Latest reviews

This must be the new standard for plastic balls, I can not see a future with this not smashing the other brands out of the market. Extraordinary quality, fantastic to play with. It has become more fun to play with these balls, and it feels almost like playing with the good old celluloid balls. Just love it!

100 $ is not cheap, but they are worth the money.

I played with them a few evenings. I am quite picky, but they suit my needs...no thick sole, low to the ground, good balance, good support, good grip. Most high quality table tennis shoes are very flashy nowadays with fluo colors and such. I was looking for a more old school look and they even have that.

i played with this rubber one year ago and i just liked it.
its a great rubber on the FH for spinny loops.
this rubber makes offensive players playing controlable.
verry great to play.

1 year ago i played with this rubber on my FH
because it was my first year i could not play verry well with it
the first 6 months my loops where verry good but after that i could not create the spin in my loops as before.
i think the rubber is great for players with a very fast gameplay and who like looping.

Andro Ligna OFF Blade

Blade Specs:

Weight: 90 grams
Blade Dimensions: 151x156mm
Thickness: 6.1mm
Plies: 7 (spruce outer with carbon 3rd layer)
Hardness: Medium Stiff
Test Rubbers: Andro Plaxxon 450 & 350, Reactor Corbor medium soft, Andro Rasant Beat, MXP
Speed: OFF



Product Description:

“Origin, water content, storage, processing method and many more aspects have big influence on a blade’s playing characteristics. For the in Germany manufactured exclusive andro® LIGNA series only the finest wood, which is also used for manufacturing violins, is processed.

Particular attention is given to the sawing method of the wood veneers: Only the finest sawn veneers are processed for LIGNA woods. Major advantage is that this processing leaves no scar on the veneers behind. Consistently solid and clean cut veneers on both sides form the foundation for an outstanding feel. Wood in the way it should be.”



Initial Inspection:

This blade came to a surprise because the outer layers of the blade are made of SPRUCE! Yes the spruce wood that we know that is usually used as a 2nd layer for famous 5 ply blades is used in the Ligna blades. You could mistake it as Hinoki because of the lines but on closer inspection you would see some sort of difference. Andro claims that this is the wood that is also used in making violins. Spruce looks like Hinoki because they are pine trees and belong to the same group of trees.

The blade itself is an example of fine craftsmanship and above average quality among European blades. This blade at first look is obviously not a product from the factory that makes Andro blades. I like the texture and smoothness of the blade and the handle. I got the straight handle. It felt a bit small for my hands.

On a bounce test, the ball has only average height and the sound is like a metallic low pitch. I was curious with its flared handle because the one I got was ST. The ST version tends to have its weight more on the blade head.



Playing Observations

The speed is only OFF level. It is not too fast in my own opinion. The control is like that of an all wood 5 ply offensive blade. The Ligna OFF is not faster than a Timo Boll ALC. Sometimes it feels slower but the control is better. This is more of a spinnier’s blade or a looping blade. I really noticed the high throw that this blade gives with different rubbers that I tested it with. Top spinning near or middle distance from table is its forte. There is some flex on the blade despite being medium stiff and it has some vibration. It is very easy to loop and spin with. I had a weird feeling with the feedback maybe because it was a new feel in terms of the blade. It gives a medium hard feedback when I strike the ball and there is this hard metallic feel with a muffled not so loud sound. However, this is not a bothersome feeling. I think I could attribute the feel with the kind of carbon layer they placed together with the spruce outer layer.

The Ligna OFF goes very well with medium to hard rubbers. The Plaxon 450 and Rasant Powergrip were good combinations. I think faster rubbers would even be better because I tested it for 10 min. with an MXP and the control was so good the shots were accurate enough not to miss. With soft rubbers, it can be choosy. There are soft rubbers like the Plaxon 350 and Rasant Beat that did very well with the Ligna off but softer and slower rubbers like the Reactor Corbor seems not a good combo. If one has to use a soft rubber it has to be a fast and bouncy soft rubber.

Overall, this is a very good blade. It can be used from intermediate to expert levels of players. A bit expensive but very good.

I tried out Stiga Airoc Soft yesterday and I think they felt very good. First I like the control and also the spin, I got very spinny serves. I have not played with so many soft rubbers before but I like the feel when hitting hard loops. I tried the rubbers with Clipper Wood and the new poly ball.

Not bad this is a really good blade for loopers and I've just got it and I'm loving it more than the Zhang Jike Super ZLC I had tried before. Definitely is capable to add lots of speed on the ball.

I probe this rubber for about two months, the first impression was than this rubber is the most faster that i never had in my hands. For serve is cool but not the best, if you want to use a kill backspin, but when you play with an agressive player, you have a little advantage with your block, because this rubber can reverse the hit with good accuracy.

