OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi all first post here. I'm an average beginner player and was hoping you could weigh in on my dilemma for my first racket. I narrowed it down to two choices: the Palio Expert 2 (or 3) and the Stiga Evolution. Which one would you recommend?

Thank you, I'd appreciate any input

Don't know about the Stiga Evolution but have heard and seen some good reviews about the Palio Expert 2. Here is a video of the Palio Expert 2 being recommended as a very good starter bat by Qualified Coach.

Hope this helps

When I first started playing I used the Palio Master 2, which to my knowledge has the same rubbers as the Expert but is on a little faster blade. Honestly I'd look into a custom racket if possible! If you're U.S. based, then I'd contact Cole at colestt. You can get a racket with similar/higher quality at the same or cheaper price point. You can also email Cole for advice or recommendations on equipment if you have any questions. I wish I had known about that option before I bought; when it came time to replace the rubbers on the Master 2, peeling off the rubbers stripped the wood from the blade & made it unusable. Cole can seal the blade for you so that won't happen.

There's also another thread on this forum about first recket recommendations. It might be less relevant for you since you're looking at premade rackets, but some stuff can still apply viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2349

Hope this helps!

We get one or two of these every week...

Here's what I have to say about it in an earlier thread..

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36627

Iskandar

Thank you all VERY much. A very resourceful and helpful TT community indeed!



Yes, the Master 2 was almost my decision but I decided to go for a slower blade with maximum control, to allow to work on fundamentals. I would definitely give Cole a call but unfortunately I'm not in the U.S. Thank you for the link, very resourceful thread there.



Interesting! This is coming from a TT coach and his YT channel is quite popular so I will definitely use this video to make a decision. I can always return it via Amazon after a few weeks of playing and then try another bat to see which one is best suited for me.



Hi thank you for your response. I clicked on the link you sent me but I could not find any information regarding the Palio Expert or Stiga Evolution.

Alon

Alon wrote:


I am not Iskandar, but he is recommending stuff that is quite cheap, may take a little while to arrive and would suit you up to a reasonable standard.

_________________
Retriever (sometimes golden, but often leaden)
Moderator, Inverted Retriever Technique sub-forum - http://ooakforum.com/viewforum.php?f=74

A bought the Palio Expert 2 with CJ8000, it was very good for beginner. After a few months of 2x week i ordered an Stiga Allround Nostaglic with Mark V. I w
have also enjoyed that for about 12months now.
Last night i played with the Palio for the 1st time since switching. I wanted to see how it played now that i wasn't a beginner.
I really enjoyed it, playing doubles. I had great control and was crushing backhands. Much lighter than my Stiga, so I could be in position that slight bit faster. My mate said i was more accurate and played awesome shots, but I was slightly slower. I was getting a wood tap more than i usually do, so i think i backed off power because i thought i was too hyped or something.
Anyway, other clever people here have said something like "when you change blade/rubber you will probably still beat the guys/girls you used to and lose to the same as before also". That was true for me.

That's because I didn't have anything to say about those two bats. I recommend this instead:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1854620589.html

Iskandar

Thank you, the pricepoint looks really good and the rubber is really good. It's strong rubber with soft blade, yes?
I will order it, thank you again Iskandar.

Also, forgive my ignorance, but from what I understand, there are a lot of fake products in table tennis, and AliExpress has a lot of fakes. Do you know if the one you recommended to me is the genuine Hanwei M8 Junior?
For example, this is a picture of the Sanwei M8 Junior from one retailer:


And this is the one you recommended to me. Both look different (especially the logo):


Thank you for any input

Sorry, didn't see this.

Yes, there are fakes on AliExpress (or there used to be a LOT of fake table tennis stuff, more than there is currently) but it's much more likely to be fake Butterfly Viscaria blades, or fake Nittaku Violin blades or fake Butterfly Lezoline shoes or fake Hurricane 3 "National" rubbers, since these are expensive things. You can spot most of them easily (if that Butterfly Viscaria blade costs $25 it's assuredly fake). But who in the heck would counterfeit an $8 blade like the Sanwei M8? There's no point! Besides there are a few sellers with excellent reputation on AliExpress (it's like ebay, a platform for selling) and this is one of them. Do a search for "Eacheng" on this forum, you'll find lots of stuff.

The grey handle M8s were made and sold several years ago.. they went from red to grey to pink. The really old ones had different printing on the front of the blade. Current ones have blue handles, the very latest ones have a "40+" label under the lens. Don't believe the OFF+ by the way, even the Sanwei catalog says it's an ALL+ blade.

There's a M8 topic under "blades", incidentally.

Iskandar

Thank you! I read the M8 Topic. Very useful information! The M8 + 729 General seems to be a really good option for beginners.

- Would you please confirm if this is considered a soft blade + hard rubber combination?

- Also, for this 729 General rubber; which colour is used for forehand and which colour for backhand?

I am serious about improving my TT techniques from the very beginning. I want to learn the strokes properly, so I really hope that this M8 combination will be the ideal tool for me to use for this year, until I progress.

Regards,
Al

It's definitely hard-ish rubber, and I'm pretty sure it's a soft-ish blade. Though the blade works equally well with soft-ish rubber like Rakza 7. I really wouldn't worry all that much about it.

Iskandar

For the CJ8000, do you use black as FH ?

As far as performance is concerned, black rubbers tend to be manufactured with thicker sponges and blue-sponge versions especially the Chinese ones, so a lot of people end up defaulting with Black for FH and Red for BH ... this is not a performance problem ... just a supply-demand problem.

Use what colour you want for FH or BH. It will not matter even at the international level. Talent and hard-work will even out any slight difference in rubber quality and variations.

_________________
__________________________________________________________
Backup C-pen blades:

• TSP Black Balsa 7.0 :
  1. FH/BH-YRakza9/XOmegaVT
  2. FH/BH-TSP Spectol/Yinhe Qing OX
• 729 Bomb C-P : FH/BH-DHS H2 Orig/DHS H3 Orig
• TSP Versal :
  1. FH/BH-XOmegaVA/YJupiter-II
  2. FH/BH-*blank*

Fun blades:

• Yasaka Battle Balsa(ST) : FH/BH- DHS TG2Neo/Gewo HypeXT 47
• Dr. Neubauer
  High Technology
  Cypress-Carbon(ST)
  ***************************** : FH/BH-YRakza7/YRakza7

==========================================================