10 Easy Ways to Spot a Fake Yonex Badminton Racket in 2021
More and more fake cheap knockoffs of high end Yonex Rackets are flooding the market every passing day. Many unassuming people have fallen prey to them and lost their precious money.
Here are 10 easy and simple ways to spot a fake Yonex Racket in 2021:
Table of Contents
- 1 1. Quality of the cover bag
- 2 2. Holograms and Stickers
- 3 Yonex Duora Z Strike Badminton Racket Review
- 4 3. Hidden Barcode on the racket handle
- 5 4. The Handle Screw
- 6 5. Handle Inside
- 7 6. Handle Cone of the Racket
- 8 Yonex Voltric 7 Badminton Racket Review
- 9 7. Racket Shaft
- 10 8. Handle Wood Quality
- 11 9. Factory Grip
- 12 10. Handle Butt/Cap
1. Quality of the cover bag
This is the first thing we see is the racket cover bag. The quality of the synthetic canvas used in a fake racket is below par. The original bag has a nice matte finish which stands contrasted by the glossy letters printed above it. The fake bag fails to reproduce the same look. This is a little harder to spot on the Voltric series bag of Yonex.
Also original Yonex Racket bags stay wrinkle free for a very long time, while the fake ones wrinkle and fold very easily.
2. Holograms and Stickers
Yonex Holograms and stickers are harder to peel off without leaving the hologram print behind. Its much easier to do so on a fake racket.
You are in good luck if you are in one of the countries where Yonex Products are sold by Yonex Sunrise Company (Singapore). These countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, etc. They have introduced the new sunrise hologram which is impossible to peel off. It also contains a secret code inside. This one-time-use code can be used to check the authenticity of the racket by visiting their website.
Yonex Duora Z Strike Badminton Racket Review
Racket TypeYonex Duora Z StrikeSpecs3U (Ave.88g) G4,5 | 2U (Ave.93g) G4,5Strings3U 20-28lbs, 2U 21-29lbsTension ...
3. Hidden Barcode on the racket handle
On a genuine Yonex racket, under the factory grip, you can always find a product barcode indicating racket model code, weight and grip size. Most of the time, the barcode tears off when you remove the grip from the handle. But if you remove it carefully, you can find the barcode. This is one of the indicators of authenticity.
4. The Handle Screw
One small thing that the copycats always miss out is the small screw shown above. When somebody hands me a racket to check if it’s fake or not, the first thing that I always check is this screw. And this has proven to work 100% for me.
5. Handle Inside
After you remove the butt cap, you can see the exposed handle bottom just like in the photo below. The hollow part of the wooden handle is filled with a small cylindrical piece of white plastic. (Don’t press this white plastic, it will go inside if you push hard enough). There is nothing inside the fake racket. This white plastic affects the balance point of the racket as well as the strength of the racket handle.
6. Handle Cone of the Racket
If you look close at the graphics and letters printed on the racket, you are bound to find some differences. One area is the quality of the print. For example, the PBSI logo shows some bleeding of the ink at the edges. You need to compare it to an original one to ascertain these things.
Also the cones on original yonex rackets have some “lips” that wrap around the handle. Cheap Chinese replicas of high end Yonex rackets don’t have these lips. (Li Ning rackets cones are different and also don’t have these lips).
Yonex Voltric 7 Badminton Racket Review
Racket TypeYonex Voltric 7Specs4UG4StringsBG3 Tension 24lbsGripYonex PU gripTechnologyTri-Voltage ...
7. Racket Shaft
Most of the high end rackets from yonex are made from a very strong type of carbon fibre called nanometric DR. This makes it possible for yonex to produce rackets with very thin shaft. The copy cats don’t have this technology yet. So the shafts on the fake rackets are comparatively thicker than their real counterparts.
8. Handle Wood Quality
The quality of the wood used on a fake racket handle is very low. Its soft and weak. You can easily leave deep marks on it by just using your nails. Because of this, we have seen so many pictures of broken racket handles on the internet.
9. Factory Grip
In point no 3, the reason why the barcode tears off is because the grips on original yonex rackets are self adhesive. And they are quite sticky. However, on a fake racket, the grip is only held down onto the racket handle by some rounds of cheap double sided tape.
10. Handle Butt/Cap
Gone are the times when there was a color difference in the bottom handle cap (also called butt cap) of a fake racket from its real counterpart. If you take them out by removing the pins, you can see there are some differences inside. This is due to the difference in the mold machines used in making these butt caps. This rule is not applicable to cheaper Yonex rackets made in China.
