Latest reviews

Pros
  • Control
  • Feel
  • Control
I used the Innerforce Layer ZLC and had Tibhar Evolution FXS on both sides whilst trying this blade and firstly whilst blocking for my partner to warm up I cold tell straight away how much control and feel this blade had. I could place the ball wherever I liked with accuracy no matter how hard the speed or spin from incoming shots.
Whilst doing a few fh and bh drives there was a crisp feeling and nice sweet spot, not the carbon feeling from a Timo Boll ALC for example but more of an all wood blade feeling. Stepping back from the table and looping I could feel the dwell and the ball sinking in before being catapulted with a nice amount of speed and spin. Looping felt very consistent again with a good feeling of control. Personally I wouldn't rate it as fast as butterfly do in the catalogue and would say it was a touch slower than a Boll ALC but with more control.
Serves were easy to keep short and easy to generate spin, receiving a long push back I found that open ups were a breeze, the blade and rubber combo generated lots of spin and a very safe arc over the net but I could also keep it low and fast also. If the serve came back short with backspin I could touch back with ease.
I think the softer outer veneers would also suit a harder rubber like an MXS or Tenergy 05 to generate more speed especially on the fh when at mid distance from the table. With the top to top rallies I found with the softer FXS rubber on the fh it was quite tough to generate the speed when off the table but was very safe and more point and shoot than out and out speed.
Overall I think the blade really impressed with its great for control especially with the softer rubber on the bh but to generate the speed some may prefer harder sponge rubbers on the fh and bh. I still think with harder rubbers the blade would still help with control but give it that extra zip on the ball, it always felt very safe. Not as fast as Butterfly rate it and the control is way more than rated also. A very nice blade, expensive but if you are after a blade with the sweet spot of carbon but the control of an all wood blade then this might be worth a try.
Speed
8
Control
8.8
Hardness
5.5
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The national orange version of Hurricane 3 Neo is geared towards loop-focused players who prefer a tacky, relatively dynamic, and medium throwing rubber, which, at the same time, enables excellent serves and touch game. Compared to the commercial version of Hurricane 3 Neo, the orange National version feels a little firmer and, therefore, more controlled in the short game, blocking and loop-driving, while generating a little less spin on serves and low impact loops. However, the differences are minor – especially between the provincial and national versions. Reiterating the recommendation from my original review of the Hurricane 3 Neo line, I would use the regular Hurricane 3 Neo version if I was... Read our complete review here.
Speed
8.6
Spin
9.8
Control
9.2
Pros
  • Very spinny
  • Controlable
  • Great for Flicks
Cons
  • Sponge's fragile
  • Rubber bubbles
I love the Donic Bluefire M2! It is a fantastic, controllable, fast, spinny rubber. Currently, I am playing it on both my forehand and my backhand. I played it non-boosted (right out of the package) and when I saw how easy it is to control, I boosted it for more speed. It plays amazingly when boosted! It has a beautiful "crack" when struck in the sweet spot of my Donic Waldner Senso Carbon blade and is easy for me to place the ball anywhere on the table even at top speeds. I have been playing Tibhar's MX-P rubbers on my Waldner Ultra Senso Carbon and would almost go as far to say that with proper technique, they are almost as fast and even more spinny. I love the super spinny serves that I can get with the M2's! Just amazing. I can absolutely crush people with them. But then again, spinny serves are one of my forte's, the Bluefire's grippy rubber helps out considerably though. I love the M2's so much that I have already ordered the M1's so I can get even more speed and spin going on. Fantastic rubbers! You cannot go wrong with these.
Speed
8.5
Spin
9
Durability
8
Control
9
For V200 in Robots
Pros
  • Good topspin
  • Affordable
  • Oscillates
Cons
  • No sidespin
  • Made of plastic
I bought this when I began playing Table Tennis. The iPong Pro has great speed when topspin is maxed and you add backspin to about level 3. The speed in which the ball is shot out made me much better at blocking, forehand and backhand loops, forehand and backhand drives, etc. There isn't a whole lot that you cannot practice with this robot. It is a great stepping stone to a Newgy 2040 or 2050. I was able to add a piece of cardboard around the top of the area you place the balls and have sessions hitting nearly 300 balls before I have reload it. My V300 will not operate with that many balls on top of the feeding wheel. I am stoked at how the iPong 200/Pro really upped my game several levels. There aren't any active clubs nearby to go to and I do not have a partner to play with for more than an hour each day. This is a great answer to that dilemma.
