OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi,
I've always played 5-ply all wood blades (the latest being a Stiga Ebenholz NCT V which I absolutely love). However the weight of this blade and the smallish sweet spot have started to bother me recently.

I play with relatively heavy rubbers (Thor's/Rasant and Omega IV Pro) and the overall setup weighs in at about 195 gms. The smallish sweet spot, although good for service makes blocking difficult close to the table.

I am thinking about moving to a composite blade which preserves the wood feel (good dwell, flex yet crisp contact) of a thin hard ply over a soft core, yet has a huge sweet spot (the entire blade face!) and is around 10-12 gms ligter (78-84 gms).
I've seen ads for Sword's zylon blades here which claim to have orientation tech (which supposedly increases the sweet spot). Some of Andro's Hinoki-Zylon blades also seem good but the stiffness might be of concern. Yinhe also has some zylon blades I guess.

Can anyone recommend me a good blade? What difference would the larger sweet spot make to my blocks and power looping close to the table?
I am Beijing for a month and a good Chinese brand would also be ok. No Butterfly recommendations please as I think they are over priced, but something below $150 would be great.

I play a power looping game just off the table which relies on third and fourth ball attacks. Away from the table I loop from both wings. Far off the table, I lob from the BH and lopp from the FH. Close to the net, I rarely flick and usually push long or drop short so as to open up a rally.

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

FWIW, I feel that Stiga also are somewhat overpriced, though not as much as Butterfly. That said, I think their "Optimum Carbo" fits your request nicely for price, weight and playing characteristics.
(I tried a friend's setup briefly, and liked the feel. His rubbers were Calibra LT sound, IIRC. Didn't try it much for pushing or blocking, but for what I tried it performed very well.)

Note on racket balance: If you play with heavy rubbers, a lighter blade may yield a top heavy setup that actually feels heavier.

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My blog of failures, etc., also containing ...
equipment list at "resurrection" (referred to in a few of my early posts), and ...
my current lineup

Tibhar Marcos Freitas would be a good choice for you IMO. Good crispy feel of the ball. Worth trying.

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Blade : Butterfly David Jacobs Carbon
FH : GKI Hybridz-GX (Max-RED)
BH : Butterfly Tenergy-05 (Max-BLACK)

A good tip!

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Come to think of it: With a $150 budget you are within range of many of the Re-Impact blades. The two I tried have a huge sweetspot in an all-wood blade (every bit as good as my carbon blades), and as I understand, that is the case for all their blades.

those are very light blades, perhaps too light for your taste, but I guess Achim will fix that for you if it is a problem. I have access to one 49g blade (T-4 small head, racket is 119g with rubbers), and as far as I can tell it is still stable enough for consistent blocking against heavy loops, as well as for hard hitting.

SpinPlay looks just right, but also Future MA1 and Balance Pur may fit your needs. Better yet, talk to Achim.

Re-Impact blades also have a dual speed technology which is interesting. I am yet just scratching the surface of that solution.

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My blog of failures, etc., also containing ...
equipment list at "resurrection" (referred to in a few of my early posts), and ...
my current lineup

My recommendation would be the TSP Black Bizzard Carbon Off which weights just over 80g (mine is 82g). The carbon layers are around the central ply (similar to BTY "innerforce" technology) and you have to relatively thick outer wood plys which give the blade a nice soft touch and very good dwell for outstanding spin on loops and pushes. Yet, it is relatively stiff due to the carbon giving it a huge sweet spot and it also works well for blocking and flat hitting which I like to do as I prefer to play close to the table. Best of all, I got mine on sale for 30 Euro (ordered from Germany). You will find similar blades from BTY as for example the Viscaria Light which has about the same arrangement of the plys but comes at a much higher price tag.
Another option to keep the weight low would be to go with balsa carbon blades if you like the feel of balsa. I have tried it (Neubauer Bulldog) and decided that I personally do not like the feel of balsa especially the non-linear behavior.

