Armortec 600
Model AT-600
Price history
Chart: monthly median of verified pre-owned sales · USD · methodology
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Armortec 600: the one Armortec Yonex rated flexible, built for intermediate players
A soft shaft in a power series
Yonex sold Armortec as its most head-heavy series, and its flagships were stiff. On the international Armortec list where Yonex marked the 600 new in March 2009, the 900 Power and 900 Technique were rated stiff and the 700 extra stiff. The 600 was rated flexible, the only Armortec with that rating in Yonex’s lists from 2007 to 2011. It was made in Japan, sold only in 4U, and aimed by Yonex Japan at intermediate players: in its description, a light racquet whose head does the work and which sends the shuttle a long way. Players who tried it early heard an older favorite in it. A BadmintonCentral member who posted one of the first reviews, on March 1, 2009, found it extremely similar to the Muscle Power 88, which had left Yonex’s export list by mid-2007.
What set it apart
The 600 reached shops in early 2009. US retailers listed it by February, and on March 18 Yonex’s international page marked it “New!!” beside three Taiwan-made Armortecs launched with it, the 70 Mega, 50 and 30. Yonex didn’t explain the flexible rating, but its spec table shows where the 600 parted from the flagships. The frame kept their Ultra H.M. Graphite and the 900s’ Micro Ti titanium mesh, with the series’ Power Armor System, Isometric head, built-in T-joint and Control Support Cap. Its third frame material was Elastomer, where the 900s had Elastic Titanium and the 700 gForce Ti, and it was the only Armortec on the list with the LSC badge: Low Shock for Comfort, a system Yonex’s 2007 catalog said cut impact shock by 15% against a conventional racquet. The shaft was plain H.M. Graphite, without the 700’s UltimumTi or the 900s’ Elastic Titanium. Yonex Japan’s page adds an aero-shaped frame, Solid Feel Core and a frame 10 mm longer than standard.
No tour record
No professional is documented using the 600, and no documented Yonex report names a player on it. Yonex Japan’s suitability chart points the same way: it marked the racquet best for intermediate men and women, good for beginner men, and gave advanced players no mark at all. Its documented users are club players and reviewers. UK coach Paul Stewart gave it five stars in 2009, the first five-star rating he had awarded, and wrote that with tighter strings and a new grip he would be hard pushed to tell it from his Armortec 900 Power. He judged it right for most league players, though true power hitters might not want its flexible shaft.
One finish, one weight
Yonex documented a single version. Its item code is AT600 and its finish White/Royal Blue, Yonex Japan color 116, the color Yonex’s international page still gave in mid-2011. It came in 4U only, with grips 3 to 5 on the international list and 5 or 6 on Japan’s scale, and Yonex Japan sold a dedicated grommet set and case for it. No player, limited or regional edition of the 600 is recorded. The yellow Lee Chong Wei model of 2010, coded AT900PLC, is an edition of the 900 Power. The 70 Mega, 50 and 30 that launched beside the 600 are different, lower models: made in Taiwan, 3U only, with graphite shafts, and rated medium or stiff.
About three years on sale
The 600 had a short run. Yonex’s international page listed it from March 2009 into mid-2011, and Yonex Japan’s current list carried it until early 2012; its old-model list records the end of production in 2011, a year before the two 900s. In Japan it sat in the middle of the line on price: Yonex Japan’s 2010 page lists it at ¥21,000 before tax, above the Armortec 500’s ¥19,000 of 2006 and below the 700’s ¥22,000 launch price. It was a production club racquet with no player association, so the condition of the individual frame matters more than any story attached to it. Verified sales so far are pre-owned frames from Asia resale, and the price panel above lists them.
Fakes and spec confusion
No counterfeit report specific to the 600 has been found, and Yonex published no guide for it. The more common problem is its specification. US retail copy in 2009 described the shaft as medium or flexible and pitched the racquet as a more powerful Muscle Power 88, and the BadmintonCentral reviewer called it mid-flex, close to the ArcSaber 7 and 9. Yonex rated it flexible on every international listing from 2009 to 2011. The same reviewer found it head-heavy, but less so than the 700 and the two 900s, which fits Yonex Japan’s spec charts: they plot the 600 on the head-heavy side, short of the 900s. Because three Taiwan-made Armortecs launched with it, the Made in Japan marking is the quickest check of identity.
The gentle end of the Armortec line
Yonex never gave the 600 a successor by name. From 2010 its head-heavy range moved to the new Voltric series, and Yonex Japan’s Armortec production ended with the two 900s in 2012. The 600’s place in the story is as the softest member of a series sold on power: a Japan-made, flexible frame for intermediate players, carrying a comfort system the flagships did without. Owners kept making the comparison it was launched with. In a 2013 BadmintonCentral thread on replacing worn Muscle Power 88s, one poster called the Armortec 600 the logical successor on paper.
Yonex’s item code is AT600. Yonex documented one finish, White/Royal Blue (Yonex Japan color 116), and one weight class, 4U (80–84.9 g), so a 3U or 2U label doesn’t match any Yonex listing. Every Yonex listing gives Made in Japan; the Armortecs made in Taiwan in 2009 were the 70 Mega, 50 and 30. Yonex rated the flex flexible and listed a frame of Ultra H.M. Graphite, Micro Ti and Elastomer with a plain H.M. Graphite shaft, and Yonex Japan marks the frame 10 mm longer than standard. 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 600 suits players who want a soft-shafted, head-heavy Japan-made frame from the Armortec years, and collectors completing the 2009 Armortec range. There is no player story to pay for, so buy on condition. Confirm the 4U marking, the White/Royal Blue finish and the Made in Japan print, check the head and T-joint for cracks, and ask for clear photos of the cone and the engraved codes. For stringing, Yonex Japan recommended 19–24 lb.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.