Latest reviews

The ZX1 has burnt or heat treated limba outer plies. The Xiom website has pictures of the ZX1 having hinoki outer pleis but in reality it has limba outer. I think this was just an error posting in Xiom's part. The ZX1 is a lightweight offensive blade with good control. It is about 85-87 grams in weight and weight distribution is towards the head. Mine is almost head heavy with Xiom Omega V pro and Euro rubbers. The ZX1 is the slowest among the ZX blades. It has a loser feel to the old innerforce alc blade or the carbonado 145. The ZX1 is a flexy blade that looping is its big advantage. It is not as fast as the ZX2 or 3 but it can be compensated by using faster rubbers. Although, a lot of people would prefer the ZX2 and ZX3 blades due to their extra pwoer and speed, the ZX1 is enough for most people with average skills.
The ZX1 feels more woody than being a composite blade. This is a good thing because this is for people who want a faster blade than just an all wood blade but does not want a sacrifice of the wood feel, the ZX1 is an excellent blade for them. The ZX1 has a medium arc when looping. I have tried both the Xiom Omega V Europe and a Chinese rubber on the blade. Both rubbers can loop really great when using the ZX1.

Xiom Feel AX
-84 grams, medium stiff


This has Koto outer plies wirth Carbon Aramid layers. This is my favorite blade among the feel series blades (my personal preference among all Feel blades but ZX3 and ZX2 are awesome too). This is cheapfor a composite blade among the Feel blades and if I am not mistaken this is in the range of the Xiom Quad V1 or Clipper CR which is about 60USD. It is made in China but the quality is not inferior, although the Japan-made blades like the HX and ZX blades (with the exception of ZX1) have a better quality finish. Nevertheless, what made me fall in love with this blade is that it is blade with complete package. Yes, it is not as fast as a Viscaria because I would rate it as OFF and not an OFF+ blade but the speed is more than enough. I am biased about the feel but among the composite Feel blades, the AX is the one that has best feel. It has little to no vibration. It has a thin 7 ply construction and it provides enough flex to loop the ball slowly and with great spin or loop drive the ball. In short, the AX is dynamic blade where you it can give you the spin you wanted in a blade or be a powerful attacking blade but maintains a good amount of control. I really like the Xiom Vega Euro blade even until today. They possess almost the same speed and control but the AX has more flex and the surface of the top plies are not as hard. The AX does not feel too hard but does not feel soft that it decreases your power. Also, a good bonus is the weight. The Blade ranges about 84-87 grams. My blade is 84 grams and I paired it with a Xiom Omega VII Pro and Euro rubbers, the set up is light. Even with the Globe 999 national and Omega V euro rubbers before, the set up does not feel heavy and not even head heavy compared to other blades I had in the past. This is the dark horse among the new Feel blades because a lot of people who have tried the 8 blades during my testing period really like the blade because of how it plays. When this arrived at a store, the AX sold only for a few days before running out of stock. I think it is safe to say that the AX is the blade that was really unexpected and surprisingly good despite the cheaper price. This blade made me shift to a controlled composite blade due to me wanting a less physically demanding set up.

Xiom Feel SX

Anegre are the top plies of the Xiom Feel SX blade. Anigre is an African hardwood used by several blades in the market like Yasaka an some Butterfly blades. The Janka hardness of Anigre is substantially harder at around 700+ compared to the Janka value of Limba which is around 400+. This gives the SX a bit heavier weight due to having a denser and harder wood. The SX has a weight range of 95-99 grams according to Xiom and I got mine at 95 grams. The blades construction is superb and the Anegre’s surface seems to be semi smooth and not as smooth as Hinoki top plies of other Feel blades.

