OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I am looking to buy my first custom bat.

I used to play table tennis a lot back in my teens (I'm 31 now), never trained with a coach, though. I hadn't played in years up until about two months ago when I played with a friend and a spark ignited. I have since incorporated it into my week and try to play 2-3 times a week for about 2hrs per sesh.
I've done my research throughout this forum as well as much of the internet and initially ended up with the following criteria:
- 5ply all-wood blade (no faster than off-)
- non-tensor rubber on the fh
- tensor rubber on the bh, slightly softer than the fh rubber
With those I've landed on a Primorac Japan with Sriver FH and Rozena BH (I am pretty much set on a butterfly setup as I've wanted one since I was a kid).
I initially excluded carbon blades, because reading people's experience with Viscaria and the likes, I thought that that kind of speed and lack of control is not for me. But then I read up on Innerforce blades and how they share some characteristics with all-wood blades in terms of a softer touch, good woody feeling, not crazy speed when hitting light, good control, while providing an extra speed boost for your hard drives and so on.
And since I don't want to spend 200 euros on a racket now, only to find that I want to spend 300 more for another one a few months later, I'd like to ask how I can gauge whether or not I should jump to the carbo.

From butterfly's lineup and another few hundred reviews that I read I liked the Ovtcharov ALC, Innerforce ZLC and Harimoto ALC, of which (purely looks based) Ovtcharov's appeals to me the most. Besides the ZLC is like 50euros extra.
As for rubber, I wouldn't pay the Tenergy and Dignics premium, besides I probably lack the experience to notice the benefits that come with that premium, so I'd buy a Glayzer09c FH and a Glayzer BH.
The question is would that setup be more of a detriment?

I'm not from the US, however I see their rating system used for reference a lot.
Reading through the racketinsight explanation:
https://racketinsight.com/table-tennis/ ... explained/
And looking at the videos there, I'd say my level is closest to the example given for 1400-1600. Perhaps on the lower end of that range, or the higher end of the previous one. That would put me in the "intermediate" bracket, which I thought was generous.

So what would you guys say?

Too early for carbon at this stage, just stick to a 5 ply all wood blade for the time being and work on technique and training. I generally recommend the Petr Korbel blade which is similar, albeit a bit faster then the primorac. Any generic tensor rubber will do, I normally recommend Razka 7 as a good intermediate rubber. Learning proper technique is much more important then equipment.

Yes there is some truth in what they say about Innerforce blades, but you can virtually get all that from a all-wood blade as well, at a fraction of the price. I agree with Rob M, that if you want to stick with Butterfly, then a Primorac or the faster Korbel is an excellent choice, and will save you a lot of money. Korbel is used by Australia's #1, so it's got plenty of speed with the right technique.

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A lot of it is really determined by the quality of coaching you get and you hopefully get a coach that understands equipment enough to recommend something realistic. Yes, most of what you will be determined by your technique, but you at least want to have equipment that is good enough to generally play the kind of game you want to play.

Start with anything you want, you will adapt to it or have to get something slower or faster as you get better. Because improvement happens in all directions. Korbel with Rakza 7 would be a good conservative starting point. But if you want to get something slightly faster and you are an athletic player, put a sticky rubber of some sort on the forehand (and maybe the backhand) of a carbon blade to slow it down a little, so you can develop technique using that as well. That is a valid alternative approach.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I thought about the Korbel, but I saw a lot of people complain about it's thin handle, and I'm nearly 2m tall and with relatively big hands.

I've also been reading amazing reviews on the nittaku acoustic, but it has an even thinner handle. Worst part is that I have no way of testing either of them in my hand

I have pretty big hands myself and I actually prefer flatter handles because they let me feel like I am slicing the ball better. If I need to, I can add grip tape. Ultimately, these things all come down to personal preference, but the Korbel handle is my favorite handle structure for any blade. In fact, I shave many handles to make them feel more like the Korbel.

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Cobra Kai TT Exponent (Mercy effs up your Game)
One-Loop Man: One Loop... Again????
Lumberjack TT Exponent

"We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training" - Archilochus

I don't think it's a thin handle compared to others I have. I even like it more than the spinlord. I moved my pimples to that frame and will test it out on tuesday.
It's a bit more heavy for me as i'm used to Andro Kanter FO OFF which is very light.

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Regards Marc

Setup: Andro Treiber FI / FH:Tibhar Evolution FX-S / BH: Tibhar Grass D.tecs 0x

Tibhar Samsonov force pro black edition blade is quite well reviewed and good value, as is Xiom Diva.

Why a classic rubber on the FH?

It was suggested to me as a way to improve without too fast equipment, but I'm starting to think that a more forgiving tensor would be a better fit

I'd say, just get the Viscaria straight away. For the rubbers, I prefer non Butterfly if you don't want to get the Glayzer/Tenergy/Dignics. But, if you must go with Butterfly, just get the two Rozena, don't get the Sriver. The price is not that much different, I suppose, but big different in price. Also, later when you go for Glayzer/Tenergy/Dignics they won't be too far of a difference. If you don't want same rubbers for FH and BH, just get different thickness of Rozena. The 2.1 for FH, 1.9 for BH. I'd just get the same 2.1 for both, though.

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instagram: rokphishtt

The choice of equipment depends on playing style not playing level. Faster racket favors more aggressive, faster and flatter game.
If you want to develop spiny loop technique from both sides, composite blade is not recommended, otherwise composite fiber will be fine with slower rubbers.

There are many decent Chinese blades for the 30-50$ like Yinhe V-14 pro, I suggest to try them, not Butterfly overcosted products.