Yonex has multiple models of plastic or nylon shuttlecocks available and in the UK, I've been able to get hold of the Yonex Mavis 10 (UK here), Mavis 300 (UK here), Mavis 600 (UK here), and Mavis 2000 (UK here) shuttlecocks.
Ever since I published Yonex's natural feather shuttlecock review here, this one has been highly requested, so today I'll be comparing and play-testing these plastic shuttlecocks by Yonex.
I've also done a general plastic nylon shuttlecock comparison here where I compared plastic shuttles from other brands such as Carlton, Forza, Bird and Wilson so make sure you check that one out too!
Yonex's Plastic Nylon Shuttlecock Speeds Explained
Plastic shuttles are similar to natural feather shuttles in that they come in different speeds. For Yonex in particular, the different speeds are indicated by the colour of the lid on the tube:
Green lid - slow speed, suitable for high temperatures or altitudes (22-33°C)
Blue lid - medium speed, suitable for average temperatures (12-23°C)
Red lid - fast speed, suitable for colder or drier conditions (0-13°C)
So make sure you try and use the right speed for your environment. For today's testing, I'll be sticking to the blue lid tubes as that's what's most suitable for the environment I'm currently in. Now, let's get into it!
Yonex Mavis 10
We're going to start with the Yonex Mavis 10 (UK here) and just from the packaging, the shuttle tube doesn't say too much. It tells us this one is a three-shuttle tube and it just says "badminton nylon shuttlecock", so not a lot of information there.
The Mavis 10 is a completely nylon shuttle which means the cork is also synthetic, so it's also a form of nylon or plastic and is actually quite stiff. There is also some Yonex printing on the cork and there's no sticker in the middle like a usual traditional feather shuttle. However, the skirt is really well formed - I'm sure it must be produced by some form of punch out.
There are some dents on the shell from the impact of the strings but it's not damaged. This means it's quite a soft shuttle to play with and also quite easy with a nice feel to it.
I'm assuming that people who play with plastic shuttles don't use extremely tight strings because if you are playing at a high level, you would generally be playing with feather shuttles. So if you're playing with a slightly lower tension, the soft feel of the Mavis 10 will feel quite nice on your strings.
Yonex Mavis 300
Moving onto the Yonex Mavis 300 (UK here), the tube again just says "badminton nylon shuttlecock" with half a dozen shuttles inside the tube this time around. It also gives us the three different conditions of the different speeds of the shuttle that it comes in, so red for fast, blue for medium and green for slow like I mentioned earlier.
The first difference you can see would be that the inside of the shuttle has a sticker saying that it's the M300 and that it's made in Japan.
However, the skirt is slightly different in comparison to the Mavis 10 as you can see there are a few strands of plastic coming out as if it was punched halfway through.
There is a cork base in the middle of the shuttle so I'm assuming that the plastic section of the shuttle is then glued or implanted into the head itself.
If you compare it to the Yonex Aerosensa or AS 50 feather shuttlecock (UK here), it's slightly shorter and the cork is slightly shorter too.
When playing with it, the first thing I noticed was that it sounded so much better than the Mavis 10. The cork did get slightly dirty due to the stencil ink from our strings, but it did not dent or feel like it was dented like the Mavis 10 did.
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Yonex Mavis 600
The next tube we have here is the Yonex Mavis 600 (UK here) and on the tube, we do have more information again as we go up the model range. It tells us the three different speeds and gives us a temperature range too.
You can see there is the Mavis 600 sticker on the inside and it has a natural cork again, but the skirt design is definitely different. If we compare the Mavis 300 with the Mavis 10 and the Mavis 600, you can very clearly see the difference in wing design for all three in terms of the skirt.
With the Mavis 600, you can see that it's got the little arrow triangles, then the Mavis 10 has holes similar to a sim card shape, then for the Mavis 300 it is completely rectangle. The holes are also more dense on the 300 too.
If we look at the 600s, you can see that there's quite a fair bit of stencil string mark on the shuttle but there's no real damage on the leather side of the shuttle.
In terms of the flight characteristics, one thing that I noticed straight away is that if your partner does a good tumbling net shot and you're trying to kill it, if your strings catch the skirt of the shuttle, it's not going to do much. This is because it is quite soft in comparison to a feather shuttle which is a lot stiffer. The soft skirt will just absorb that and won't do too much for you in terms of kills, it will just decompress!
Yonex Mavis 2000
We now look at the Yonex Mavis 2000 (UK here) and this time it shows even more information regarding the conditions - you can have fast, medium, slow, and even double slow.
The wing rib design for the Mavis 600 was placed in between each of the big stems whereas in the Mavis 2000, it is placed in the centre again but in a slightly different design. There are little chevrons that look like wonky rectangles, so very clearly they've done something different. The skirt on the 2000 is the stiffest of them all but it's still nowhere near as stiff as an actual feather shuttlecock.
In terms of playing performance, I found this to be the slowest shuttle of them all even though they are certified for the same speed. However, the speed change is the most consistent here.
For example, a feather shuttle is inherently an aerodynamically draggy product and that's why when you hit it, because of the alignment of the feather shuttle, it spins. This means that like a bullet, it stays very stable. This is the same with these plastic shuttles as it's very noticeable when you hit them very hard and then before it reaches your opponent it slows down so much. The Mavis 2000 doesn't immediately hit a wall and slow down but it does gradually slow down but nowhere near as fast as say the Mavis 10. So I guess that's the technology that's within this wing rib shuttle. But it is the slowest out of them all and I find it super hard to clear!
My Personal Favourite Plastic Shuttlecock
In conclusion, the Mavis 300 was my personal favourite because the sound of it was very different and when you hit the shuttle, you can actually tell that you've done a good shot or at least it sounds and feels like you've hit a good shot.
The flight path and characteristics of it is okay, obviously it's still not the same as a good quality natural feather shuttle but it's okay if you're playing with your friends and you don't want to incur a lot of costs. Or, if you're someone who's an absolute beginner this is also a great option for that!
I believe all four models here will be quite good for different uses:
Mavis 10 is the best beginner shuttle
Mavis 300 has the best sound
Mavis 600 is pretty decent overall
Mavis 2000 is the most consistent
If you want to learn more about the different plastic shuttlecocks available, check out part 2 here where I review and compare some of the other brand's plastic shuttlecocks, including Carlton, Forza, Wilson, Bird and even the Air Shuttle for comparison on top of these Yonex ones. Until then, I'll see you in the next one!