A Full Review of the Yonex Aerosensa 30 (AS-30) Shuttlecocks

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Aerosensa 30 (AS-30) Results

Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 3.5/5
Durability: 3.5/5

These are the results of the tests I did on the AS-30. I actually bought the shuttlecocks and performed several tests to determine ratings of its flight, durability, and consistency. The AS-30s I used had a speed of 3. You can see in the below table that tubes with a speed of 3 are ideal of temperatures between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius (71.6 to 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Read more below for the full details on how the tests were done.

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Introduction

Here is the FULL BadmintonBites review of the popular Yonex Aerosensa 30 shuttlecocks, also known as the AS-30. The AS-30, which uses 100% goose feather, is known for its good value for money since it can be used in mid level tournaments and is in the middle of the pack in terms of price. Let’s see if its performance holds up when I put it to the test!

If you want a guide to other Yonex shuttlecocks, check out our Complete Guide to Yonex Badminton Shuttlecocks (Feathered), the Complete Guide to Yonex Badminton Shuttlecocks (Synthetic), or our equipment page.

In order to give you the best possible review of the shuttlecock, I did several tests with the shuttlecock. These include 1 consistency test, 1 speed test and 2 durability tests.

We will be judging the shuttlecock using flight, consistency, and durability as attributes.
To determine flight and consistency, we will look at tests 1 and 2. To determine durability, we will use tests 3 and 4.

The day that I tested AS-30s, it was 22.8 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), which is at the lower range of the recommended temperature for shuttlecocks of speed 3.

Singles High Service Test

In the singles high service test, I attempted to hit 12 AS-30s high up and to the base line using the same swinging motion and power. Ideally, the shuttlecocks would land in the same spot for each hit.

Unfortunately, there is indeed some player error that is introduced in this test. I perhaps changed the direction that my racket was facing upon impact and can’t control the power of my shots very precisely. I likely need to practice this a bit more and update the post later. If I had a machine to do this test it’d be more accurate.

In any case, the test is shown below:

As you can see, the shuttlecocks were a bit scattered horizontally but the length was mostly similar. It was a bit difficult to control at times as some flew faster than the others but for the most part it was alright. I would say that the large horizontal errors were probably my fault at this point.

Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 3/5

Speed Test

In the speed test, I hit 12 shuttlecocks from the back of the court using a slight underhand drive motion with my forehand and saw how far the shuttlecock landed. Overall, the shuttlecocks landed pretty uniformly before the doubles service line. It was a bit difficult for me to hit it really far but it got decent length.

As you can see, how far the shuttlecock flew was reproducible but the shuttlecock would sometimes veer off to one side, hence the shuttlecocks being more apart horizontally. With this, I’ll give the following two scores for flight and consistency.

Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 4/5

Clear Test

In the clear test, I did a total of 200 clears. I took 3 pictures at different angles after 25, 50, 100, and 200 clears to give you an idea of how beat up the shuttlecock gets at each stage. Take a look below.

Here’s a brand new AS-30:

Look how smooth and silky those feathers are! Let’s see how well they last.

Here’s the AS-30 after 25 clears:

You can see that some feathers have started getting ruffled up but no major damage anywhere yet. None of the feathers were broken, the stems were all intact and it was still flying quite well at this point.

Here’s the AS-30 after 50 clears:

At this point, the shuttlecock was not flying as smoothly as before. You can see that most of the feathers are no longer in order and that some have significant gaps in the feathers.

However, all the stems are completely fine and it would certainly still be a good shuttlecock to use for warm up.

Here’s the AS-30 after 100 clears:

Now we can see a lot more damage to the tops of all the feathers. Surprisingly, the shuttlecock was still not that bad to hit clears with considering the state of the shuttlecock. The feathers pretty much degraded evenly so it wasn’t particularly unbalanced and it still spun well at this point. I wouldn’t recommend using the shuttlecock for much at this point due to its condition, but I still haven’t hit 200 clears, so I’ll keep on hitting!

Here’s the AS-30 after 200 clears:

Oh man, look at all that damage to the feathers! All of the feathers started to crumble at this point but none of the feather stems actually broke. The cork itself is in good shape as well.

The AS-30 was pretty unplayable after 100 clears but it’s definitely in a bad shape after 200 clears and completely unplayable. Overall, not too bad though. Staying in decent shape for the first 50 to 70 clears while also not breaking any feather stems even after 200 clears gives it decent marks.

I measured the AS-30’s feather diameter and cork circumference at the beginning of the test, and I also measured it again at the end. Here are the results:

The feather diameter decreased by 1.6 cm (.6 in), or 24% after 200 clears as the top of the feathers got damaged and worn out.

The cork circumference, on the other hand, remained the same.

Durability: 3/5

Smash Test

In the smash test, I did a total of 100 smashes and 100 lifts. I took 3 pictures at different angles after 10, 25, 50, and 100 smashes to give you an idea of how beat up the shuttlecock gets at each stage. Take a look below.

Here’s a brand new AS-30:

Here’s the AS-30 after 10 lifts and 10 smashes:

The shuttlecock is still in pretty good shape at this point. A couple of feathers are a bit ruffled up but not much else.

Here’s the AS-30 after 25 lifts and 25 smashes:

At this point, the feathers are about the same as the 10 smash mark but I noticed that the shape of the shuttlecock was ever so slightly lopsided. It wasn’t too bad but a bit noticeable.

Here’s the AS-30 after 50 lifts and 50 smashes:

Interestingly, most of the feathers are still pretty good after the 50 smash mark. One of the feathers was noticeably damaged though as you can see. The shuttlecock still hits quite well and still spins normally.

Here’s the AS-30 after 100 lifts and 100 smashes:

As you can see, the AS-30 held up pretty well even after 100 smashes. It doesn’t look that much different from the 50 smash mark and still flew decently well. It was a bit more wobbly at this point but still playable.

Similar to the clear test, we also measured AS-30’s feather diameter and cork circumference before and after the smash test. Here are the results:

The feather diameter decreased by .4 cm (.2 in), or 6%, which really isn’t that much. The feathers pretty much remained at full length but was slightly squished inwards.

The cork circumference decreased by .1 cm (.04 in), or 1%. It’s nearly the same as it was before.

Durability: 4/5

Summary

Overall, the AS-30 is a great option to use for recreational and even mid level tournament play. It’s cheaper than most other high end birdies, such as the AS-50, but can still give you great games with fair durability.

Our scores, once again, are as follows:

Singles High Service Test
Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 3/5

Speed Test
Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 4/5

Clear Test
Durability: 3/5

Smash Test
Durability: 4/5

Overall
Flight: 4/5
Consistency: 3.5/5
Durability: 3.5/5

You can buy AS-30s over on Amazon and Yumo.

Amazon has a surprising number of badminton products available so it’s worth it to check the price there with other places. You can find the AS-30s over here.

Yumo, on the other hand, is a small but amazing store based in Canada which specializes in many badminton products. For this reason, they have even more badminton specific products than Amazon does. They even have their own YouTube channel which is all about badminton. Their dedication to badminton is why we recommend our readers to get badminton products from Yumo, especially if you’re in Canada or the United States for the possibility of free shipping.

You can find AS-30s on Yumo over here.

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