Adidas FiberTec Power, Extreme & Classic Blades Review

Got 3 of the newest Adidas blades from Adidas itself.

t3.jpg


Adidas FiberTech Power (Blue stripes):

handle: shakehand flared
weight: 87 grams
plies: 7 (limba-carbon kevlar-ayous-kiri-ayous-carbon kevlar-limba)
rubbers used for testing: red 2.0 donic acuda s2, black max adidas tenzone, stiga royal, neo TG3
speed: off
stiffness: medium stiffness with some flex

IMG_1395.jpg


glued the black adidas tenzone max for my forehand and the 2.0 red donic acuda s2 for my backhand. the blades from adidas have above average finish and quality. by looking at the construction of the blade and finish they are identical to the blades that andro have. the handle is very comfortable to the hand. its smooth and fits my palm.
on the ball bounce test i found that all 3 fibertech blades have a large and consistent sweetspot and i mean all 3 of them. using the tenzone regular on the fh i was eager to to the drills. while driving the ball i found out that the blade is balanced even if the tenzone is a bit heavy like tenergy 05. the blade has a great feel. according to a friend of mine who tested the blade also it feels like a softer version of the kong ling hui special but lighter. there are no bad vibrations on the blade as if the vibration is contained and does not spread across your hand. i rated it as OFF instead as OFF+ because its not as fast as T-11, promorac carbon or gergely. The control is very good with the FiberTec Power. It is fast when you want it fast, it is slow when you want it slow meaning it has gears.
I would consider this as a looping blade offensive blade with lots of control. this is more of a mid distance blade. counters and smashes are above average with a perfect balance of the weight of the blade that it doesnt feel head heavy. even intermediate players will have no time controlling this blade.

Recommended rubbers:
rubbers that are medium to medium hard. i have tried using a chinese rubber but mine was an lkt sound but even with harder chinese rubbers i think this blade will do fine. i never tested it with soft, mushy rubbers.

t1.jpg


Adidas FiberTec Extreme (red stripes)

Got 3 of the newest Adidas blades from Adidas itself.

Adidas FiberTech Power (Blue stripes):

handle: shakehand flared
weight: 87 grams
plies: 7 (limba-carbon kevlar-ayous-kiri-ayous-carbon kevlar-limba)
rubbers used for testing: red 2.0 donic acuda s2, black max adidas tenzone, stiga royal, neo TG3
speed: off
stiffness: medium stiffness with some flex



glued the black adidas tenzone max for my forehand and the 2.0 red donic acuda s2 for my backhand. the blades from adidas have above average finish and quality. by looking at the construction of the blade and finish they are identical to the blades that andro have. the handle is very comfortable to the hand. its smooth and fits my palm.
on the ball bounce test i found that all 3 fibertech blades have a large and consistent sweetspot and i mean all 3 of them. using the tenzone regular on the fh i was eager to to the drills. while driving the ball i found out that the blade is balanced even if the tenzone is a bit heavy like tenergy 05. the blade has a great feel. according to a friend of mine who tested the blade also it feels like a softer version of the kong ling hui special but lighter. there are no bad vibrations on the blade as if the vibration is contained and does not spread across your hand. i rated it as OFF instead as OFF+ because its not as fast as T-11, promorac carbon or gergely. The control is very good with the FiberTec Power. It is fast when you want it fast, it is slow when you want it slow meaning it has gears.
I would consider this as a looping blade offensive blade with lots of control. this is more of a mid distance blade. counters and smashes are above average with a perfect balance of the weight of the blade that it doesnt feel head heavy. even intermediate players will have no time controlling this blade.

Recommended rubbers:
rubbers that are medium to medium hard. i have tried using a chinese rubber but mine was an lkt sound but even with harder chinese rubbers i think this blade will do fine. i never tested it with soft, mushy rubbers.

Adidas FiberTec Extreme (red stripes)



Handle: Shakehand
Weight: 88 grams
Plies: hinoki-ayous-carbon-kiri-carbon-ayous-hinoki
Rubbers used for testing: T05, Adidas Tenzone max, LKT Rapid Sound
Stiffness: very stiff
Speed: OFF+

This is the fastest among the 3 FiberTec blades. a little heavy but still acceptable because the blade is very balanced and is not head heavy. i would describe the speed of the blade as in the level of donic black devil and is slightly faster than the primorac carbon. What i like with this blade is that it has a wood feel due to its construction where the 1st 2 plies are wood veneers instead of the usual 1st ply wood and 2nd ply carbon construction. the control is still good. like the fibertec power it has a large sweet spot when i did the ball bounce test.
The blade produces very solid shots at any distance from the table from being near to far distance. this baby is built for speed and power shots. this is a hitters blade but it can still be good for looping but not slow loops. So far spin drives work best with this blade. I would recommend this for advanced players only since this is very fast

Recommended rubbers: Adidas Tenzone and Tenzone SF 2.0mm (max would be too fast for most people) Slower rubbers with softer sponges will be great. Other rubbers like T05fx, tibhar sinus alpha or sound, lkt rapid sound would work well even with classic rubbers such as mendo and mark v.

Adidas Fibertec Classic (Orange stripes):

t4.jpg


Handle: Shakehand
Weight: 82.5 grams
Plies: Akazie(acacia)-carbon kevlar-ayous-kiri-ayous-carbon kevlar-Akazie
Rubbers used for testing: T05, Adidas Tenzone max, Donic Acuda s2, T05
Stiffness: Slightly Stiff with some flexibility
Speed: OFF-

Among the 3 adidas blades that I have tested this is the slowest at OFF- speed. This is also the lightest according to the digital weighing scale i borrowed. Do not be fooled by my off- rating. this blade still has enough speed and if paired with a fast rubber it still is fast. I tried it today with my T05 and acuda S2 then later changed the T05 to the Adidas Tenzone rubber. The weight was still average despite the heavy rubbers that i have attached to it. This is more of a control blade. I used the acuda s2 mainly on this blade because it was 2.0mm to determine its speed. it was fast enough. fast as in those control carbon blades of yasaka but slower than a TBS. When i was hitting it with the 3 rubbers i mentioned above the loud "TONK" sound was very audible among the players in the playing area. This is a looping blade. The kevlar offers stability on the ball bounce and lessens the vibration. The carbon offers some speed. Whether making slow or fast loops you wouldnt regret having this blade because you will have lots of control on your shots. I would recommend this to beginners(with slower and thinner rubbers) to advanced players.

Recommended rubbers: you can place very fast rubbers on this blade and still maintain control. even a t64, andro hexer or bryce speed would be controllable on this blade. The Tenzone max regular and T05 were very controllable earlier today.

Conclusion:

Adidas has surprisingly produced 3 great blades with various control levels with each respective speed preferences. All the 3 have large sweetspots and have accpetable weights. All of the 3 are not head heavy blades which make them very balanced blades.

Speed:
Extreme>Power>Classic

Control:
Classic>Power>Extreme

Weight:
Extreme>Power>Classic
 
says Spin and more spin.
says Spin and more spin.
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Dec 2010
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Nice info, nice descriptions to let us know what the Adidas products are like. You can see they did their research and used good materials. Carbon-Kevlar, Limba, Ayous, Kiri, Hinoki. Woods known to be good for making blades and the plies that are better as outer plies are outer plies and the plies that are better for inner plies are where they should be.

I have a question. You kept mentioning that these blades are not head heavy and that makes them balanced. What makes some people prefer head heavy blades, how Stiga and Donic purposely have blades with handles that make the blade head heavy, similar to a penhold blade, and some people prefer enough weight in the handle to make the blade not be head heavy?

I know I like the way it feels when a blade is head heavy. I feel I get more whipping action in my serves and strokes when it is head heavy almost like a pendulum; also more mass and inertia behind the ball without the whole setup being as heavy.

So, what would be the benefit behind a blade that has as much weight in the handle as in the head? I have heard other people talk about having the weight balanced between the head and the handle. But I have never understood why they felt that way aside from personal preference. And personal preference is something so I don't want to devalue that. But it is subjective. You cannot quantify it.
 
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Carl I am taking a guess here, I, like you, prefer a head heavy blade ( check my setup ) because it obviously gives you more torque if you like to loop. I think people might prefer more balanced setup if they are more defensive in their style of play , just think of some body who blocks a lot or for that matter is a chopper they would want it to be more stable in their hands and would prefer the Centre of gravity in the middle or may be even towards the wrist ... what say you ?
I could be related to physique too , but I guess you are more qualified to take a guess on that :)

Nice info, nice descriptions to let us know what the Adidas products are like. You can see they did their research and used good materials. Carbon-Kevlar, Limba, Ayous, Kiri, Hinoki. Woods known to be good for making blades and the plies that are better as outer plies are outer plies and the plies that are better for inner plies are where they should be.

I have a question. You kept mentioning that these blades are not head heavy and that makes them balanced. What makes some people prefer head heavy blades, how Stiga and Donic purposely have blades with handles that make the blade head heavy, similar to a penhold blade, and some people prefer enough weight in the handle to make the blade not be head heavy?

I know I like the way it feels when a blade is head heavy. I feel I get more whipping action in my serves and strokes when it is head heavy almost like a pendulum; also more mass and inertia behind the ball without the whole setup being as heavy.

So, what would be the benefit behind a blade that has as much weight in the handle as in the head? I have heard other people talk about having the weight balanced between the head and the handle. But I have never understood why they felt that way aside from personal preference. And personal preference is something so I don't want to devalue that. But it is subjective. You cannot quantify it.
 
the head heavy blades have their advantages and disadvantages. Like you said its better to loop with head heavy blades because it shifts the power at the tipd of your blade. im using a head heavy blade myself, its a stiga ebenholz 7 and its 90 grams. what i don't like about head heavy blades is that many of them have hollow handles basing on my experience with hollow handle blades they have a tendency to have greater vibration. i usually experience that while doing flicks. there are a lot of balanced blades in the market, not head heavy but they still perform well. it is safe to say that many butterfly blades are not head heavy but they are good blades. now, why is it important to some people not to have a head heavy blade? an example is that a lot of people use chinese rubbers on one side, some even on both sides. an acceptable range of weight is 170-180 grams for a blade to be considered normal in weight. with a head heavy blade, even with a weight that falls 170-180 grams the blade feels heavy to the hand and it strains their wrists. also it affects their stroke recovery. in a way you are correct that its a matter of personal preference but i'm basing this out of experience that a lot of people hate head heavy blades.
 
says hAHAHAHA THANX MATE :D
says hAHAHAHA THANX MATE :D
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I think this all boils down to preference. I am an all out offensive player, but I prefer light blades. I like my Ebenholz, but for competitions, I will use my lighter Optimum Carbo. Yes, it's true, heavy head blades will get the thumbs up for smashes and offensive strokes every time.
 
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