The Feel SX Blade is a heavy blade for a lot of people and I caution people before buying it. Xiom said that the SX was intended to be heavy and for me the 95 gram weight is not that I can handle easily if I use it with both inverted rubbers. With a long pimpled rubber then this set up is good. The blade is a solid attacking blade. It feels woody on impact. Although it is a basically a carbon-zephylium blade, it retains some feel. There are times that the SX can almost be as fast as the HX PRO but they kinda feel different on impact. The SX feels like a classic, hard 7 ply all wood from those old Chinese blades while the HX Pro feels like any modern hard-hitting blade.
If the SX had been lighter and thinner, maybe it would be more playable to a lot of folks. You have to really like heavy blades or you have a strong arm to play this set up fully. Xiom says their newer rubbers like Omega 7 Pro and Euro are lighter and can be paired with the SX in order to reduce the weight. My Xiom Omega VII pro rubber is 45 grams cut to 150x157 and the Xiom Omega VII euro is 43 grams cut to the same blade. So if I were to use the blade’s weight at 95 grams plus the 2 rubbers the total set-up weight it about 183 grams which is still on the heavy side. So I would recommend this maybe to attacking long pip players. One inverted on the forehand and one pips out rubber with thin or no sponge at all. I tried the Feel SX with a 755 Long Pips and it worked perfectly fine. It can attack and block well with the LP on the bh side.It can chop block near the table but it cannot chop defensively even outside the table due to its raw power.

Hi, I had the occasion to play with this blade for a while now. I am approximately 2200 USATT. This blade is overall very appreciable and I will show you why.

The Donic Ochvtarov feat is a lightweight and controllable table tennis blade.

Mine came at 77g. Because of its weight, one can easily change from bachand to forehand and the transition is easier to make. The blade itself has a lot of feeling. When it comes to slow loops or to impart spin, one can produce enourmous amount of rotation. It is very easy to catch low balls and to generate spin.

For the speed, I would rank it at off-. It has sufficient speed combined with powerful rubbers ( I am using el-p on the forehand side and rasanter r42 in the backand side ).

The little minus is that it has a small handle, it you have big hands it wont feat you in the hand . Another little con is that because of its weight it is fragile. In fact, I used it for 6 months now ( with 6 hours of training a week ) and it is already in bad shape.

Overall, it is a controllable offensive blade with sufficient speed and ease of imparting spin.

My go-to rubber for BH, and on and off for FH too. I've been trying out a few rubbers: Tenergy 05 (FH presently) and —80, Rozena, Rakza 7 and —Soft, Nanoflex FT40, Rasant Grip, Rasanter R42 and —R/V47, Evolution EL-S. My level is intermediate, and as I'm aging my eyesight, agility and stamina aren't improving. I don't expect to improve my overall level of athleticism much if at all, which leaves skillz and smartz as areas for improvement. Usually, I play an offensive game, staying close to the table, opening up on both wings but not necessarily brush-looping or powerdriving everything; I also like to have the (very) aggressive counter, punch block as an option, and when having the option my favourite kill is the flat hit smash, both on BH and FH. The main blade I'm using is the Andro Treiber K, which is quite similar to the perhaps more well-known Butterfly Viscaria or Timo Boll ALC blades.

Nanoflex FT 48 is remarkably apt to my game. In direct play, it to me is unrivalled. No other rubber even comes close. This is especially true for active blocks, aggressive counters, classic flicks (not much used anymore, but the body remembers and executes, still) and smashes.

It is at 48º relatively hard, and many opt for something softer as a BH covering. I did find T05 and Rakza 7 a bit edgy, a bit too explosive, on the BH side, so much so that confidence in passive play (pushes, chopblocks, passive blocks/drop shots) and service reception in general suffered a bit. Not with FT48. My lithmus test there is if I can execute a very controlled slow, ultra-spinny brush loop on a strong push or chop dripping with underspin. With FT48 I can do that confidently (and with FT40 easily, but that's a different story). And there's no other rubber I've tried that lets me do this and is a good companion as well in passive play and flat hits. EL-S does bring these things to the table, but not as strong as FT48 does. Rasanter V47 does come somewhat closer, but is the lesser of FT48 in direct play.

When forced away from the table, FT48 offers extra gears of power and spin for counterlooping. And if you're sent fishing, lobs are controlled so you can still press the opponent by loading them with spin and placing them awkwardly — killing a weaker attack from second position a moment later.

