OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Yeah, my ideal blade weight seems to be about 80 grams. 170-175 grams seems to be about the ideal racket weight for me, as well. Very light (124 grams, with OX long pips on one side, for instance) seems TOO light.

Iskandar

Width: 148mm Height: 156mm (from tip of handle to tip of blade).

When my second blade arrives I'll get the vernier calipers out and measure the thickness.

Iskandar

Thanks, that is very good to know.

The M8 has the same compact head size (within half a mm) as my elder daughter's Yinhe CN.2 children's blade (70g, ~148.5mm x 156mm as far as I can tell with rubbers and edge tape in place), and my younger daughter's GuoQiu W-02 children's blade (73g, ~147.5mm x 155.5mm). So adapting to the new blade will be a bit easier when the time comes.

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"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Played with it for an hour yesterday. Yup, a teeny bit slower than the N11, very nice feel especially for blocking and pushing, I can loop with it no problem. Serving short is easy, flat counterdrives are crisp. About as much vibration (and more or less the same feel) as the Stiga Allround Classic. For $7, definitely worth a try!

Iskandar

Ha ha, my two M8 blades were delivered while I was writing the previous reply. I'd paid a couple of bucks extra for the faster "ePacket" postage, and delivery to Australia has taken a fortnight from the order date.
Interestingly, the handle inserts are different colours, and the blades carry different markings: one is a "Junior OFF-" and the other is "ALL". Head-only cases and a couple of lengths of edge tape are included. I'll do the measurements afterwards.

_________________
"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Aha! One of those has the older artwork, where it's called the "M8 Junior". The second one is what you see in the current Sanwei catalog. Here's the photo from Eacheng, they say the blade comes in "two colors".



Note the Eacheng price is double what XVT wants! I think I'll order another while the price is still low - no knowing how many they have left.

Iskandar

I've measured up both of my M8 blades:

Sanwei M8 "Junior OFF-" 76g
Head size: ~150 x 157.5mm ~5.9mm thick

Sanwei M8 "ALL" 74g
Head size: ~149.5 x 157.5mm ~6.4mm thick

That's consistent enough for the USD9.19 ("fast"-)shipped cost of each one. Really, there aren't a lot of sports where you can buy equipment this good for so little money. I will just ask my elder daughter which one she likes better. She's in Junior C1 grade now; I figure that when she starts using it after this playing season, it should last her at least through Junior B3/B2/B1. i.e., maybe a couple of years.

_________________
"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Wow.. 0.5mm difference in thickness? I'd be tempted to say they're different blades. Or else it's bad QC. Try measuring at six places around the periphery. When I do this I usually see around 0.1-0.15mm variation from the thickest measurement to the thinnest one.

Iskandar

I only measured at a couple of spots, but even when placed next to each other on a table, the "red" M8 is obviously a little thicker. Anyway, daughter #1 has chosen the red one.

_________________
"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

At that price it's probably not too bad. You can't expect the same quality control at the cheapest end of the scale.

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I'll betcha all the "red" blades are the same, though. That means the earlier Junior blades are different, despite the "M8" designation.

I have two more coming, we'll see. These are nice blades. The $7 price is about half of what Eacheng charges, so get them at that price while you can!

Iskandar

U made me played with my frens blade more and more haha, and change my perspective a bit on lighter blades, the ones that play at my area always use heavier blades rather than lighter ones, so its kinda refreshing to use the lighter one once in a while.

Just about the characteristics I was looking for in a blade for my daughter: like a Stiga Allround Classic, but with noticeably less heft. My 1990s Stiga ARC is 88g. Until I bought the slightly quicker Donic Waldner Senso Carbon, the Stiga ARC was my preferred "gets the ball on the table" blade.

_________________
"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Wow.. I think they ran out of the "Red M8" blades:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-sell ... 22548.html



Their ad now shows only the "M8 Junior" (and you apparently don't get a free racket case anymore). I apparently got it wrong - THIS is the current blade that's shown in both the 2015 and 2016 catalogs. The "Red M8" blade must've been an older model or styling.



Iskandar

Brand: Yinhe Galaxy
Model: T11+
Handle Type: Flare
Weight: (To nearest g): 70g