I use a Nittaku Acoustic as my main blade and after years of testing 20+ blades and loads of different rubbers on each one. The standout features of this blade are the good feedback and control, whilst having an incredible spin potential and enough speed for 95% of players.
The blade has a high throw angle, a nice sound when hitting and a good smooth finish... although at its high price you would hope it would have!
Topspin: you get loads of dwell time so you feel the ball stay on the blade and really sink into the wood, resulting in loads of spin when catapulted back out.
Counter play: very good, plenty of spin, power and control at close and mid distance, although it’s hard to get a lot of power from very far back from the table.
Distance: this blade is definitely suited to players who play close to the table mixing different spins and looping, although it can be used further back with appropriately fast rubbers.
Consistency: brilliant, although the blade isn’t particularly linear so harder rubbers can help with this. A word of caution with using softer rubbers (43 degrees and below) as this can make your shots a bit less consistent and wobble a bit.
Short Game: this is where the blade really excels, it’s flicks and slow loopy top spins are second to none. It also has a very good touch so you always feel under control when pushing and chopping.
Blocking: very good, especially with harder rubbers. It’s not as easy and stable as it would be with carbon blades but this isn’t really bad enough to call it a weakness, what it lacks in this department it makes up for in its spin abilities.
Smashing: probably the acoustics weakest area but you can get plenty of power with good technique. A word of caution though if you think of upgrading to an acoustic carbon inner to “fix” this, the carbon inner whilst being much better at smashing just doesn’t have the same feel or spin levels due to its increased hardness. If you are not a national player just stick with the acoustic, trust me!
Conclusion: the Nittaku Acoustic is a brilliant blade which you can use at any level, progressing from Mark V rubbers each side to eventually harder and faster ones. Hybrid rubbers work particularly well on this blade on the fh and tacky rubbers work well too. I currently use Xiom China Guang fh and MXD max on the backhand and it’s a controlled spinny beast!
Rubber advice: a hybrid/Chinese rubber forehand and a 45 degrees or above euro rubber on the backhand (max). This blade is a bit picky with very springy rubbers and I do not recommend tenergy 05, the ball springs out too quickly and it’s hard to control.
Should you buy this blade? If you have the money and want a blade which will be an unparalleled spin machine with a Chinese/hybrid rubber on the forehand then yes. If you want to use tenergy on the fh then no, buy a korbel, virtuoso off-, viscaria or Boll ALC instead (in ascending price and speed order).
