I've been wondering if you can actually feel a difference when playing with say AS20 vs AS50 shuttles? For me the difference between plastics and feathers is massive but is it the same with the lower and higher quality grade feather shuttles? Spending anything from £5-8 extra per tube seems like a lot if the benefit isn't that proportional. Note - I haven't actually tried using higher grade feathers myself but will be buying a couple of tubes to test... I just wanted to get your opinions (and sorry if this is re-post but I couldn't find anything similar).
More expensive shuttles are usually higher quality. Better consistency, durability, feel, flight trajectory. Some players appreciate the difference, some don't.
AS20 <-> AS50. yes. AS40 <-> AS50. hardly. AS40 are the AS50 rejects. after they are manufactured and tested in China, they are sent to Japan for one further round of testing, the passing ones becomes AS50, the slightly not as good ones becomes AS40 (or maybe even AS30). i am sure the differences are minute. AS20 fly nor last as long as AS50.
There are many brands of shuttlecocks in the market nowadays and majority of them made in China. Some top brands are OEM from manufacturers in China and they do not have necessarily own factory in China. Feathered shuttlecocks in general enjoyed stable flights and speed. There are generally 2 types of feathered shuttlecocks. One is from Geese feather and the other duck feather. I prefer Geese feather as it is more durable, better flight and stable speed. However, it is more expensive than duck feather. The price is about 20 to 30 percent higher in the same range. niv
Where I am, AS20 and AS50 are different models of the same brand (Yonex). Generally between models of a brand, more expensive ones tend to be of high quality. This means they usually are constructed better and thus last longer, fly more predictably, are more consistent in characteristics, and are free of defects. Between brands like Yonex vs Aeroplane or Chao Pai or RSL etc etc. there tend to be differences in characteristics at the same level of models (ie. top vs top and cheapest vs cheapest). Again most differences are in quality/consistency but in some cases the trajectories and weight etc are slightly different. For example personally I find the AS50s fly slightly faster than the EG1130 and the ChaoPai Reds are a little tiny bit slower than the EG1130s (though very similar). Another example I find the EG1130s slightly more consistent in durability than the Tourney No 1s
I've tried AS20/30, snow peak first grade, victor queen and RSL tourney 3, so all low/mid range. Snow peak and yonex felt about the same to me but victor and RSL had a slightly harder feel. I think my game has improved a lot since joining a couple of clubs and watching lots of games, so I'll pick up a couple of AS40/50 and I hope that I'll be good enough to feel the difference . Thanks guys.
