Reviews by ControlledSpin

My favorite 7 Ply wood blade. It’s a Limba/Ayous/Ayous/Ayous composition blade with incredible control and feel.

Considering it’s speed (solid Off- with the new ball) this blade has the best control I’ve ever encountered and I own close to 50 blades. On average they are around 85g and 6.5mm thickness (I own 5 of them varying from 84-87g and 6.4-6.6mm.) It offers (to me) a perfect balance between enough elasticity and flex for good looping and counter-looping and enough stiffness and backbone for good blocks, hits, and directional control. Weight distribution is fairly balanced. The flarred handle feels great in the hand and is the perfect size for my medium/large hands.

It does everything I ask it to do with great feeling and control and plenty of speed for my needs when paired with an offensive rubber. Incredible blade with typical Nittaku top of the line construction and finish.

Red comes with Medium soft orange sponge, Black with Medium soft blue sponge. Very good quality (much better than lightening rubber). This rubber comes with a film over the top but otherwise comes without packing.

My blade is 86g and 6.3mm. 7 Ply Limba/Ayous composition. This is my second favorite 7 Ply blade after my holy grail Nittaku Ludeak.

It’s speed is a solid Offensive - being faster than a DHS PG7 but slower than Ma Long 3 or Force Pro Black edition. I have this as well as the newer Black edition blade, but prefer this one. The Black edition is a little too stiff (6.7mm) for my game and is similar to a Stiga Clipper. The Blue edition offers more flex for looping while still being stiff enough for hits and blocks. Compared to Tibhar’s other great wood blade, the Stratus Power Wood (thick Limba 5 Ply), this blade is less head heavy, a few grams lighter on average and I feel a touch slower with better feel. Both are great and I enjoy both depending on my mood.

Overall, this is an excellent, balanced, do it all blade for a fair price and one of my favorites as a Limba/Ayous wood blade fan. Recommended.

This gets my vote for the best blade in the world in the $35 or under price range. It’s a 7 Ply wood blade with Limba/Ayous/Ayous/Ayous construction. My blade is 87g and 6.3mm thick.

The blade offers great feel and control with Off- speed with the new ball. Build quality is good for the price and feels good and balanced in the hand. I also have the $200 DHS Ma Long 3 blade and this blade has similar construction with lower quality control and a smaller sweet spot. The speed is a little slower but I think this blade actually has better control. It’s a very well balanced blade with enough flex for great looping and counter looping and enough stiffness for good directional control, hitting, and blocking.

The price/performance ratio for this blade is remarkable. If you or someone you know is on a tight budget but still looking for a high quality blade with good performance, this is highly recommended.

My main blade and one of the best values in table tennis equipment. I paid $35 with a discount and I like it more than any of the $150+ blades that I own. Limba/Limba/Ayous construction. My blade is 87g and 6.2mm thickness. The head size is slightly bigger than standard for those of you that switch cut rubbers between different blades. Head heavy which I like for increased spin in serves, flicks, and loops.

Similar to the Xiom Offensive S and Butterfly Petr Korbel but a little stiffer and faster. Great balance, great control, good speed for a 5 Ply wood blade. I’d place the speed at the higher end of Off- or the lower end of Off. It's stiff enough for good directional control with enough flex for effective looping. Good feeling, do everything well, wood blade.

You really can’t go wrong with this blade. I chuckle when I see people describe this as a beginners blade. While beginners could use this blade with control rubbers, this blade has ample speed and performance for 95% of amateur players when paired with an attacking rubber. And 95% of amateur players would play better with this vs their faster, less feeling composite blade. Great blade for a fair price. Highly recommended.

This is a seriously amazing 5 ply wood attacking blade with Off-/Off speed. For the price, I believe you cannot do any better.

It's a classic Limba/Limba/Ayous blade that has very highly quality, consistency, and performance. Thickness is in the 6.1-6.2mm range which I think is perfect and allows both great looping as well as enough stability and rigidity for accurate blocks and hits. This blade is slightly faster than a Butterfly Petr Korbel and slightly slower than a Tibhar Stratus Power wood, being siblings with the same wood ply construction.

A very well balanced Offensive 5 ply blade for a great price. Nice job Xiom!

If you love the feel, dwell, and control of a limba/ayous wood blade but also appreciate the increased stability and sweet spot of ALC then this is the blade for you.

The cool thing that Butterfly did with the Innerforce layer blade is they placed the ALC layers deeper near the core of the blade. That results in more sensation and feel from the 2 layers of limba contacting the ball with increased stability and accuracy for blocking and hitting as well as power away from the table. Comparing it directly to an all wood blade its short game is great and controlled but when you swing hard that's when the ALC kicks in providing an extra boost.

