Has anyone ever tried Canary shuttlecocks? I can get the A-1 or Special Orange for a pretty good price but I wanted to see if anyone had used them before.
I bought a tube of the A1's. The feathers don't look that pretty but they flew well and the feathers were quite durable (I steamed them first). However they became non-round after a while like the cork wasn't as strong or something. They usually lasted a game which isn't terrible for $11 a dozen. I'm going to try the Special Orange and see how they fly.
I bought something from the ebay but seller didn't have them, so instead, I received a tube of Canary A1 as compensation. The shuttle is made in Vietnam. The feather does not look good. I only played two, hit some clears, didn't use for a game. Flight is OK. Durability seems OK as well. But the head feel numb, sound is not impressive. Good for recreation, certainly for tournament.
The Special Orange are a big improvement. I bought a tube of them also and steamed them (they were pretty dry so I had to steam them a couple of times). They don't deform the way the A1's did, I'm not really an expert on birdies but I'm guessing that they have a better head than the A1's (I think that that A1's have a fiberboard head instead of a cork head). They seemed to be similar in quality to other birdies that people pull out (RSL tourney, Victor)
My bad English, what I mean is "certainly not for tournament". I will use it for practice or warm up.
I do have one (only one) Speical Orange, not in that tube, but outside as packing material, not sure why they do that. Just by looking, I hardly tell it would be any better than A1. I would not pay $14 to get that, rather pay $1 or 2 more to get something much better. For RSL or Victor, they are very good if you talking about the brand.
