OOAK Table Tennis Forum

So I have been playing for a while now at my university on and off and when I decided hey let me finally buy a paddle, well there just seems to be a lot of factors. I really would like a heavy paddle if possible but in my price range I'm not sure how limited I am. Funny story is I am playing with my left hand because I messed up my right shoulder helping someone move so I guess I'm a lefty now. I would really like a paddle that can give me power on my forehand and let me make it spin down. I'm not sure if getting a Stiga Titan because of the price but it won't provide power? I could be a defensive player and then when I see the opportunity I can switch from backhand to forehand for the smash. I could see if I get the Stiga Evolution it seems very averaged out but not a lot of power? I'm not sure, I've seen DHS, and double fish but I heard Tacky/sticky paddles will really screw me over if I can't respond to someones spin properly (Which I can't yet, someone in my university serves with a huge amount of spin and I'm still coping on a 5 dollar paddles and another guy who spins it drastically on some underhand semi circle motion) So not sure if a Tacky paddle would be good here or if I have the wrong idea, maybe responding with a hard hit helps.I see people mainly build their paddles? I'm not sure how to do that. Anyway I don't have experience with paddles but hopefully someone can help me out and reccomend any sort of paddle, any advice and suggestions is greatly appreciated!

Edit: I recently saw a Stiga Supreme and thought it was great until I see it's a bit more for defensive play? Can I get a good foreward loop with it? Or would this be a good paddle to purchase? Being a bit cheaper than something like the Evolution.

HI fezz, great to see you looking at a new bat. Here's a few comments. If you want to ever be better than the lowest players then you will need to handle spin and spinny serves at some point. Don't be put off by a tacky bat, it might actually help you learn how to deal with spin quicker and make you better.

An average bat weight would be around 170 to 180 grams but some like over 200 and others under 150 but its personal preference. Mine is in the 160's and I have no problem with power as its comes from yours stroke moreso than the weight of the bat. I've played against someone on this forum with a bat of about 130 grams and the power they had on their loops was more than anything else I've experienced. Sometimes a lighter bat can allow you to swing faster.

Most premades bats are not as good quality as a custom made bat for the same price. I notice the Evolution is about $50 which for that price you could probably get a custom bat such as an N11 with couple of sheets of LKT Pro XP and that will last you for many years. Anything less than $50 and you will likely be stuck with pre-made which at the end of the day you will simply get what you pay for ie the higher priced, the better the bat.

In looking and assuming you are from the US I've come up with some options at megaspin.net

Look at the Allround blades and choose one and have a couple sheets of 729 Super Soft in 2.0mm put on it.

Total cost for various blade options, including the above rubbers would be: -
N11 $35
Waldner Exclusive $43
Appelgren Allplay $49

They are my three choices for your budget but any of the blades there would be ok. The N11 is the pick of the Chinese branded blades. The Waldner exclusive is a Swedish brand made in China. The Appelgren is a very high quality Swedish made blade and would be worth the extra if you can afford it, and could last you for many years. I've used or own all 3 of these and all would be fine for you.

Good luck and don't overthink it from here, just buy one and have fun.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

This question gets asked a lot here. I wrote a recommendation some time back, here it is:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29657#p314399

A blade will cost you about $11-12, a pair of rubbers $10-12. So you can have a nice, custom made bat for $25, including shipping. Buy from the same "shop", ask them to assemble the bat for you. OR if you want a factory pre-made bat, I suggest this one:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shi ... 55952.html

About $13 including shipping. Believe me, these are a TON better than those Stiga and Tibhar pre-mades hanging from the peg at Wal-Mart - doesn't matter if they have names like "Supreme" or "Evolution", they're still lousy, heavy, slow bats.

Spin is something you're going to have to learn to deal with, doesn't matter what rubber you get.

