The one and only way to tell a genuine Taylormade FCT sleeve

Its been 5 months since I first started selling Taylormade R9 FCT sleeves. Since then, fakes or copies have started to circulate. It used to be easy to tell a fake, not now. A new kind of fakes, which are 'high grade copies' are circulating. So 'high grade' that some of you may not even tell them apart. Very well made to look like the real thing. In fact, you'll need a magnifying glass to tell them apart. Literally, no kidding. Look at the picture below. One is a high grade copy which I purchased via eBay, and the other is an authentic R9 FCT sleeve. You can hardly tell them apart eh? (CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Lets take a look at the weight:

It weighs the same! OMG! Well done!

Ok, so my friend who works in Taylormade told me theres only 1 true way to tell, because the copies do not have the right cutter machine...so there is a difference in finishing. Now, time to bring out the magnifying glass....it is that fine...it is that small. Yes, you need a magnifying glass. It took me 3 days to figure out what the heck he was saying, even with a magnifying glass, LOL!

Ok, when the FCT sleeve is made by an authentic Taylormade machine, it will produce very fine circular lines...very very very fine! At 3 different places. No I am not talking about the lines on the FCT 'teeth'. As you can see from my first picture, even the copies now have lines on the teeth. Check out the following picture:

On 1 and 3, it might get you into 50-50 situations, because on authentic sleeves, sometimes the prints are very vague. The best way to look at, which is also the hardest (because the lines are very fine) is on Part 2. I took 3 days to see the fine lines. Go experiment and have fun!

Hopefully all of you can benefit from this. There are many sleeves now, and new sleeves are coming out. Some have different numbers stamped at the bottom, a small minority have no numbers. More fakes are floating around. People are getting doubtful. With this little guide, hopefully it helps us to make an informed decision.

The fake I bought, the little 'step' is black instead of red:

Like I said, the fakes now even have lines on the teeth:

The fake is still very shiny on the inside. Not matt like the authentic ones:

Well in conclusion, the high grade copies are so good that even a picture on ebay can be dubious. Right now I am relying on the fine lines to help me tell them apart.

Cheers