Recently I have been trying out 2 different Viscarias from 2 different friends. One of them got it through the sponsership deal and its nice and heavy. My other friend got it from china for cheaper I think but it was INCREDIBLY light, lighter than my wood blade (and no its not viscaria light). Is this inconsistency due to manufacturing or was it a fake product?
Is viscaria supposed to be heavy instead of light? I'm considering on buying one. (The viscarias i tried had tenergy on both sides)
This is a great question. A Viscaria bought in China certainly could be a fake, but perfectly genuine ones can be very light these days. Here is more detail:
For the first several generations of Viscaria, a very light one would be about 88 grams, and they could be as much as 96 g, probably averaging around 92 or so. They have a fantastic feel at that weight. When I first started using this blade, around 2006 (??), you never had to specify a weight. They just came around that weight and +/- 2 grams really didn't matter to me much. Starting somewhere around 2-3 years ago, I noticed that they started making them lighter, and I have seen several for sale in the 84 gram range, some even at 82 gram (which is even lighter than a blade they used to sell called the Viscaria Light). A Viscaria < or = 84 grams plays like a different blade. I think they feel hollow compared to the older ones and I don't like them (and I use Tenergy 05 on both sides). People who think they want lighter blades would be perfectly ok with an 88-90 gram blade if they took a couple of weeks to get used to it. If you look at the blades used by better players they tend to be heavier.
What weight is this blade supposed to be? In my opinion, the blade was always supposed to be around 90-92 grams -- as it was for many generations of its production (and that is the minimum weight of most pro players who use them). I have no idea how they accomplish the lower weight in recent years. Possibly by hollowing the handle? Using a different handle material? Changing the thickness of the center ply? Using a different gluing process? Something else? It is not a good trend.
The problem is they are not so easy to find sometimes now, and you may not be able to specify a weight from your vendor, or they may not have any heavy ones. You would almost be better off getting a used one of known weight.
