Archsaber 10 and NS9900 rollibob. Many thanks. Ah, you also have a NS9900, appreciate your review soon. I'm more interested to know the performance of ur NS9900 compare to mine one. I'm mean Yonex. Is there any chance that I can get one of these to test it out?
Hi guys, My bad ARCSABER 10. Why can't they just keep the names simple like they used to?? Can we all say CARBONEX? lol.... I'm sounding old now. I guess I could take some pics of the racquet when I have the time. Sorry I've been really busy lately. I don't actually have a fake NS9900, I should have it at the end of the month though as my supplier will include it with my next shipment of goods then. I suppose you can borrow mine to try it out when it arrives. I am assuming they don't all play the same because my supplier was asking me whether I wanted the racquets high or low spec (i.e cheap or expensive). The Arc 10 was a cheap speced racket and the NS9900 was supposed to be more high/ expensive.
Thanks for the info. If you wanna let go the racket just let me know. A racket from the same factory with evil empire is not the fake racket probably. These rackets beleive are all in the shape after the production cycle just that secretly ship out without the knowledge. The painting and the gromments is doing in other place. A fake racket is produced by use of different material, technology and etc.. Your china supplier should know the racket is low end replica, high end replica (use of graphite), normal factory racket (with T-joint) can take high tension and original factory racket.
There's just a point I want to make about this review of a fake Arcsaber 10. With all due respect to buffedupboy, this review has no relevance to anything and holds no water at all. In the factories which fake rackets are made (no, not the Yonex OEM factories), there isn't necessarily any quality control at all. It doesn't matter what comes out of them as long as it looks like the real racket. If you buy a fake, you may get one which is wildly off-spec or breaks very soon. Of course, when your fake racket does break, you have no-one to turn to and just have to buy a new racket. I would highly recommend not buying a fake racket and instead, buying a low priced, quality racket from the likes of Apacs or any of the other good value brands which are frequently discussed on these forums. As for the dismal performance of the fake arc10, it's hardly surprising. I'm no expert on graphite but I know for sure that the graphite in the fake arc10 will not be the same as in the real arc10. There is simply no way that the fake manufacturers can afford (or need to) put high quality graphite in to their rackets, they'll just put in the "bargain basement" stuff and be done with it. This would limit how powerful the racket was and deaden the feel. As always, there's a reason that a lot of fakes are cheap to buy - they're dirt cheap to make because they contain rubbish materials and no quality control. The worst type of fake racket is of course, one that you pay nearly the full retail price of a legitimate Yonex racket so be careful and conduct the appropriate checks before you buy. On a side note - fake Arc-ZS rackets are slowly starting to appear on eBay.
I disagree with your initial statement Dan, which to be fair you contradict yourself. I've often wondered how such a racket feels/plays, entirely appreciating that there is no single answer to that given how hugely the performance varies (which you point out in your post above). I found it very interesting reading an unbiased opinion of a fake racket, if nothing else just to highlight how utterly worthless they are (I was particularly surprised by the unevenly balance sides) rather than the standard "don't waste your money they are rubbish etc etc". I genuinely hope a few people read just how unpredictable these rackets can be and choose to buy something else. I think the original post would be quite valuable in that regard. Cheers Mark
i'd be interested to see if the opinion changes if the tester didn't know whether the racquet was genuine or fake. we might get some surprising results.
To members who posted in this thread. 1) This is a good topic to bring up from an unbiased view. I agree with Mark. 2) I think Dan has the good intention to ask Sean not to spend too much time and energy looking into fake Yonex racquet. Please correct me if I am wrong. 3) I think Mr. Buffed here did a good job and he is not a boy anymore. 4) Just want to point out 1 minor point. Yonex do use OEM factory in china to make the Basic and lowest end MP series racquet and that is it. There is no such "OEM" to make any other mid and high end racquet. Yonex owns the factories in Japan and Taiwan. Since they are own by Yonex, by definition, they are not "OEM". A thank you for Sean spending his money and write up this review.
I also agree that the review was a good idea. Let's be honest, the clones/fakes are out there and people are buying them, some knowing they are fakes, others not. While I don't believe that the clones are anywhere as good as the real thing, I do think they are almost as good as the $40 rackets out of big sporting goods stores and are much better looking too. Buyer beware is a lot easier with reviews like this.
Clone is different from fake, clone have brand name like Apacs, Fleet, Winex blablabla and of course some of them have a good quality cause they have QC in their factory. Review from fake is useless cause there was no QC, every piece of fake rackets (same model and buy from same place) could be different BP, feel, stiffness, etc.
Exactly. Pointless. And maybe allowing reviews of illegal fakes on this respected website might be misinterpreted by some as some kind of endorsement. People, PLEASE PLEASE avoid these fakes. They are not good for our sport.
I love sweeping statements like this, you know this for a fact because??? I just bought an Apacs Lethal 70 which was 10mm outside spec for balance point. The other two were fine. While I certainly don't argue the fact that there would be little to no QC on these "fakes", I also can't see how you could prove that the specs varied so much unless you went out and did a scientific test with a large enough speciman group. In my work I don't trust anything that can't be backed by testing, do the fake makers test? I actually dont' know, do you? Can anyone on here prove how much variation there is in these fake rackets?
No need for the smug. There was no 'sweeping statement'. It's called common sense . Fakes are made in many different locations and with little or no QC. It's pretty damned obvious that quality and specs are not controlled (or are even relevant to the manufacturer) and will vary, rendering reviews pointless. A fake Yonex is probably made on the same machine as a fake Victor, but then painted differently. There's no proof either way , but come on, let's be sensible here . Or are you trying to imply that reviews of ALL racquets are pointless ??? Or are you trying to imply that two-bit back-street manufacturers create uniform specs in their fakes ??? Oh, by the way, I have an Apacs Nano 900 Power. It ain't to spec - Apacs ain't too hot on that either.
When John Lennon was once asked whether he believed in fairies, he said "yes, I believe in everything that hasn't been proven to be not true. So, yes, I believe in fairies." You believe in fairies, I assume.
Again, I totally disagree. There is value in someone taking the time to accurately describe the characteristics of a fake racket, be it an Arc10 or other 'high end' racket - purely as a method of informing others what they can expect and as evidence of how poor they can be.
"No need for the smug. There was no 'sweeping statement'. It's called common sense . There's no proof either way , but come on, let's be sensible here . Or are you trying to imply that reviews of ALL racquets are pointless ???" One one hand you acknowledge there is no proof, but then you suggest the review of the racket (which provides the proof) pointless? Doesn't make much sense.
