Carbon or All-Wood?

So, this year I've used two (really) different blades, paired with Mantra rubbers:
-The Azalea Allround and the Acoustic Carbon

Here are my thoughts:

The Azalea Allround is my favorite blade out of all the ones I've tried. I felt like it gave me tons of control and feeling, which made me feel a lot of safety when executing my shots. It helped me improve a lot (mostly with consistency). Blocking, serving, looping, pushing, pretty much everything was great.

I've decided to move to a blade people talk about quite a lot and that I had been wanting to try out for a long time, the Acoustic Carbon. Thinking about it now, it was a really dumb decision. Right off the bat I felt I lost the precious control and feeling I had with the All-wood blade (which was expected, since I chose a "hard" carbon blade).
Guess what else vanished?
Safety and consistency. I started hesitating a lot when playing, which led to a lot of frustration (and losses). This made me develop a series of bad habits, which affected me during practice and games. I couldn't get used to it at all (I've been using it for about 3 months).

I'm not prepared to handle the power of carbon.

And that's why I prefer All-Wood

This thread could also serve as a warning for people wanting to change to carbon. Make sure you're prepared before doing it.

vik2000 said:

Thanks for sharing OP. I think many experienced folks can relate to your story. It's important to move up to a faster blade once your technique improves. I see too many low level players out there using the typical Viscaria and the likes yet they have no idea how to control such a fast blade. Makes me facepalm even more when they pursue a even faster blade because they think they are losing because of the lack of speed.

When you tried Acoustic carbon, did you keep the same rubber? Also, was it the Acoustic carbon or Acoustic inner carbon? I suggest just going with the regular Acoustic if you want to pick up a faster blade. It's a noticeably faster blade than Azalea and while still allows you to maintain a good level of control.

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I did keep the same rubbers (Mantra) and it's an Acoustic Carbon.
I hope my thread is read by people (that might not be prepared) wanting to change to carbon and learn from my mistakes.

Baal said:

Dont buy blades you haven't tried. Instead try uout your clubmate's blades. Keeps you from making costly mistakes.

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Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind.

Hysteresis said:

A lot of it has to do more with speed than the hardness of the blade.

Faster, but still wood feeling blades will also lose you consistency at first.

That said, unless you spend a double digit number of hours training a week, the confidence a slower all wood blade gives you to really go for your shots, trumps the extra power of a faster carbon blade every time. You don't really gain any power if you are always holding back on your shots.

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Makes sense. I agree. For my level, consistency is more important than power.

laistrogian said:

Sounds more like you are not used to the faster handle than just not liking carbon in the first place.

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Yes, pretty much, I guess.

Astorix said:

it`s all in your head

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Maybe it is...

langel said:

Its a matter of experience, level, style and mood.
Every blade can be controlled consistently when the blade fits you.
Sometimes the synergy with a new blade takes just a month, sometimes it takes 6 months or even more and it doesn't depend on level and experience, some players are just more sensitive to changes and adapt slower to differences.
Its good to begin with allwood, but at some point its alaways better to switch to composite if you want to develope modern offensive style, though some experienced players prefer to keep to allwood.
But to find whats best for you at the different stages of your development you have to know the differences between wood types, carbon types, blade structure types, you have to try them when available from friends and in the club, and at some point you'll start to know what to expect from a particular blade, what kind of performance you are looking for and what suits you most.

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Yup, that's probably a better idea. I'm still a noobie when it comes to equipment.

zeio said:

USD$50, shipped.

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Ouch lol