There are 2 threads in this section on Strahlkraft LP. I chose to post in this thread as it has more responses/activity. I'm a former USATT 2000+ rated player that stopped playing for a year or so and for the last couple of years have been playing 3 to 4 times per month. As such my current playing level isn't close to 2000. My style is LP OX chop block on BH to set up my FH loop. I mention this to give some context of my comments regarding Strahlkraft.
Before trying Strahlkraft I was playing with Talon OX red. With the plastic ball the loss of spin reversal makes BH chop blocking much less effective. With plastic, I think you need a more all round LP game that allows you to chop block, aggressively push (this is also less effective with less spin on the ball) and hit with the LPs. The Talon is good for chop blocking, not so much for hitting. This led me to try Strahlkraft OX. My setup is Strahlkraft OX red BH, Hurricane 3 Neo FH on Butterfly Schlager Carbon blade. I have now played total of 10 hours spread across 3 weeks with this setup. This is a very good LP for an active game. Chop blocks stay low with spin reversal about the same as Talon, maybe a little less. Strahlkraft is very good at hitting no spin, backspin or even topspin balls. I can hit through incoming loops. The consistency isn't as good as it would be if I twiddled and counter with the inverted, but its reasonably consistent considering this is an OX LP. Hitting loops creates a flat skidding ball. This shot doesn't need to be very fast as my opponent will invariably loop their shot into the net if they don't adjust quickly enough to the flat skidding ball and try to reloop it like they would a normal inverted returned ball.
The LP is slow enough. I don't have a problem dropping the ball short with my chop blocks even with the Schlager Carbon blade against medium or medium fast loops. Against very fast loops, you need a very quick chop block action to return the ball on the table. I've never blocked passively (hand hold blocking) so I don't know how effective this LP will be with that technique. Side swipe works well. This is a very good OX LP for an active LP game.
One thing I forgot to mention: The base of the OX sheet is pretty thick and has a dark red color. This will allow you to cover graphics on a blade without those being visible as is the case with the translucent red OX LPs. Also it comes with a plastic sheet attached on top of the pips which makes the OX sheet stiffer so that gluing it on your blade is very easy. Once you glue on the blade, peel off this plastic sheet.
|