use
9.8
Durability
8.8
Capability
8.9
Resistance
6.4
Pros
  • Good dwell time
  • Woody feel
Switching from the Boll ALC the Viscaria is exactly what i had hoped for. A carbon blade with a woody feel. Not too fast and not too slow either.. The viscaria will play passive if you are applying the passive game and if you are going for heavy loops it will facilitate in that too. Overall it is a do-it-all wood. Flex is decent for a carbon blade. You feel that vibration when playing this blade which is excellent if you are looking for ball feel.
Using Yasaka Rakza 7 on the forehand (max) and T80 (2.1) on the backhand. Has served me quite well so far, no complaints whatsoever.
Speed
9
Control
8
Hardness
7.9
Durability
8.9
Pros
  • Very fast
  • Very spinny
Cons
  • Not durable
When I first tried out this rubber on my forehand, I found the sound and speed to fit my playing style the most. But it was the most controllable on my backhand, where blocks were easily landing on the opponent's side. I actually prefer this because of its low throw angle, and I recommend it for people who want to have speed and control on both sides.
Speed
9.4
Spin
9.1
Durability
8.5
Control
9.6
The Karis M is a medium soft Japanese rubber. It is slightly softer than the M+ version. The Karis M is a linear rubber with above average spin. It is made from the factory that makes Stiga rubbers in Japan as well as ITC and Nittaku Soulspin. The topsheet is grippy and produces a good amount of spin but less comapred to European rubbers such as Tibhar MX-P or MX-S. It is fast and bouncy like 42.5 degree ESN rubbers. It is better at receiving serves because the topsheet is not as sensitive to spin. Ideally, I like this better as a backhand rubber due to its ability to do bunch blocks, blocking as well as backhand looping. It can defend well by blocking due to its soft sponge but at the same time gives a fast return when blocking. It needs a specific type of contact with the ball and that is to dig dipper into the sponge in order to have better spin and power.
Speed
7.3
Spin
7.3
Durability
8
Control
8.5
Pros
  • Perfectly round
  • good feel
  • hard
Cons
  • Average spin
Hi,
today I played my first league match with this ball. I train and play with Joola Flash.
All balls were from a freshly opened box. I cleaned the balls (from the factory dust) and tested their roundness.
All were perfectly round. I spinned them on the table: absolutely no wobbling.
During warmup and gameplay, I felt that this is a hard and fast ball. I've read in other reviews that it has even less spin than the previous poly balls, but this isn't true. It's just average.
The best about this ball, the feeling you get on loops. If you hit hard you can really feel that the rubber grabs the ball. This was my main issue with poly balls: they are soft and it's much harder to get that feeling.
I played against a long pips blocker and I could confidently loop his balls.
I can see that those players who use nice spinny loops with fast brushing might not like the D40+. It's a faster ball but without more spin, so they might feel it less spinny.
This ball rewards direct gameplay.
Edge hits didn't broke the ball (in contrary to the Joola Flash I use), so durability shouldn't be a problem. And it's cheaper too.
Roundness
10
Hardness
9
Speed
9
Durability
1
This is an amazing clone for the Nittaku Violin. It has the same construction. It is a bit heavier compared to the original Violin but feels more solid when hitting the ball. My E-4 was about 90 grams in weight. The blade is medium stiff but has some flex to loop the ball easily. A tad lower in speed than the Tibhar Stratus power wood with better looping capabilities. The feel or feedback when hitting the ball is its asset. The feel is so nice without no unwanted vibrations. The handle is smooth and very ergonomic. Both the E-3 and E-4 are the best blades among the E-series but the E-4 stands out above the rest.
Speed
6.7
Control
8.8
Hardness
6.8
Durability
8.2
The first couple of FH drives quickly revealed that the DHS Hurricane Long 5 is an OFF+ blade as several of my drives flew well past the end of the table, even when using the relatively slow Hurricane 8 FH rubber. However, once I reduced my swing speed, I was able to play FH drives with high consistency. The Hurricane Long 5 is a medium-stiff blade, but the feeling on ball impact is dampened and woody and not particularly hard – I would categorize it as medium to medium-hard, being slightly more solid than typical 7-ply all-wood blades. While I tend to prefer all-wooden blades, I must admit that the Hurricane Long 5 offers a pleasant feeling for a composite blade. This is probably because the composite layer surrounds the core, rather than being placed directly underneath the outer ply....

