WARNING!! BIG POST AHEAD
My blade arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out. Spinfactory shipping and weight selection was spot on. Mine is 87,8gr and I asked between 87 and 88gr.
The box it came with is indeed pretty good looking but the "quality" of it is nothing close to butterfly's. The box is flimsy for such an expensive blade. I know it doesn't affect gameplay but still, for such and expensive blade I was expecting more.
The blade itself is perfect. The wood was a little rough to the touch so I suspect it's not sealed. I hope the blade doesn't splinter when I remove the rubbers. Apart from that the blade is beautifully crafted and on par with Butterfly in my opinion.
Glued the familiar Mantra Pro M on my backhand and the not so familiar Mantra Pro XH on forehand. The Mantra Pro XH was tested before for like 3 times. It's not a bad rubber but I prefer something a little softer. I think this blade benefits something a little softer, not much, but a little bit.
Take these impressions with a grain of salt as I never tried something similar. Im used to Butterfly Harimoto ALC, Super ALC and the usual 5ply limba blades like Primorac and Nittaku Acoustic.
First warm up impressions were positive, the blade does have a distinct loud sound, despite being weird I loved that feeling. It has some small vibrations that let you know when you hit the ball but definitely less than both my Harimoto's. The trajectory of the ball felt low so when I got ready to try some forehand topspin I was expecting to have to hit it pretty hard with a long movement so the ball could clear the net. I was completely wrong!!! On the first two to three topspins the ball went long, like really long. Was not expecting that kind of power from the first warm up hits. After adjusting it was pretty natural and also flipped the blade to try the Mantra Pro M and did enjoy it pretty much, felt that the speed was more manageable and was easier to feel the ball. The initial bite of the softer rubber together with the natural dwell of the blade made me more comfortable on my Forehand.
After warmup did some simple backhand and forehand drills and noticed if fact the control people were talking about. it seems that you almost can hit it in any way and the ball will land on the table, like I said before the XH rubber didn't feel controllable but I was always hitting the table.
After that did some serve and open up drills. I felt that I needed to focus on spinning the ball because I was feeling that I was hitting and not spinning. For some reason (maybe it was the XH sponge) the ball was leaving the rubber pretty fast and that is not what I read online about this blade. Focusing on spinning that all came to me, it feels like you are dragging the ball and then launching it in the direction you want, it's a pretty weird feeling but a good one nevertheless.
Secondly my teammate started doing himself opens ups and I was focusing on blocking or eventually counter top spinning. I felt that the blade responded better to countertopspinning but nothing major in this reagard. I need more training and more time with the blade. One thing I was missing was chops and serve receive. Not that the blade was not controllable but I was touching the ball too softly, expecting the carbon to kick in but since this doesn't have carbon the touch is more "natural". I have to be more active with the receives. chopping and banana flicking then became effortless and that was the thing I enjoyed with this blade. Banana flicks are so easy to do, you just have to focus on spinning and the blade does all the work for you.
Lastly we did some games and that's the biggest reveal. I played like 10 sets and lost only the last one. Won two sets to a clubfriend of mine that is currently playing better than me and im really struggling to win against him consistently. The blade gave me confidence on my backhand that is one of the my major flaws.
One last thing I noticed is that in certain balls, like like half long balls when they rise just a little bit you can give all your power and the ball will still land on the table, something that I think with ALC the ball would just shoot out of the blade and miss the table. These balls are deadly and I feel like that's the way to go with this blade, open up slow and spinny that will allow you to answer with power.
CONCLUSIONS:
- Crisp feeling similar to ALC but a little bit tamed.
- big sweet spot like a carbon blade.
- Stable near and away from the table
- Big reserve of power. You give power and the blade responds accordingly. Feels that's more linear than ALC.
- You have to play always active. Slow balls need to be "played" and not "touched".
- Not bouncy/flexy/springy like some all wood blades, giving you more security on your shots.
- I don't think it has the ultimate power of a carbon blade but it's not slow by any means.
- Never felt in any way I needed more power.
- Probably the best blade I've played on my backhand.
- Blade needs some time to adjust given it's completely different from everything else.
- Still need to understand how to blade reacts in some balls. Sometimes I feel that the same ball and harm movement and speed give different results.
Thank you for reading and sorry for the long post. Next step is trying a softer rubber on forehand, I have a spare Dignics 80 that I will trade for the Mantra Pro XH. Would love to try a Tenergy 19 on the forehand and might glue the one that is on my Harimoto SALC on the Hugo HAL. Definitely a special blade that requires some adaptation but gives big rewards.