Slightly slower than a Viscaria or Timo Boll ALC but with better control, feel, and sensation. The only thing I don't like about it is it has a thinner handle. I actually had a friend customize it with a big meaty Tibhar Force Pro black handle and now it's perfect. Great blade.

This is an outstanding 7 ply wood blade and one of the best offensive wood blade that you can buy. It's very well balanced with enough speed and excellent control and feel. I would put the speed in the Off-/Off range, fast enough.

My blade is 6.4mm thick which I think is perfect to allow great blocks and hits while still being flexible enough to also be great at looping. Some 7 ply wood blades in the 6.7-7.0mm range, while great at blocking and hitting, are just too stiff for my looping focused game. Thinner wood blades in the 5.8-6.0mm range loop like a dream but their blocking and hitting accuracy leave something to be desired. This blade can do it all, and do it all well.

If you prefer the feel and sensation of a wood blade vs a composite blade but want a blade that can perform as well as the best ALC blades, look no further. Highly recommended.

A lot of people just look at this as Tenergy-lite but if you evaluate it on its own merits it’s a really excellent rubber for those looking for a balanced attack with good control and consistency, while still being dynamic with good spin and speed.

It has the same spring sponge as the Tenergy series, my best comparison being a slightly softer and more forgiving Tenergy 80. It’s throw angle is similar to MX-P or just less than T80 on the Tenergy scale. It also has relatively good spin and speed being just a notch below the most aggressive attacking rubbers.

The other criticism I’ve heard of this rubber is that’s it’s “jack of all trades, but a master of none.” While it doesn’t quite match the spin and looping ability of Tenergy 05 or speed of Tibhar MX-P, if your game is more than just pure looping and utilizes blocking, control, and placement (and you like Butterfly’s spring sponge) then this is an excellent rubber you should give serious consideration.

There's nothing you can't do with this rubber. It offers the dynamic attacking feel of Tenergy while being less spin sensitive and easier to use in the short game.

Update: after initially using this just on the BH side I’m now using using it on FH too. Really like this rubber, can’t find any faults with it and it’s a great fit for my game. Plan on sticking with it.

Tenergy 05 is simply the best pure looping rubber in the world even 10 years after its introduction. It's also still the world standard for non-Chinese professionals and aspiring professional players. The first time I looped with T05 it brought a huge smile to my face, it's a special and unique rubbber indeed. It's fast, but not crazy fast, and has an extremely high throw angle which coupled with its bouncy sponge and grippy topsheet create a perfect looping machine. However, the high throw angle and bounciness that make it such a great looping rubber also make it more challenging to use in the short game. Pushes are easier to pop up high or go long and service return can be difficult unless you are experienced in reading spin. That's why this rubber is more recommended for advanced to pro level players as they can easily mitigate this rubbers weaknesses through ability and practice while fully taking advantage of its outrageously spin and loop potential. Highly recommended for advanced looping attackers.

Tibhar MX-P is a great attacking rubber for offensive players. I will just confirm what many have already said: that if you are a Tenergy 05 user your transition to MX-P will be fairly easy. While they don't feel exactly the same their performance is similar using the same technique. MX-P is a tad faster and harder than T05 and the throw angle is lower. In terms of spin, I think they are fairly similar but T05 is still more spinny on brush strokes with MX-P being equal when the sponge is fully engaged. While I still feel T05 is the best pure looping rubber because of it's higher throw angle and increased bounciness I feel MX-P is the better overall attacking rubber. MX-P has better control and consistency than T05 that results in a superior short game including pushes, blocks, flat hits, and serve returns. It has that advantage while still being 95% as good as T05 in the looping department. An excellent rubber and value. It can be played on either FH or BH but I personally use it on the BH as I prefer a slightly higher throw angle for my FH. Recommended.

I really like this rubber. It does just about everything well and is easy to use. It's the first tensor I used after transitioning from Mark V as a developing player. Good speed and spin with great control and consistency. Excellent for blocking, flat hits, serve return and pushes. Pretty good for looping and serves. The high throw angle makes lifting backspin fairly easy. Can be used effectively on either FH or BH. Not the fastest or spinniest but a good choice for an all around tensor that is highly consistent with good control.

