OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Last letter of the name is the clue: P for power, T for tacky.

In reality they are not very different.

My response to the original question is the same as many others.

Practice practice practice. 10,000 hours? Get a robot if you can?

Try out as many different blade rubber combinations as you possibly can. When I played in the 80's there wasnt as much choice as we have now and there was never any worry about fake goods!

I have recently returned to the game after a 20+ year break and the choice and changes in equipment are quite incredible. However I must say my Stiga Offensive blade with Mark V and Sriver still does a decent job which tells me that its talent that matters and not equipment. Having said that it is was just great to get a new bat and I am sure today is no different for the youngsters(or maybe not just the youngsters)?

I’d give the mark v bat a few more goes before changing again.

I haven’t hit with either blade before, but a bit of googling says they are both in the 80-85g range so If you are aiming to drop weight from the blade, maybe look for something else.

The carbo mc was a fast rubber. Don’t get it.
Innova was slower but of the same vein. Speed rubber not much spin. Which actually might work out for you. Either way I wasn’t a fan and would advise against both.

If you do get either, maybe go for a 1.8mm sponge

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Chasse Patate

Aha.. I knew there must be a trick to it. Makes it much easier to remember now.

If the racket he was complaining about was one of those Stiga Carbonados with, say, Tenergy 64 or Evolution MX-P or one of the Rasanters, yes, then it would be too fast, but it's not - it's a Stiga Allround with Mark V. Give this racket to a basement player, or a member of the general public and yes, they'd find it hard to control and insanely fast. But it's not, and "basement player" ability isn't the yardstick by which we should measure it - or ourselves. It's a fairly slow combo that should easily be manageable by practically any beginner after a few hours practice with it. Which is why I say, put the pre-made aside for a month and use this exclusively, even if you end up losing every single game you play for the next few days. You WILL get used to it very shortly. No need to try something slower just yet.. this is plenty slow enough, YOU have to get used to it is all.

Iskandar

Sometimes I don't agree with Iskandar but I'm with him all the way on this one. Time to put away the junk bat that your game has adapted to and use a proper bat that can help your development.

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

I don’t necessarily disagree either. I just have some reservations since I’ve seen many beginners come and go thinking that the game is not for them. Sometimes I think that’s because their initial equipment has not helped them to have fun, which requires getting the ball back on the table and having some fun rallies.

However the OP seems highly motivated and willing to practice and persist so my reservations in this instance are probably unfounded.

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

I also agree with your thinking dusty however I doubt anyone posting to this forum is in the absolute raw beginner category.

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

The problem here is that you lack patience. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's the case. Despite the petabytes of drivel written by us equipment junkies, sprawled all over the internet, there really really really isn't that much difference between setups, and after a little while your brain and your body will compensate and you'll be able to control the ball.

I know dozens of very average players using fast 7 ply or carbon blades with Tenergy 05. Do you think when they first used the blade they could keep the ball on the table? Of course not. But now they're used to it, and they can.

To an extent, they do actually over-compensate, and play technically substandard shots (just the same as people who persist in playing with supermarket bats).

In your case, an allround blade with an allround rubber, as you describe, will be absolutely fine for you. You just need to get used to it. I second the recommendation to just play with it for a month. By the end of that month, if you try your premade, it will feel horrible and slow, and you'll be posting to table tennis forums asking how to speed it up....

I entirely sympathise with you - when I started getting interested in TT, I also genuinely lost sleep, or had dreams about a massive matrix of different options. It's not uncommon. You can have a lot of fun messing about with different setups, and it can keep the game fresh for you, but honestly, pretty soon you just adapt, and will play at more or less the same level.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

Thank you all for your advice. I will try to play with the Mark V bat for a month and see how it goes.

I will most likely start getting 1-on-1 coaching after the summer is over, so maybe coach will be able to steer me in the right direction after that

I got an official reply from a Product Manager at Stiga, I will leave it below in case one day someone will find it helpful:



I left the name of the person out of it for privacy reasons.

I think the info given by everyone so far is all good.

FYI, I recently bought the Sanwei M8 with 729 general rubbers from GH Sports (an Eacheng avatar on Aliexpress) for an older beginner lady at my club. It took 11 days to arrive from date of order, My new record is 7 days for a Yinhe V14 Pro. (to UK).

The bat is really nice, she finds it to be very comfortable, and can play well with it (relatively). But the handle is smaller than the Stiga Master.

If you did not already have the AC with NCT, I would recommend getting one without NCT, but it should be fine after some practice.

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Other setups:
SDC Custom Blade/Butterfly Dignics 80/Butterfly Glayzer
BTY Viscaria/Tibhar K3/Tibhar K3

If anyone is interested:

In the end I ended up with Stiga Azalea Offensive blade and Stiga Mendo Energy 2.0mm on each side. It is a really nice combination for me, as good for control as the fabled pre-made bat but also a little faster, but in a good way, unlike the Mark V which was faster in bad way, I don't know how to better describe it.

Again, thank you everyone for your advice

Just a quick update:

I have hit the table with my Stiga Azalea Offensive blade and it split ... which I found quite ridiculous to be honest, as it wasn't even really a hit as much as a brush ...

So I have changed my blade to Nittaku Barwell Fleet, but I kept the same Mendo Energy 2.0mm on both sides.

The blade is amazing, but I have noticed that my throw angle has become even lower, but I like the blade too much to change back to a pure wood blade, so I will see how it goes and try to adjust my technique accordingly.

I am also looking to upgrade my rubbers in 8 to 12 months and I am stuck deciding between Stiga Calibra LT and Stiga Calibra LT Sound. Has anyone had any experience with those two rubbers? Especially if coming from Mendo Energy, what would be the most natural progression between those two?

The reasons I chose those two rubbers is because they have a lower throw angle compared to all other rubbers I considered (at least on paper), and they would suit my play style the most (the same reason I picked Stiga Mendo Energy after trying, Mark V, Rakza 7 and Nittaku Fastarc-G1). But I feel that in a years time Mendo Energy won't be fast enough for me anymore.

As usual I would appreciate any thoughts on the subject

I have Mendo Energy in max thickness on a Stiga Allround Classic. The throw angle is known to be low-ish. It is still a fine rubber. I would stick with it for now if you are enjoying it.

Xiom Omega VII Euro gets high marks, and would be a good choice after you have "outgrown" Mendo Energy.

--Tim

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-- Tim
Silicon Valley

Hmmm...

http://www.tabletennis11.com/other_eng/ ... -offensive

Wonder why it split. That's a highly unusual thing to happen unless you're using a 1 ply hinoki. This blade sounds OK for a beginner - 5 ply all-wood, not too fast. Smallish handle, apparently, and was designed with female players in mind. Sounds kinda like a M8, actually... Price - 54 Euros!

Iskandar