OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Guys - all this talk about "amateur" and "professional" blades is, well..

Think about this a little. What's a "professional blade"? Something fast with carbon in it? And what's a professional? Any actual "professionals" on this forum? The only one I can think of who plays at that level is Brett (and there's also one of the players Brett coaches on the Indian team who showed up a while back). The rest of us are all "enthusiasts". We love to discuss and argue about equipment, which we all know something about, I suppose. You'll notice Brett almost NEVER does - he posts about technique instead.

What's a "good intermediate"? That could be anything from about USATT rating of 1400 (who'd whip ANY recreational player I've met 99 games out of 100) to someone rated in the 1900s (who'd win 99 out 100 games against the 1400 guy). Above that would be the really good tournament players, who are rated over 2000 (the 1900 player would lose 8 out of 10 games to someone rated over 2000). So as you can see, this is a HUGE RANGE of skill levels.

What I'm trying to get at is this - if you read the thousands of posts on this forum you'll see there's a consensus that fast carbon blades just aren't the thing for most of us. The usual recommendation is for a five ply all-wood blade - and there are a LOT of these, some are better than others, of course (DON'T get a Yinhe N6.. ). The better ones for most people who are rated under 2000, AND for many of those rated above, are blades rated ALL to OFF-. It's better that you learn proper strokes than have to pull your punches because you find most of your power shots missing the table. The reason I recommend the M8 is because I play with it. I've got 2-3 tote bags full of other blades (including some expensive seven ply hinoki blades) and the M8 has better feel and control than all of them, and it's plenty fast enough when I need the speed. The fact that you can get one for $8 is a bonus - get one (or two, or three), if you don't like it it's only $8 and no big deal, and you can pass it on to someone else. Who buys these ultra-fast carbon blades? I don't know, but I'll bet Butterfly sells a LOT of them anyhow..

As an aside - I agree about the sponge. In the 1980s and 90s everyone was told to never play any sponge thicker than 2.0mm, and beginners should start with 1.5mm. These days a LOT of Chinese rubbers (especially the cheap ones aimed at beginners) are ONLY available with max sponge (i.e. 2.2mm or so). What's changed? The ball. In the 1990s the ball was 2mm smaller and quite a bit lighter. We've been through two ball changes since then - the larger ball is easier to control and you need the extra thickness to put enough spin on the new ball. Thin sponge is for specialist use - balsa blades, choppers, pips-out blockers... Most of us don't need it.

Iskandar

you are right, i agree with everything. But YEO is not an carbon blade and its cheap if you compare it to some other blades. So why i would not get one?

I think there’s a bit of a stigma when it comes to very inexpensive blades. But shoot…$8 really can't hurt to try.

BUT- unless you fully get behind it, theres something that will creep back in most peoples minds that there is something wrong with it (hence the unbelievably low price) and they must pay more for a more "reputable" brand or blade. I'm sure there are papers on this (psychology on price and branding).

In the end (and at least for me), table tennis is a lot about feel. Not only the blade feel, but its a confidence thing. I've got to feel good to perform well. Even if illogical, sometimes a little confidence in the brand can get you there and focusing on the right things.

It took me a long time to find something that felt "just right". Well, "right" enough for me to finally forget about the equipment and focus on my technique and game.

Obviously the OP doesn’t want to go overboard and get something they can’t control. I think they chose sensibly in terms of price, performance and reputation. I’ve used that blade- it’s good relative value (when you don’t consider Sanwei and Yinhe).

PS+ I’ve had my experience with Yinhe specifically, and my gripe about it is the inconsistency in quality. When I break something and want to replace it, I want it to feel exactly the same. It was always just too far off with yinhe for me. That was frustrating.


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YEO is a great choice.

A fair warning tho:
If one day you ever decide "I wanna try BTY ALC/ZLC" be ready to say goodbye to whatever you're gonna be spending on the blades. It's hard, almost impossible to sell penhold blades. The sanding it'll require to get to a playable state that fits specifically to your hand that's 30% of it's value gone right there. Then there's the issue of sweat and grime. It tends to accumulate faster on the wood than if you were using a Shakehand blade so even "99.9% condition, used once" blade will have a noticeable thumb print from just 1 training session

Left handed? You'll never be able to resell your blade again.

What are your other 20 blades? You might be able to still use them. Or maybe I assumed Table Tennis incorrectly?

Rakza 7 or 7soft is a nice option for Bh IMO. I’ve used 7s on YEO and it felt good in my hands. The non soft version is a bit faster and bouncier but it made the blocking feel a bit easier.

I liked FastArc G1 felt for FH if you can handle the hardness. I never tried that on YEO though.

What about your Sriver? Might have some familiarity for you. I’ve never used it but it’s at least something you have experience with.


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My mistake!

ah! thanks for the help.
this mistake is so tiny,its non-existent

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I'd suggest the Sanwei M8:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002357358032.html

Or try this one if you can't bother with ordering stuff from China.

https://www.zeropong.com/gambler-penhol ... hold-p-539

The Sanwei blade would be lighter, if you want to play RPB (with two rubber sheets).

Iskandar

Hello,

i am new here. I am 36 years old and i have been playing table tennis all my childhood long. In the last 10 years i have been switching more to tennis but i cant stand it anymore as injuries come and I feel like a heavy stone after each match.
I want to get into table tennis again..its just a more "finesse" and quick sport for me. all this bags dragging and searching for a hitting partner and driving to the place can be really exhausting if you are a fresh father

so.. I consider myself a good intermediate and I have some year of penholding after me - I started as a shakehander but i will never go back to shakehand.

My game is mostly looping with forehand and a Ma Lin inspired reverse backhand. However I wish a little more control and maybe less speed as I am not Ma Lin.

I have been thinking about the Ma Lin Carbon paddle,but is this maybe too advanced for me? like i said, i am done with basics and i can hit a pretty decent reverse backhand.

What to choose? price does not mather for now, but a price around 100 euro for a complete setup is good.

Are there also some complete premade racquets for this style? i am maybe all+ or off- player.
Maybe Killeerspin jer 600?

thanks for all that wish to help and cheers

I'm also almost 36 and I also play penhold with RPB. After lots of experiments, I'll stop for a while with my current blade Yinhe N9s which is very similar in structure to Hurricane Hao 2. It's very fast (i rate it off++) and bouncy, you can actually feel that the blade ads spin to your shot instead of the rubbers, very easy to control it and has an awesome handle which fits for RPB

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great to hear that! can you tell me your full setup?