Astrox 100 ZX
Model AX-100ZX
Price history
Chart: monthly median of verified pre-owned sales · USD · methodology
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Astrox 100 ZX: the Taiwan-made, limited-quantity sibling of the 100 ZZ
One sentence in the launch release
Yonex introduced the Astrox 100 ZX in a single sentence. Its Japanese release of February 10, 2020 spent every paragraph on the Astrox 100 ZZ, then added that the ZX, made in Taiwan and sold at an open price, would go on sale at the same time in limited quantities. Yonex’s English release printed the two side by side and said both were “designed to achieve the same concept performance”, but the players it named, Viktor Axelsen and Akane Yamaguchi, were attached to the ZZ. The ZX launched on March 20, 2020, in the same Dark Navy as the ZZ. Yonex Japan’s online Astrox lineup listed the ZZ but not the ZX.
What separates it from the ZZ
Yonex’s comparison table sets out the differences. The ZZ frame combines high-modulus graphite with Namd, tungsten, Black Micro Core and Nanometric; the ZX frame is high-modulus graphite, Nanomesh Neo and tungsten. Black Micro Core is the material Yonex placed in the ZZ’s frame top to raise stiffness and concentrate weight there. The ZZ also has a new, lighter built-in T-joint, where the ZX has the standard one. Both shafts are high-modulus graphite with Namd, but the ZZ’s Hyper Slim Shaft is solid and, Yonex said, the slimmest it had made, while the ZX has an Extra Slim shaft that Yonex calls Rexis, made with an advanced molding technique. Both keep the Rotational Generator System, the Isometric head shape and the E.B. Cap Plus, and Yonex USA rated the ZX Extra Stiff. Yonex’s promotional text speaks of Namd in the frames of both models, but its material list puts Namd only in the ZX’s shaft.
No professional on record
No professional player is documented with the ZX. Yonex’s English report on the 2020 All England said Axelsen and men’s doubles champion Hiroyuki Endo had used “the ASTROX 100” without naming a model, but Yonex Japan’s equipment list for the same event puts both on the ZZ. The ZX’s reception came from reviewers instead. A UK tester, reviewing a racquet supplied by Yonex UK in July 2020, rated it barely behind the ZZ, found that its hollow shaft gave a more familiar flex and its head felt slightly lighter, and still preferred the ZZ’s solid shaft on the smash. A German test site likewise scored its power just below the ZZ’s.
Dark Navy only, and a Tour that matched it
The ZX came in one color, Dark Navy. Yonex’s release listed 3U (average 88 g) and 4U (83 g) versions, though Yonex USA offered only 4U with a G5 grip. When the ZZ gained its Kurenai finish in 2021, the ZX did not. That year Yonex also introduced the Astrox 100 Tour, on sale by July 2021, whose published specification matches the ZX’s: a high-modulus graphite, Nanomesh Neo and tungsten frame, a Namd shaft, Extra Slim and Rexis shaft technology and Extra Stiff flex. Yonex never said the Tour replaced the ZX, and one reviewer who tested the Tour found it strongly reminiscent of the ZX. Yonex’s current Astrox 100 page lists the ZZ, the 100 Tour, the 100 Game and the Axelsen VA models, and no ZX.
A limited release on the resale market
The verified sales of the ZX shown above come from Asia resale and are almost all pre-owned. Yonex published no production quantity for the limited release and gave the ZX no Japanese list price, selling it at an open price instead. The last documented new stock dates from 2021, and Yonex never announced an end date. What a buyer gets today is a playing racquet with a documented design lineage and no professional history.
Easily mistaken for a ZZ
Counterfeiters target the 100 ZZ because of Axelsen’s titles, but the ZX poses a quieter problem. It launched the same day, in the same Dark Navy, under the same Astrox 100 name, so a seller can list one as the other without faking anything, and in photographs the two are hard to separate. The reliable differences are the model marking, the country of origin, Taiwan for the ZX and Japan for the ZZ, and the shaft, since the ZZ’s Hyper Slim shaft is Yonex’s slimmest and the ZX’s is thicker. The Astrox 100 Tour adds a third lookalike: sold in Kurenai, made in Taiwan according to Yonex Japan, and matching the ZX’s published specification.
A preview of the Taiwan-made tiers
In hindsight the ZX previewed how Yonex would tier its top Astrox models. From 2021 the Astrox 100 and 99 lines were sold as a Japan-made flagship with Tour and Game versions below it (Yonex Japan lists the 100 Tour and 100 Game as made in Taiwan), and the 100 Tour, which has its own page, lists the ZX’s frame, shaft and flex, although Yonex never said one replaced the other. The ZX itself stayed a one-color, limited release that Yonex barely promoted: the same launch date and concept as the ZZ, a different factory and a different shaft.
Check the marking first: Yonex lists the ZX as made in Taiwan, so a racquet badged 100 ZX but marked Japan does not match, and a “100 ZZ” marked Taiwan is a ZX, a Tour, a Game or a fake. Yonex USA’s specification is code AX100ZX, Extra Stiff flex, a high-modulus graphite, Nanomesh Neo and tungsten frame, a graphite and Namd shaft, 4U at an average of 83 g with a G5 grip, 20–28 lbs recommended tension, and Dark Navy, its only color. If a ZZ is available for comparison, look at the shaft: the ZZ’s is Yonex’s slimmest. Yonex’s own authenticity test is the hologram sticker, which should resist lifting with a fingernail. Retailer guides add that genuine serial numbers are laser-engraved as well as printed.
The ZX is a player’s racquet. Yonex claimed the same concept performance as the ZZ, reviewers rated it close behind, and no professional history is attached to it. Its verified sales so far, almost all pre-owned, come from Asia resale. The key checks are the Taiwan marking, the ZX name and the Dark Navy finish, because the ZX, the ZZ and the later Astrox 100 Tour are easy to confuse in listings and photographs.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.