How much do you hate plastic?

can any comment on the techniques needed?
i've heard people say feathers require more technique...how so?

 

Perfect timing and hitting feather birds crisply is more important to technique and more rewarding than with plastics. If you get it perfect then you'll know immediately and you'll be walking around with a perma smile. Then you'll come to realise that you don't need much power to hit feathers, only perfect technique.

 

£20 Yonex AS50 for 12 shuttles

One shuttle would last me one full set I play 2 hours a day and I can get in around 6 Sets

£5 Yonex Mavis 300 for 6 shuttles

One shuttle would last me around a Month

I play 7 hours a week

(FEATHERS) 4 months it would cost me £160 ish
Year = 640

(PLASTICS) 4 months it would cost me £20 ish
Year = 80

With this in mind I wouldnt really care if Feathers perform better or there are things feathers can do that plastics cant

 

if you want to play, you gotta pay...

 

Nothing wrong with plastics as I use them when playing recreationally with lesser skilled friends. Feathers wouldn't last too long with this group.

I use feathers when it's more competitive because there are some shots that I just can't do with plastics (ie. slice drops, net tumbles, etc).

 

I admit that I do play plastic in my university club because of our lack of funds. A lot of our players bring feathers sometimes though, so it's not that I'm new to feathers. I can switch back in forth without much problem if I warm up for a couple minutes before a game with either plastic or feathers. Mavis 350 is what we use, and we have one incredibly hard smasher who can probably get up to somewhere between 260-280 kph on his smashes with plastic (from the back of the court, not mid court). It's actually pretty fun trying to defend it because then you say to yourself that if you can at least return half of them, those are pro level smashes haha. But hey, I have to say the one plus with playing with plastics is that it really tests and develops your smash defense.

I will say though the feather has a much more satisfying feel to it than plastic. Much crisper and less harsh of a feeling than the heavier and more.... dull feeling of plastic.

But hey, if you're short on money and no one else has a problem, I'm fine with plastic with some feather play once in awhile.

 

Yeah totally. Feather feel > plastic, and plastics don't slow down as much. One of the big smashers on my team really loves the plastics that we use for practices (also because of budget limitations) because he can smash faster with them.

 

I used to play with feather shuttles in Asia, plastic shuttle was the last thing we wanted to use back there, we would laugh at my friends whoever use the plastic shuttles.
Now plastic shuttles are mostly used in the group i join here in Vancouver, sometimes I do bring in my own feather shuttles but it only last for half a around, it does last a bit longer if I steam the feather a night before, but still not lasting more than a round.
I really hate plastic shuttles now because I can feel the sores on my shoulder after the games last night. The shuttles just don't travel and this make me to hit the plastic shuttle harder and harder! Maybe i should reduce my string tension to 20 lb?
In short, i just want to tell everyone how much i hate plastic shuttles now, hopefully my group would switch to feather eventually.

 

Yeah, lower your tension 1-2 lbs would help power and save your shoulder.

Which string are you using? ZM65 is very good for it.

 

Reality is cruel, not easy to find another group with suitable schedule since I have a toddler now. I have been using Yonex BR80 and ti-68, I will check out ZM65. Thanks man!

 

OMG. This is the post I have been looking for. I haven't really read all or even most of the posts. But I just wanna say almost everyone in my club loves playing plastic and hates feather. I could never control plastic and they are hard to be hit to the back. I'm kinda thin. But when I'm playing with feather I could clear it way to the back even with backhand. It frustrates me even more because we are constantly changing different type of plastic and they vary a lot so I have to keep on adapt to new ones and I can't help but think it's stopping me from improving.

 

You could try changing to Mavis 2000. Although still plastic, but better touch and less harsh compared Mavis 300/350.

 

Thanks I will recommend it to my club when I get the chance. We're running low on funding now cause our Student Govt. Board won't give us anything.

On a brighter side. One of the plastic kind that I played today was really fun. It flies like crazy but if it's low enough when it's coming to me and my opponent is too back at the rear court, I could just slightly "tap" my racquet and let it drop. My opponent won't suspect a thing cause the drop is kinda sharp. It's one of the white ones. That was the only thing I found out about it that I like.

 

Thanks visor, I did try out mavis 2000 and they are way better. They don't fly like a bullet, feel much more like feather and the rallies are longer. I also like that the birdie spins so much more than the mavis300. Highly recommend it if feather is still not the option, but definitely go for feather if play singles.

 

Got my racket restrung with zm65 @23lb, loved it when i played lastnight with my soring arm.

 

Mavis 2000 is awesome as far as plastic goes. Unfortunately not durable but it's cheap enough that it doesn't matter.

 

yeah they are only $2.00 more(a tube) than mavis300, durability maybe 30% less, but game plays is much more fun by 100%.

 

Glad to see you like the string and birds.

 

Used M2000 for a while as a replacement to feathers. Unfortunately they tend to 'warp' too quickly which makes them go fast. When new they r excellent.