OOAK Table Tennis Forum


A truly International Table Tennis Community for both Defensive and Offensive styles!
OOAK Forum Links About OOAK Table Tennis Forum OOAK Forum Memory
It is currently 29 Mar 2024, 16:44


Don't want to see any advertising? Become a member and login, and you'll never see an ad again!



All times are UTC + 9:30 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Review Extravaganza
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2007, 04:33 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 15 Jun 2007, 11:49
Posts: 911
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
Well as some of you might now from all my questions, I very recently did a huge equipment overhaul, replacing all of my current rubbers and getting an entirely new blade (2 in my sig). Well here are some first impressions of my new stuff that I'll be trying out tonight.

Darker J-Speed 90 Reverse- Beautiful. This is the prettiest blade I've ever seen, quite frankly. The grain is extremely tight, consistent, and straight. It's also the lightest blade I've ever held. It feels even lighter than my LKT One which is roughly 77 grams. The handles are quite comfy and crafted of very nice cork. There's no cork around where your fingers rest, but the wood is very smooth and feels nearly as nice to the fingers as a good sheet of cork.

The blade feels pretty stiff when you hold it, but softish when hitting. The head is very rectangular, more so than a normal Jpen. The throw is not quite as low as some hinoki blades I've used. It seems just right when matched with 999 E.U. and Uranus.

I was worried that it might be a bit slow at only 8.5mm, but any worries that I once had are gone. Just hitting against a wall, I can tell this blade it a rocket. More after I play with it for a few hours.

Juic 999 Elite Ultima- Pretty fast, very spinny, medium tackiness, nice control. I can't tell too much about it without playing with it, but the few hits I had against the wall felt very controlled, yet still decently fast with loads of topspin.

Galaxy Uranus (SP)- Fast, fast, fast. The few hits I had against the wall all seemed quite accurate with tremendous speed. Spin was medium, impared by the almost-smooth pips, hard topsheet, and springy sponge, but that's not what SP are really for. :wink:

Juic Varites- Very odd feeling to hit with. Extremely fast, noticeably more so than Bryce, yet the mildly tacky surface makes it just as good for spinning as many slower, spin-oriented rubbers. I didn't try this one out much, as I was mostly interested in how the new blade handled, but I'm very interested in how it will play. It seems like a very strong rubber for all distances.

_________________
Jpen: Galaxy 982 juniper 8mm- Darker Provine Tension-50 2.2 or Tibhar Torpedo Soft 2.2
Shake OFF: Galaxy T8 ST- FH: Darker PT-50 2.2, BH: Juic Varites 1.5
Shake DEF: modified Joo- FH: Reactor Corbor 2.2, BH: Globe 979 1.5


Top
 Profile  
 


 Post subject:
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2007, 06:36 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 14 Jun 2007, 10:08
Posts: 868
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 11 times
Blade: Butterfly Photino for now
FH: Haifu Blue Whale for now
BH: Donic Bluefire for now
I've never hit with a Darker blade, but you are right they are quite lovely. Good thing is you dont have to hit with it to know it looks nice.

_________________
Photino
My rubbers are 9 years old. They won’t be there long.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2007, 09:10 
Online
Dark Knight
Dark Knight
User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2006, 12:34
Posts: 33337
Location: Adelaide, AU
Has thanked: 2741 times
Been thanked: 1548 times
Blade: Trinity Carbon
FH: Victas VS > 401
BH: Dr N Troublemaker OX
Cool Hobbes! Look forwards to your thoughts on these!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2007, 11:02 
Offline
Cho Tokusen

Joined: 08 Jul 2007, 12:01
Posts: 982
Has thanked: 4 times
Been thanked: 3 times
Hobbes,
if you have the chance, you should try Kokutaku Cho-Super Cho-Tokusen 10 mm. I am interested to know what is your opinion in comparing it with your Darker Speed 90 reversible.

_________________
Expert II crwi C-Pen
Red Acuda P1


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2007, 13:54 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 15 Jun 2007, 11:49
Posts: 911
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
I played for a pretty long session tonight, mostly using the all new blade, though I played a quick warmup and game with Varites on my 982.

Varites- This one is a little odd for me. I'm really not used to the tremendous speed. The shots that I made were nearly unstoppable, but I was missing too many. The control wasn't lacking, I just had no clue what to do with all that extra power. It was pretty spinny, though nothing special. I feel like this could be a very nice variation on my usual game if I can get used to playing further back from the table. Even in 2.0 it just seems hard to get any fast shots on the table from close in.

Iruiru also carries 1.8, 1.5, and 1.0 sponges in addition to the usual 2.0 and max. I can't see why anyone would want to use the 1.0, but the 1.5 could probably still be pretty speedy while offering better control, especially close to the table, and lower weight. Perhaps a good backhand weapon. The 1.8 is what interests me. It could probably still perform quite well from mid-court, seeing as the 2.0 has power to spare even far back, but most importantly the 1.8 would probably have better control close in.

999 Elite Ultima- A really great rubber for just about anything. I can't think of a single thing this did badly while playing. Serves had great control and spin, loops came off speedy with a medium arc and kicked off even more on the other side, pushes behaved and were very accurate, and while speed on blocks was only average, they made up for that in control. Smashes were fair, nothing special, but if you half looped/half smashed then you could get some power out of it.

Uranus- My initial impressions were very accurate. High speed, high control, not much spin. It was great fun to return serve with it on the back, using it for an RPB smash through just about whatever spin was coming at me. It can't serve well, but I was fine if I either served with the reverse side with this up or served with the 999 up and twiddled. I did do one fake serve with it, where I twiddled at the last second and did what appeared to be a side/back spin serve that actually produced a speedy, spinless ball. My opponent popped it up. :P

And finally...