Read our full
DHS Hurricane Long 5 review here.
Speed
9.3
Control
8.4
Hardness
6.2
One member found this helpful.
The DHS Hurricane Long 3 is in the OFF-/OFF category and offers great feeling and control. I was able to play FH and BH drives with high consistency. The feeling upon ball impact is prominent and on the softer side. Despite being a 7-ply blade, the Hurricane Long 3 does not feel particularly stiff and in fact offers a lot of feeling for all types of FH loops. Opening loops and loops against very heavy backspin from long pips are particularly pleasant to play and associated with a higher-than-average throw angle for H3 Neo and high spin values. My loop drives were less powerful and consistent than my usual OFF+/Hurricane 8 setup but still offered a good power-to-control ratio. The Hurricane Long 3 provides plenty of power and...

Read our full
DHS Hurricane Long 3 review here.
Speed
8.8
Control
9.1
Hardness
4.9
Pros
  • Round
  • Fast
  • Consistent
Alright guys, in our latest review we test the new ABS ball from STIGA and compare it to other popular balls in the market including the current DHS ABS ball used in the World Tours.

We found the balls were very consistent and the bounce didn't change a lot which was pleasing as well as not breaking throughout so the durability looks like an improvement too. We were able to generate good spin on the balls and the contact felt a lot more crisp and celluloid like than previous plastic balls.

We found some great results with the new ABS ball, watch the review in the video below for more:

Roundness
9
Hardness
9.2
Speed
9
Durability
9
Cons
  • Low throw
The new 40+ version of the Target National seems to be frustrating. Just like the Euro Target version the new 40+ Target seems to have a very low throw that the ball hits the net always no matter how much effort you place on the ball contact. I never had any problems with the old Target National rubber and it is the one I am recommending players to use instead of the new 40+ versions because I never it is easier to use and it doesn't hit the net. It is as heavy as the other Target National versions at 69grams approx.
Lighter version of the T-88 rubbers at 61 grams uncut. The topsheet is not your typical Chinese rubber which is shiny. The Taiji has a matted topsheet for both black and grey. The new, bright, pink sponge has bigger pores compared to the last version of T-88 which was a yellow sponge. The rubber is slow at all+ speed but very spinny.

The topsheet is slightly tacky even with the black version. Spin is high despite being slightly tacky and produces a medium to high arc.

Speed is only a bit faster than the T-88 light rubber. If compared to other rubbers, the speed of the Taiji is a little bit faster than LKT XP Pro or a little bit slower than Ritc 729 Higher. This is a beginner to intermediate level rubber. Take a bit of effort to spin and needs a proper technique to play with. It can chop defensively and push with high amount of spin.

It is not as spin sensitive like the PF-4 nor feels as hard as Hurricane 3.
Pros
  • Bouncy
  • Fast + Control
The Nexy Rubicon is an amazing blade. Weighing at 84 grams, the blade feels light and not head heavy. The one is used for half an hour was with a Nexy Karis Hard on the forehand and a Stiga Airoc Astro on the backhand. The blade has a very good finish. In fact, it has the most comfortable flared handle among all the Nexy blades I have tested so far. The neck, the size and the smoothness all contributes to the comfort when gripping the handle. The surface is medium hard and the overall stiffness is medium stiff with some flex. The blade is fast, more or less teh level of a Startus power wood but the control is much better. When I tried the Karis H in the forehand, the set up seems very bouncy so for people who want soem control I would suggest not to use any medium hard or hard ESN rubbers. Probably a 38-39 degree dhs rubber would be perfect because it isn't not too bouncy. I would choose medium rubbers for this like Rakza 7 or Joola Rhyzm-P
Pros
  • Direct
  • Flicks
  • Fast
Cons
  • Hard to control
  • Requires skill
I've been using this blade with tibhar evolution ELS on both sides however I would recommend using a slower rubber such as the evolution FXP or FXS with this blade as it is already fast enough and any faster rubber makes it hard to control unless you are a very high standard player.

