Fake Microgel?

Hokiez · Nov 4, 2008

A buddy of mine bought a new Microgel Extreme Pro off the big auction site and it's substantially different than any of my 3 of the same racquet. Anybody have experience enough to say definitively if it's a fake?

Paint quality is poor, illegible on some of the areas where it says to tie off
Missing ID's for where to tie-off
There is a TM after the microgel. I have 3 MG EP and a MG Prestige and none have this.
The grommets across the hoop have a line down the middle that blocks some of the holes
There is no serial# or grip size on the butt cap
No rubberband around the top of the grip
The "extremePRO" paint is thicker and the PRO is a different color
The entire paint scheme is quite a bit different

I'm about 99% sure it's a fake but looking for any input from folks out

Il Mostro · Nov 4, 2008

I cannot speak for the Microgel, but I recently ran into a fake KB98 that a friend gave me to string. The symptoms were exactly as you describe, except add in a different butt cap and and extra quarter inch in length. I did a search on the international trading site Alibaba.com and found the same exact fake racquet, funky paint job and all, for sale by a Chinese manufacturer. After taking a look around the site I realized that there are fakes of all brands and models -- these are everywhere now. Motto: but from authorized distributors like TW.

Hokiez · Nov 4, 2008

Yeah, I just looked up wholesale racquets and there it is, exactly like this one for $50+20 shipping.

yourname1245 · Nov 4, 2008

there are only 2 factories where racquets are made. and the fakes are made at the same ones. the difference is that before the first quality control some sticks are discarded and picked out of garbage and take home for some one outside the factory to fix at home. this is why the paint maybe crappy or even the pattern maybe different. they mostly are done like this.
buyer beware
-sal

Il Mostro · Nov 4, 2008

^^^^^^
Totally untrue. Knock offs are made *everywhere* in PRC. On top of this, major manufacturers have their own supervisory personnel on-site to ensure that this does not happen. Your story is an old myth and 110% bogus.

purple-n-gold · Nov 4, 2008

Hey Hokey I've got an Extreme pro in excellent condtion if your looking.

yourname1245 · Nov 4, 2008

thats what a shop owner was told by his reps, everyone of them. and thats true, you could have a person that works on the line pulling sticks off and taking them home and day by day taking stickers and grommets and paints home to finish it. when i say they take sticks off the like i mean as soon as they get out of the molds were structure and shapes are the defects. any company can mess up a paint job and alot of people will take a cheaper price on a stick if it was not painted right.. i would. the difference in the fakes is how they play. as soon as you get on the courts they will play much different i had fake n6.1 95's and pure drives. the paint and cosmetics are not a big deal playability is. the op was fooled from the paint job the only thing he could do is play with the stick before buying it.
-sal

Il Mostro · Nov 4, 2008

^^^^^^

Take a look on Alibaba.com and search for "Micro Gel tennis racquet". You will find Shanghai Gaoya Trade Co. stating they can supply 2,400 of the Micro GEL Radical racquets per month. So much for the employees walking out the door theory. You really do not have a clue about how things are copied.

Il Mostro · Nov 4, 2008

Hokiez said:
Yeah, I just looked up wholesale racquets and there it is, exactly like this one for $50+20 shipping.

I forgot one thing, the fake KB98 was insanely head-heavy and, of course, the real KB98's are not. Have you compared the balance points? In most cases these guys do not bother to use similar specs regarding weight and balance (no specs at all really). The racquet is clearly a fugazzi but I am curious as to how close/far off the balance & weight are.

yourname1245 · Nov 4, 2008

i went there and its says nothing about them making them fake... they could be buying a larger quanity of cheaper makes, directly from wilson. you can see its possible cause they have colored over the companies names to prove they are not a authorized dealer. maybe not a single person takes them home, but i figure a single company will take the bad molds and misshaped from wilson or head. them taking them and finshing in there warehouse or for all we know a small house in a small china town. its fair to say i maybe off the point but who really knows??
-sal

Il Mostro · Nov 4, 2008

It is no big deal to either make a mold or use a mold with a similar shape (as in the case of the fake KB98 I had in my hands). These fakes are not made from the same material as the genuine racquets. This isn't grey market product, it is not connected to the legitimate product in any way, shape or form. It is not finished in homes in small towns; these are mass produced in factories. It is wishful thinking to believe that you can get a racquet that is the same as the legit product, but with just minor defects. Think about it...

Bagdatis toy hippo · Nov 4, 2008

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageRCHEAD-HEXTJR.html

OH NOEZ

6rump · Nov 5, 2008

hey i have a question, how about the weigth, and length? coz i have the same problem with my microgel prestige, there is no serial number on the butt cap and it's not exactly 27 inces. is that fake?

Hokiez · Nov 5, 2008

Believe me, I spent 5 months in China, I know all about fakes. Right behind our factory was one making fake golf clubs, no real ones, only fakes. Nike, Taylor Made, Titleist, Ping, etc. There's no doubt the fake racquets don't come from the real factory. All the fakes have the same wrong paint job, same missing serial numbers, same missing paint so it's not a slight blemish like an X-out golf ball. I work in manufacturing, if they were side-feeds each would be different and nearly the same as the original. I have yet to ever see a manufacturing process that when a mistake is made, it makes multiple changes, all the same, to thousands of racquets.

