Aeroplane Black used to be the go to.  They played better than they were priced at the time, but now that they have “fixed” their distribution the prices went up.  At my level of play, any tube of shuttles over $28.00US (pretty much any Aerosensa) is unnecessary.  I have been playing Head 50 and the Aeroclub 05 & 07.  Shuttle to shuttle consistency is good, the speed is good, and at $18.00US a dozen, that's a good value for me. 

I have to agree, that the lower range Yonex shuttles are poor, really bad, and I really don't like them. Having been on one of Paul's coaching courses, I can tell you that the shuttles Paul uses are good. They look battered and done for but still have a decent flight on them. Some shuttles I have played with look good but play bad, so in this comparison, the Yonex one's are better.

I use the Yehlex range, which are slightly cheaper than the Yonex range. But the best shuttles to you use are the yellow tube, which is top of the range ones. The blue tube shuttles aren't too bad but having played a match recently with the purple shuttles, I can safety say I would avoid those. Well, for matches at least.

But as Paul said, it comes down to price. And I also think it comes down to the people that use them too. There is no point buying top of the range shuttles if one of the players completely distorts the cork after a couple of rallies or smacks the hell out the feathers then you won't see a better return compared to the lower range shuttles. But if you look after the shuttles, then the shuttles will look after you (in winning you points ). I have found with the yellow tube shuttles that if you straighten the feathers after each point (if required, and they go back very easily), then the shuttle can last a really long time.

I think getting hold of the shuttles is really important, it's no good having a favorite shuttle but need to import it for a crazy amount of money. All this aside, it also depends on everyone else who plays with the shuttle to as what they think! You get people who are brand crazy, or want cheap as possible, or expensive as possible. It's a really difficult thing for a club to decide on, and the call shouldn't be made by one person, in my opinion anyway.

What Paul wrote is very true, I was just trying to make a point about durability, but I realise now that my wording could be seen that only old shuttles are used on the coaching course.

Talking of which, I'm hoping to attend another course some when soon

Ed has raised a good point that I forgot to mention, at my club we were using cheaper shuttles and it wasn't until someone pointed out (stop looking at me!) that it was cheaper to use the more expensive shuttles as we didn't go through so many shuttles. So the club is actually saving money now by buying more expensive shuttles, but as I've said, it does depend on the people playing and how well the shuttle is looked after so it might not be the best option for everyone.