I still greatly dislike plastic, not for the fact I scare the hell out of people with my smash and tend to end rallies VERY quickly with plastic, it's the lack of stability a plastic shuttle has at the net that is what annoys me. If you can get a platic shuttle to tumble, they are almost impossible to hit in a controlled manner back unless you roof the thing in a high gym. At least with feather there is some chance to make some type of return. I also find that slices tend to do some weird things with plastic and they get a tad unpredictable. Love the smash though. Played a fun tourney last season in Edmonton with plastic and hit handful of smashes that got a "HOLY SHYTE" out of the crowd.
OK, I'll be the heretic and say I prefer plastics. There - I said it. I find the sound of feathers to be "rattly" and they feel "loose" when hit. Feathers do, however, make for longer rallies, and are easier to get them where you want them. I'll qualify the above by saying that we only ever use cheapo feathers on rare occasions (but they're always goose).
You may want to increase your tension to 26-28lb to get that sharp feel and crack snap sound. We play plastics for purely economical reason. Feathers allow much more dynamic plays such as sharper drops, half smashes, slice shots, better touch and net play, all of which cannot be achieved with plastics.
31 with plastics?! You're murdering your racket and strings! Ah, but I recall you're a stringer and Panda distributor so you have a lot of strings and rackets to play with.
I don't understand why everyone thinks that smashing with plastics, means more power, I actually find I get the impression that I have more power smashing with feathers as opposed to plastics. And I HATE the feel of a plastic shuttle, net shots are really bad, cause of the feel, and there is no control. Also, I find it impossible to flick serve (backhand) with a plastic, it just ruins the game playing with a plastic.
^ Smashes keep their speed longer with plastics than feathers, but plastics don't come off the racket as fast, so it all depends how you define "power". The further you are from the net when you smash, the more a plastic will penetrate IME; the "brakes" come on with feathers a lot sooner.
I play with both types. I prefer feathers for competitive play. The game play is so much better (ie. smash, drops, etc). I prefer plastics when playing with lesser skilled players (newbies) or family/friends/kids (just for fun). They would just kill the feathers.
I'm a beginner badminton player so I'm going to sound like a total loser here. I was wondering what the difference between plastic and feather birds are for net play. I usually play mixed doubles and I play the front. We only use plastic birds and I know I am new to the sport and far from an excellent player but I find that when I am trying to make short net shots, no matter how hard I try to keep the bird down and close to the net, it always seems to pop up higher than I intended and I get a bird smashed back in my face. Does the type of bird have any affect on this at all? Thanks in advance!
LOL, thanks! I don't know much about my racket. It is an old racket that a close friend gave me that they used to use for tournaments a very long time ago. I was just wondering if a feather bird is easier to control or if it has less of a "bounce" that I find the plastic birds we use have.
CD was asking about your string tension because it affects how it feels and play with plastic or feather birds. Plastic bird hits and feel hard and heavy, while feather bird feel crisp and sharp. Hence plastic plays better with 2-3 lbs less tension than feather. Advanced players prefer feather because it requires excellent technique and timing to hit feathers effortlessly. And because the contact point is crisp and sharp, it is very easy and immediate to get ongoing feedback on your timing and technique so that you can adjust as you're playing or training. Another advantage of feathers is that there is more shot variety due to a steeper flight trajectory, so you can hit high clears that won't go out, and sharper angled fast drops that land before the service line. Also net play is more exquisite, because you can feel the cork and stiff feather skirt as you try to impart tumbling onto the shuttle, which makes it hard for the receiver to hit. This is a big difference between plastic and feather at the net. With plastic, you gently hit it over (the soft skirt provides no feel at all), but with feather you can guide it over with a contact time that is longer than a hit... because the stiffer feather skirt also acts as a contact point. To answer you question directly: it depends! For feathers net play, you'll need at least 24 lbs tension to properly feel the shuttle and skirt. And you'll need to use a different technique, not just simply hitting it. Apologies if I'm not making much sense at this late hour.
I hate plastics for singles play. Just played one game on the weekend. Horrible horrible. The plastic didn't go far enough. It had a lower trajectory. My hits were going more out than in. Slice shots were not sharp. Yuck Yuck Yuck. Bleh...sticking with feathers for singles.
I don hate plastics, they serve a specific purpose. If u r a skilled player, it really doesn't matter which type. U'll adapt.
Just the whole feel of feathered is soooooooo much nicer than plastic - after training with feathered for a few years plastic feels like a totally new sport (and a rubbish one!!!) Feathered is the only kind of badminton!!
seriously, plastic is for the kindergarten-kids in the backyard, badminton as a sport is with feathers...
Well, I think due the growing technology it could be possible to develop plastic shuttles with close characteristics to feather if somebody would research. E.g. Lotus effect can be copied too. But this will never be done, because feathers don't last long, are cheap for the industry because they are a waste product of the meatindustry. The brands make a lot of money, so they don't have interest to stop their moneymachines. I love to play with feathers and hate plastics. The reasons are named by other BC members. But sometimes I must play with plastics. Here in Europe feathers are very expensive. I pay for a roll nearly 20 € (25 US $). I train and play 4 times per week. Minimum 2 hours per session. Because they are so expensive, most people here use plastic and don't buy feathers. But they rack your shuttles and are sponger. So I don't use my shuttles for games with them. If I want I could spend 320€ for shuttles every month, but must live on the streets. As a student it's better to pay my rent for a flat.
