Advice on choosing a budget 5-ply all-wood ALL+ blade for my son

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Hey,

my (15yo) son has been playing for 2-3 years and is still using a cheap (but decent) premade bat. I've already told him several times I could upgrade it but he wasn't so keen… until he finally accepted recently (if it doesn't cost much*). So now I'm looking at possible blades for an "improver" allround player. Ideally all-wood. Probably 5-ply. Reasonably priced. Weight should not be a problem but probably not too far on the heavy side.

I'm mostly considering blades like Yinhe W6, Yinhe E3, Yasaka Sweden Extra or Xiom Allround S, which all seem to fit the bill… but I've played with none of these.

So I'd welcome any advice on which one of those, or another one I'd have missed might be the best, and why!

Thanks.



* : my son is way too much more reasonable than I am with respect to TT equipment (I could buy a more expensive blade and hide that fact to him… but… that'd probably not make much sense)
 
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Hey,

my (15yo) son has been playing for 2-3 years and is still using a cheap (but decent) premade bat. I've already told him several times I could upgrade it but he wasn't so keen… until he finally accepted recently (if it doesn't cost much*). So now I'm looking at possible blades for an "improver" allround player. Ideally all-wood. Probably 5-ply. Reasonably priced. Weight should not be a problem but probably not too far on the heavy side.

I'm mostly considering blades like Yinhe W6, Yinhe E3, Yasaka Sweden Extra or Xiom Allround S, which all seem to fit the bill… but I've played with none of these.

So I'd welcome any advice on which one of those, or another one I'd have missed might be the best, and why!

Thanks.



* : my son is way too much more reasonable than I am with respect to TT equipment (I could buy a more expensive blade and hide that fact to him… but… that'd probably not make much sense)

The Yinhe blades you mentioned are great choices, also the MC series. Good speed, good feel, great price. Just let him choose the one that looks the coolest, I dont think there is a big difference.

 
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If he is 15 and has been playing 2-3 years, I bet that the Xiom Offensive S (a little faster than the Allround S but a reasonable speed) would work well for him.

Rakza 7, 7 Soft sound like a fine recommendation

So would Xiom Vega Pro/Europe.

Any of the other blades you were thinking of would really be fine as well.
 
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Yinhe E3, the cheapest one with the same quality with other options. Entry level rubbers from Yasaka and Butterfly are fine.

You may consider some soft 7-ply blades, like Yinhe U2 and DHS PG7. They are at the same price, and are widely introduced to beginners. You son won't have any problems with that. Sorry that I am not on OP's track, but I think those soft 7-ply blades should be more suitable than 5-ply blade. When I was a teenager and I was using 5-ply all wood blade, what was the ball then? They are faster than current balls, and I didn't have any problem. So a soft 7-ply blade is not a problem to even a new-new beginner. Once your son gets a new customized racket, he may use it for another 2-3 years, that means totally 5 years on a 5-ply all round blade. That's too much.
 
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If he plays mostly offensively. Why not a Yasaka Sweden Extra with 2.0mm Yasaka Rakza 7 on each side. (or maybe 1.8mm on BH). Cheers L-zr

I agree with this. Your son has been playing with a premade. So All+ blade is more suitable. If you think Rakza 7 is too fast, you can try Yasaka Mark V. Yasaka Sweden Extra was previously named Yasaka Gatien Extra and was used by Gatien (former world champion 1993). So, it is a good proven blade used by professional before. Yasaka Extra was also used by Ma Lin and Wang Hao, before they changed to another blade.

Reading other comments, I think Xiom Allround S is suitable as well, judging by the Allround category. But I have not tried Allround S so I can't say much.

However, I don't agree with the suggestion of Xiom Offensive S. I have this blade, it is faster than Butterfly Korbel (Japan version), thicker and stiffer. If your son is accustomed to premade, this will be a huge jump in speed.

If you don't like Yasaka blades, I can suggest few ALL+ blades:
1. Donic Appelgren Allplay, Donic Persson Powerallround, or Donic Waldner senso v1 (yellow handle)
2. Stiga Allround Evolution
3. Butterfly Primorac Off- (don't worry about the Off- designation, it is All+ blade with the plastic ball), but price-wise, it might be the most expensive among other blades I suggested.
4. Tibhar Samsonov Premium Contact

Actually, Donic Persson Powerallround, Stiga Allround Evolution and Tibhar Samsonov Premium Contact are blades with similar composition, only differ in head size and handle size.

