OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Short comments about Stiga Nostalgic Allround.
I am playing with pips out rubbers and previously played defensive blades.

1) It is very spiny. The throw is very high.
2) It is very spin sensitive.
3) Very soft feel.
4) Not much vibrations. Not much flex.

The blade has quit opposite to balsa blades effects: short game is bouncy, but the stronger stroke the better spin.

Generally the blade is fast ALL+, but not OFF-. The soft overall feel but with very hard thin top ply of Nostalgic Allround is complex combination.

The blade nicely supports BH pips-out rubbers (ox and sponged) and does not feel too hard, nor too soft. Ideally balanced for active near-the-table game with spin manipulation.
Chopping from distance is not ideal because of high throw, the ball tends to pop up.

Unfortunately my favorite inverted FH rubber Tibhar Evolution MX-S 1.8 feels too hard and dead. The overall throw of the blade with this rubber is not bad but it is pain to feel such hard glass on FH. The blade is not powerful enough to penetrate sponge of this rubber for creating maximum spin. Obviously classical hard Chinese rubber is not an option for this blade.

FH Tibhar Evolution MX-P feels ok, nor hard, nor soft. IMO high throw rubber on high throw blade is not optimal combination for everyone. Not my cup of tea.

FH SpinLord Waran 1.8 feels responsive but it lacks solid support from the wood at max speed. The blade is strongly designed for loops playing double pips-out seems wasteful.

I still feel love to this blade. So my EJ search for FH rubber starts...

Why is this "obviously" not an option?

_________________
Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

Thank you for this. My old Stiga Classic Allround is one of my favorite blades that I keep returning to, so I had been considering this one.

Do you have the Classic? How does the speed compare?

I am surprised that you find it too stiff for harder rubbers. With my old Stiga I could only really play hard rubbers. Usually Hurricane 3 on FH and Rakza 7 on BH. Perhaps the Nostalgic is not that similar.

Nostalgic Allround is a lively blade but it lacks penetration at max power. I feel that hard Chinese rubbers need more catapult from the wood.
I liked to play hard rubbers on DEF/ALL before but nowadays they feel lifeless to me. Probably dead plastic balls change the feelings.

I played Stiga Hypertech (= allround cr) years ago. I did not like Hypertech for ox as it had small sweet spot and vibrates a lot.
Nostalgic Allround is thicker and faster. I like very much how it plays with BH pips. Very curvy trajectories and sharp angles.

Hard top ply makes the blade beautiful and durable but I doubt it speed ups the blade much.
Hard top is better for ox as it improves feel and pips effect, but the main difference between Allround Classic is the overall blade thickness.

Except questionable numbers I generally agree with comprehensive review https://ttgearlab.com/2018/05/29/stiga- ... -lab-test/

I did not played many OFF blades but Clipper is a good example of a powerful blade for hard rubbers.

I think the Nostalgic Allround is an Offensive- to Offensive blade (definitely not allround). It is fairly fast and powerful but with great control, good spin. Its a great blade but you need to get used to the hard feel as compared to softer blades like Petr Korbel etc. I think its one of the best balanced blades out there for aggressive attacking players who loop on both sides.

Nostalgic Allround definitely lacks extra-kick from mid-distance that differentiate OFF and ALL blades.
This helps for short-blocking with ox near the table. I cannot play this style with typical OFF blade.