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A completely different ball compared to all others right now. It is crisp, light and with a good bounce. It does sound broken on contact, as the sound is brighter. I believe that this ball is the closest we have to the old celluloid ball, which is a good thing.

So I felt that anyone who likes the XSF ball will like the G40+. The sound is distinct but my guess is that over time we will all get used to it. My hitting partner felt it was spinnier than the XSF ball and I seemed more consistent with it (this is also true for me with the Nittaku Premium). The ball feels and sounds hard but some people say it plays light.


I didn't feel I need to play any differently and I wish this ball was used at the Butterfly NA Teams. IT's just a much better looking and play product. Consistently round, a nice box and packaging for the 12 I got. I didn't play a lot with it though I used it in some hitting drills with an another older amateur. I did a bounce test next to the newer batch of XSF and the heights were pretty similar.


If your hearing is decent, you can tell when we first switch to the ball in the video below (about 2:30 to 2:40 in) and you can hear the higher pitched plastic sound. All in all, I like it. If we got rid of the Chinese seamed, we have 3 good options with relatively similar playing characteristics in the market. Will have to wait on durability though.

High quality rubber, but didn't suit really well for me. Bluefire M2 is good for players who like to hit the ball with a flatter contact. I found that I was really struggling to play with more spin using this rubber. The speed is good, the arc of the ball is also good. It gives you a long arc of the ball so you can drag the opponent away from the table. I think this rubber suitable for advanced player who like to play from mid-distace players. Serving is not too bad, but i cannot generate a lot of spin on my serve. Looping backspin from both BH and FH is pretty easy because this rubber has a quiet high throw. I think is rubber is excel in counter-hit and blocking department. Blocking a heavy topspin is very effortless. Counter-hitting the ball also easy to do with this rubber.

I am kinda dissapointed with these balls as all of the ball were definitely not round and were unplayable as the bounce is very inconsistent.
Not suitable for match play but if you dont mind the inconsistency they are quite durable.

Hello All!

I'm happy to share my early experience of this blade. To clarify I have only done two sessions with this blade, so I won't tell you many things now, but I will update, my review.

First impressions
My blade came in a nice box, which is solid in design and quite minimalistic. I can see the Spruce Pressing Technology (=SPT) emblem and made in Germany tag on the gray paper box. Inside there was my blade with flared handle, it can be pulled out like a drawer. The design is simple, not very fancy, like top Butterfly blades. The blade itself is 89,64 gramms. I found that the edges of the blade had to be sandpapered, because there were some rough spots on the edge of the top veener. Other aspects were fine. The handle (FL) is very comfortable, it is a smaller handle, which is becoming popular nowdays, but fits my hand perfectly. To be honest this handle is not a simple flared handle, it is conic also. So it starts flat with a 2mm bump to grab with your thumb, than comes thicker and rounder with each mm to the end of the handle. The end of the handle is nearly round, a very bit oval, when I swithed back to Liu Shiwen FL blade I felt especially with my pinky that this hadle is flat, and my pinky has no or less grip. So overall as many forum states, this blade has a very thin and comfortable handle, which absolutely makes you forget that this blade is almost 7 mm thick.

Assembly
I have read, that this blade requires medium-hard to hard rubbers. So I trided it with Donic Bluefire M2 on both side. the blade feels a little head heavy, my rubbers were boosted with oil, so they were actually at the same weight like a Tenergy 05 or an MX-P. This head heavyness is not that severe like a Donic Senso handle blade has. It is similar to a Butterfly head heavyness for example MJ SZLC with T5&T80. Yet, when swinging it feels perfectly balanced and transfers enough power for an attacker. When just bouncing the ball on the blade only the 1 cm edge of the blade feels a bit off centre, the rest is pure sweet spot. To be honest this blade works better with the plastc balls, but celluloid balls are fine too, but I will discuss it further on.

Let's play
I used a limba top weener looping blade before with the same rubber sheets and when warmig up I just hit my balls into the net. then I realised what I read on other forums and from the manufacturer, tha blade has a soft touch, like hinoki blades. Well it does, I had to give a slightly bigger swing to my hits and they were where I wanted them to be. then came the loop. Only when I have a brand new sheet of rubber I feel the same... I have time to touch. Actually playing agains a chopper was very easy, the lifting of the ball was very nice, and easy. When counterlooping came in I hit many rolling balls. Well on my other blade I could not do that with M2, on this blade I could. And the sound... just like back in the previous speed glue age, every hit every loop, your blade tells and dares you to hit one more stronger and louder. In short game the blade plays like an ALL blade, because of the soft touch. After five minutes I was total aware where I hit the ball, and no matter what it will land on the table. My previous blade which is a characteristic OFF- blade had one range of speed, this blade has one from ALL+-to OFF. I had to get used to this, because some flat hits require a quite clean stroke, but loops require no effort and knowledge with this blade. Simply the feeling is built in the blade. When playing with plastic this ALL+ characteristic of the blade changes to an OFF-- and flat hits become a bit more similar which I was used to with my previous blade. Blocking and dropsots are quite good, the blade can absorb speed quite efficiently.

Feelings
The sound of this blade is perfect, anyone who wants to relive the previous era of table tennis, get this blade. the control and feeling of the blade is very good, the touch is soft, the blade is firm, very faint woody vibrations, very good feedback of the ball, speed is very dinamycal. It feels like MJ SZLC but a little bit number with the feedback, you can feel the ball clearly, but the vibration is on lower frequency in the blade giving you a very delicate feel. For this price this blade is a nobrainer deal. From agressive allrouners through controlling offensive to full out offensive attackers this blade can suit anyone.

