Which of my blades for a 1300 level player?

[FrenchFrog33]

Going through my inventory, which blade should I go with, and perhaps recommend rubbers for that blade?

• Stiga Energy Wood v2
• Stiga Cybershape Wood
• Butterfly Innerforce ALC.s
• Tibhar Stratus Power Wood
• Tibhar Fortino Performance
• Andro Gauzy BL7

 

[ericd937]

What type of equipment do you play with now? What are the current strengths and weaknesses of your game? Do you have any videos of your matches? I'd be happy to give you some recommendations. I'm probably 1950ish level now.

 

[FrenchFrog33]

What type of equipment do you play with now? What are the current strengths and weaknesses of your game? Do you have any videos of your matches? I'd be happy to give you some recommendations. I'm probably 1950ish level now.

Currently using Cybershape wood with Platinum M 2.1(fh) and Platinum S 2.1 (bh). I have had some coaching and he said that my bh is strong. I play an offensive game. My weakness is service return. I am currently sidelined with a knee injury, but train daily with a robot. (Sorry, no video)

 

[FrenchFrog33]

Ok, I'm leaning towards the Butterfly Innerforce ALC.S. One question, is Tenergy 05 a good fit for the forehand?

 

[Lazer]

Bear in mind that the BTY ALC.S has a tiny handle. Except for this I really like it.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[JJ Ng]

I have two of those blades. You cannot go wrong with Tibhar Stratus Power Wood. It is OFF -. Very good feel for both looping and blocking. Not too fast and not too slow. You can upgrade the rubbers to make it faster as you move up from 1300. I have put Chinese rubber on it. I have put ESN tensor rubber on it. And yes, I have put Tenergy 05 fx and 64 fx on it. It is good for all of them. I have even put some cheap long pips on the back so I can fool around with it while playing doubles with my club mates. Even long pips works on that blade (and of course, I put a thin sponge for the long pips). Just to tell you how much I like it, I own six of them. I recently started searching for the perfect forehand rubber so I literally put Tibhar K1 on one, Hurricane 3 neo on another one and Sanwei National Target on the third one (backhand is G-1. Not changing that). So that's why I have so many of them.

Recently I also bought a Tibhar Fortino Performance and I really like it as well. I am thinking about acquiring another one.

And both Tibhar Stratus Power Wood and Tibhar Fortino Performance will not break your bank.

I have no idea about the other blades so I will shut up now.

 

[Kuba Hajto]

From the list Energy wood or Gauzy sounds nice. Never played with Gauzy but on paper it looks like a good fit.

 

[Kuba Hajto]

Which of these blades, have you played for the longest time? Which of them you had the most wins with?

 

[FrenchFrog33]

Which of these blades, have you played for the longest time? Which of them you had the most wins with?

I was using Innerforce for a while, then Cybershape for the longest time, followed by Fortino Performance. I'm always looking for the "perfect" blade. I just need to stick with one blade and train with that!

 

[JJ Ng]

I was using Innerforce for a while, then Cybershape for the longest time, followed by Fortino Performance. I'm always looking for the "perfect" blade. I just need to stick with one blade and train with that!

Do you have Cybershape wood or carbon? I want to try Cybershape at some point. However, if you (and me) want to find the perfect blade, then it is better to stick with regular round blades because there are a lot of them around. I really like Fortino performance, more so than Viscaria and Acoustic carbon. I am surprised because viscaria is used by many famous players and Acoustic carbon was used by Mima Ito. But those blades are sitting around collecting dust. I just started using Fortino Performance about 1.5 months ago. Now I am seriously considering buying a second one. I said it in the other thread; I own like 6 Tibhar Stratus Power wood. I think I know what I like now. I like carbon blades that are not too fast but have some wood feel to it. So I am narrowing down my list of "perfect" blades. As you can tell, I do not use Butterfly products. My joke is being an equipment junkie is bad enough; if I am an equipment junkie with a propensity for Butterly products, I am going to go bankrupt!

 

[timdm]

If your level is 1300 and you have so little to say when you are asked about your playing style, I would go for cybershape wood or stratus powerwood and let your game develop from there. These 2 blades for me are the least specific and will let you best develop your own style over the coming years.

Best of luck

 

[Choosikick]

In fact, you should answer this question to us, not we to you. There is no problem in trying and playing with all these blades.

 

[NextLevel]

The problem is not the blade (all of these are good blades), the problem is your refusal to commit to one. What you need is a commitment device of some sort. I usually have a bet with BRS that we both commit to a setup and if one of us changes anything in the setup, we have to buy two new rubbers of the other person's choice. So tell someone what your setup is and that if they catch you playing with something else, you owe them money. Pick something that is good and well respected like Rozena on both sides of Cybershape Wood. Then you can't blame your equipment, I know good players who use that.

 

[Kuba Hajto]

In fact, you should answer this question to us, not we to you. There is no problem in trying and playing with all these blades.

That is kind of what I've tried to hint at. I would maybe skip ALC.S, or any carbon at that. All the blades I played had at some point jump in power once you apply enough power for carbon to kick in. If you don't have good enough technique, when you will be close to that, one might get some random balls flying out. One of the users called that behaviour "my pips behave weird". When training the same will apply to inverted, once you start hitting hard enough

EDIT: One of the things that are harder to learn with Carbon are counters, because you have a lot of energy coming from the other side.

 

[FrenchFrog33]

The problem is not the blade (all of these are good blades), the problem is your refusal to commit to one. What you need is a commitment device of some sort. I usually have a bet with BRS that we both commit to a setup and if one of us changes anything in the setup, we have to buy two new rubbers of the other person's choice. So tell someone what your setup is and that if they catch you playing with something else, you owe them money. Pick something that is good and well respected like Rozena on both sides of Cybershape Wood. Then you can't blame your equipment, I know good players who use that.

Well said!

 

[Der_Echte]

Going through my inventory, which blade should I go with, and perhaps recommend rubbers for that blade?

• Stiga Energy Wood v2
• Stiga Cybershape Wood
• Butterfly Innerforce ALC.s
• Tibhar Stratus Power Wood
• Tibhar Fortino Performance
• Andro Gauzy BL7

To support Next Level et All... pick ONE of the blades on your list that is reasonable for spinning and use just that. Slap on soft sponge modern dynamic rubbers and stick with those for a couple years and see where you are.

I know this is not an exciting answer, but most players will be better off doing this at the early stages of their learning.

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Pick the one that has your favorite handle and the best feeling balance.

 

[Crillo]

Stiga Energy Wood v2 is my recommendation it's an amazing blade. If you buy this blade please ask for a 84-85gr some of the Stiga Energy v2 blades are above 90gr and then the blade becomes a different beast.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I would suggest keep your current setup.
Cybershape wood is a good blade. If you can't handle service return and a few other, changing to ALC is going to make it worse.

1300 is not that high, with good coaching, try and get up to 1500~1600, as by then, your technique would be better and then maybe you can look at exploring.

For now, there is no "perfect" blade. There is only perfect technique.
Hope that helps

 

[FrenchFrog33]

I would suggest keep your current setup.
Cybershape wood is a good blade. If you can't handle service return and a few other, changing to ALC is going to make it worse.

1300 is not that high, with good coaching, try and get up to 1500~1600, as by then, your technique would be better and then maybe you can look at exploring.

For now, there is no "perfect" blade. There is only perfect technique.
Hope that helps

Well said, thanks!