Iskandar

Thanks for the recommendations, I will look into them, this is all so new and many people have recommended building a paddle now, recently I found the Palio Master 2 which is rated as a good all rounder paddle and can have the rubber sides replaced later if anything. You wouldn't happen to know a build for a good all rounder would you? Or is that what you are explaining to me in this builds? I mean the N11 $35 doesn't look bad for a price range, and many saying it will last long too. I just want something that has power to hit a good smash every now and again, but that might also just come with practice(baisically a paddle that can do it all and have control). I might just go with the Palio Master 2 but I can always change my mind this weekend, but I know I can build a paddle if anything and this has been a great help!

Those are all all-round combos which would leave the palio master for dead. You can get the bat made up for you by the supplier so it arrives ready to play. I'd strongly suggest the N11 combo over the Palio.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

This has been a great help but honestly I got no clue which rubber to use from megaspin website and the ones you listed, I'm pretty set on the N-11 and saw an N-9 for around the same price but I am guessing you have reasons why you don't tell people to purchase that one? If I had to choose a step up of a blade and stay below my $50 which other blade would you recommend while using roughly the same rubber. If anything I can get the N-11 it honestly seems great to spend roughly $30 + shipping I just don't want to have a paddle that has no speed/power to it once I start improving (But I sort of have a feeling that this sort of paddle simply pleases all levels of players). You have been an immense help and had no idea this was a much better purchase, as well as the person above helping me out by recommending the 729 super soft rubbers as well.

Edit: I forgot to mention I am a person who tends to hit the ball with extra force as of now, and I would like to be a person who can do a forehand loop, if that impacts the rubber decision at all, I'm sure the sponge thickness does come to play tho.

Get "Premade Buster" combo from colestt.com, 34$ - more than enough for your needs. Trust me - you are not going to outgrow it for a loooong time.

Or get N9/N10/N11 from Megaspin, together with any of "729/Friendship" rubbers: FX, Focus 3 Snipe, Cream Transcend etc. Or some other rubbers in ~15$ range.

It really does not matter much at this point, so don't spend a lot of time reading equipment reviews.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

Agree, choose any of the blades or rubbers mentioned here and you can't go wrong. The only thing I would say is the Appelgren I think is a nicer blade if you can afford it. Will you play any better with it? Probably not.

Now go take the plunge and have fun.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Thanks for the help everyone I bought the N-11 blade with 2.1 mm 729 Focus 3 snipe and I will try it out whenever it arrives, I can possibly buy the N-11 with 1.8 mm Focus 3 Snipe maybe later this month to see how I play with a bit thinner rubber, but as a beginner and as a person that wants to loop well I think the 2.1 mm would be good to practice with right? Should I even think about getting a thinner rubber of the same paddle/rubber? Thanks for everything guys, much appreciated!

Nice choice! It's not a bad idea to have a second setup with only one variable changes (in this case sponge thickness), and having a second identical blade could come in handy in the future.

My only warning would be that at this early stage while you're developing feel and technique, it's probably best to stick with one setup, so you can be sure that the changes you experience are down to the way you are hitting the ball, and not a side effect of equipment changes.

Once you feel like you've achieved some consistency, and have used your setup for a few more months, it can be a lot of fun to experiment with different thicknesses, types of rubber, or manufacturer, and having two blades will make it easy for you to do A/B comparisons where you've only changed one thing.

I look forward to hearing about your progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Believe me, speed and power isn't a problem.. I haven't tried the N9, so I can't comment on it, but I do have three N11s and I keep coming back to them even though I've tried some much more expensive blades. In truth, there are a lot of ALL to ALL+ blades that will work just as well, I happen to like the N11's feel and its weight (around 80 grams).

Rubbers? Doesn't really matter, any of those $5-7 sheets will work (and are more or less the same). Corbor, 9000, Batwings, 868.. Right now I'd get the 2-in-1 9000 pack for $10.30:

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?cat ... yinhe+9000

The only drawback to AliExpress is the waiting time (2-3 weeks usually, unless you order around Chinese New Year, in which case, good luck... )

Iskandar

Good choice. I'd just stick with what you have, should be perfect for what you are after.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm