STIGA Carbonado 245 and 290 blade review

[Dan]

Hey all,

We have just released our latest TableTennisDaily review on STIGA’s latest addition to the Carbonado Series, the 245 and 290 blades. Watch our full video review below.

For a more detailed review on the rubbers visit the TTD review Center below:

Carbonado 245
Carbonado 290

Have you, or do you use these blades? What do you think of the Carbonados?

 

[Zaid323918]

Great review. What's gonna be the next thing you're going to review?

 

[bobpuls]

There are different ways to get speed into blade then thicker Carbon ... For example if you use different bounds in the carbon it can be faster but still lighter ... for example instead of 200 grams carbon with classic bound can be used 160 grams carbon with keper bound and you will get bigger sweet spot as bonus .. ....
But nice review ... what is the thickness of the blades ?

 

[yoass]

We have just released our latest TableTennisDaily review on STIGA’s latest addition to the Carbonado Series, the 245 and 290 blades. [...]
Have you, or do you use these blades? What do you think of the Carbonados?

No, I haven't used any of the Carbonados. Yet. I was weaned on the original Offensive blades, and have used the Offensive Carbon (both succeeded a long time ago by the Offensive Classic and Offensive Classic Carbon) for a long time. You're making quite a lot of inter-carbonado comparisons, but how would you place them in the broader field — versus carbon blades, such as the Butterfly Viscaria, Timo Boll ALC, ZLC, the Donic Ovtcharov TrueCarbon, Yasaka Max Carbon 3D, Stiga's own CC7 — or vis a vis the stiffer OFF/OFF+ all-wood blades (OSP Ultimate, Stiga Ebenholz NCT VII)? In contrast, what counterparts would you mention in the hemisphere of flexier, spinnier blades?

One tiny remark on the review, which is excellent: you mention a notch or two more speediness here and there, and both you and Tom talk about a great feeling of control. I see the speed in the gameplay, but I think I also notice quite a few hits I could classify as unforced errors. Either direct mishits (overshoots mainly), or shots of suboptimal quality, sometimes dangerously so — net clearance that seems a bit on the high side, and/or trajectories that land the ball squarely in the opponent's kill zone. Would you say all that speed is sufficiently controllable, for you?

 

[Tom]

Great review. What's gonna be the next thing you're going to review?

Hi Zaid, Glad you enjoyed the review! We are looking at the new New ABS balls to review soon and also the new Tibhar prime and select rubbers and maybe also few other things coming soon

 

[Tom]

No, I haven't used any of the Carbonados. Yet. I was weaned on the original Offensive blades, and have used the Offensive Carbon (both succeeded a long time ago by the Offensive Classic and Offensive Classic Carbon) for a long time. You're making quite a lot of inter-carbonado comparisons, but how would you place them in the broader field — versus carbon blades, such as the Butterfly Viscaria, Timo Boll ALC, ZLC, the Donic Ovtcharov TrueCarbon, Yasaka Max Carbon 3D, Stiga's own CC7 — or vis a vis the stiffer OFF/OFF+ all-wood blades (OSP Ultimate, Stiga Ebenholz NCT VII)? In contrast, what counterparts would you mention in the hemisphere of flexier, spinnier blades?

One tiny remark on the review, which is excellent: you mention a notch or two more speediness here and there, and both you and Tom talk about a great feeling of control. I see the speed in the gameplay, but I think I also notice quite a few hits I could classify as unnecessary errors. Either direct mishits (overshoots mainly), or shots of suboptimal quality, sometimes dangerously so — net clearance that seems a bit on the high side, and/or trajectories that land the ball squarely in the opponent's kill zone. Would you say all that speed is sufficiently controllable, for you?

Hi Yoass, Glad you like the review. I think you're totally right, myself and Dan do actually make quite a lot of unforced errors in this review but I don't think its down the the blades speed being uncontrollable, for carbon blades these are some of the most controllable around. Sometimes when we are testing lot's of different equipment it takes us a little while to adapt to the differences and get used to it compared to our own bat for example. Dan usually tries to use the equipment we are testing for a week or so before the review but when changing around between a lot of different things we sometimes still make silly mistakes, so I think it's more us than the equipment

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

.....I think your totally right, myself and Dan do actually make quite a lot of.....

Oh my.....did someone call the grammar police? [emoji2] hehe

Myself make mistake.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[kalc]

I use the carbonado 245 - nice blade. here people refer to it as the "beast" Saw the review yesterday - great review guys

 

[TTHopeful]

How much different is 290 to 190... sound seems different with 290 than 190 or is it just me?

