Armortec 500
Model AT-500
Price history
Not enough dated pre-owned sales yet for a price chart — our threshold is 3. 2 verified sales on record so far.
2 verified transactions on record · USD · methodology
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Armortec 500: the other original Armortec, sold abroad three years before Japan
One of the first two Armortecs
When Yonex USA first put the Armortec series on its website in November 2003, it listed two racquets: the Armortec 700 and the Armortec 500. BadmintonCentral posters had already named the pair as Yonex’s new 2003 models that May. Yet the 500 did not appear on Yonex Japan’s racquet list until the spring of 2006, and by February 2008 Yonex’s international page had replaced it with a Taiwan-made model. It was a Japan-made racquet that Japan itself sold for only a few years.
The Armortec formula, one step down
The 500 used the series’ Power Armor System: a graphite and gForce Ti hybrid at the top of the frame, which Yonex said created a head-weighted effect worth 4% more smash speed, in a frame whose four corners were pared for lighter handling. It did without the 700’s titanium shaft. Yonex USA’s 2004 spec sheet lists a graphite frame with gForce Ti and a high-modulus graphite shaft, rated stiff. Yonex printed no balance figure, but its Japanese catalog and spec charts plot it on the head-heavy side; a US retail spec sheet called it head-heavy, and a 2006 owner described a heavy head. When Yonex Japan added it in 2006, at ¥19,000 before tax, it pitched the 500 at intermediate players with “the supple flex mid-level players want,” although Yonex’s spec sheets rated it stiff.
A club racquet
No professional is documented using the 500. It does not appear among the winners and finalists in Yonex’s 2007–08 tournament reports, which are dominated by the 700 and 900, and Yonex Japan aimed it at intermediate players. BadmintonCentral owners treated it as a club racquet. One member wrote in 2006 that he had used the Armortec 300 and 500 for a few years and found the 500 easier to control than the others because it was stiffer. Another said in 2011 that it had been his main racquet before he moved to an ArcSaber 10.
A late new color
The 500’s Japan debut came in white and gray (color 103), and in November 2006 Yonex’s international page labeled the export model a new color, which suggests a repaint of a frame sold since 2003 rather than a new design. Yonex’s 2006 export catalog shows that new color as white and gray, as in Japan; the colors of the 2003 export version are not documented in the sources found. On Yonex’s international page of November 2006 it sat second from the bottom: 800 Offensive and Defensive, 700, 500, then the Armortec 300, a medium-flex model with a Super Alloy frame, all made in Japan. Yonex’s 2006 export catalog added two new Taiwan-made models below them, the Armortec 250 and 150, so the line between Taiwan-made and Japan-made Armortecs ran below the 300, not below the 500 as is sometimes claimed.
On the resale market
A few verified sales are recorded so far, all pre-owned frames from Asia resale, and the price panel above lists them. The 500 was a mass-market club racquet with no player association, so its appeal is to collectors completing the Armortec line and to players who want a stiff, head-heavy frame of the period, and the condition of the individual frame matters most.
Counterfeits
No counterfeit reports specific to the Armortec 500 were found, and as a mid-range club model it was not an obvious target. The general risk with any Yonex frame of the period still applies: Yonex’s own 2011 warning described many copies on internet auction sites as crude and easy to break.
Replaced by a Taiwan-made counterpart
The 500’s international run ended in February 2008, when Yonex’s global Armortec page swapped the Japan-made 500 and 300 for the Taiwan-made Armortec 250 and 150. Yonex’s 2008 web page listed the 250 with the 500’s materials, flex and weights, changing only the country of manufacture, though its 2006 and 2007 catalogs gave the 250 a plain graphite shaft and 3U only. Yonex Japan kept the 500 until production ended in 2009. By March 2009 the export range had been rebuilt around the new Armortec 600 and the Taiwan-made 70 Mega, 50 and 30.
Every Yonex listing gives the Armortec 500 as made in Japan; an Armortec marked Made in Taiwan is a different model, most likely the 250 or 150. Yonex Japan’s version is white and gray (color 103). Yonex listed 4U (80–84.9 g) and 3U (85–89.9 g), rated stiff. Yonex’s 2011 counterfeit guidance gives four checks: the hologram sticker should be hard to peel; the YONEX logo should be crisp, since a wide, round O is a common sign of a fake; the production code on the cap above the handle should be laser-engraved, not printed; and the butt cap should match Yonex’s green.
The 500 suits collectors building a complete Armortec run and players who want a Japan-made, stiff, head-heavy frame from the mid-2000s. There is no player story attached, so buy on condition: an uncracked frame, the original butt cap and legible engraved codes. Confirm the Made in Japan marking before paying.
Verified prices last updated Aug 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.