Just like the name giver of this blade = instrument, you can be an aggressive Mozart on the court.

I have had these shoes for 2 months, they are comfortable , great for doing movement exercises , I train 5 days a week so they are hard wearing. Would recommend, shame about the price but they are the best shoes on the market.

This is one of the best looping rubbers out there with a very high grip topsheet. It is a good Tenergy 05 precursor and up to even the USATT 2400 level can replace Tenergy if the focus of the looper is on doing specific things. While it is a relatively slow rubber, it is still an offensive rubber. The benefit of relatively slow rubbers like Baracuda is that the lack of catapult makes the linearity of the response to a power stroke easier to predict. This is very helpful when drive looping the ball.

The rubber is spin sensitive enough that one still has to learn to play actively with it, but it is similar enough to Tenergy 05 in that department, though Tenergy requires a better touch because of the power of the spring sponge.

The catapult makes it harder to hit winners from behind the table and to engage in topspin rallies away from the table. However, for someone who plays closer to the table and tries to win more of his points with short game control, Baracuda is a better choice than many rubbers if the player is not practicing often enough to radically improve their touch and timing. Depending on how you play and what you do, I would recommend it to anyone with a looping stroke or who wants to loop between 1200 and 2400 USATT on either forehand or backhand. That said, it requires effort only to generate pace - the spin is easy to generate and blocking is controlled once the racket angle is set.

It also works well with some boosting though the speed isn't radically improved.

It is comfort and light for me. But it may be a bit expensive though it is worth for it.

As the pros and cons stated. Good for my backhand. It is very spinny and fast.

Unforunately, this is the ball for competition, we must use it though the ball is a bit slower.

The best forehand rubber I have tried out of the following : rasant powergrip , rasant, tibhar aurus, yasaka rising dragon, xiom omega 4 pro, xiom omega 5 tour, tibhar 1qxd, h3neo, skyline tg2 neo ..
Fastarc G1 incorporates the best qualities of the above rubbers :
1. tackiness like 1qxd (this helps a lot over the table short game, server receives, pushes, lifting underspin balls in a controlled manner without overshooting edge of table, sidespin-hook topspins)
2. spin/grip like rasant power grip (provides great spin when brushing looping as well as when you engage the sponge in close/mid/far distance game)
3. med-hard sponge like aurus (not too hard, but not also medium like rasant... this allows you to start engaging the sponge relatively closer to the table, without fear of ball overshooting due to high throw of rubber, or ball rushing to the net due to med-low throw...... the med-hard sponge also ensure adequate power from all usual playing distances)
4. med-high throw angle like rasant (helps in clearing the net easliy from close/mid .... )
5. blocking is also good like xiom rubbers .. no issue in this aspect
6. speed like omega v tour(not overly fast, but good enough for most playing distances .. a 9.1 types speed rating)
from the look, feel, and daily playing experience, it seems pretty durable as well !! Totally satisfied !! Highly recommended !! I m using it as FH on DHS long 5 blade, with tibhar 5Q+(power update) on BH. Great combination.

Using it on Cpen backhand and find it very good. Very easy to hit small stroke fast balls with rpb. I find it a little hard to block with it (still learning) because it bounces very much. I bought mine 2nd hand. Maybe new is even better! I havent tried the other tenergies.

This is a nice rubber for beginner and a little more. Very durable but also very very heavy! Makes a click sound when hit hard.

A soft japanese rubber. I havent used this rubber very much. Ive used it as a backhand rubber for my cpen technique and find the throw a little low for my taste (T64 works better for me). I have also experimented with it using it on cpen forehand attached on a galaxy N-9 blade. This rubber compared to Skyline 2 allows me to have a more upward stroke that I like. Because this is a soft rubber I dont think it is very good for forehand because it bottoms out easily with hard stroke.

Hard to remove glue due to the soft sponge.

This blade is very fast with stiff feeling and very low weight (cpen). I have a hard time pairing rubbers with it. I found it good with short pips but then I need to glue a very heavy rubber on the backhand side to make it heavier and more balanced.

Used it on the BH side on Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro.
Makes a loud sound when you hit hard.
Needs a little effort in blocking.
Deep pushes are very spinny.
When you connect the ball well, It goes like a rocket(very spinny and just fast enough to get you points)
Best suited for tactical players who like to set up points and not for those who like to win points by finishing the ball as early as possible.

This is a fast all wood blade that workd best for hitters. I am using a cpen version and the weight is only 78g. I think this blade is too fast for cpen using unless you are using soft european rubbers or short pips. With chinese rubbers I cant land the balls on the table very well. Maybe its just my technique.

Good balls. Feels Similar to Xushaofa, but breaks a bit easily than Xushaofa.

Very good balls. they are durable and have good playing characteristics. However they just break in a second if you hit it with the edge of your racket very hard.

Hi

I bought this blade over two weeks ago. Before that I have been using Primorac off- and I would like to compare it to it. The blade is faster but still maintaining good amount of control. This blade is an OFF-/OFF. It is not the fastest blade but if you don't always loop then it is a very good choice. The price is in my opinion very good as it is not very expensive especially for the quality they give you. The edges are sanded giving nice feel. The blade fits wide range of rubbers. I use Vega Japan and Europe and they play well. I use the straight handle and it is comfortable to use. Your hand feels free. Some people say that the problem with it though is that it is not the most durable though. For now I am fine.

It is a good choice for anyone. It might not be the best for a beginner but it depends on the person. Any questions just ask.