Well after going through a few tubs of each, here are my findings. Also want to add, the Yang Yang 300B's are the yellow coloured tubs, I believe slightly older. Following ratings... Durability | Flight | Flight consistency Aeroplane Black's (EG1130) 8 | 8 | 5 (21/30) Yang Yang 300B's (Y300B) 6 | 9 | 7 (22/30) Don't know if temperatures had anything to do with it, but played in numerous halls/courts and had roughly the same experience. The 300B's main negative is it's rather lacklustre durability. They become un-useable after a game to tops two. Black's in comparison go 2+ sometimes. The main area the Black's falter is in flight consistency. My word, after a bit of a beating speeds reduce dramatically. Whereas the 300B soldiers on admirably, even in a horrid state. Flight on new un-ruffled or damaged shuttles, the two perform is very similar, but I still feel the 300B's, despite having a lower speed rating, have more a touch more weight and speed to them. Looking at both shuttles close up. The 300B's seem to have ever so slightly thicker feathers, with an ever so slightly more yellow overall colour. Going to try RSL Classic Tourney's next. But if I want an optimum game, I think I'd probably still settle for an older batch of 300B's over Black's. Then again, maybe I just need slightly slower (or faster?) rated Black's.
Well, if you wait a few more days (maybe by Saturday). I can give a comparison review of them. Mine should arrive this week fingers crossed.
Indeed, it is something I noticed too about the EG1130's flight. It slows down a bit after the first few hits but then it just maintains that same flight until it falls apart. The EG's starts off too fast anyway so I kinda prefer it when it slows down to its stable flight.
Good to know. I got a few tubes of Aeroplane EG1130's in HK waiting for me to test out when I get back
My RSL Classic Tourney's arrived today! Brilliant service. All the way from HK in 4-5 days. Will give them a test on the courts tomorrow and let you guys know how they stack up. Comparing them visually. They look roughly the same as the others. Not as white as the Black's, closer to the colour of the 300B's. Feathers might be like 5% less thick. Stems seem sharper but ever so slightly less thick. These are differences you'd never notice unless inspecting up close and personal to a sad extent lol. There's definitely more glue on some of these Classic shuttles than the other brands as well. Don't know if this will affect flight or durability. Then again, you can't judge anything really from sight as shuttles vary quite a lot from shuttle to shuttle.
I have no idea who MBS is. I ordered from an eBay user. Emailed him for a better price. For 6 tubs imo $123 (US) inc shipping to the UK ain't bad. Works out at $20.50 a tub.
MBS = mybadmintonstore, a badminton shop in HK - usually when I read something here about HK and good service, it's about MBS, so that's why I asked I looked at their website now and they don't seem to carry RSL, though
Ok so tried the RSL Classic tourney's yesterday. Won't give a final score breakdown yet, but flight seems to be on par with the 300B's and flight consistency about the same, possibly even better. Definitely a fair bit more consistent in speed than the Black's, even after taking a ruffling. Durability seemed good as well. But I always find the first few in a new batch usually are very good. So on Monday when I play another 3 hours of doubles (yesterday was singles) I'll report back. Overall though first session impressions are very good. Maybe even the best shuttles I've tried yet.
Ok, so in my original post I gave the Blacks and 300B's the following grades, and I stand my them. Durability | Flight | Flight consistency Aeroplane Black's (EG1130) 8 | 8 | 5 (21/30) Yang Yang 300B's (Y300B) 6 | 9 | 7 (22/30) To add to the list, after now maybe 6-7+ hours of using the RSL Classic Tourney (77), here are my ratings. RSL Classic Tourney 7 | 9.5 | 7.5 (24/30) Flight of these is pretty much perfect. I gave a score just shy of it because without trying all shuttles, I don't think I'm in a position to grant a 10 yet (AS50 maybe?) I just know if there is a perfect, these must be close to it. Durability, good, not amazing. Good thing is, even when they're ruffled up, they don't ruffle too bad, and in this state still fly very well. It's only when a single feather snaps off that flight goes a bit weird. Oddly, often on the other test shuttles, multiple feathers would snap off at a time, but with RSL Classics, the vast majority of the time only one feather snapped off, but even then, it would withstand ruffling for a fair bit of time before a feather finally snapped off completely. Flight consistency is marginally better than the 300B's, in that it flies better when ruffled (very good in-fact). It's just when a feather snaps off that it goes a bit drunk. Same as with all shuttles really. Anyway, for now, these will be my go to shuttles.
Are you kidding me???? EG1130 is the worst among the 3 you tested??? I don't believe it. Do you have a bad batch or something? If a birdies does not even last, how it can has good flight consistency??? Our group play a lot of shuttles, and believe me, EG1130 is by far the best bang for buck!
It's possible, but I went through a fair few tubs of each. And flight consistency is based on how well it flies whilst it lasts. For example, if shuttle A lasts 15 minutes but loses the majority of it's flight consistency after 7 minutes, but shuttle B lasts only 12 minutes but loses it's main flight consistency after 10 minutes, shuttle B still has better flight consistency even if it doesn't last as long overall. This is just an example, and not related to the shuttles in question. I've never timed such things precisely.
Remember reviews are based on the users opinion... There are too many variables when testing... Perhaps the first game using EG1130's their opponents were dead on smashing and on the offensive... and then later on playing with the RSL's majority of the time was defensive... Can't be perfect, but we all try!
If anything, my games with the RSL's had much more smashing. Games with the Black's were more defensive (was using my BS10 at the time, now I'm smash mad with my MX80). In any case, I'll try shuttles from fresh tubs of both tonight (3 hour game).
Unfortunately didn't get around to trying the Black's again, even though I had them in my bag I just ended up using the RSL's the entire time. Will do a proper comparison on Tues which when I should be playing next. (Long session.)