Reviews by DJeX

It's a light 5ply offensive blade. Tibhar does a good job as usual, sanded handle, sanded head, and is real looker with a nice emblem and a gold tag. I used MX-P and T05 when I tested it.
5ply Abachi-fibreglass(fibre layer)-balsa-fibreglass(fibre layer)-Abachi
Thickness: According to Tibhar the core is 7.5mm is pretty thick, will measure this tomorrow as well.
Weight: 72g (manufacturer details 70-75), I got a 2nd one in 68g.
Speed: OFF (squarely off but it's top gear is around OFF+)
Feel: It has a soft feel in general and still has this soft feel even on hard impact shots.
Gears: Has many gears, it's fast when you hit hard and feels good on touch play.

Control: Very easy to control MX-P on this blade and it feels great. Though control is relative, my friends have also said that it has immense control. That's the first thing that came to their mind and is the defining characteristic of this blade. I can vary placement of my shots easily as well as the speed.

Conclusion: The MX-P felt really good on both wings. With immense spin and speed yet with a lot of control. MX-P blocks well and loops underspin well on this blade. The T-05 didn't perform as well as the MX-P imho. If you like a light,blade with a soft feel and with immense control then this is for you. This blade would be good for Controlled Offense or Allround Attackers. Would also be good for those who would like a light setup when using Modern Tensors in Max on both sides.

Nice cheap rubber. Great for backhand in it's soft variant. Decent speed, nice control and is spin insensitive. Feels like a slightly lower cross of T05 and T64. I haven't tried a harder version, but I'm pretty sure a harder variant would be usable on the forehand.

When I first tried this blade out with an Tibhar Evolution MX-P and a Coppa Speed. I found it too fast for my liking, and made it almost impossible for me too loop with. As the ball just flew off my racket. I found it really hard to use. So when I tried it out with the aforementioned rubbers. I focused on blocking. On blocks, the speed was really good. Control was nice and the it feel unlike other ALC blades that I have used. Speedwise, this blade is around the speed of the DHS Hurricane Long 5, just a tad bit slower.

2nd time I've tried this blade, I used it with Tibhar 5Q+ and Tibhar Evolution FX-S. With the 5Q+ and the FX-S, I finally gotten to appreciate the blade. I could definitely loop with this setup. It was very easy to use. I could vary spin,speed and placement at will and I could generate a lot of spin with this blade. Advanced players would be able to use it with fast rubber like the Tibhar MX-P, just like Paul Drinkhall(it amazes me how he can control such a speed monster)... For intermediate players I'd suggest that it'll be good to pair this with medium or medium soft rubbers.

The Acuda S3 is a nice soft rubber when paired with a Stiff blade. It has great control on loops, flicks, pushes and chops. Though because of it's softness. It lacks the firmness and kick needing for passive blocking and caused my blocks to net, which required me to add effort to make sure that the ball would clear the net.

First impressions...
It is a well built blade, nice comfortable handle pretty exactly the same with the rest of the series having nice handles except for the 06 where I guess some QC issues happened as I noticed handles that weren't symmetrical, that wasn't done right etc. An interesting fact with this blade is that it tends to sort of change it's feel a lot when using a different rubber. It seems to synergize with different kinds of rubbers very well. I have a client who uses it with T80 and EL-P. Then my coach who uses it with MX-P and Palio AK47Blue 40+ and the blade seems to enhance the rubbers performance or should I say bring out more of it's characteristics. Anyhow enough on that... It is slightly stiff blade, 5plies of wood and 4 plies of Fiber. It's composition being Wood-Fiber-Wood-Fiber-Wood(Core)-Fiber-Wood-Fiber-Wood. The Fiber ply next to the top ply gives it more stiffness and feel in the short game but the Fiber ply next to the core gives it great feel when looping. It has a lot of dwell, and is basically a jack of all trades OFF blade with ample speed, good control, good dwell and feel all in all. It's hard to describe this blade as it's basically just a really good blade with characteristics that don't really stand out.


Pros:
Good Control
Has a nice dwell
Good Feel
Compatible with any rubber but will pronounce the rubber's characteristic even more.
Ample speed and Many Gears
Jack of All Trades


Cons:
No characteristic that stands out as it's generally
A little too much dwell for me as it lacks just a tad bit of rebound for blocks even with MX-P


Conclusion:
This blade would suit anyone. Period. Except for those who like using soft rubbers especially on the forehand as it'll way too much dwell unless if that's what you like then that's a good thing for you. For those wanting a stiffer version of this, basically that's the Energy 04 as that has the Fiber plies next to the top ply and no Fiber next to the core. I prefer that over the 03 just because of personal preference of mine to side with stiffer blades. But all in all the 03 is a do it all, jack of all trades.

Palio Energy 02


First Impressions:
The Palio Energy 02 is a flexy 5ply all wood blade. It has a good feel and a nice kick from the blade. It feels somewhat like my Korbel black tag considering they are both 5ply all wood blades but the Korbel is Stiffer than the 02.


Review...


The Energy 02 is indeed an OFF and flexy blade with ample speed. Great for looping. It has a nice dwell,feels good and has good control. Compared to my Korbel black tag, this is slightly slower. It plays a lot better in the short game compared to the Energy 01 though the Energy 01 blocks better. I can easily place the ball exactly where I want it to and easily vary the speed and spin of balls.


Conclusion
It's good for players who like to loop with a flexy blade with sufficient speed and control. I haven't tried an Acoustic before which many argue is the best looping 5 ply all wood blade so I can't compare it to that. Nevertheless, for it's price it's really good. Best for an intermediate looper who prefers all wood. Or could be a nice backup blade for an experienced player.