Pentikal · Jul 31, 2009

i hate to bump an old topic but this is relevant to my situation. i have been burned by fake sticks before and am concerned once again. i orderd a couple MG Ex pros from DoitTennis. i would have got em from TW but they don't have the 08's =(

anyway

I was wondering if anyone know if it was usual to have matching serials on the bottom of the butt caps. the paint seems the same to Hokiez's REAL Mg's but the fact that my serials are the same concerns me.

Lakers4Life · Jul 31, 2009

Hokiez said:
Believe me, I spent 5 months in China, I know all about fakes. Right behind our factory was one making fake golf clubs, no real ones, only fakes. Nike, Taylor Made, Titleist, Ping, etc. There's no doubt the fake racquets don't come from the real factory. All the fakes have the same wrong paint job, same missing serial numbers, same missing paint so it's not a slight blemish like an X-out golf ball. I work in manufacturing, if they were side-feeds each would be different and nearly the same as the original. I have yet to ever see a manufacturing process that when a mistake is made, it makes multiple changes, all the same, to thousands of racquets.

I have to agree with you. Fakes are usually seconds or don't pass QC. The factories are contracted to make a certain number of a certain brand and model. They only get paid for what the contract demands, they don't get paid for products that don't meet specs. That's the factory's loss, so in order to recoup the loss in costs of materials, they sell the rejects and over runs to another company (trading company). That company can do whatever it wants to do with the rejects.

Moulds are expensive to make, that's why the shape and form are exactly the same. Companies constantly change factories like they change underwear. I've been to a shoe factory in South China, that was making both Nike and Adidas. In any production, there is an expected number for loss or rejects.

Lakers4Life · Jul 31, 2009

Il Mostro said:
^^^^^^

Take a look on Alibaba.com and search for "Micro Gel tennis racquet". You will find Shanghai Gaoya Trade Co. stating they can supply 2,400 of the Micro GEL Radical racquets per month. So much for the employees walking out the door theory. You really do not have a clue about how things are copied.

That's a trading company and not a factory. Trading companies are middle men. They can sell you almost anything made in China, which is like 90% of the products in the stores (i.e. Walmart).

ir0-ed · Jul 31, 2009

I once posted this topic http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=274758 which has a link of china made counterfeit maker which I have to edit and take out the link. Mind you... I counted more than 5 different fake manufacturers. They usually have a 4-6 minimum orders of the same stick.

Lakers4Life · Jul 31, 2009

There is this Korean owned tennis shop near me, he has a ton of Babolat racquets about $10 below most average prices. One time I was by there he had boxes out side the front door, trash I guess, but the boxes read Tennis Racquets, Qty, weight, etc. Stuff you would normally see on side of a box from China. When I looked inside the store he was unpacking a similar box, and he was pulling out PDRs wrapped in plastic and it's cover.

Can anyone confirm what the outside of a Babolat box looks like from the factory?

tennisfreak15347 · Aug 1, 2009

yourname1245 said:
i went there and its says nothing about them making them fake... they could be buying a larger quanity of cheaper makes, directly from wilson. you can see its possible cause they have colored over the companies names to prove they are not a authorized dealer. maybe not a single person takes them home, but i figure a single company will take the bad molds and misshaped from wilson or head. them taking them and finshing in there warehouse or for all we know a small house in a small china town. its fair to say i maybe off the point but who really knows??
-sal

so you claim that the paintjob is the only thing different, and that fakes are really just real ones with bad paintjobs? I beg to differ here. someone i know bought a fake extreme pro off the fleabay, and not only was the paintjob different, but the throat was a completely different shape!

Danstevens · Aug 1, 2009

tennisfreak15347 said:
so you claim that the paintjob is the only thing different, and that fakes are really just real ones with bad paintjobs? I beg to differ here. someone i know bought a fake extreme pro off the fleabay, and not only was the paintjob different, but the throat was a completely different shape!

I remember seeing someone post a picture of a fake Babolat Aeropro Drive (1st gen). Underneath, the frame appeared closer in design to the Pure Drive. It really was quite a peculiar fake - easily the most obviously fake racquet I've ever seen. Can anyone find that picture?

chris · Aug 1, 2009

Pentikal said:
i hate to bump an old topic but this is relevant to my situation. i have been burned by fake sticks before and am concerned once again. i orderd a couple MG Ex pros from DoitTennis. i would have got em from TW but they don't have the 08's =(

anyway

I was wondering if anyone know if it was usual to have matching serials on the bottom of the butt caps. the paint seems the same to Hokiez's REAL Mg's but the fact that my serials are the same concerns me.

do it tennis is a legit company so i think theyre real

Fake Microgel?

Rookie

Banned

Rookie

Semi-Pro

Banned

Hall of Fame

Semi-Pro

Banned

Banned

Semi-Pro

Banned

Banned

Rookie

Rookie

New User

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Banned

Semi-Pro

Rookie

Similar threads