OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I almost completely disagree. Picking the right rubber and blade requires some thinking. Especially if you're planning on using the bat/racket for a long time, you need to think it through. You're also missing the point. Cobalt said that a faster blade like YEO can send the ball long. This does the opposite of making it easier to receive a hard spin serve. A blade like Tibhar Stratus Power Wood has less speed and more control. So it will be easier to receive a hard spin serve. I really don't see what is so magical or unrealistic about that. Don't get me wrong, I believe practice is more important than the bat/racket in receiving hard spin serves. But the bat/racket also impacts that and so it needs to be taken into consideration.

So the question remains: to help improve my game, wich one would be the better blade? The YEO or the TSPW?

Your first serious competition table tennis bat:

https://tabletennisshop.com.au/index.ph ... page&id=22

If you're comparing blades that are faster than all-round, choose the slower one. Faster = less control.

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2. S&T Black & White / Armstrong SH-I 1.8 / TSP Curl P3 Alpha R OX

They are similar, you won't notice any difference. I'd still say get something a bit slower though. At your level, if you are having trouble with spin then you are definitely in the 'don't overthink it' category as it wouldn't matter what you use, its not going to help. Get the Allround blade you most like the look of and reviews of and put your Mark V on, or Nittaku Magic Carbon or Xiom Musa, LKT XP Pro or Galaxy Mars II. You wont' got wrong. In a years time, if you feel you have outgrown the Mark V, put on a Euro Tensor rubber like Hexer, Vega Europe or Baracuda. If after using that for a year and feel you have outgrown it, get a faster blade like Powerwood or Yasaka Extra Offensive.

To put it in context, in our club of 70 current players, the playing levels range from absolute beginner to intermediate. I wouldn't say we have any high level players. The top 5 players have these set ups
1) Tibhar Stratus Powerwood Off- with Tibhar EL-P
2) Tibhar Stratus Powerwood Off- with Ventus Speed/Spin
3) Andro Temper Tech All+ with Hexer
4) (Me) Appelgren Allplay with Joola Rhyzm/ Baracuda Big Slam
5) Tibhar Samsonov Alpha Off- with EL-P

Below this is just a hotch potch of old an new. Note that the players below top 5 could pretty much play with whatever they like and it wouldn't make any difference to the results they have against the top 5. The equipment starts to become insignificant. There are players at the lower levels with some faster blades but its just for show. The top 5 could also use an Allround blade with Mark V and beat everyone below.

What I'm saying is don't get sucked into thinking you need speed. Just get a good reliable solid set up and it will be all you need for now. If you have no interest in improving and results don't matter, just get whatever you want, YOE, TSPW, whatever, it won't matter.

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

That's why "reasonable" means ALL to ALL+. Maybe OFF- at the most, but probably a little later. Something faster falls outside "reasonable". Oh.. and don't worry that the M8 is marked "OFF+" - that's a typo (where you'd never expect a typo to occur.. ).

Iskandar

What speed do you think the M8 is ? Are you able put a couple of your blades through the Advanced Spectrum Analyzer test?

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

Thank you very much Cobalt, you answered my question. This makes it easier to pick a blade now. Cheers!

I haven't yet. It is definitely slower than a N11, and slower than all of those 7 ply hinokis I have except for the Darker (I'll have to give that one another try, considering what I paid for it). I forget what it's listed as in the Sanwei catalog.

Iskandar

The coupon unfortunately doesn't work for that racket for some reason. Too bad.

I think I have found the blade that is right for me after a lot of comparing and considering. The problem is that Tibhar Stratus Power Wood is a great blade but it is too fast for a beginner like myself.
Altough the blade reads OFF-, some people that reviewed it on revspin.net called it a OFF blade considering the speed it has. Because the blade is faster, it will also make it somewhat harder to return spin serves and spin shots in general. Then I stumbled upon this 'Donic Appelgren Allplay' wich also has great reviews like the TSPW. It is a ALL blade, it is slow but with great control.

Because it is a little too slow for an attacking player like myself, I need something in between the TSPW and the DAA. Let me explain that further. On my forehand topspin strokes, I can make the full stroke with my arm, going from knee height with the bat/racket to forehead height, but the movement of my legs is minimal most of the time. I learned this during the table tennis lessons. What I didn't learn was the complete movement of the legs that I see professional table tennis players do (on youtube). I observed it and tried to do it. With my sloppy technique (because I never learned this part) I tried to do a less dynamic, energetic and less wider version of what I saw those players do. Has only worked out twice so far. Most of the time I just do the arm movement with minimal movement of my legs. What I'm trying to say is, my forehand topspin, when it works, is my weapon. Especially at the lowest level of competition in wich I will be playing this season, I need it to attack and try to hurt my opponent. The bottom line is, the DAA is a great blade with great control, but for an attacking player like myself, it is a little too slow. I searched and searched for something in between the TSPW and the DAA. I read reviews about all sorts of ALL+ blades, but couldn't find anything with a decent reputation. Then I read about the 'Stiga Allround NCT'. It is a ALL blade, but the speed it has is higher than that of your average ALL blade. It has the speed of an ALL+ blade more. It is a little faster than the DAA and has good control. The SANCT has decent reviews.
I'm happy I searched long enough and finally found the blade that I was looking for .

It didn't work for me because I'm not a new customer. Get the racket anyway, you always need one to lend to others, right?

Iskandar

SANCT.. Sounds holy, or something. SANCTified. I have the same blade, without the NCT (so I suppose mine is a SAC). I bought it because everyone was talking about how European blades were so different and more "flexible" compared to Chinese ones. Nonsense. Maybe I should give it another go, but these days I use two M8s pretty much all the time.

Iskandar