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Material:
Stiga Intensity Carbon NCT, FH: Tenergy 05 1.9, BH: Neubauer ABS 1.2

I am looking for something which would (in order of preference):
1. Have decent dwell, soft feel
2. Huge sweet spot
3. Off to Off-
4. Not more than 90 gms

I went to a couple of local shops but could not find the TSP blade Andro, Yinhe, Sword, DHS and Donic seems to be popular brands other than butterfly.
Can anyone give me some recommendations from Andro, Yinhe (Galaxy), Sword and DHS? If I can find something which plays like a Timo Boll Spirit with just a touch more stability and a larger sweet spot it would be great.

Recommendations anyone.

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

The mentioned Stiga and Tibhar are good choices for your requirements (and probably the TSP and Re-Impact too, though I haven't had my hands on those specific models).

If "remote shopping" (webshops) is not an option, and you are limited to the brands you mention, I can only offer advice based on my experience with budget priced YinHe (Galaxy) blades. Haven't tried any of the other brands any much.

T-11+: Light (mine is 69g), OFF, large sweet spot. Carbon layers are close to the surface, but still surprisingly a somewhat soft feel on low impact. Feels crisper with higher impact shots (perhaps because of the catapult effect from the balsa core).

Y-4: Medium weight, rated ALL but feels more like ALL+/OFF- to me, large sweet spot, fairly soft compared to the other carbon blades I have tried (similar to the Stiga I mentioned above).

I also have tried the YinHe T2 and W4, which have a fairly hard feel. Large sweetspot, very good for hitting and OK for blocking, but not ideal for your looping game.

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My blog of failures, etc., also containing ...
equipment list at "resurrection" (referred to in a few of my early posts), and ...
my current lineup

I could remote shop, but since I'm in Beijing...it might feel stupid in hindsight once I return back
I am looking for feedback on their higher end models like the V1 and V2.
Xiom blades are also an option, they have the entire line of Xiom here. ANy Xiom blade you would recommend?

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Yinhe Venus V-1/ Rasant / Omega IV Pro
Ebenholz NCT V/ Express 2 / Thor's

If you wanted to look at Xiom blades check out the Ignito which has relatively thick Hinoki outer plies giving it a nice soft touch with good dwell time for looping. It is probably more like Off- and craftmanship is superb on the Xioms. If you wanted it a little faster you could go with the Stradivarius from the same series which is more like a true Off.
On the cheaper side, you could try Yinhe T7 which has thinner Hinoki outer plies giving it some dwell. It works good with Tenergy 05 so it should also work with Thors or Omega Pro as they have harder sponges as well. Generally, the Yinhe blades will always feel somewhat harder and stiffer than let's say BTY, Xiom or TSP blades.
May I ask how much the Xiom blades are in China as they are quite pricey in the US?

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Material:
Stiga Intensity Carbon NCT, FH: Tenergy 05 1.9, BH: Neubauer ABS 1.2

the black blizzard is a good shout and currently under half price at http://www.customtabletennis.co.uk in the clearance section:

TSP Black Blizzard Carbon

A light offensive Carbon blade (about 83g) with excellent playing characteristics. The two Carbon layers give the TSP BLACK BLIZZARD an optimal sweet-spot and provide the necessary pressure for all attacking shots.

This precise Carbon blade is therefore an enormous help in overcoming the eventual loss of speed experienced when speed glue is no longer being used.

Speed..............94

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defplay senso ,tenergy 05 fx1.9,feint III 0.5

Hey dazzler, thanks for the link and it is indeed a very nice deal. I am thinking to buy myself a second blade as reserve since the German site where I bought mine (I got the last one there) said that it was supposed to be discontinued.

...back to the OP though. If you are interested in a Donic blade the Waldner Senso Carbon (WSC) is quite nice too: soft touch, good control and not too fast (like Off-). If you have extra cash to spare and desparately wanted to buy a Butterfly you could check out the Viscaria Light (VL) which is very similar to the TSP Black Blizzard (or vise versa) but with a 3-4 higher price tag and a little heavier (5g) too.
The YinHe Y-4 is certainly softer than other YinHe carbon blades but it does not even come close in term of looping spin to the TSP, WSC or VL, and in my opinion it is more like an All to All+ blade. But it is quite cheap ($10 at Eacheng) and the quality is very good for a blade of this price. Mine was a bit on the heave side though with 88g.

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Material:
Stiga Intensity Carbon NCT, FH: Tenergy 05 1.9, BH: Neubauer ABS 1.2