It's all fun and games untill ... . The main reason we play with plastic at our club is because we are a recreational club. We do have a few B ranked players though but they play plastic too. The costs of a season with feathers is just too steep to cover and cannot be justified. We have players from all ages and (most importantly) levels. I'm stopping by the shop tomorrow tho to get some feathers to play with when I play against high lvl players. Going back to the question: I don't hate plastic since it's mandatory for the D bracket, but when I play feathers it's more fun. I guess I'll have to stick with it untill I finally grow the b*lls to win some tournaments .
plastics are great for warming up and learning the speed game ( fast reaction.) Also, because of the consistent flight characteristics, great for teaching young kids to play. Since normal shuttlecocks with a damage feather do not fly well. feather shuttlecocks can be even more frustrating for beginners who is just starting to learn their strokes.
To be honest, for me it depends what hall I am in and what shuttle speed is but if the shuttle speed is too fast for the hall I HATE IT !!!
I hate plastics. One of my rec friends beat me in 2 games of singles play (8-11, 9-11...only played up to 11pts) with plastic Mavis 300 last Sunday morning. I know I'm better than him but I was hitting it wide, drops were crap, clears were short (not baseline) and I couldn't seem to get to the shuttle fast enough (drops like a stone). With feathers (like last night)...my game significantly improves. I'm able to hit the shots I want. Baseline clears...no problem. Drops...skimming the net. Maybe I should have a proper breakfast on Sunday instead of just coffee.
^^ You need to have another racket with 2lb lower tension if you want to play plastics. With you current 27-28lbs, youll find it very hard to hit power shots and clears baseline to baseline.
I do have a VT80 with 26lbs (probably lower by now...maybe 24lbs) that I use solely for my rec games on Sunday. Probably didn't help that I was out of gas by the end of 2hrs when we played singles. Stamina is not my strongest area. Couldn't do any of my sliced cross-court drops. Still hate plastics.
I don't hate plastic, I don't love feathers. But I do love badminton. So I'll play with either. If there was an infinite supply of new feather shuttles at our club nights I would of course use them over plastics, just for the better feel/control.
depends on the level of the players. if they're still at the level of hitting the feathers all the time. you'd better save some money using plastic
plastic shuttles? i think the last time..i play with them..is errm...... more than 20 years....ago... ooops.....i sound so..old.. n yet .i am only....21 now... lolz..... age is a secret...
I remember bringing along a plastic shuttle when I played with my casual group of friends. After a few whacks, all 4 of us felt weird about it. Without any words being exchanged, we picked out our cheap, tesco/giant brand feather shuttles. Good thing those cheap brand feather shuttles are like, RM14-ish, ^_^;; They won't last long if the players are the constant smashy type tho!
If you think Mavis 300 plays just the same as feathers...I advise you to pick up a tube of real feathers like Yonex AS50. You will soon know the differences. But plastics are cheaper in the long run.
I used to think that plastic plays the same as feather. But those beginner days are long gone. There is a drastic difference in feel and impact with hitting plastic and feather birds. And even amongst feather birds, quality, weight and speed is now pretty noticeable to me. But I don't mind playing with plastic. It is fairly economical. Though, I do break my fair share of plastic birds...
