Equipment recommendation needed :) Please help me find my thing

Sounds like you may want short pips and or medium pips. Maybe a slightly slower blade like Off- or All+.

You could do short pips on FH and medium pips on FH. Lots of control. The ability to kill spin and the ability to hit hard flat balls.

But, a question. Why don't you want to learn the technique for spinning the ball? Looping is the funniest thing ever.


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Send us a video of how you play. That way, we will be able to give a much better response.

You sound a lot like a basement player, no offense. If you want to step up your game with an equipment change, you should know that you will probably be worse before you get better.

As for your comments about control and spin, that's mostly up to the player's skill level, aside from pimpled and anti-spin rubber.


On the side note: spin is a fundamental part of the game. Pretty much everyone, including defenders will have to learn to spin the ball at some point.

Ivelin Georgiev said:

Thank you for the response! I actually don't know why I didn't build my gamestyle on looping.

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All of what follows is a perspective. In the end, what you choose to do is up to you. But what I present will be based on intelligent principles.

So, here is the thing: higher levels of technique are generally founded on learning to put HEAVY spin on the ball.

There are times when a player gets to a decent level of technical skill and decides that they are interested in playing defensively and using pips because it goes with the style of game they would like to play. But they could play a topspin game or an Allround game too if they wanted because they have sound fundamentals.

If you have not yet developed the technique to put heavy spin on the ball and you decide that your style is to not spin the ball, then basically you are deciding you don't want learn to higher level table tennis technique.

In a way, this is okay. You could choose to play however you want. But you are guaranteeing a limit to your level. Why? Because, with rubbers like pips, you are really unlikely to learn techniques for different ways of contacting the ball or solid Allround strokes.

When you can play a solid Allround game where you can chop, block, push, loop, drive and flat hit, then specializing is more valuable.

So, based on what you said you do as your default game, pips would help you play that way better. But they would also make it less likely that you would learn certain fundamentals including how to get HEAVY topspin.

If that does not matter to you and you are okay with playing the same style but not necessarily improving your technique then none of what I have to say applies to you.

But if you want to get better, improve your fundamentals, your ability to spin the ball, your technique, then I would suggest a basic setup like one of the ones below:

1) blade: Yasaka Sweden Extra; rubber: Xiom Vega Europe (both sides)

2) blade: Yasaka Sweden Extra; rubber: Yasaka Mark V (both sides)

You could also get either of those rubber combinations with this blade:

Stiga Allround Evolution

Yasaka Mark V have a little more control and are a little slower because they are classic rubbers. That really may be what is most useful for you.

The Xiom Vega Europe rubbers are rubbers that have excellent control but more catapult and spin potential. For learning the modern game, if you felt confident in trying to learn to spin the ball, these would be the way to go. But it would mean getting used to something that is kind of reactive to incoming spin.

Either set of rubbers with either blade would be a great place to start if you decided you want to learn and improve your technique.

And again, higher level technique, whether you ultimately end up playing with smooth rubber or pips begins with learning how to generate more spin, More Spin, MORE SPIN.

Even if you end up with a style like the one you described, learning the technique for generating heavy spin will ultimately cause you to top out at a higher level.

If you do choose pips. Someone else on the forum will have to help you out with the specifics. Because, I just don't pay attention to pips, except in how to play against different pips players.



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Very informative and useful post Carl, I guess Ivelin doesn't have to look any further.

I have a question related to this subject myself. Often when people are looking for beginner setup advice, I see them getting a 5-ply Limba, Limba, Ayous, Limba, Limba blade recommended like a Butterfly Primorac Off-. I am also looking for a nice beginner setup for a friend of mine and my eyes fell on the same blade that you're recommending in this thread, the Yasaka Sweden Extra. Now I was wondering how much the Yasaka Sweden Extra differs with the Butterfly Primorac Off- for example.

Jirrex said:

Very informative and useful post Carl, I guess Ivelin doesn't have to look any further.

I have a question related to this subject myself. Often when people are looking for beginner setup advice, I see them getting a 5-ply Limba, Limba, Ayous, Limba, Limba blade recommended like a Butterfly Primorac Off-. I am also looking for a nice beginner setup for a friend of mine and my eyes fell on the same blade that you're recommending in this thread, the Yasaka Sweden Extra. Now I was wondering how much the Yasaka Sweden Extra differs with the Butterfly Primorac Off- for example.

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I have to be honest with you. I use to have a Primorac Off- and mine was the best one I ever felt. But there is something about Butterfly's all wood blades that I personally don't like. They are good. Some people like them. But the all wood blades that are made in Sweden like the Yasaka Sweden Extra and the Stiga Allround Classic or Evolution, to me, they feel way better. They are not as sturdy, but they feel crisper and more alive. I could have put the Primorac in there as a blade. But the ones I listed, I like how they play, how they feel, better.

UpSideDownCarl said:

I have to be honest with you. I use to have a Primorac Off- and mine was the best one I ever felt. But there is something about Butterfly's all wood blades that I personally don't like. They are good. Some people like them. But the all wood blades that are made in Sweden like the Yasaka Sweden Extra and the Stiga Allround Classic or Evolution, to me, they feel way better. They are not as sturdy, but they feel crisper and more alive. I could have put the Primorac in there as a blade. But the ones I listed, I like how they play, how they feel, better.

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Better playing characteristics and a lower price, what more can we wish for . Do you have any idea about the composition of the Yasaka Sweden Extra? The only thing I could find about it was that the outer plies are slightly harder than Limba.

Composition is Anegre-Limba-Ayous-Limba-Anegre. The only other blade with Anegre outer plies I know is Donic Defplay Senso

Feel free to refer to this page for composition of blades for comparison.

http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=7194

That page definitely helped me learn a lot when I was trying to learn about equipment.


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Regarding blade compositions, I found this website a short time ago: http://stervinou.net/ttbdb/index.php

KTL (LKT) Zebra Carbon
Donic Persson Powerplay Senso V1
Friendship/729 C-3

Sanwei Gears
Palio Hidden Dragon Biotech
Friendship/729 Cream on Magic Red Sponge (MRS)
KTL (LKT) Pro XP Gold Dragon

Your description looks like classic Japan style, Fukuhara, Harimoto, etc. [emoji6]

I don't think You need to use short pips, combi with just enough spin to keep the ball on the table is fine.

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