I've run a couple of badminton sessions for intermediate players and we're changing from plastic to feather shuttles. Which shuttles do you recommend? We bought some Carlton GT4 for £13 per dozen from Sports Direct which fly well but break easily and we ended up using 2 tubes per session. I read that we should look to buy goose feather shuttles as they're more durable. A retailer told us that Yonex Aerosensa 20 and Yehlex Championship are good and will last longer but they are £20 which gets expensive. I heard other badminton clubs import from China and can get tubes of good quality goose feather shuttles for as little as £7 per dozen. Any recommendations on which shuttlecocks these are and who to contact to import these?
You get what you pay for. Cheap ones will cost you more in the end because they break and their flight sucks anyway. I unfortunately don't know what the prices go for in England and whether you're getting a good deal, but chances are you won't be saving THAT much money ordering from China directly, and plus you'll have to order in bulk to offset the shipping charges. I'd recommend you have a look at the bwf approved shuttles and buy individual tubes that you can get your hands on before buying in bulk from China.
Contact those clubs is the best way. To be honest, 7 pounds per tube for good goose feather shuttle sounds like urban myth or a story handed down from 30-40 years ago, generation to generation. It's a good story though.
Yeah I suspect £7 is a bit of a stretch because the profit margin on shuttles is supposedly very low. I would skip yonex shuttles if you want value for money. We use yehlex premiership, but we buy in batches of 25. I feel it's one of the more consistent brands and it's been hard to shift from it, despite trying out cheaper Chinese brands. If you only want to buy some small quantities. Adidas FS5 gets quite good reviews and is supposedly equal to AS20. Tbh I would also test out the more expensive FS7 and check which one is more cost effective. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