It is rather insensitive (like Rasanter) to incoming spin, while still (again, like Rasanter) being able produce high spin levels when sufficiently engaged. If you supply the head speed and power and find the proper contact angle, spin will be deadly. If for some or other reason a fifth-ball offers itself as an opportunity, the resulting loop often wins the point or severely presses the opponent not merely by its speed, but mostly by its depth and level of spin. An open invitation to return to the table and kill it often gets extended after such a powerloop — if the ball returns at all. That being said, Tenergy 05 (but not T80) trumps FT48 in spinlevels in brush loops, kill loops and counterspins; which is why I'm tinkering it (again) with it for my FH, which is slightly more spin-oriented than my BH. I should not forget to mention here that the arc FT48 provides is not as high as some. You need to adapt your technique, and re-find your angle, when opening heavy backspin, and you'll open with some speed and an arc that is lower than T05 or FT40. To many, including me, that means that opening up on backspin with power is slightly less easy than with these high-throw rubbers. The window of safety over the net is slightly lower. I consider this to be a reasonable price to pay for the exceptional qualities offered in active blocks, counterhits and counterloops on my BH side and am still making my mind up about this on the FH side of things.

It's all in the balance. One can interchange and play with any of these modern(ish) rubbers, and each one has its own mix of stronger and weaker points. If all you do is brush loop everything, you might prefer something else.

Yet even in that balance, there are winners and losers; some that in the balance truly excel. I do dare to claim that FT48 is superior to T80 in every aspect relevant to me; and don't misunderstand this for a statement about T80 being a weak or poor rubber. It is not: T80 is a powerful, and versatile weapon in its own right. Which is shadowed by this precious little thing that FT48 is.

Still judging things in the balance, the Rasanter family comes close. To me, FT48 has a slight edge over them in direct play, when spinning they are comparable and close; perhaps a max-sponged R42 might offer a more comfortable spin-oriented game than a 2.1 FT48, at the cost of the direct game. Rozena is very good, in the balance of things, but to me FT48's direct play feels superior and when spinning they are comparable, with Rozena reminding slightly more of the tenergies — a comforting feel, for many.

My relations with TT equipment are becoming more and more stable over time. I've been happily married to my blade for a long time, and I've been using FT48 for a long time, have strayed for a short period of time, returned to it happily and am now resolved to stay with it, convinced there's nothing else that suits the BH better out there. As for my relation with the T05 now living with me on my FH, it's complicated, and I'll either evolve to grow into a lasting relation with it — or settle upon FT48, probably a slightly thicker one, or a Rasanter or Bluestorm at some point.

An excellent backhand rubber, just not up to par with other backhand rubbers. I suppose it would be great for someone who has a personal preference for it.
It's soft, but just a bit too hard. It's light, but not quite as light as, say, AK47 Blue. It's tacky, but not tacky enough to affect the 40+ Polyball significantly.
If these things were changed just slightly it'd be an excellent rubber for BH as far as I'm concerned.

Should be noted that this is probably DHS' fastest line of rubbers and the speed is definitely easy to feel over more effort-intensive forehand rubbers like the H3.
It is instantly noticeable that it is a much faster and more direct rubber.

A solid 8 I guess, but why buy a solid 8 when you can get a 9.5 I remain unsure.
I guess it is a matter of personal taste at that point.

I have played on and off with this rubber over the last 3 years. Every time I have used it, I have used it on both sides of my blade and used 1.9-2.0mm instead of MaxMax as this brought the weight closer to a sheet of Tenergy 05 2.1mm and increased my feeling for the rubber. I recommend this step for all hard sponged ESN rubbers.

The key to this rubber is to realize that it is a spin oriented rubber for someone who wants to both spin drive and spin with arc and the technique is largely similar across various shots, which is the case for Chinese style tacky rubbers but not the case for more power oriented rubbers like T05 and MX-P. For MX-S, you always brush and use the precision of your brush to determine the arc, even when driving. This is can lead to some high arcing drives on loops and counterloops, loaded with spin. Most people who complain about the arc on drives are simply trying to hit through the ball with T05 or MX-P technique without trying to precisely arc the ball.

The blocking and short game control of this rubber is amazing for an Euro rubber given the amount of spin. THe rubber is relatively slow compared to a power rubber like T05 or more strictly speaking, MX-P or T64. But the gain in control is great for those who want to consistently spin and spin shots can be played against a variety of ball types once the topsheet and sponge are mastered.