Sidespin and another hits are stronger, however you have to do all of the hits with perfect technique if you don't want to lose by not forced errors.

Dhs pf-4 new, a very good rubber. Very good spin and control, a slow rubber. Medium tacky topsheet and hard sponge.

I've used this rubber for 1 year and still the same now, no downgrade in performance. I used it on both FH and BH on a 5 ply cornilleau blade, well it was very heavy. But later while playing i get used to it. A very good rubber for looping, blocking, serving, loop drives and topspin.

Best rubber to start with, to develop strokes and controlling the game and then later on can upgrade. But a very good overall rubber.

I have been playing with this blade two years, very good power and attack...

The donic bluefire m2 is a very good rubber. At first when i got the rubber, i had a very hard time to play with it. But when i got use to it, that rubber was a killing one. Spin is incredible, speed is good, not too fast and control and feel was great.

I used it as my FH on a Donic waldner senso ultra carbon and i found the combination was working well. I used the rubber for 6 months and still using it now, durability is very good and still very grippy and slighty tacky topsheet.

Very good rubber, very spinny, very good speed and amazingly very good control. But it is not that durable. Overall very good rubber for offensive play.

The soft sponge of the rubber makes it difficult to play if not a trained player. The blade also should be well considered, i use a carbon blade and the combination does work very well.

The Boll spirit is in my opinion a very good blade with the following characteristics:
- good power for your own attack
- good feeling and control for the serve recieve
- less vibration due to carbon layer

This is my first post on this forum. Hope you like it and useful to you.

Airoc Astro S red max 2.1 on Intensity NCT and the other side is Evolution El-p.
This combination doesn't feel head heavy and it is well balance even the blade is about 87g.
This is my second stiga rubber in 20 years after Almana sound! which it doesn't let me down at all.
The first look of AAS has caught my eye as the rubber seems to have some glitter in it. The sponge is blue color and it's not with many big pores like other makers are trying to copy spring sponge from TG05 or whatever.

Here comes to the points which I will compare directly with Rakza 7 soft and Evolution El-p which I used it on Intensity Carbon.

Spin: about 30% better than R7S but a bitless than El-p.
Speed :about 20-30% faster than both R7S and El-p
Control and block : about 20% better than R7S and 30% better than El-p.

When I play R7S I use it on forehand as I don't like the mushy feel of soft spong on back hand side. But in case of AASis different, I can use both backhand and forehand and don't have that mushy feel. The feeling is greater than both R7S and El-p.
The placement of the ball is also great and more powerful than R7S.
The AAS is very forgiving rubber with easy to use and not that sensitive to incoming spin.
If you want any question, and if I can answer, I will respond.

I played with this blade for a year. It is a classic beginners' blade in Sweden. Controllable with good feel. Slow and light. The main drawback is the difference between two blades. Some are softer and some have a more direct feel.

So I tried this ball recently and was impressed with it actually. It did not break and it felt a lot better than other plastic balls I have tried.

I use these for multiball. They are of low quality with regards to roundness. I think the might be the ones that does not pass quality control for the 3-star version. Be aware of strange bounces. None of the 30 balls I've tested is suitable for match play.

This is a very expensive shoe. It is quite narrow so people with wide feet might have to try another shoe. I have used mine for a year, and it was fully functional, but I decided to buy a new pair and keep the old ones for the gym. I play about 8 hours a week, which means they are very durable. They have Asics Gel techology which is used in running shoes for cushioning. They are quite cushioned compared to many other shoes. The grip is excellent. A mesh net in the bottom of the shoe should provide breathability but I have not felt any difference compared to other shoes. A good thing is that they do not smell bad after one year of heavy use! Quite incredible.

I have always been a fan of the Stiga allround Classic which was one of my first blades that I started out with. I have actually never had the chance to try out the Stiga Offensive Classic before yesterday. I used it together with Airoc M on backhand and Tenergy 05 on forehand.

First of all I think this blade also got a nice feel, you can really feel the ball hitting the blade. The control was great and of course it was a little faster compared to the Allround classic. It was fast but not to fast, I would say off to off-. I liked it very much in my returns where I got a good connection with the ball and could together with the rubbers get really good controlled returns. I felt stabile in my block and I got a good pressure on my opponent.

I tried it with both the old and the new ball. This blade should work fine if you like the Allround classic but want a little more speed. Even if this blade suited my game style I'm still to happy with my Carbonado 190 so I won't do any changes. Someone knows when the Allround classic was released?

Pretty good blade, but don't drop it on the ground, it's going to be broken. Otherwise, it's a blade that gives a lot of speed. If you want that blade, I recommend you to buy it twice so you have another one if you break it. It costs around 45$ so it is not that expensive.