Hi,
I've been playing with the XVT Balsa Carbon Hinoki blade, for around 2ish years, now... If I remember correctly, I bought for just under $20, from the official XVT store on AliExpress... I have subsequently, bought another 2 units (for friends), of the same blade, this time, for around $23 ... The quality of all the blades is well above decent .. I mean, I've seen better quality blades, but those cost a lot more .. Didn't notice any multiple pieces, on the balsa core, or any other layer... However, one of the blades, had wings that ran lower than the others, which, for me, is a negative. But, the guy who plays with this blade, does not seem to mind. So, there may be some manufacturing inconsistencies .. All the blades, are <= 69gms.
- The blade is around OFF or depending on the rubbers could be OFF-
- Blocks like a dream, with both, inverted & LP
- Has pretty good shock-absorbing properties.
- Excellent for flat-out hits, but with some technique adjusting is good for top-spin too
- Super light-weight (A big plus-point, for me)
- Pairs-well with Medium-to-hard'ish rubbers
- On the LP-side I found it difficult to control, initially .. Even today, I find it hard to return power-loops (LP-side).. Although, I don't find the same, with the inverted side..
- The blade-head is a tad smaller that average
- The Sweet-spot (in relation to the surface-area) seems just a wee bit smaller than avg.
All-in-all, a complete joy to play with ...