How to review a blade properly?

This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Aug 2021
1,956
347
2,319
I have been circling back and forth around a few blades that I have, and I cant decide which one is best for me. I can feel some have more vibration, some are more bouncy, and some are stiffer. But I cant decide whether those attributes are good or bad.

One racket i felt was really bouncy and soft and I initially thought was the worst racket i have, but after getting used to it felt was quite strong in looping. In the end i played some if my best with it.

Another was Stiga Offensive which has vibration. So is the vibration what makes it good? Because my shots are not more consistent or spinnier necessarily. Isnt having better shots the ultimate goal?

Another racket is carbon and is harder and stiffer. It feels very stable and reliable, so i initially felt it was the best. But so many people say stiff rackets are actually bad, so I actually have no idea what makes a good racket.

Any insightful advice?
 
There is no correct answer, It’s all about personal preference. A stiffer blade is generally faster than a softer. The softer is generally easier to control and with the stiffer you can make shots with less effort. But really there is more to it than this...

The best racket is the one that makes you play the best...

Cheers
L-zr
 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Member
Jan 2020
487
316
1,244
Faster blade tends to be stiffer and gives you less feedback. (I.e. it makes you feel less vibration, or vibration frequency is higher…) But it’s not 1-1. Also even feel varies from one person to another. Some prefer a lot of vibration to feel. Some prefer it to be subtle.

In term of usability, spin, speed, touch etc. They behave differently too. However, if you are still developing, you shouldn’t pay attention to them. You’ll have a lot of weaknesses that could be much easier to address by technique improvements. And you should get used to the blade you choose.

But here are the keys (for me, as I realise myself and also as experienced / solid technique players told me)

(1) It must help you feel the ball. No balls are the same. If you feel they are the same, then the bat is not good. (A lot of players confuse between being consistent and lack of feel. If you use a very hard carbon blade, it gives you an illusion of consistency because all balls feel the same. Consistency is to make different balls come out of your blade the same, not the other way round)
(1) It must give you the confidence to swing. A lot of carbon-blade users in my club use most of their muscle to actually slow the swing down. It makes you both less efficient and prone to injury. It sounds stupid but a too fast blade will slow you down.
(3) It must help you spin easier, not to make more spin. My previous blade, an innerforce type, is obviously spinnier than my current one, a pure fibre type, but it’s difficult for me to spin when the ball is tricky. So it’s not good (for me, that is).

In the end of the day. Think about it this way. The blade is your tool to interact with and understand the ball. It’s NOT how you interact with the Blade itself.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Jul 2018
1,011
554
1,962
This is how I approached it last time I bothered with extensive back to back:

https://i.imgur.com/6z9JXW5.jpeg

6z9JXW5.jpeg


A lot of it is subjective, but try enough different types of blades and you'll get a feel for the general trend. There is a difference between "feel" on different impacts than simply more or less vibration. Surface hardness and overall solidity along with relative stiffness can lead to very subjective conclusions on feel. Best to have a benchmark, like I did with a Stiga Clipper.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Tinykin and latej
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Aug 2021
1,956
347
2,319
Once I get used to the feeling, honestly I can loop back and forth with the same consistency among any of the blades. They just feel different in regards to the bounciness, vibration, stiffness, etc. Thats why I struggle to review the blade itself, once I get used to it, they all perform more or less the same.
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Nov 2020
1,040
750
3,898
This is how I approached it last time I bothered with extensive back to back:

https://i.imgur.com/6z9JXW5.jpeg

6z9JXW5.jpeg


A lot of it is subjective, but try enough different types of blades and you'll get a feel for the general trend. There is a difference between "feel" on different impacts than simply more or less vibration. Surface hardness and overall solidity along with relative stiffness can lead to very subjective conclusions on feel. Best to have a benchmark, like I did with a Stiga Clipper.

Pretty cool table. Which ones are your favorites now?
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Jul 2018
1,011
554
1,962
Pretty cool table. Which ones are your favorites now?
One's like the A8N on the far right.
“Cavitation”. How does that concept apply to a blade?
Subjective feel, not sure if the term is used correctly, but the finger tip sensation of "buckling/softness" when hitting hard. Usually corresponds with thicker but softer blades or ones with "hard shell but soft center". More relevant for penhold players with fingers behind the contact area than shakehand.

 
Last edited:
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2019
1,854
851
3,212
Read 4 reviews
The thing I am most annoyed by the TT blades reviews is that they are mostly done on a sample size of 1. They are mostly wooden. Wood is not always grown the same. When you buy the same model blade you have no guarantee the blade will feel the same. Having a bigger sample size would be nice.

I've tried a lot of examples of the same model blade from Tibhar and they never played the same (they had the same rubbers). They never felt the same. That is why I prefer to test drive TT stuff I buy before trying before. It limits my choice heavily, but it has some pros. A user here Konrad Bąk had quite a talent for finding gems of blades.
 
The thing I am most annoyed by the TT blades reviews is that they are mostly done on a sample size of 1. They are mostly wooden. Wood is not always grown the same. When you buy the same model blade you have no guarantee the blade will feel the same. Having a bigger sample size would be nice.

I've tried a lot of examples of the same model blade from Tibhar and they never played the same (they had the same rubbers). They never felt the same. That is why I prefer to test drive TT stuff I buy before trying before. It limits my choice heavily, but it has some pros. A user here Konrad Bąk had quite a talent for finding gems of blades.
This is true, but it’s better than nothing. For a quality brand the differences should not be huge, and you get an idea. I enjoy them but I take them with a tiny grain of salt...