My blade arrived and I couldn't wait to try it out. Spinfactory shipping and weight selection was spot on. Mine is 87,8gr and I asked between 87 and 88gr.
The box it came with is indeed pretty good looking but the "quality" of it is nothing close to butterfly's. The box is flimsy for such an expensive blade. I know it doesn't affect gameplay but still, for such and expensive blade I was expecting more.
The blade itself is perfect. The wood was a little rough to the touch so I suspect it's not sealed. I hope the blade doesn't splinter when I remove the rubbers. Apart from that the blade is beautifully crafted and on par with Butterfly in my opinion.
Glued the familiar Mantra Pro M on my backhand and the not so familiar Mantra Pro XH on forehand. The Mantra Pro XH was tested before for like 3 times. It's not a bad rubber but I prefer something a little softer. I think this blade benefits something a little softer, not much, but a little bit.
Take these impressions with a grain of salt as I never tried something similar. Im used to Butterfly Harimoto ALC, Super ALC and the usual 5ply limba blades like Primorac and Nittaku Acoustic.
First warm up impressions were positive, the blade does have a distinct loud sound, despite being weird I loved that feeling. It has some small vibrations that let you know when you hit the ball but definitely less than both my Harimoto's. The trajectory of the ball felt low so when I got ready to try some forehand topspin I was expecting to have to hit it pretty hard with a long movement so the ball could clear the net. I was completely wrong!!! On the first two to three topspins the ball went long, like really long. Was not expecting that kind of power from the first warm up hits. After adjusting it was pretty natural and also flipped the blade to try the Mantra Pro M and did enjoy it pretty much, felt that the speed was more manageable and was easier to feel the ball. The initial bite of the softer rubber together with the natural dwell of the blade made me more comfortable on my Forehand.
After warmup did some simple backhand and forehand drills and noticed if fact the control people were talking about. it seems that you almost can hit it in any way and the ball will land on the table, like I said before the XH rubber didn't feel controllable but I was always hitting the table.
After that did some serve and open up drills. I felt that I needed to focus on spinning the ball because I was feeling that I was hitting and not spinning. For some reason (maybe it was the XH sponge) the ball was leaving the rubber pretty fast and that is not what I read online about this blade. Focusing on spinning that all came to me, it feels like you are dragging the ball and then launching it in the direction you want, it's a pretty weird feeling but a good one nevertheless.
Secondly my teammate started doing himself opens ups and I was focusing on blocking or eventually counter top spinning. I felt that the blade responded better to countertopspinning but nothing major in this reagard. I need more training and more time with the blade. One thing I was missing was chops and serve receive. Not that the blade was not controllable but I was touching the ball too softly, expecting the carbon to kick in but since this doesn't have carbon the touch is more "natural". I have to be more active with the receives. chopping and banana flicking then became effortless and that was the thing I enjoyed with this blade. Banana flicks are so easy to do, you just have to focus on spinning and the blade does all the work for you.
Lastly we did some games and that's the biggest reveal. I played like 10 sets and lost only the last one. Won two sets to a clubfriend of mine that is currently playing better than me and im really struggling to win against him consistently. The blade gave me confidence on my backhand that is one of the my major flaws.
One last thing I noticed is that in certain balls, like like half long balls when they rise just a little bit you can give all your power and the ball will still land on the table, something that I think with ALC the ball would just shoot out of the blade and miss the table. These balls are deadly and I feel like that's the way to go with this blade, open up slow and spinny that will allow you to answer with power.
CONCLUSIONS:
- Crisp feeling similar to ALC but a little bit tamed.
- big sweet spot like a carbon blade.
- Stable near and away from the table
- Big reserve of power. You give power and the blade responds accordingly. Feels that's more linear than ALC.
- You have to play always active. Slow balls need to be "played" and not "touched".
- Not bouncy/flexy/springy like some all wood blades, giving you more security on your shots.
- I don't think it has the ultimate power of a carbon blade but it's not slow by any means.
- Never felt in any way I needed more power.
- Probably the best blade I've played on my backhand.
- Blade needs some time to adjust given it's completely different from everything else.
- Still need to understand how to blade reacts in some balls. Sometimes I feel that the same ball and harm movement and speed give different results.
Thank you for reading and sorry for the long post. Next step is trying a softer rubber on forehand, I have a spare Dignics 80 that I will trade for the Mantra Pro XH. Would love to try a Tenergy 19 on the forehand and might glue the one that is on my Harimoto SALC on the Hugo HAL. Definitely a special blade that requires some adaptation but gives big rewards.
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