ArcSaber 8DX
Model ARC-8DX · Koo Kien Keat, Hendra Aprida Gunawan
Price history
Chart: monthly median of verified pre-owned sales · USD · methodology
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ArcSaber 8DX: the hard hitter’s ArcSaber behind Koo Kien Keat’s two Commonwealth golds
Two golds in Delhi
Malaysia’s Koo Kien Keat won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October 2010, and Yonex Japan’s report lists him on an ArcSaber 8DX for both. With Tan Boon Heong he beat England’s Anthony Clark and Nathan Robertson 21–19, 21–14 in the men’s doubles final; with Chin Eei Hui he beat Robertson and Jenny Wallwork 22–20, 21–12 in the mixed. Yonex’s players won all five individual events in Delhi, and the same report credits Lee Chong Wei’s singles gold to his Armortec 900 Power player model and Saina Nehwal’s to the ArcSaber 7. The 8DX had been on sale only since early that year. Yonex had pitched it at hard hitters, and it was the only ArcSaber in Yonex’s 2010 and 2011 lists rated Extra Stiff.
The high-tension model
Yonex Japan’s product page, live by March 2010 with a new-product tag, introduced the 8DX as “the high-tension model hard hitters have been waiting for.” Yonex Japan recommended 19–27 lb for the 3U and 20–28 lb for the 2U, and its suitability grid rated the racquet best for advanced men, suitable for intermediate men and advanced women, and not for beginners. The frame followed the ArcSaber recipe, which Yonex describes as a head that flexes at impact to hold the shuttle on the strings longer: high-modulus graphite with cup-stacked carbon nanotube in the sides, and a high-modulus graphite shaft with Ultra PE Fiber, joined by the new built-in T-joint. It was made in Japan, marked 10 mm longer than standard, and priced at ¥22,000 before tax, the same as the ArcSaber 7. By 2012 Yonex’s pitch had moved to the frame itself: a rigid “DX frame” for sharp repulsion.
Koo Kien Keat and Hendra Aprida Gunawan
Yonex Japan’s reports name two players on the 8DX. Indonesia’s Hendra Aprida Gunawan had it in August 2010 when he and Vita Marissa, the top seeds, won the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold mixed doubles 22–20, 14–21, 22–20 over Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir; by May 2011 Yonex listed him on an Armortec 900 Power. Koo stayed with it longer. After Delhi, Yonex lists him on the 8DX in March 2011, when he and Tan joined Taufik Hidayat and Lee Chong Wei on the Guangzhou team in China’s Super League, and that May, when he and Tan won the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold 21–16, 21–7, their first title since the Malaysia Open of January 2010. In 2012 Yonex named Koo among the players who had switched to the Voltric Z-Force. The Yonex reports found name no other user of the 8DX.
One color in a seven-model range
Yonex sold the 8DX in one colorway, Copper Orange, under one item code, ARC8DX, in 3U (85–89.9 g) and 2U (90–94.9 g); Yonex Japan offered grips 4 and 5, and Yonex’s global page grips 3 to 5. No player or limited edition is documented. Yonex’s global ArcSaber page of autumn 2010 shows it among seven models: the Laser Yellow Z-Slash and red ArcSaber 10, both rated Stiff; the medium-flex ArcSaber 9, 7 and 5; and the Taiwan-made ArcSaber 008. The 10 had Super HMG in its frame and the 8DX did not, yet the 8DX was the one rated Extra Stiff, as it was again in Yonex’s 2011 catalog spread of ten Voltric and ArcSaber models. Two other Yonex names invite confusion: the older, aluminum-framed Carbonex 8 DX, covered on the Carbonex 8 page, and the later ArcSaber 8 PW (ARC8PW), a 4U Black/Purple frame Yonex listed from 2018; it has its own page. Yonex Japan added a medium-flex, even-balance model on the DX frame, the ArcSaber 5DX (ARC5DX), in December 2010; it has its own page.
About three years on sale
The 8DX was a regular-production model. Yonex Japan’s page ran from March 2010 to at least June 2012, and Yonex Japan files the model among those whose production ended in 2012, alongside the ArcSaber 10. Stock was still on Yonex Japan’s list in January 2013, a month before the ArcSaber 11 launched, and gone by that November. The verified sales shown above are pre-owned frames from the Asian resale market. With one color and no special edition, the model name identifies an 8DX; condition and weight class are what separate one example from another. A frame offered as a 4U or junior 8DX matches no weight Yonex listed and needs checking before it is compared with these sales.
Fakes and mistaken identity
No counterfeit specific to the ArcSaber 8DX has been documented. It was sold while Yonex was campaigning against fakes, with a counterfeit warning on its global site and, in June 2010, a Yonex Japan notice about counterfeit goods sold through overseas online shops, so the general checks apply. Identity is the more practical question. Copper Orange accents on a dark frame read differently in photographs, and sellers have described the 8DX as black and white or as silver and orange, so the printed name and the ARC8DX code matter more than color. A frame claimed to be a 4U or a junior 8DX matches no Yonex listing and should be treated as a different racquet until shown otherwise. The callout lists the checks.
A divisive frame
Reviewers split over the 8DX. Coach Paul Stewart gave it four and a half stars, called it “an Arcsaber 10 with more edge,” found its balance more even than the 10’s and placed it close to his ideal racquet; he also reported 27 lb as the 3U’s recommended upper limit, about 3 lb more than most of Yonex’s range. A Singapore blog that tested a 3U sample in March 2010 praised its durability and its attack and defense but called it unsuitable for beginners because of the extra-stiff shaft. Others found it hard work. A February 2011 review, strung at 28 lb, called it a disappointment, with clears that took effort and a shaft that would make the arm ache. The 8DX left Yonex Japan’s production with the ArcSaber 10 in 2012; the ArcSaber 11 that followed was rated Stiff.
Yonex’s item code is ARC8DX, the color Copper Orange, and the frame should be marked Made in Japan. Yonex listed only two weight classes, 3U (85–89.9 g) and 2U (90–94.9 g), with grips 4 or 5 in Japan and 3 to 5 elsewhere; a 4U or junior “8DX” matches no Yonex listing. Yonex rated the flex Extra Stiff, listed H.M. Graphite with CS Carbon Nanotube in the frame and H.M. Graphite with Ultra PEF in the shaft, and Yonex Japan marked it 10 mm longer than standard. Yonex published no balance figure in millimeters. A frame printed Carbonex 8DX is an older, aluminum-framed racquet. Yonex’s checks from that era: a laser-engraved production code on the cap above the handle, a hologram sticker that resists peeling, an O in YONEX that is not wide and round, and Yonex’s green butt cap.
For a player, the 8DX is a stiff, demanding Japan-made frame that reviewers either liked a great deal or found hard work, so condition and weight class matter more than year. For a collector, it is a one-color, one-code ArcSaber from the line’s first years, tied in Yonex’s reports to Koo Kien Keat’s Commonwealth golds. Ask for photographs of the ARC8DX code, the 3U or 2U marking and the Made in Japan line, and check the head and T-joint for cracks. Treat any claim that a frame was Koo’s match racquet as unproven without documentation.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.