*New! Adidas Badminton

Personally.....I hope they improve designs. Just a plain color with three stripes seems too classic for me.

 

I notice that Adidas failed to launch this year's racquets back in September. It's almost December. Are those products delayed until mid-2015?

 

As long as they dont price their new stuff as ridiculously as before...there was really no way anyone was gonna buy an unproven brand's rackets when they were level or even more expensive than the market leader's most expensive ones...and don't get me started on the other products such as strings, bags and such...those weren't even near anyone else's. Would be a shame to repeat those mistakes.

 

Hopefully they will improve their production and distribution

 

Adidas rackets were considerably cheaper than Yonex in the UK, around £90-£120 for a top end racket compared to £140-£170 for the top end Yonex rackets and played just as well imo. Which is about the same price Victor priced their high end rackets when they properly entered the European market a few years earlier, when £90 was still a fair amount for a racket. Shoes were also cheaper and shuttles were as well (for the brief moment they were available). No idea on shoe quality or clothing but the strings were fine (nothing special) but the shuttles were very good indeed.

However the main problem I think was not keeping any kind of momentum behind their products and their advertising (post launch) was all over the place. At one time they were advertising a racket on their Facebook page (the duoforce) which wasn't available anywhere other than Hong Kong and the USA, leaving a lot of people a little bit annoyed as they mentioned they weren't launching it anywhere else...

 

Well, here the Tour and Pro rackets cost between 130 and 180€, with both adipower rackets at 160 and 180 iirc. At that time, the most expensive Yonex racket cost 160€ at the most expensive shops (adidas was only.available in one or two, and there were no price differences). The triple bags were a ridiculous 130€, with the most expensive bag by any other brand sitting at 80€...and strings were a pricing disaster as well. I believe reels were around 150-170€, and at that time Bg80 was still at 100€...
While I didnt test the newer version of the BT feather, I had nothing but problems with the older version, so I doubt it was a much better shoe. It was pretty expensive as well, but not out of the normal range for high-end shoes.
Advertising here was rather weak, and part of the problem might have been their sponsorship contracts which were rather unattractive...

 

New colour rackets are in few stores in Denmark.

It seems like discounts on Adidas rackets has hit Europe. I picked up the Duoforce (€85) and the Precision 88 (€55).

 

Wow, where did you find the duoforce that cheap?

Edit: Found same price on Badmania too

 

Not sure about Adidas Racket, but I saw Wong Wing Ki, sponsored player by Adidas, no longer use Adidas Racket and shoes, only apparel. He switched to Yonex for racket and shoes... Not sure if they decided to release new model or the contract is just for apparel only.

 

I think they lost all their momentum.

They'll need HUGE investments to get into a favorable place again and I doubt it will happen.

Only time will tell!

 

Let's see if they have more reasonable ideas in terms of pricing this time around

 

I suppose a bit of quality problems as well. My duoforce is a fantastic racket to play with, however it chips way too easily. Although the designs are nice, the paint quality is terrible. As for value, there isn't much too it. Yonex/Victor makes some similar spec'd rackets that are cheaper and play just as well. In my case, a BS12 is nearly $50 cheaper and plays almost identically, except with faster head speed.

 

I don't think anything was wrong with the products (except maybe the names of the lower end rackets and every single thing having the same name (AdiPower string, grip and racket...)

They should aim for prices that are a little lower than Victor's prices. People will not pay the same price as a Yonex racket for a brand they don't really know.

Also, their marketing was ****. They created a lot of hype using social medias and communities like ours as well as sponsoring Axelsen and after that it seemed like they thought it was enough. They haven't done anything else.

The first approach was right and the hype it created was huge, but they need to live up to that hype and also realize that 90-95% of badminton players don't use these forums or don't research badminton products. So they need to keep making efforts to attract people.

Basically, if they want to get in the market and become bigger, they need to invest the money and not give up/stop all activities after 2 months.

 

Both my Adipower Tours have paint finish problems, there were some black dots on the silver parts near the throat. Also, same thoughts on paint durability, it's not the greatest.

I haven't played with my Adipower Pro as much, but that doesn't have a single mark on it.

Quick head's up.
Directbadminton.co.uk has some of the new racket range.

 

It's strange about the paint quality comments...
I've had the AdiZero Pro and the AdiZero Tour since they were released and I always marvel at the paint quality.
Neither one has a mark on it while my Victor and Yonex look *extremely* well used despite being used much less than the Adidas.