OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Today these blade arrived in the mail which I purchased second hand. Was initially just going to get one of them but given the postage from overseas and the EJ in me, I couldn't resist throwing a couple more in.



Donic Waldner Senso V1
Weight 89 grams
Dimensions 156 x 150
Frequency 1141

This blade has been suggested to me as a step up from my Appelgren and is classed as Off-. Though the frequency is not an exact measurement of speed, I feel its a good indicator and in this case it seems to fit in around the Appelgren Allplay, more around the All+ range and only fractionally faster than my own Appelgren Senso V1.

The handle of mine is anatomic and feels very similar to my Appelgren which is also anatomic so good to see some consistency between the Donic blades.

TSP Swat
Weight 90g
Dimensions 158 x 151
Frequency 1248

The first thing I noticed with the Swat was the really nice smooth handle. It feels nice in the hand though perhaps might not suit sweaty hands. The flare does feel it comes out a little further than some flares though so this may compensate. Overall the size of the handle feels about right. I've read that its a bit small which it may be a fraction but not as thin as the Samsonov Alpha and I don't think should be a factor in a purchasing decision in this case.
According to the frequency speed chart, 1248 puts it in the Off- class along with blades such as DHS PG-7 and Avalox BT-555.

Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive
Weight 89g
Dimensions 155 x 150
Frequency 1378

Mine is the straight handle version and has a more woody feel then the Swat. I've used a thicker Stiga and a thinner Donic Allplay handle in straight version. This one is in the middle and to me feels right. I'd describe the shape as a square handle with rounded edges. Its sort of in the middle of round and square and though I've not been a fan of straight in the past, this one feels quite natural.
The frequency chart places it in the same area as the Tibhar Stratus Powerwood, Stiga Clipper, though maybe a fraction faster, but slightly slower than Hurricane Long 5 and Xiom Vega Tour. It would sit in the lower OFF range.

I've not yet had a chance to use the blades. The main thing I'm interested in is what I will be trading off in return for the extra speed. I'd like to find that sweet spot in where for me, the speed and control are provide a good balance. I'll report my findings once I've had a hit.

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

hmm i thought donic rated the waldner as all+ too, not off-

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Chasse Patate

You might be right. They don't tend to put ratings on their blades, just a speed number. That number however is the same as Burn All + and Ovtcharov Dotec All+.

Looking at shops online, many don't have a rating for this blade but TT11 and Paddle Palace both rate Off-.

I'm expecting mine to be closer to All+.

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

Had a hit with each of the blades today and after doing some drills of loop to block, some 3rd ball attack and some points, but no matches. Here are my findings. Note that my total time playing today was about 2 hours and each blade had different rubbers so need to take that into account.

Donic Waldner Senso V1 - Rhyzm 425 & Baracuda Big Slam
Whether it was a self for filling prophecy or not I'm not sure however this blade did play very similar to my Appelgren. They feels was similar and I didn't notice it to be any faster however the difference according to the frequency was small so I'm not surprised. Having said that it does play well though no speed demon.

Edit: I've now used this blade more extensively and find it to be a little stiffer and heavier then the Appelgren. This has resulted in faster blocks putting my opponents under more pressure. Loops are faster but don't seem less spinny. I'm able to execute sore loops and touch shots just as easy. The handle is slightly thicker then the Appelgren. I have been practicing a few things lately but with this blade during the week I was able to play the best I ever have.

TSP Swat - Baracuda & Venus (possibly Venus II)
I just threw the two largest rubbers I had on as out of the 3 this has the bigger head size. This blade was very easy to use straight up. Its speed was noticably faster than the Waldner but still quite controllable. I'm going from memory but I found it easier to use than the Xiom Offensive S which seems to ping off a little more. The throw of this blade seemed to be the higher of the three however it could also just have been the rubber but I felt all I had to do was loop the ball up over the net and the spin would bring it down with real dip. Once again, Baracuda is a spinny rubber but the blade has to be also able to generate the spin. The Venus though was very similar in that it had a high throw then dipped down on the table so I'm thinking its at least partially blade. Due to the head size, this blade was heavier than the others.

Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive - Gewo Flexxon Soft 1.9mm & Vega Europe DF 2.0mm
This blade was very interesting to use in two ways. Firstly,its the first time I've really had 2 rubbers that shouldn't be miles different however one worked and one didn't. The Flexxon really didn't perform that well whereas the Vega Europe was really good to use. Both rubbers are similar age, about 1 year, the the Gewo is probably a bit newer. Perhaps it had lost more grip in that time but the Flexxon really felt dead, and thin. So for much of the time I used it I had the Europe on forehand.
The other other interesting thing with the YEO was that despite being rated an OFF blade it really felt two speed. In the short game and blocking it seemed quite slow and controllable. I was perhaps expecting my short serve returns to ping up in the air but it wasn't the case, I was able to keep them short. When I tried to do hard loops however the speed seemed to come out. The loops were faster though less spinny than the Swat. The throw was also lot flatter. Having said I didn't find that it was too fast. I'd compare this to the Offensive S that I've played with.

So now I've got 3 blades with a hotch potch of rubbers and my regular Appelgren is bare. This week of competition is a really important week as our rankings at the end of this round will determine seedings for our annual club championships the following week. I need to decide what I'm going to play with over these weeks and am leaning toward going back to the old faithful, or maybe the Waldner since its very similar and has my current rubbers on it already. .......the life and times of an EJ

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

Great review cobalt

Perhaps this shows that when you buy blades of a similar construction/speed category there are not huge differences and choice of rubber is the biggest factor.

I know this is a year old thread, but is there any update or updated comparison between these blades? Looking to pick up the Swat or YEO in the near future. Thanks.

I've not been back to the forum for a while and just happened to read this post again and saw a recent reply.

One year on and I've used them all for a reasonable amount of time and can confirm my original thoughts. I've since sold the YEO as out of the three, thats the one that I liked the least. I'm used to a blade around ALL+, give or take a bit and this one being a bit quicker, I found that sometimes I compromised my shot or hit the ball long. Blocking was good when I kept them on the table as the ball came back to the opponent quicker but also sometime sailed long. I'd recommend this blade to either someone with no speed at all on their shots to get a bit more out of it, or to someone at the other end that is a very good player and can control the ball and benefit from the extra speed.

I really liked the SWAT. Being a fraction slower, it was still good for blocking an more balls stayed on the table. The only thing was that the throw for me seemed lower and it make a more slow, spinny loop difficult for me. A great blade though and would suit most people.

Wanting to get my spinny loop back I decided to go right back to basics and use my original blade (Appelgren Allplay) however after going from the SWAT that had a bit of speed to it, the Applegren just lacked a little when doing some passive blocks and I found the ball going into the net a bit.

With our club championships coming up last week, I had to decide what to do and decided to go back to using the Waldner V1. I'm glad I did as it just gave me that little extra on blocks but still the great control I was used to. The spinny loops were still there and it had enough power, for me, at my standard, to put the ball past people with harder shots.

Nothing has really changed from the original posts but probably now have a little more information to back it up.

All 3 are good blades in their own ways. If unsure, go with the SWAT as I feel anyone can use it and it feels great in the hand.

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