OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Someone messaged me about this new blade that should be right up my alley. OH MY... I'm going to have to try one of these.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32814366760.html



Note that it's along the same lines as the M8 - it's a "juvenile" "training racker", which makes me think it should play pretty well. AND it's cheap... six bucks and little more, including shipping. Sure, it's from a vendor I've never heard of before, but.. well, what can go wrong? They don't list the weight but it SHOULD be quite light, if it really is a "training racker".



This, by the way, is the Classic North American Basement Grip.



Iskandar

From my experience the 'training models' (blades or rubbers), have the absolute lowest quality control, which is why they're so cheap. They'll use the cheapest materials that are available at the time and contract out to the cheapest factory at the time. So while to might get a great bargain, you may get something totally different next time. This also means reviews may not be relevant, as the reviewer may get a totally different one to yours.
If you don't care about any of that, it's certainly a great price!

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You are right but it does not mean that the blade plays badly.There may be quite a lot of them which can play quite well.It is the same with Chinese long pips.Some brands have poor quality control and rubbers differ a lot depending on the batch .

For example, I remember Palio ck , a lot of difference between batches , let alone black and red Palio.
Even the famous Talon,which is not considered a cheap LP, differs a lot among different batches; some have higher trajectory and faster than others. Even the famous Hell Fire has slower and faster versions.

So in this case, this cheap blade never means poor performance.Qualitywise, yes, of course, for just $ 6 plus shipping we cannot demand quality .

I myself ordered two because I have a hunch it will play quite well.If I am unlucky and get a black sheep, no problem.it is just $ 6 .

As far as reviews is concerned, you are also right.We cannot be sure if we can get a similar model that plays well. In life we have to tale risks at some point; in this case a $ 6 risk

I will agree that the M8 doesn't have the best build quality, but I've got about six of them in actual use (plus a bunch more in the box - I was planning to sell them to friends back when everyone playing at the office) and I must say they all play the same, as far as I can tell (since I try them with different rubbers). The defects I've found in one or two of the M8s amount to irregular layers in the plies of the laminated wood used in the handle, and the fact that there are some blades that are maybe 0.2-0.3mm thicker than other ones. There is variation in weight between examples, but that's a fault that's hardly unique to cheap blades - a lot of very expensive blades also have huge weight variations from example to example.

I agree that aside from being cheap, Huieson also has a somewhat iffy reputation in terms of what they sell (check out their rubbers.. ) compared to more established companies like Sanwei, Yinhe and Friendship. Then again, if these blades turn out to be junk, who cares? They're less than $7 - if I had spent $100 (or even $30) on a blade that turned out to be junk, I'd have a real reason to be upset. My guess, though, is since it is ALSO a youth "training" blade, it might turn out to have the same desirable qualities the M8 does.

Iskandar

I'm waiting for it since March 18, I'll open the dispute, 'cause the order will automatically close in 5 days and the seller didn't extended the delivery time

Agree with both of you, training blades should not be expected as top quality stuff, but far better than hobby pre-assebled blades, while we buy them for improving our technique, not for competitions. And chinese stuff is very different even for top brands like DHS.

I received this Boer Lion in April and it's a very nice blade.

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For what it's worth - stuff I had ordered back in February (before the COVID-19 shutdown) began arriving last week. Mainly rubber from the Eachengs. And some wall plug adapters. Stuff I ordered from China through Lazada in the past month has shown un fairly promptly, in 2 weeks or so.

By the way.. if you see ads for hard drives from China that seem too cheap to be real, be very, very careful. I ordered one through Lazada to see if it was a scam, and indeed it was. A very obvious fake. A 2 TB Seagate Firecuda turned out to be a low-capacity (probably 80 GByte or so) Western Digital with a fake label pasted on. It wouldn't even mount. Since it was ordered through Lazada I immediately asked for and got a refund.

Iskandar

I asked for an extended protection and it's ok. Other orders started to arrive.

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Hi could you review this particular model? What would you say does it play similar to?
I've been tempted to get one of these as well the "Boer Dragon" model that is supposedly a slightly thicker version of this

It's an awesome blade, i really enjoyed it.

It's labeled as allround but it's an offensive blade, very good for full swing loops with wrist acceleration from mid-range, it produces alot of speed & spin, good for blocking (with allwood blades you need to block actively, with this one it's almost no effort), actually you can produce spinny blocks with it.

It has a lot of carbon feeling but it also have some allwood feeling, you don't need to have perfect technique and angle adjustments to loop easy on the table, you just feel the carbon when needed.

I'm assembling a new racket for someone, with Boer Dragon, which is almost the same blade but it's heavier, they don't make them with the same weight, so it's about 85-90 for Dragon and 78-85 for Lion. Mine was penhold and it was 73g, i had two for shakehand and they were both 80g

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I also recorded some moments while playing with it https://youtu.be/Od2YJuOPXWc

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[quote="Aurelian"]
It has a lot of carbon feeling but it also have some allwood feeling, you don't need to have perfect technique and angle adjustments to loop easy on the table, you just feel the carbon when needed.

I'm assembling a new racket for someone, with Boer Dragon, which is almost the same blade but it's heavier, they don't make them with the same weight, so it's about 85-90 for Dragon and 78-85 for Lion. Mine was penhold and it was 73g, i had two for shakehand and they were both 80g

That sounds great!
Initially I was getting the Dragon one but sounds like the Lion model might be more suitable for my need.
Now I'm checking out and trying to communicate with the seller to get me a light one.
Please do give us an update on the Dragon model as well. It might be worth it to just own both

I never played with the Dragon model but someone did and told me that it's even better than the lion model, you usually have more power and control with heavier blades.

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Alright.
Sorry if I ask too many questions but were you able to compare the blades side to side when you had the Dragon?
I was wondering if the weight difference was in thickness or just blade composition.
Looking through listings I saw the Lion listed at 6mm (a little thicker than the usual 5.8mm most blades are listed at) which could be attributed to the decent passive blocking you mentioned

Incidentally, did you weigh it?

Iskandar

Btw, iskandar what are your thoughts on the X1 posted in the original OP?
I havent seen some X1 in my choice online shop but I have been seeing some X2 s which supposedly have carbon and built quality doesn't look to shabby.