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Hi paul,
this is really a headache for ppl like us in Asia when every now and then we do come across this fake yonex racket. i have read quite a lot of post in BC regarding this issue and the administrator give out a hint like serial number on the shaft and code engraved in the cone. can you please enlighten us about this, how to identify original yonex racket line? has the UK market been hit by these fake yonex rackets?
thanks
Asif
2:12 pm
March 1, 2010
Asif said:
Hi paul,
this is really a headache for ppl like us in Asia when every now and then we do come across this fake yonex racket. i have read quite a lot of post in BC regarding this issue and the administrator give out a hint like serial number on the shaft and code engraved in the cone. can you please enlighten us about this, how to identify original yonex racket line? has the UK market been hit by these fake yonex rackets?
thanks
Asif
Hey Asif
I have brought fake yonex rackets before and it is really different from the genuine ones.
I'll tell you how to identify the a fake racket:
1) the paint work is untidy, by that i mean they have some bits of paint the flake off and the paint somethings overlap.
2) The serial and cone code is uneven – it appears like someone has lazer cut in the engravement and painted over it, this means the white paint on the codes lookes like it has been brushed into the engravements not sprayed. It is not as tidy as genuine ones.
3) The grommets are poor quality, if you look at the two 6 o'clock gromments they are normally badly fitted.
4) The strings does not have the yonex symbol on it.
5) the most obvious the price- what you buy it what you get.
6) the hologram bit it easily pulled off.
I brought a faxe on purpose trying to proove that they are as good as the orginal but i was wrong broke in 2 months. Furthermore, it has a completely different feel – lack power. If you spend the same money on a genuine racket it will be better!
If you buy a yonex racket in the UK they will have 'UK' on the serial code, and normally The UK ones are genuine by that i mean 99% of the time. The fake ones noramlly have 'SP' on the serial code.
I however am not an expert and will wait untill paul has commented.
If you buy on the internet, the be wary. On ebay, the under 30 pound rackets are all fake and the things that they say about a 'A grade clone' is completely bull! however if go on google then shooping most of the rackets there are genuine. i like 'thesweatshop' and 'sportsdirect' or 'centralsports'… dunno which.
To paul
Can you test one fake racket to give us some expert advice on the differences.
Minshi (sorry for the typeos cba to check!)
5:40 pm
June 15, 2010
Hey Asif,
I got this off the Yonex website. Hope it helps.
http://www.yonex.com/badminton…..index.html
Marc1313
11:33 pm
February 15, 2011
Spot on Marc – that's exactly the same link I was going to tell forum members about.
I know of a player in Uk who bought a fake Arcsaber 10. He soon regretted it as it didn't play anything like the original.
Remember, if you see a deal of the year for a racquet on ebay, it's most likely a fake. Don't other as you're wasting your money.
If you can, borrow a racquet from a friend at the club and see if you like it before committing to buying.
Paul
Thanks Minshi, Marc and Paul for ur comments.
i do actually seen that page in yonex website. even then, the reason i raise the issue is, one of my club mate seen this page on yonex, went to a local shop to buy a racket, found a perfect nanospeed 9900 (unstrung) which matches all the 'genuine' quality described in the page, yet the racket is fake, because the price is unbelievably less. and the shop owner also told us that its from china (i don't want to sound prejudiced here, some chinese brands are really cool!!). so its absolutely baffling for us to find an orginial yonex. so for a better one, we have to contact friends who's visiting japan (that don't happen very often i tell u.) and lately i'm thinking that if the fake ones are matched so closely with the original one, we can't even tell it's fake cause they can always ask for a higher price.
@ Minshi – doeas SP on the code means always fake? i din't know about the grommet, i'll try to check from now. thanks for the hint.
7:37 am
February 15, 2011
Asif
Many thanks for your comments.
SP code means Singapore. Yonex stamp country codes on racquets. There are a number of them but I don't know them all. You can find this out by visiting badmintoncentral.com and looking at the forum.
Yonex do not manufacture racquets in China. So if someone says it's a chinese version, that's a clever way of saying it's a fake. JP versions seem to be the most expensive and I don't understand why.
If you want to tell a Yonex fake you have to look closely at the paint work, lettering and yonex logo. But, you have to compare to an original. Lettering is generally not precise in the font type and size. Serial numbers are etched into racquets by Yonex which is probably the most expensive part of the finishing process. Fake generally use a sticker.
Hope this helps. You did the right thing though by not buying the fake racquet. You would have been very disappointed because there is no way a fake plays as good as the original.
Usually fake racquets do not have the inside T piece that Yonex is renowned. So, when you do the torsion test by twisting the head you'll see a huge difference. As you know Yonex racquets have very little head twist and that's one of the reasons I've always liked them.
Paul
11:20 am
March 1, 2010
SP doesn't always mean its fake but looking on ebay all (most) of the fake rakets have SP on them. I think that the difference in price is mainly due to the manufacoting cost in different counties. Moreover within different counties the material used to make the rackets are slightly different, therefore i conclude Japan has the best material.
Since I'm from china and when my dad wanted to get me a racket i didn't ask for a Yonex but for a Li Ning. the fakes aren't out yet for Li Nig rackets!
1:09 pm
February 15, 2011
Minshi
Li Ning is a growing brand which has taken off through sponsorship of Chinese National Team. They are expensive racquets.
I haven't tested Li Ning so I can't comment on their quality but I expect good things from them.
Interesting though that Lin Dan prefers to train with his old Yonex racquets and play with Li Ning at tournaments where he doesn't have the choice.
I also need to correctg something I wrote earlier. I said last time that Yonex do not manufacture in China. I should have said they do not manufacture their top of theline racquets in China – all of these are made in Japan. Many more are made in Taiwan so only bottom of the range may be manufactured in China.
Paul
4:27 pm
April 8, 2010
What happened?m.y said:
I agree that Li Ning are high priced rackets. The one im using is BP300A RRp at 140 but sale price at 120! Its head heavy, gereantes a lot of power making my clears easy to achieve but lacks control but that might be me. Strung at 24 lb… had to stencil in the Li Ning Sign which turned out badly 🙁
What happened?
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