A very tacky, spinny, hard Chinese rubber that can be used by beginners all the way to the professional level. Not that heavy. The tacky rubber along with aggressive brush strokes can produce unmatched spin on loops. It's lack of catapult or bounciness also makes it great for serving and pushes. However it's extreme grip can also make serve returns more challenging if you misread the spin as it is very spin sensitive. Unboosted it's a great rubber to learn to loop with along with a flexible all wood blade. Boosted with Haifu Seamoon (my recommendation) it becomes a powerful mid distance looping tool to compete with Tenergy 05 at the advanced and Pro levels. If you want to try a Chinese rubber to compare against the Euro/Jap tensors try this one. I'd recommend for use on the FH side with a softer and faster Euro rubber on the BH.

My favorite classic rubber along with Donic Coppa. This is an all time classic to be sure. I think too many players and especially developing or new players pass up this rubber in favor of the newest tensors to their game's detriment. As a developing players I used this rubber paired with a 5 Ply All+ blade and it really helped me develop my strokes and set a solid foundation to develop further. The control and consistency of this rubber is amazing and it has enough speed and spin for most recreational players. Recommended.

The Yasaka Sweden Extra is a terrific All+ 5 Ply wood blade with great feel and control. Close to the table play is terrific and with the right rubbers and generating your own power mid distance play is good too. If you are a new or developing player on a budget I highly recommend this blade. It's my favorite all wood blade is this speed category along with the Nittaku Violin for a fraction of its price. Great blade, great value.

The Nittaku Violin is an extremely high quality 5 Ply blade that I would rate in the All+/Off- category. An amazing blade for developing players, it has great feel and control. It's Ply composition is fairly unique with the blade feeling harder yet very flexible compared to your standard Limba 5 Ply wood. It's great for looping and close to the table play. Not quite as fast or good at blocking as the Acoustic but the control and feel is the best. As a new player to the sport of table tennis I used this and the Yasaka Sweden Extra as my main blades along with Mark V rubbers. A very high quality All Around wood blade by Nittaku. Recommended.

The Nittaku Acoustic is an amazing 5 Ply Offensive blade with Limba outer layers. I would rate the blade in the Off- speed category. I used this as my main blade as a developing mid distance looper. It is my favorite 5 Ply wood blade of all time and I've tried quite a few. It has amazing feel without producing a distracting level of vibration. Power and speed are good for an all wood blade and more than sufficient to put away a winner. But what makes this blade a true gem is it's control, feel and consistency. Great for developing players and advanced players whose game values control and ball placement over speed and power. Very high build quality by Nittaku.

An amazing blade for mid distance loopers. Great speed, control, consistency, power, and flex: this blade can do it all with no significant weaknesses. Looping, flicks, blocks, flat hits, and short game can all be played extremely well with this blade.

Butterfly ALC blades are all great, but the handle and slight head heaviness of this blade just make this perfect for me. The only time I wouldn't recommend this blade is if you are a total beginner still learning the basic strokes and then you would be better served with a 5 Ply wood like a Nittaku Acoustic or Violin. An all time classic blade for offensive players!

This was my favorite rubber for a long time. It's a great rubber that does everything really well with great control and consistency. I had it paired with my Nittaku Acoustic 5 Ply wood blade on both the FH and BH sides and felt they were an excellent match as a developing 2 winged looper. Even by today's standard I consider it to have excellent spin and good speed. While it can be used either on the FH or BH sides I think it is slightly better on the BH side with a rubber with a slightly higher throw angle on the FH side. The throw height I would consider to be medium. Not as spinny or good at looping as Tenergy 05 but stronger in the short game and a more balanced rubber. Overall an excellent attacking rubber for offensive players who value control in their game.

This is a seriously great FH rubber: its in the same league as Tenergy and MX-P. In the recent past I've used primarily Tenergy 05 or Tibhar Evo MX-P and Yasaka Rakza 7 for a good time prior so I will use them as my primary comparisons. I think my best comparison would be to describe Gold Arc 8 as a slightly faster and spinnier version of Razka 7 with a slightly higher throw angle. Basically an upgraded Razka 7 for the 40+ ball. For T05/MX-P users it has more in common with MX-P being slightly slower with similar spin and a tad higher throw angle. It does everything well with no glaring weaknesses: Opening loops, counter loops, blocking, pushes, flat hits, serves, serve returns are all excellent.


Tenergy 05 is still a little stronger as an all out pure looping rubber and MX-P is faster but GA8 provides excellent spin and speed in an overall excellent and balanced rubber that is great for mid distanced looping attackers. If you are a pro or an aspiring pro T05 is still probably the best choice but for amateurs I think this is the better overall rubber. Recommended.