Apacs Badminton Racket Review vs Felet Badminton Racket Review

When it comes to sports brand rivalry, we always think of Adidas vs Nike. However, in Malaysia, especially in badminton, none is more ferocious than the competition between Apacs and Felet for the crown of Malaysia's #1 badminton brand. Both originate from the same town in the state of Johor, not far from Singapore. Both aim to make Malaysia a premier destination for badminton products. And, both position their brands as low cost and good quality; in other words value for money. In fact, they have been so dominant in the entry-level graphite badminton racket market, that Yonex have been staring at them with envy. Hence, over the past few years, Yonex have also entered this lucrative segment of the badminton market.

Even though both Apacs and Felet started out as local brands, they are making inroads into international markets. Badminton enthusiasts in Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, Australia, India and South Korea, are in fact quite familiar with these two brands. Yonex is the go-to brand for many badminton customers in these countries. But, when budget is a constraint, or when curiosity kicks in, they will think of Apacs or Felet. It also helps that a few renowned professional players have used and are still using Apacs or Felet rackets, especially players from South Korea and Indonesia. We had once seen the great Lee Hyun Il using an Apacs Ziggler LHI or top 20 player Shesar Hiren Rhustavito playing with Felet Woven TJ 1000.

Due to the similarity between Apacs and Felet in terms of their background, growth and market positioning, many customers find it hard to choose between the two. They perceive them to be very similar, which is true to a certain extent. So, which brand is actually better? We will help you find the answer by guiding you through a review of both Apacs and Felet Badminton Racket

Innovation
 When they first started out, both brands used Yonex as their benchmark when it comes to developing new products. They will take the design of Yonex rackets and find ways to make them more user friendly, especially for social players, and at much affordable prices. However, over the past few years, they have realized the importance of creating their own identity in racket design. Hence, Felet have launched their own woven graphite rackets and carved a name for themselves in this segment. In fact, when one think of woven rackets, Felet is usually the first brand to come to mind.

Apacs, on the other hand, are known as the "king of light rackets." They produce the first racket to enter the Book of Records as the Lightest Racket in the world. It weighs only 58g and when it was first launched, no other brands could do the same. Only after a while, other brands were able to do the same, including Felet. In addition to this 58g racket called Apacs Feather Weight 55, Apacs have also produced many other rackets in the 8U, 7U and 6U range. In fact, till recent years, no other brands had as many models as Apacs in the light-weight category. And, not only are they light, but they are also very affordable. Moreover, they can withstand high tension. Speaking about tension, Apacs is arguably the first brand to claim that their rackets can withstand a tension of 35lbs, and later 38lbs. My eyes almost popped out when i saw this. I think most customers too. A few years later, Felet outdo them by claiming that their rackets can hold tension up to 45lbs. Yes. it's 45lbs! 

In the earlier years, not many brands could do what Apacs had done: producing very light rackets that can withstand very high tension and selling them at low prices. They have been so dominant in this segment that Yonex had decided to take a share of this pie too. Yonex have launched their own made-in-China rackets sold at low-range prices. However, they still have not made them as light as Apacs' or withstand as high tension as Apacs'

Winner: Apacs

Cosmetics Design
When we talk about cosmetics design, we are referring to the physical appearance of the rackets. We did mention just now that for low-end graphite rackets, both Apacs and Felet tend to imitate the designs of Yonex rackets. However, for mid range and low-range series, Apacs and Felet usually employ their own designs on them. In this regard, we have to admit that Felet's design look more attractive and captivating to the younger consumers (below 35 years). This group tend to prefer more vibrant and outrageous, which can be clearly seen in Felet rackets. On the other hand, Apacs' design is more conservative and appeal more to the mature audience.

There is another aspect of cosmetics that we have to touch on, and that is the finishing of the racket. Finishing involves the final touches on the racket and encompasses the decal/stickers and paint spray used. Many Apacs customers have experienced minor paint chip-off in their rackets, some of which are  mistaken as scratches or even product defects. However, they are not. They just involve the "skin" of the rackets, and not its quality or performance. We have explained before in another blog post, that this chip-off usually happens when a final round of finishing is not applied to the rackets after the decals/stickers have been stuck on them. This might be due to weight saving. Even though it does not affect the performance of the racket, some customers do feel upset when they see it.

Winner: Felet

New Product Launches
This is a trickier element than the previous two.  The answer to the question of which brand is better in this, depends on what your preference is. If you are someone who like to purchase a new racket every season or year, then you will like Felet. They come out with many new SKUs every year. Some of them might be "new" in very minor details, while others are completely new. Regardless, customers are still excited to see new models every year. The flip side of this is that, when Felet come out with new models, they tend to phase out the old ones (except for the high-end series). Hence, if you like a particular Felet model and want to purchase it again 2 years later, you might not be able to find it again. They phase products in and out very quickly.

On the contrary, Apacs do not launch products as fast as Felet, but neither do they phase them out as quickly as Felet. They tend to launch only a handful of new products every year. For customers who do not like to change rackets regularly, this will not be a problem. In fact, Apacs have garnered many die-hard supporters because they maintain some of their SKUs for many years. A few of their models have been around for almost 20 years, which is as long as this website. Therefore, if you have found a particular racket that you like a lot, you don't need to buy many pieces to keep as spare. The chances are that you will still be able to purchase them a few years down the road.  This is one of the reasons why customers stick to Apacs. You find a sense of belonginess by using the same rackets over and over again. Nevertheless, this is not everyone's cup of tea.

Winner: Depends

Price
This is probably the most important questions in everyone's mind. After all, both of them position their brands as value for money. Both of them target the lower end segment of the market. So, which brand has better pricing? Unfortunately, even we can't tell because they are too similar. They tend to imitate or fight each other till losses do them apart.  To them, pricing is like a game of tic-tac-toe. They always make sure that the other party does not win. Their cheapest racket and most expensive racket are priced very similarly. In the middle, you might find some differences every now and then, especially when one of them in running a promotion. However, in the end, they will end up being equal as neither want to lose out.

Winner: None

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