OOAK Table Tennis Forum

For those of you that read the Buy/Sell section, you will know I acquired Purger's Joola R1. I have yet to actually play a game with it, but tonight I slapped a couple of rubbers on it and hit against my training board. So I thought I'd give my initial impressions. I have another blade that needs reviewing before this one as its on loan, so the full review of the R1 won't come for a couple of weeks I suspect.

The R1 weighed in at 75.3 grams. And what a block of wood it looks and feels. The blade width is a "meager" 12.5mm! That's about 3mm thicker than my HK setup with rubbers, and about the same as my Cayman with rubbers!

OK, so I put on my Focus II and a sheet of Peacekeeper Purger donated to me after his brief "flirt" with the dark side. The PK is way too small for the blade (coming of his AWC one ply from AHinoki, whatsmore), so it won't stay on there if I decide to give this a go in comp ever. The F2 is just big enough (with maybe a half mm short either side) coming off the N9.

Now I was really keen to see what this baby could do. I mean I hear everyone saying what a rocket this thing is. I felt like I was aout to testdrive a sports car....even if it did look like a Bus!!

Well I have to tell ya, it felt like the gear box dropped from underneath when I hit it first up. I thought what a slow and sluggish piece of cr*p. Being so chunky it felt odd in my hand, swinging it was like swinging an axe, and the ball felt like it died off the bat. Of course, I wasn't hitting into it hard, as I expected BIG things!

Well this is where I wasn't doing it justice. What I hadn't worked out was just how good the gears on this thing are! Hit the ball without much power and it gives you just that, not much oomph. When I started to hit with a faster swing, the ball began to ping!! So, I figured out that this blade was going to respond to what I asked of it, and soon I was gliding through those gears like I was in a Ferrari... a red one of course!

My BH drive took quite a while to work out the blade angle on as this blade is far less forgiving of a power shot with the wrong angle than most blades I've used. (Not that many blades are terribly forgiving of this anyway). I think its just the dwell time reduces the harder you hit, especially off the pips, and therefore it takes off and gives no ability to adjust angle through the shot. And boy does the ball speed off the pips. I wouldn't like to face some of the BH drives I put down. Similarly with the FH, but having used Tensors for a while now, I actually find F2 to be a fairly slowish rubber. It suits the R1 quite well though I think, and I really can't wait to put this one through proper trials. The only thing I will say about shot adjustment with the R1 is that if you feel you haven't got quite the right angle for the shot, by backing off the accelerator through the shot, you can still land an effective shot as the power backs off really fast and allows the ball to pull up short (assuming the angle was going to send it long) and land.

I reserve my judgment on this blade as yet, because I have a feeling it has many tricks hidden up its sleeve that might just require a serious, committed relationship before she reveals all!

Yes, I think this blade is like a good woman. It'll be loyal, but it isn't going to reveal all her secrets just for a cheap thrill. And as wide as she is, she'll be gentle if treated gently, or she'll be hot and firey if she's revved up with some serious power. And just like a woman in a sports car, she commands attention!

Hope this leaves you hanging for more!

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

ReBorn, it is amazing that you can write all that with just a brief hit of my beloved blade. I have used this blade for over a year now and I can only write 2 lines.

I am looking for more of your description.

With so many other choices lately I had all but forgotten to give any air-time to my R1. Coupled with my craving to try my sheet of Gambler Outlaw I decided to give the R1 another go. I had a hit with it last Tuesday in pre-match practice and I went to the club tonight for a hit. With no fill-ins required tonight I had to wait until the matches finished and then find someone to hit with. Luckily for me there was a B1 (the grade above me) player there who had been hitting with someone else on one of the 2 tables not taken up by comp. He had handed over his table to someone else just before some matches started to finish and I asked him for a hit. I've only ever hit with this guy once before and we had 5 games then where he got 2 and I got 3. So that at least set up some sort of benchmark to judge my performance with the R1 against him. As well as the black Outlaw 2.15, I had red Ox BT on the other side.

We had a short warm up and started playing some games. The power of the R1 combined with the Outlaw on my FH was just awesome. Control with it was just fine too. This guy's style also allowed me to get a good amount of FH smashing play into the picture. While the reverse on the BT was good, this guy wasn't terribly susceptible to it as he lifted most back over the net. The soft touch of the R1 with the BT allowed me to send back some deadly short-dropped angle balls to both his BH and FH that were out of his reach. I also could punch-block with it to his FH but had to be with care. The R1 has gears, but it sort of steps up the ratios without too much extra effort. So sending a fairly quick block doesn't require a huge step up in effort from a soft touch shot. Its actually quite useful as it can look like you're performing a drop shot and suddenly the ball is moving quite quickly to deep court at some speed. This of course also has its down-side because over-stepping the mark sends the ball long easily. I guess the right touch improves with more experience with the blade.

