Hatori HA-950 Shuttlecocks Comprehensive Review

Hatori HA-950 Shuttlecock
Hatori’s shuttlecocks are listed as shuttlecocks made for competitive clubs and players. Here’s my comprehensive review for them.

side note: (my other comprehensive review for the tantrum 200ii)

Price paid: $28 AUD for 1 tube (12 shuttlecocks)

Country sourced: Australia

Source of purchase: https://hatori.com.au

Flight Quality – 9.5/10:

The flight quality on the HA-950 was excellent, all 12 shuttlecocks came out of the tube without any wobbling or other visible flight issues. The shuttles performed extremely well in the summer weather and also the cooler autumn. (I tried two tubes of speed 77 and 78. We used the speed 77 in summer and 78 in autumn from feb to march).

I did notice that they had a very slight different flight path to other shuttles, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly - but I feel is that it is slightly faster than aeroplane black and slightly slower than aerosensa 40/50. I would rate it within the realms of 10-15 centimeters.

I think its flight is superior to aeroplanes, and more similar to yonex shuttlecocks. After a short adjustment period, I was using them without noticing any major differences.

Here’s a HA-950 shuttle fresh out of the tube:



Durability – 10/10:
The best factor of this shuttlecock is that it has really good durability. I averaged around 4.5 games with the ha-950, which were men’s doubles and we smashed the hell out of this one. The level of play was around open-grade in Australia. I’ve attached a picture of a shuttle over the course of the games:

New:


2 games in:


3 games in:


!!4 games in:


The feathers on the shuttlecock feel extremely fresh and hard to break. There are 16 nice thick center bones running down the middle of each feather and also the little tiny feather strands that stick off the feather appear fresh and white and firmly stuck to the main bone. I did lightly steam them overnight before playing. The durability lasted way longer than what I expected, and is a major positive.


Cork Quality – 9/10:
The cork is a tri-layer cork with a compressed cork in the middle. I was surprised because I suspected it was a full natural cork but it wasn’t. However I did not experience any deformities in the cork. It felt nice and firm/stiff and also elastic in the right way when I hit it. Obviously, a full natural cork would be preferred, but I think it was still very good nonetheless.




Overall Shuttle Quality – 9.5/10:
It feels different from the Aeroplane and Yonex, but in a good way. I definitely like these shuttlecocks and would highly recommend trying them out. After hitting with them for around 5 sessions now, I would say that I have adjusted for them really comfortably and won’t be swapping back. Overall the whole package is very good, and an excellent shuttlecock for players.

Overall Shuttle Value – 9.7/10:
In Australia, other shuttles like Aeroplane black costs around $35 a tube and yonex aerosensa around $38+ a tube.
For value for money, I think that tha HA-950 shuttles perform far superior to the blacks and are cheaper per tube.

I think it’s great value, high quality shuttlecock.

 

Nope. I paid for the shuttlecocks in $AUD. Don't really understand what you're talking about here.

To your second point, I went on ebay Australia and saw that a tube of aeroplane black sells for like $38-40 AUD. That's like $10-12 higher than $28 lol...

Thanks Badmintony, much appreciated.
If anyone wants me to provide more comprehensive reviews, dont hesitate to contact me pm preferred

I just checked, its around ~20USD when you convert from AUD. I think you should be able to get it sent to United States.