 

[yogi_bear]

290 is very fast while 190's level is much lower like swloer than a primorac carbon. 290's speed is in the level of amultart probably.

 

[TTHopeful]

290 is very fast while 190's level is much lower like swloer than a primorac carbon. 290's speed is in the level of amultart probably.

Thanks. What about zhang jike zlc. How does a 290 compare to this?

 

[Dan]

Great review. What's gonna be the next thing you're going to review?

Thanks Zaid, we have quite a few in the pipe work. Tibhar Prime and Select, new Stiga ball, Freitas blade review. Should all be coming out over this month

There are different ways to get speed into blade then thicker Carbon ... For example if you use different bounds in the carbon it can be faster but still lighter ... for example instead of 200 grams carbon with classic bound can be used 160 grams carbon with keper bound and you will get bigger sweet spot as bonus .. ....
But nice review ... what is the thickness of the blades ?

Good point Bobpuls! The thickness of the 290 is 6.2mm, the same as my 190.

No, I haven't used any of the Carbonados Yet. I was weaned on the original Offensive blades, and have used the Offensive Carbon (both succeeded a long time ago by the Offensive Classic and Offensive Classic Carbon) for a long time. You're making quite a lot of inter-carbonado comparisons, but how would you place them in the broader field — versus carbon blades, such as the Butterfly Viscaria, Timo Boll ALC, ZLC, the Donic Ovtcharov TrueCarbon, Yasaka Max Carbon 3D, Stiga's own CC7 — or vis a vis the stiffer OFF/OFF+ all-wood blades (OSP Ultimate, Stiga Ebenholz NCT VII)? In contrast, what counterparts would you mention in the hemisphere of flexier, spinnier blades?

One tiny remark on the review, which is excellent: you mention a notch or two more speediness here and there, and both you and Tom talk about a great feeling of control. I see the speed in the gameplay, but I think I also notice quite a few hits I could classify as unforced errors. Either direct mishits (overshoots mainly), or shots of suboptimal quality, sometimes dangerously so — net clearance that seems a bit on the high side, and/or trajectories that land the ball squarely in the opponent's kill zone. Would you say all that speed is sufficiently controllable, for you?

Hi Yoass, very true. I would say the speed of the Carbonado 290 is similar to the boll ALC and Ovtcahrov True Carbon however the feeling is totally different. The Boll ALC has more of a Carbon crisp feel. The Carbonado has a more woodier feel. It's quite hard to pin point it, the feeling is different.

I would say some of the errors are due to us not being use to the setup completely. I have been using Genesis which is quite a bit different to the Mantra that we had on the blades in the review. Our timing and technique needs to change quite a bit to adjust to the different feeling.

I use the carbonado 245 - nice blade. here people refer to it as the "beast" Saw the review yesterday - great review guys

Haha yes! A player I coach calls his 90 a beast to!

Thanks. What about zhang jike zlc. How does a 290 compare to this?

I think the super ZLC is faster. The feeling is a lot different. It's something you would have to try to know what I mean. The Carbonado has a fast wood effect, the ZJK ZLC has a more crisp carbon effect.

 

[KM1976]

Hi Tom,
How do you guys adapt to the weight of the setup? I ask this question since I see that you are using Stiga Hybrid Wood which is known for its heaviness. I brought a Clipper wood but it is heavy and I am getting pain in my upper back and shoulder muscles while using it, so I had to stop using it. Although I liked it a lot but it seems that weight of the setup is a bottleneck. Can you share any tips which would help in using a heavier setup.
Cheers,
KM1976

 

[The Juice]

I ran into the very same issue. I had a heavy blade with heavy Chinese and tibhar rubber. The first version of the "hurricane long 5" blade had a very large surface. And that only added to the weight as slightly more rubber was used to cover the blade. It was head heavy and very uncomfortable. I ran into the same issue with my Carbonado 190 as well, with the thick legend handle.

I say all that to say this. I tried some grip tape because I wanted to preserve a clean handle for as long as possible. To my surprise the weight of the grip tape actually countered the weight of the head which helped balance the blade. Even though I knew the grip tape made the blade slightly heavier, the balance it added actually made the blade feel lighter. Totally shocked me, but it's true. Might want to give it a try.

Since then I've taken the grip tape off as I've now adjusted to heavier setups a bit more. Give it a shot... it's cheap and it might work for you as well.