I feel it's best strengths are flicking, open ups and counter top spins as this blade suits a more close to mid range offensive player. When flicking the ball the blade really directs the ball well and even against a weak backspin touch you can flick through the ball with speed and power. Whilst opening up the ball is propelled at quick a low arc causing the ball to travel to the other side faster giving the opponent less time to react. As for countering this blade seems to really be able use the opponent's power when countering to still play a fast and spinny shot with half the amount of effort you would normally use which allows you to play a fast and effective counter to win the point with less effort you would normally have to use

I think blocking with this blade for me is a bit difficult but that's probably because of the rubbers I use with it if I were to use potentially FXS or FXP then blocking would feel Easier to control and easier to guide the ball back on the table
Speed
8.5
Control
7.5
Hardness
8
Durability
8.5
Pros
  • Medium weight
  • Decent Speed
  • Decent spin
Cons
  • Not very durable
I tested the Fastarc S1 on DHS Hurricane WL on the Forehand side, Red sponge. The rubber has decent spin provided you have adequate technique for looping. I felt i was in control of rallies while opening the loop. 3rd ball and 5th ball attacks were pretty adequate too. This rubber pretty much does everything OK. Away from table the spin/speed is also quite ok. What i did not like about this rubber was the durability. It started to chip away towards the end of 2nd month, which was a bit surprising for me, as Nittaku products are usually quite reliable.
Other than that the rubber is quite adequate. Not the best forehand rubber out there if you ask me, I felt that T05, MX-P are far better in terms of generating spin. This fastarc S-1 rubber isnt quite of that class.
Speed
8.1
Spin
7.1
Durability
5.6
Control
6
A semi-light rubber at 64-65 grams uncut. Spin seems to be in the level of xiom vega europe but the speed of the R42 is much faster. it is very bouncy and easy to use especially in the backhand. It is easy to receive spinny serves and also spinny loops because it is not spin sensitive and also it is good for blocking. I might prefer this over the Xiom Vega Europe for the backhand because it has a more bouncy sponge and it seems durable enough. Think of it as almost the sme with Xiom Vega Europe but with a faster speed. Arc when spinning is medium to low.
Speed
7.6
Spin
6.9
Durability
7.2
Control
7.4
Pros
  • huge spin
Cons
  • too fast
  • poor control
I use Andro Ligna All + blade which is quite soft. I know that this version of Rasanter could be too soft but still I wanted to try. Few things are strange:
First of all it is very fast, Andro made a rubber different way, the sponge is much more thicker then usual and the outer part is thinner. this solution made the rubber really fast. Most of my topspins are too long. the same happens while blocking the ball. Before I used tbhar evo EL-S which was harder and definitely slower.
Speed
8.9
Spin
9.2
Control
7.5
The Eternity blade is a hardened Infinity VPS blade that has a more solid feel and faster speed. The speed of the Eternity is more or less equal to the Stratus Powerwood. The outer plies look like burned or colored limba. The blade is medium stiff with some flex that is still good for looping or simply smashing. It is a blade that attackers and all-around style players can enjoy. The weight seem to vary. Mine was 92-93 grams at legend flared while the other ones I knew who bought the blade have 87-88 grams. The Eternity has only one drawback-you need to seal the blade surface before you glue a rubber on just to protect the outer plies from splintering. The Eternity is a little more expensive than regular Stiga blades but it is a good attacking blade with good control.
Speed
7.1
Control
7.2
Hardness
7.6
Durability
4.3
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