Yonex Mavis 500

With the high cost of feather shuttlecock, I have been researching for cheaper alternatives for some time now and come across some reviews in the internet about Yonex Mavis 500.

Yonex Mavis 500 is a nylon shuttlecock which I heard has the closest performance to feather shuttlecock in term of flight and feel. It cost me RM36 from a local sport shop here.

It has 6 nylon shuttlecocks in a tube, which work out to be RM6 for each of its shuttlecock.

The manufacturer had classified the shuttlecock into 3 categories, depending on the weather conditions on different continents. For this region, it is classified as middle speed under normal condition, hence the blue cap on the tube packaging.

All the shuttlecocks are made in Japan. This is something you don't see everyday as most of these items are now been fabricated in China.

This is the first time I'm writing/reviewing a nylon shuttlecock. I have not played with one for a very long time (maybe more than 10 years already). Those day the only available nylon shuttlecock available here are the Carlton brand.

The base of Mavis 500 is made of cork which is the same material used in feather shuttlecock. Its cork is surrounded with a blue stripe whereas most feather shuttlecock will have green stripe on it.

The nylon construction is solid and durable. The shuttlecock do not suffer any damage after 2 matches and a few warming out sessions. I was pretty amazed! I read from somewhere that this shuttlecock can be played up to 5 matches. It is still playable beyond 5 matches but the only issue is that it will travel faster after that.

Comparing its physical structure with a feather shuttlecock reveals very little discrepancy. The skirt size appear to be the same at 65mm. However, the Mavis 500 appear to be a bit shorter than the feather shuttlecock. In term of weights, the Mavis 500 is slightly heavier than the feather shuttlecock.

Time to put Mavis 500 to the test. Generally it feels weird to play with nylon shuttlecock. It produces less noise on impact and some might have dubbed it as "silent shuttlecock".

It offers almost similar flight performance to that of a feather shuttlecock during rally, drop shot and drive. It won't go out that easily as other nylon shuttlecock I tried before. Though it cannot totally mimic feather shuttlecock, it is close enough for play.

It is totally a different story when it comes to smash where the flight can be inconsistent. Sometime it will travel accordingly as with a feather shuttlecock but most of the time it will travel faster than it normally should.

Mavis 500 is a good shuttlecock for practice. With its speed during smashes, it will definitely improve player's reflexes and defense. It will also encourage the player to keep the shuttle low to avoid the opponent from smashing.

Players might be frustrated by the shuttle's performance during competitive matches but with its durability and price, it will save players substantially in term of cost in a long run.