P.S.
Among the Energy series blades that I've tested(bounce test) I think I'll own an Energy 02. The Energy 03 feels the best among the range, but it feels kinda similar to my Tibhar Samsonov Stratus Carbon so I would rather get an Energy 02 for myself.

Palio Energy 01


This a 3 ply allwood blade listed as OFF-. I put on the Palio The Way 40+ and the Palio AK47 40+ to review the Energy 01, rubbers were previously on my black tag Korbel. So I'll be comparing this to how it feels on my Korbel.


Initial Impressions
The handle feels pretty good, I like the handle on this one. With the rubbers on it, it does feel slightly head heavy compared to the Korbel which felt pretty head heavy so I used a grip tape to balance it out. During the bounce test I could feel a lot of vibrations with a slightly muted feel of the bounce unlike the Korbel where the blade feels alive and this feels kinda dead. I will test it out in some drills and some match play and will update this review...


Review...

The Energy 01 is a Stiff 3ply all wood blade. It feels dead yet has vibrations. It offers high control but lacks sufficient dwell time because of the stiffness which caused my flicks to be ineffective in match play. Surprisingly for an OFF- blade, this blade blocks really really well. I usually prefer OFF+ composite blades for blocking but this blade definitely is definitely really really good at it.


Pros:
Control
Stiffness for blocks
Huge sweet spot
Great for flat hitting


Cons:
Stiffness caused a lack of dwell time which in turn caused my short game and "feeling" when looping to suffer in match play.


Conclusion:
I see this blade as one that an allround offensive player would like or one who focuses on placement and control rather all out attacking.

Hi, this is my review for the Butterfly Korbel FL Handle (Black/Old Tag) in comparison to the Silver Tag model. P.S. I haven't tried the new version with the green gem on the backside of the handle so I can't comment on how different that is.

The Korbel Black has great great feel and feedback. It responds well to the variations in contact points, varying degrees of power and the angles that hit your shots with. Speed is just enough and is just enough to finish points with. You can easily pair this with Fast modern rubbers in Max Thickness and it'll be pretty controllable compared to using other OFF blades.

The basic difference of the Black Tag and the Silver Tag is that the Black Tag feels springy and elastic and has more flex and dwell. Whereas the Silver Tag is stiffer and slightly harder which in turn makes it feel about a notch faster. In terms of feel they are quite different. So I have yet to find a blade that feels just like the Korbel Black Tag that I own.

Only thing I don't like about my Korbel is that it's quite head heavy, so I use a Grip to counteract that. It is one of my favorite blades only 2nd to my Tibhar Samsonov Stratus Carbon.

This shoe, looks good and feels good. Is pretty light and performs well. Though has a tad bit too much grip for my liking. My main problem with this shoe though, is that the flap doesn't stay in place, having me to re-adjust it several times while playing which is very annoying. Perhaps it just happened that I happened to get a lousy stock, though that may say something about their Q.C. All in all a good shoe, but definitely not my favorite.

To date, this is the most durable seamed ball that I've used in comparison to the rest of the seamed polyball offerings from other brands. Though the Seamless version of this is definitely better... Consistency from ball to ball is also very good. My only qualm in regards to this ball, is that it has this chalky feel on the ball when new, I don't recall this being the case with most other balls. All in all good, imho best seamed polyball in the market.

Great to loop with on the forehand especially with full swing strokes. Some beginners like to use these tacky chinese rubbers on their bh as a "dead" control rubber. This rubber is deadly in a an advanced player's hands. Even unboosted provided you stick this on a fast stiff blade, it'll do the trick.
Try this rubber is deadly when used properly, though requires good technique and footwork and lots of effort at that.

This rubber is a wonder, for one who used to only want to use Hurricane 3 Neo on his forehand. I thought that I can never use a Tensor on my forehand and this changed my mind. It feels similar to a Hurricane in terms of it being High Throw and that you need force to generate pace and immense spin, though you have to be in position to fully use it's full capabilities. I currently use it on forehand on my Stratus Carbon blade.

This rubbers has very high spin potential, good control and many gears which I like for my allround offensive game. The only downside for other may be is that it weighs a ton. And if you like "catapulty" rubbers you should stay away from the MX-S, as it doesn't simply play like a harder MX-P but perhaps an MX-P with a lot less booster, but if you like a rubber that you'd have to use your own force and power to generate spin and pace on the ball like using Chinese Tacky rubbers, then you'd like this rubber. Another use for this rubber is if you'd like to use a hard rubber for your backhand. Vladimir Samsonov actually uses the MX-S on his backhand, he clearly boosts his though.

Used on a Palio TCT blade. Control is good and it has good spin. Though I don't think it's a match for the blade I used, it would match softer and flexier blades.
Using it on the backhand, it was great for blocking, flicking,pushes and chops. Just ok on bh loops. All in all a good rubber. But would prefer the Tibhar Evolution MX-S or MX-P

It's a great shoe and I like the look. I used to use a Butterfly Lezoline but the flap of the shoe kept moving around and it was for some reason too grippy.
I have no complaints with the Tibhar Blue Spirit. Overall a great shoe.

It's a great blade. Composition is limba-ayous-alc-ayous-alc-ayous-limba if I'm not mistaken.

Blade has great feel and control with lots of gears. I like the fact that it gives the power that you put into it and doesn't just shoot the ball out allowing you to perform great whether for the short game or from away from the table.

Some may not like the fact that it has a small sweet spot. I actually do not mind as it gives me great feedback as to whether I hit the ball right or not.
It's a bit hard and stiff.
Speed is like a slow OFF but OFF+ on full powered strokes.

A good plus is that it's edges are rounded off and that makes it a pleasure to hold. The handle also is really nice as it has a "big" FL handle compared to handles of different makes.

All in all it's a really good blade and at only 95 Euros(SRP) at that.