Cheers
L-zr

 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2019
1,854
851
3,212
Read 4 reviews
This is true, but it’s better than nothing. For a quality brand the differences should not be huge, and you get an idea. I enjoy them but I take them with a tiny grain of salt...

Cheers
L-zr

Based on my experience that grain of salt should be quite big. Imho reviews should be a rough guideline. Kind of like 80 grit sandpaper. You ain't gonna get mirror finish with it, but it does remove a lot of unwanted material. Imho reviews should only be a very very rough guideline to what you might want to look for. Especially when it comes to serial production blades. TBH I might sound like a dork, but on the low end there is nothing really mind-blowing, all of them are fine for what they are, even butterfly blades (which for some reason are the most prominent idol goal blades). Witnessed and played with quite a bunch of blades over the last couple of years I do not see that much difference. Imho Viscaria and V14 Pro are within striking distance of each other. I cannot see the reason for spending money on those super high-end butterfly serial production blades (no matter the brand with few exceptions, like Donic Ovtcharov No.1 Senso, Joola ZeLeBRO, some of the very high-end blades of Butterfly, Xiom Omega Tour blade).

Over those I years, a concept grew on me that, when you are spending that kind of money and you are not playing for life, the better option is custom. You are then outside of chains of serial production and you can get whatever the heck you want, without messing up with research. You get what you want, and you get what you pay for and not pay for the name of the player on the handle. That OSP Virtuoso hecking masterpiece. Based on what I got with the wood version I cannot imagine the Arylate Carbon version not being on par with the top of the line competition offerings. Going that route you don't have to bother with comparison to anything, because the blade is made to just suite you.

Right now I will prolly never buy a new serial production blade :p I've been playing with the same setup for last year, and I cannot imagine anything better (Ovtcharov No.1 Senso / Virtuoso). If my Ovtcharov No.1 Breaks I will probably go to SDC for the long pushed back blade we've talked about many moons ago :p

 
  • Like
Reactions: latej
Actually I got 8 very different blades ranging from all- to off+. Only one one of them had an idol name attached to it and this was given to me. But it seems like I always go back to the same brand used in the70’s , Butterfly.
Their data sheets I find quite accurate and the quality even. If they say blade A is faster than blade B, it normally is..., but you have to remember that the data sheet reflects an average, that’s good enough for me this is not an exact science...


Cheers
L-zr
 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2019
1,854
851
3,212
Read 4 reviews
Actually I got 8 very different blades ranging from all- to off+. Only one one of them had an idol name attached to it and this was given to me. But it seems like I always go back to the same brand used in the70’s , Butterfly.
Their data sheets I find quite accurate and the quality even. If they say blade A is faster than blade B, it normally is..., but you have to remember that the data sheet reflects an average, that’s good enough for me this is not an exact science...


Cheers
L-zr

That is another issue I have with blades. The speed is not a single number or a position in a chart. From my experience, it is more of a function of user input. Please summon brokenball here, because I do not know If I am right or just imagining things.

Sorry for the comparison, but I have issues with explaining it otherwise. Let's consider blades as internal combustion engines and I will try to compare different types of them to some of the well-known blades.


  • Innerforce Layer ALC - kind of turbo economy car engine. Good low end torque, easy to drive, no big thrills, gets work done. Lacks a bit in the top range.
  • Viscaria - typical square gas engine. Decent bottom range torque, decent top power. Good allrounder.
  • Donic Ovtcharov No. 1 Senso (probably there is a butterfly counterpart I do not know about, sorry) - race engine, nothing much going low rpm, but high rev range shines giving a ton of power.
 

That is another issue I have with blades. The speed is not a single number or a position in a chart. From my experience, it is more of a function of user input. Please summon brokenball here, because I do not know If I am right or just imagining things.

Sorry for the comparison, but I have issues with explaining it otherwise. Let's consider blades as internal combustion engines and I will try to compare different types of them to some of the well-known blades.


  • Innerforce Layer ALC - kind of turbo economy car engine. Good low end torque, easy to drive, no big thrills, gets work done. Lacks a bit in the top range.
  • Viscaria - typical square gas engine. Decent bottom range torque, decent top power. Good allrounder.
  • Donic Ovtcharov No. 1 Senso (probably there is a butterfly counterpart I do not know about, sorry) - race engine, nothing much going low rpm, but high rev range shines giving a ton of power.
I agree, but I find the Butterfly innerforce blades are overestimating the speed properties so I assume they are measured for hard shots. I agree a graph with force on one axis and speed on the other would be more appropriate. But that would confuse the hell out of most people...

 
This user has no status.
This user has no status.
Well-Known Member
Oct 2019
1,854
851
3,212
Read 4 reviews
I agree, but I find the Butterfly innerforce blades are overestimating the speed properties so I assume they are measured for hard shots. I agree a graph with force on one axis and speed on the other would be more appropriate. But that would confuse the hell out of most people...

That why I said that the only way to evaluate a blade is to actually play with it. And I will agree that unfortunately talking with people in the club and swapping setups is the only possible way of finding the right gear. Or just buying thin Clipper... That thing is so universal...

 

That why I said that the only way to evaluate a blade is to actually play with it. And I will agree that unfortunately talking with people in the club and swapping setups is the only possible way of finding the right gear. Or just buying thin Clipper... That thing is so universal...

And I disagree I think I can decode Butterfly’s specs pretty good.

 
Top