The main negative is the weight, but I think many players even at decently high levels would do well with 1.9mm sponge and Max is easily supportable if you use a lighter rubber on the backhand. On a Hinoki blade, you get an extreme feeling of grabbing the ball that some may really like.

Highly recommended. If you find the rubber too low throw, then you simply are not brushing with precision.

One of the most popular Chinese rubbers.
It fits very well to fast OFF blades.
Unbelievably a lot of control.
A very small catapult.
Playing in the first zone is very good.
It's worse in the second zone - power is lacking.
You have to tune it very hard.
You play very well at the table.
Topsin for one tempo is perfect.
The service is a very large weapon.

So, I bought one blade. I have a normal V-14 too. This one is a bit faster and stiffer and it is built with ALC. The feeling is high and good. This blade is a must have!
This is a PRO version, which means, that the blade should me more direct and aggressive, than the normal V-14. The blade feels definitely stiffer and a bit faster, the tempo is OFF with a fine touch. Goes well with all rubbers. This blade is a very nice looping blade well suited for an all out looper and attacker style. Similar to BF TB/ZJK ALC. Due to the limba outer plies the ball touch feels softer then those BTY blades. Feels more direct, than Marcos Freitas ALC blade. The tempo is at the edge of OFF-/OFF.

The blade is suited for a looping based game with power loops and drives/loop drives. The blade is less elastic then the normal V14, so I would say it is speed elastic. The basic V14 is more flexible.

Have tried it with Bluefire M1 and M2 and Z2.

I will update the review later, when I have more experience comparing the normal and the PRO version with the same coverings.

I found this rubber pointless because it's so heavy that its main advantage is negated. It's great at spin, but if it were half as spinny and 20 grams lighter you could accelerate more easily and get all that spin and more back on most shots.

This rubber makes you feel amazing in training shots, where you have time and foreknowledge of what shot you're playing, so you can get everything prepared and hit a wonderful spinny shot. In a fast game its weight drags your whole bat down, making it harder to align it fast enough and accelerate unless the shot is really well prepared and position is perfect.

Great practice rubber, but not a good one for actual play. Other rubbers do it better.

At this price, it's a no-cons rubber if you stick it on the backhand, as you should.

Good speed, which is especially noticable when topspinning backspin balls and all manner of serve return.
One of the lightest rubbers on the market, which improves your whole bat and your performance, also making a hard sponge heavier rubber for the FH more viable.

Soft sponge makes up for lack of significant body rotation in the backhand and makes wrist motions all the more pronounced as it grabs the ball in.

The topsheet isn't on par with rubbers supposed to fill the same need like Rakza7 Soft etc and the ball leaves the racket a lot faster with less spin. But this may be good for some, and expected given it's like 1/3 the price or less.



Also, ignore these TT1 commercials here, this rubber costs $10 if you order it from aliexpress and shipment is free

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.

Great board in class OFF. A video review that includes English subtitles. All reviews are also translated in many other languages. Subtitles can be corrected. Thank you for helping to improve the quality of your channel. This knowledge will be useful to many people.

I DO NOT boost this rubber and have been playing with H3NEO Domestic 39deg version for about 1 year changing the sheet once (first sheet is still very playable).
I am an all-rounded player who prefers to play 1-3ft from table.

This rubber allows me to vary the spin when I want and also flat hit or counter hit (closer to table). It's great for the short game and it excels for my awkward block shots where I like to suck the speed/energy and almost double bounce it (very good when opponent is mid distance looping it), I have found only the chinese tacky rubbers allow me to do this with such consistency and quality.
If I find myself 4-6ft from table the looping definitely takes more energy, full arm strokes/usage of waist/wrist are a must to produce a loop good enough to compete with rubbers like Tenergy and win a point.

These rubbers last a long time, you just need to make sure you clean with water after every session and use the protective films to get a long life 6+months. Without booster the rubber is definitely not as fast like Tenergy but has many gears and can reach high speed with the full stroke as I mentioned. The spin speaks for itself in all departments, the tackiness helps a lot with this. I find I have a lot of control with this rubber also but control is too diverse a topic to explain properly. But i find it great for blocking and service receive and slow spin up openers.