J-Speed 90 Reverse- Damn, I'm loving this. It took me only 5 minutes to adjust to the blade. While the technical playing characteristics of it are phenomenal, the thing that I enjoy so much about this little wonder is that it really makes the game more fun. I was twiddling away and none of my partners could ever quite figure out what was going on.
One point I RPB smashed my opponent's serve with the short pips side, then the next I held my arm as if I were about to do an RPB again, with the paddle just below the edge of the table, but when they backed up to prepare for what they thought was coming, I just lightly pushed their serve back and they had to come charging back in to reach it. Next time they serve, they think cleverly to serve to my forehand so I can't trick them the same way. Surprise! The short pips are on my forehand side now! :twisted: :lol:

I'll perhaps update later if I notice anything new or if I get more used to Varites and can properly review it.

Aeoliah, I'm sure it's a plenty nice blade, but I tend to stay away from hinoki for one-sided. I really prefer juniper. I will say that compared to an average 9 and 10 mm hinoki, the J-Speed 90 Reverse is just as fast. The thickness of the blade really doesn't matter as much as the density and consistency of the grain. If the grains are equally consistent and tight, an increase in thickness is only going to vaguely affect the speed.[/i]

_________________
Jpen: Galaxy 982 juniper 8mm- Darker Provine Tension-50 2.2 or Tibhar Torpedo Soft 2.2
Shake OFF: Galaxy T8 ST- FH: Darker PT-50 2.2, BH: Juic Varites 1.5
Shake DEF: modified Joo- FH: Reactor Corbor 2.2, BH: Globe 979 1.5


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 16 Aug 2007, 03:38 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 15 Jun 2007, 11:49
Posts: 911
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
Update on the J-Speed 90: I found that the upper part of the handle, the part where the crook of my rests, was too thick. I did a pretty serious sanding job on it that made it tons more comfortable. It feels easier to adjust my angle on blocks and hits. It's slightly easier to twiddle now as well.

Update on Varites: I played mid-distance for a little while yesterday with this. While it's a tad hard for me to control close in (though I can probably get over that if I practice with it for a whole session), the control from further back is wonderful. Even though the dwell time is short and the topsheet is pretty much non-tacky, I still managed to create quite a bit of spin on loops and fishes. For anyone that's wondering, I'd say that Varites is a noticeable amount faster than Bryce, but still has a great amount more control for mid/long distance. I don't think I can fairly compare them for close to the table yet.

_________________
Jpen: Galaxy 982 juniper 8mm- Darker Provine Tension-50 2.2 or Tibhar Torpedo Soft 2.2
Shake OFF: Galaxy T8 ST- FH: Darker PT-50 2.2, BH: Juic Varites 1.5
Shake DEF: modified Joo- FH: Reactor Corbor 2.2, BH: Globe 979 1.5


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 18 Aug 2007, 11:44 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 15 Jun 2007, 11:49
Posts: 911
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
Second update on Varites: I played for a half session today with it. I'm starting to like it very much. I was still having trouble keeping fast shots on the table for the first half an hour, though I got used to it pretty quickly after I made a slight adjustment in my grip to close my angle more.

The huge amount of tension between the topsheet and sponge was immediately apparent. Even though the sponge is fairly soft to the touch, the tautness of the sheet creates a hard sponge type of feel during strokes. I was surprised that I could put a great deal of spin on my serves; the topsheet only feels grippy or very lightly tacky. I agree with the "big sweet spot" description for hits and blocks. Loops felt very nice, like I was grabbing and throwing the ball, giving plenty of control. Pushes tended to be fine, although a little lacking in spin since you have to be careful to not pop it up. Flicks were decent, but didn't have the control to aim for wide angles.

All in all, it's a very powerful rubber for driving and looping, but unless you're already used to something extremely fast, you're going to have trouble for the first hour of playing with it. Make sure you pair it with a high control blade, else you're going to miss too much.

_________________
Jpen: Galaxy 982 juniper 8mm- Darker Provine Tension-50 2.2 or Tibhar Torpedo Soft 2.2
Shake OFF: Galaxy T8 ST- FH: Darker PT-50 2.2, BH: Juic Varites 1.5
Shake DEF: modified Joo- FH: Reactor Corbor 2.2, BH: Globe 979 1.5


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 18 Aug 2007, 20:40 
Online
Dark Knight
Dark Knight
User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2006, 12:34
Posts: 33337
Location: Adelaide, AU
Has thanked: 2741 times
Been thanked: 1548 times
Blade: Trinity Carbon
FH: Victas VS > 401
BH: Dr N Troublemaker OX
Great review and summary Hobbes!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: 19 Aug 2007, 07:09 
Offline
Super User
User avatar

Joined: 15 Jun 2007, 11:49
Posts: 911
Has thanked: 0 time
Been thanked: 0 time
I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I switched out the Juic 999 E.U. for my good old sheet of Globe 999 Nat. I was thinking of doing this originally before I had purchased the blade, but was worried about it being too heavy. Now that I've felt actually how light the blade is, I was less worried about it. The 999 E.U. wasn't bad at all, but the sponge started to feel a bit too soft for hinoki once it got broken in. The 999 Nat feels very stable and powerful on the blade. I'm hoping it will play as well as I think it will.

_________________
Jpen: Galaxy 982 juniper 8mm- Darker Provine Tension-50 2.2 or Tibhar Torpedo Soft 2.2
Shake OFF: Galaxy T8 ST- FH: Darker PT-50 2.2, BH: Juic Varites 1.5
Shake DEF: modified Joo- FH: Reactor Corbor 2.2, BH: Globe 979 1.5


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 



All times are UTC + 9:30 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 62 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Copyright 2018 OOAK Table Tennis Forum. The information on this site cannot be reused without written permission.

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group