Voltric FB
Model VT-FB · Arisa Higashino, Takeshi Kamura
Price history
Chart: monthly median of verified pre-owned sales · USD · methodology
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Voltric FB: the 73-gram Flash Boost in Japan’s first All England mixed doubles title
Japan’s first All England mixed title
When Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino won the All England mixed doubles on March 18, 2018, Yonex’s equipment list put Higashino on the Voltric FB, with Watanabe on a Duora Z-Strike. Ranked 48th in the world, they beat China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 15–21, 22–20, 21–16, the first All England mixed doubles title won by a Japanese pair. Yonex had launched the FB a year earlier as a very light Voltric, averaging 73 g in its lighter class and up to 20 g lighter than Yonex’s 2U racquets, meant for players who wanted that lightness without giving up power or a solid hit.
Flash Boost and Black Micro Core
Yonex Japan announced the Voltric FB in January 2017 for worldwide release in early February, at ¥23,000 before tax. FB stands for Flash Boost, Yonex said: the swing speed and free handling of a light frame, together with Voltric power. It came in two weight classes, F (average 73 g) and 5U (average 78 g). To keep power and feel in so light a frame, Yonex added Black Micro Core, a dense, stiff, vibration-damping material used for the first time in its badminton racquets, at 10 and 2 o’clock in the upper frame, alongside high-modulus graphite and tungsten. The shaft is high-modulus graphite with Nanometric, chosen to save weight while keeping strength. Light racquets often end up top-heavy, Yonex noted, so it set the FB’s balance toward the handle to keep it maneuverable. Yonex rated the flex stiff and made it in Japan.
Kamura, Higashino and three titles
Yonex’s record of tour use is short but includes titles. Takeshi Kamura was listed on the FB at the March 2017 All England, a month after it went on sale, beside Keigo Sonoda on an ArcSaber 11, and in June the pair won the Australian Open, 21–17, 21–19 over Tan Boon Heong and Hendra Setiawan. Higashino stayed with it after her All England win. Yonex Japan’s list for the December 2018 All Japan Championships named both the Voltric FB and the Astrox 77 for her, and Yonex’s English list named the FB again when she and Watanabe won the January 2019 Malaysia Masters, 21–18, 21–18 over Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Higashino, whom Yonex has listed as Arisa Igarashi since 2025, later played the Nanoflare 700. No singles player on the FB is documented.
Black/Blue, Black/Green and the F class
Yonex sold the FB in two colors, Black/Blue and Black/Green; retailers call the green Lime/Black, and in retailer photos both carry FLASH BOOST in large letters on the head and on the shaft. Yonex Japan offered both weight classes in grips 5 and 6, Yonex USA listed the 5U in grips 4 and 5, and Yonex’s German catalog called the F class 6U. The F standard itself was not new. Yonex introduced it in February 2013 with the ArcSaber FB, a light ArcSaber released beside the ArcSaber 11, and the Voltric FB brought the class to the Voltric line four years later. Yonex Japan’s 2017 listing names only the two colors, so a pink or other FB needs a Yonex source before it is treated as an edition.
Three years in Yonex Japan’s range
The FB stayed in Yonex Japan’s range after most Voltrics had gone. In October 2018 the list’s Voltrics were the Z-Force II, GlanZ, FB, i-Force and 30, and in December 2019 the FB was still there; by August 2020 it had been dropped. It was a regular-production racquet, so the verified sales recorded so far are all pre-owned, from Asia resale, and the price panel above shows them. Listings usually give the color and the weight class, and the class is a useful check: Yonex made the FB only in F and 5U, so a 4U racquet offered as an FB is something else.
Fakes and look-alikes
No counterfeit specific to the Voltric FB has been documented, and the Voltric fakes described in detail are of the tour-famous Z-Force. The FB’s mix-ups come from its name. Sellers also call it the Voltric Flash Boost or Voltric Flash, which is the same racquet, and it is easy to confuse with the ArcSaber FB of 2013, which shares the initials and the F class but is a different, ArcSaber frame; it has its own page. The Voltric GlanZ, sold beside it, is a 4U racquet in dark navy.
A light racquet with titles
On a Japanese user-review site the FB rates highly for swing and handling; reviewers recommend it for doubles, find it almost too light for players used to 3U frames, and one reports breakages. In Yonex’s history it is the racquet that brought the F class to the Voltric line and the first Yonex badminton racquet with Black Micro Core, released as Yonex was moving its head-heavy range to the new Astrox series. Its tour record is short but includes three titles, among them Higashino’s All England, Japan’s first mixed doubles title there.
Yonex’s item code is VT-FB; Asian-market labels may add SP, a distribution code. Yonex sold it in Black/Blue and Black/Green only, and retailer photos show FLASH BOOST printed on the head and shaft. Weight classes are F (average 73 g) and 5U (average 78 g); Yonex listed no 4U or 3U FB. Yonex rated it stiff, and the frame should be marked Made in Japan. Yonex’s checks: a hologram sticker that resists peeling and a laser-engraved production code on the cap above the handle.
A light, Japan-made Voltric with a short tour record led by Higashino’s 2018 All England. Check the weight class and color against Yonex’s listing: F or 5U, Black/Blue or Black/Green. Look closely at the head and shaft for cracks, since at least one owner reports this light frame breaking. Treat any claim that a frame was a named player’s match racquet as unproven without documentation.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.