​Unboxing
It has been a while since I have played with a Joola blade. When I was a cadet/boy player I was using Joola and Donic equipment which at that time were decent brands and I would love to hit with an old Jörg Rosskopf OFF blade. The Joola Aruna OFF blade comes in a standard Joola box which is quite boring, but when looking at the Aruna OFF the color is referenced to the flag of Nigeria which is green and white. There are two black lines in the middle to break the color scheme and to tell the blade means business. On the front side of the handle there is a black plastic lens and in bottom there is a metal lens. There is also a JTTAA stamp in the bottom. The Hinoki outer plies have good grains and the finish is top class with rounded edges at the wings. The handle is very smooth as blades from Butterfly. I would say this blade has better finish than some of the high end blades and the quality is very good!

Composition: 7 ply (Hinoki, Koto, Carbon, Kiri Core, Carbon, Koko, Hinoki)
Handle: Flared
Head size: 157x150mm
Thickness: 5.8mm
Weight: 84g
Type: Carbon OFF rated by manufacture

Test setup: FH Joola Rhyzm 2.0mm and BH Stiga Genesis M 2.1mm. Total weight 184g.

Drive
When driving with the Aruna OFF I could immediately feel that this blade was very controllable on both sides. The setup has a very good center balance with these rubbers and the feeling is more towards an all wood blade than a carbon blade.The speed is decent and is comparable to some of the Innerforce series.

Even faster than the normal ZLC and Viscaria! But having that said the blade also had an amount of feel and dwell that you normally don't experience when blades are that fast. I think this might be due to the outer limba layer combined with the SZLC. The Super Zylon-Carbon layer adds lightness, stiffness and flexibility to the blade. Another thing that was noticeable was the large sweet spot.

Loop
When looping with the Aruna OFF I could really feel this setup was a spin machine. This is the second time I have made a review on a blade with Hinoki outer plies. Here I could really get the grip that I wanted with medium effort. Struggled a bit with the Stiga Genesis M due to the lower throw, which I was not used to, but having that said the spin was great with both rubbers. I felt that I could create more spin with the Joola Rhyzm rubber and the power from the carbon was quite obvious when looping.

Block
In the passive game the Aruna OFF also delivers control! I was very stable and consistent due to the large sweet spot which the carbon gives. Still if I was a bit active on the ball I felt that I couldn’t miss the table. Directing the ball was easily done without having the feeling you were losing control even with huge incoming loops.

Flick/short game
The aspect of this part of the game the Aruna OFF is shining. Due to the outer Hinoki and the overall softness of the blade it was not difficult to flick the ball or keep the ball low and short when playing over the table. You always feel the ball and do not have the impression that the ball is jumping away from you.

Conclusion
Joola has made a signature blade for Aruna Quadri which accommodate his needsi. The retail price is 79.90 Euro (in Europe) and 95.03 USD (in US) which is a decent price for a signature blade. For that price you get very good quality and I have heard the blades from Joola should be very durable.

I would recommend the blade to players who focus on an offensive game with spin and control in focus.The blade fits well away from the table as in close. Also the player that favors the stability and consistency in their blocking and attacking game. The blade is good value and if you like Hinoki as outer due to Hinokis attributes then you would not go wrong in town choosing this blade.

I used to play with T05 and Joola Ryzhm, both good rubbers, but both expensive to change three times a year. So I looked for other alternatives and someone suggested H3 neo. So I bought a couple of sheets. Initially I found them completely different from the two other european rubbers I was used to, but then have quite strong physical strokes, I began to find this rubber very good in all departments and I didn't miss the more catapult effect that the european rubbers offer. H3 neo offered to me far more control and great speed and spin when using good technique and a strong stroke. Great for flat hits also. For £16 a sheet represents great value.

I use this as rpb rubber red 1.8mm thickness on my Hurricane Hao 2.. very good control.
insensitive to spin..
short pushes are amazing..
blocking is very easy.
it seems very durable and doesn't collect dust much..
my only problem is that I can't do my 3rd ball attack with my rpb.. I think it was my technique needing adjustment.
overall I love it

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.