The place where the R1 really shines though is when you step on the power. Other rubbers I used with it (Skyline 2 and Focus II - hated the first, quite liked the second) didn't seem to provide massive power although the Focus did provide reasonable kill power. But the Outlaw power from it was just out of sight. I was able to direct the power of the Outlaw quite easily with the R1 so that my smashes went by my opponent without a chance of getting a bat on them. The few times he did get a bat on to them, there was only once he managed to block it back on the table cos I had hit straight at his bat. This guy also has a mean smash and he sent quite a few back past me as well. I recall blocking one very fast one though and I don't think my opponent could believe it came back to him. I didn't get a lot of chance to block other than this because his smashes were so fast and effective, but I could tell that this setup certainly delivered on blocking.

Now we had nine games in all and while this is not a Reb Report as such, the fact that I beat this guy 5 games to 4 spoke volumes about this set-up. He is on the same 67% as I am, but in the grade ahead of me. I really felt the R1 gave me the control and power I needed to mix it with this guy. I'm currently playing with Roxon 450 and BT on the Gergely and maybe the result would have been the same with that setup too, but considering I am far less attuned to the R1 at this point, and the opponent was playing with his regular set up, I think the result shows the R1 is a weapon that supports a modern defenders game. Its both a powerhouse and a blade that works well with pips, and has good touch. The thickness of the blade is not for everyone and I took some time to come to terms with it myself. I know when I've gone from using the R1 to using the Gergely it "feels" more maneuvreable, but I have the feeling this is just perception because I had no trouble moving the R1 to where it needed to be and it really is a very stable platform to play all your strokes from. Its power compared to the Gergely is similar, perhaps even a tad higher. I think the R1 provides one benefit over the Gergely though, and that is it provides an effortless fair power level as well as the all-out full effort power that can be achieved with both blades. Perhaps the R1 might help me beat my 78 year old dual LP nemesis next time I play him with the deceptive "fair power" level it delivers.

I think this is a pretty special blade, and I do understand why Tat would want 3...I think!

_________________
I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
Aussie Table Tennis Shop / Aussie Table Tennis Facebook Page / Equipment Review Index / Read my Reb Report Blog: click here.

Nice write up Reb.

I find that most balsa blades work best with a thinner sponged chinese rubber, so that you get more of the feel of the blade. I've tried a similar balsa blade with 1.5mm geospin tacky, which is not a fast rubber as you know, but the feel was great, and there was plenty of speed when I needed it...

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I guess I am different than you gentlemen.

I have been using Haifu Max Black on the forehand on my R*1 and the feel is great. I can loop drive and mostly, I am able to flat hit (touch and slap) most under spin pushed to the forehand.

Now that I have three R*1 blades, I have tried all kind of combination with my collections of rubbers, if I want to have a better game, I always come back to Long A 1.1 and Haifu Max, my theory is this set up has the optimum weight for my strokes.

Member PRW was kind enough to sell me his Joola R1 blade with a Razka Soft max thickness and a Andro Powergrip SFX black very cheap. Both rubbers especially the Razka Soft have relatively soft sponges.

I played yesterday with it and the power is extreme.

Unlike a few of the other posters I found the power at lower swing speeds to be remarkably fast.

At fast swings forehand smashing I was not really getting any more power.

The Razka Soft holds the ball amazingly well so I was using it for my backhand loops.

Spin was still really high for a softer sponge. Punches were really controlled and fast.

The black Hexer Powergrip SFX rubber is rated at the same speed on Revspin as the Razka was coming off with a lower deflection.

The blade has such an incredible hold the ball feeling that you feel you can hardly miss.

It does feel cumbersome initially in your hand like you are holding a frying pan but after a while no problem.

Best I've played in a long time.

Effortless power and stunning control.


http://www.tabletennisratings.com/equip ... tings.html

no problem mac33 - glad you like it!

Rakza 7 Soft is, I reckon, very under-rated. Nor receptive to incoming spin, but capable of good spin and very forgiving.

I have to correct myself a little bit here I reckon it was God who gave me the bat.

It certainly feels like it when I play with it lol.

A lot less effort you need to generate power - is surely the understatement of the century.

Where it really differs from another very fast balsa blade the Yinhe T11 is you can generate lots of topspin with the Joola R1possibly due to its soft top layer.

When I first used it I was impressed no end with it.

Liking it even more since.

I've noticed since having about 20 hours play with it that my strategy of staying super close or retreating when on the back foot has changed.

I like never now go back,ever. Even when opponent has a forehand smash or drive I still hold my posture forward and stay a foot or so from the table.

It's ability to counter opponents balls with power and control is what really sets this blade apart from others I've used.

Lost to a player 6-5 over two sessions. Wthe Stiga 245 and Yinhe T11 I'd win one game out of ten if I played well.

The feel is extra special too. Others who have tried it either love or hate the feel but all say you need little racquet head speed to generate power. Both rubbers are rated the same 8.6 for speed on Revspin which tells me blades influence power more than rubbers when I previously thought it was the other way round.

I just can't see myself changing to another blade.

Power,feel and control I all rate 10 out of 10.

I work in mysterious ways - even with flat-earthers!