Donic Waldner senso v1, Primorac Off- and Joola K5 are also blades with similar composition.

 
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Hey,

my (15yo) son has been playing for 2-3 years and is still using a cheap (but decent) premade bat. I've already told him several times I could upgrade it but he wasn't so keen… until he finally accepted recently (if it doesn't cost much*). So now I'm looking at possible blades for an "improver" allround player. Ideally all-wood. Probably 5-ply. Reasonably priced. Weight should not be a problem but probably not too far on the heavy side.

I'm mostly considering blades like Yinhe W6, Yinhe E3, Yasaka Sweden Extra or Xiom Allround S, which all seem to fit the bill… but I've played with none of these.

So I'd welcome any advice on which one of those, or another one I'd have missed might be the best, and why!

Thanks.



* : my son is way too much more reasonable than I am with respect to TT equipment (I could buy a more expensive blade and hide that fact to him… but… that'd probably not make much sense)
I would personally vouch for Stiga Classic Allround WRB and here are my reasons:

i) It is cheap and will not burn a hole in your pocket.

ii) It is a very customisable blade. Should you want to play Euro-looping style, no problem! Just put on Donic M1 and M2 and voila. Should you want to play chinese style, then glue chinese tacky rubber on it. The reason is because it is a middle of everything kind of blade. It is very adjustable. I know, as I have experimented with so many different types of rubber on this blade over the years.

iii) On to the more important reason why I prefer this blade. But first, let me tell you, this is my first serious TT blade and I have had it since my first foray into the world of TT sport many years back. I am still keeping it and regular play with it even in tourney. I have had many blades and I have sold some but this is definitely a keeper. The reason I really like this blade is because it is a flexy blade that gives clear and crisp feedback aka it has great feeling i.e. vibration. Why is this important?

iv) It is important because feeling is a very important feedback mechanism to facilitate control. The WRB version enhances even more this feeling to our proprioceptors in our playing hand.

v) I use Hard Chinese Tacky rubber on FH and hard Euro tensor rubber on BH and. Although it is rated ALL+, when used with appropriate rubber, it can generate enough power when proper stroke is utilised.

All in all, I think of all the points above I have mentioned, the most important reasons I vouch for this blade is written in point no. (iii) & (iv).

Hope this helps. I am just sharing my personal experience, different people may have different mileage.

 
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Thanks all for the suggestions and explanations!

I'll check with him how comfortable he would feel if it were a slightly more offensive blade than what I had in mind (either a soft 7-ply, or some of the slightly more offensive 5-ply options given), but I suspect he'll prefer to stay on the ALL side rather than OFF side.
My son doesn't play defense at all (yet?), but has a very "waiting" pushing game, before (quite late and mostly FH) looping (attempts).

I'll also check with him for the looks part, because if he falls in love with the looks of the blade, I'm sure he'll find the blade even better than it already is ;)

Thanks again, love that positive TT community!
 
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However, I don't agree with the suggestion of Xiom Offensive S. I have this blade, it is faster than Butterfly Korbel (Japan version), thicker and stiffer. If your son is accustomed to premade, this will be a huge jump in speed.

I think your suggestions of blades are good. The reason I disagree with you on the Offensive S (I think Korbel would be fine as well) is, a 15 year old, who has been playing 2-3 years will be fine with a slightly faster setup. If he was an adult, NO. But for a kid, he will be able to handle and adapt to it. And an Offensive S is not so fast. I have played with Korbels that were faster than Offensive Ss and I have played with Offensive Ss that were faster than Korbels. But I think either would be an acceptable speed and a 15 year old might not only be fine with the slightly faster Off- blade. He may really enjoy using it.

For adults, I would recommend how you have with All, All+ low end Off- blades. But for a kid of 15 who can learn exponentially faster than an adult, a slightly faster blade would be fine.

I know many kids who at that age and younger were using Viscaria or TB ALC and they got pretty good pretty fast. I know a kid who went from 900 to 2600 (USATT rating) using a TB ALC the whole time. :)

If the slightly faster blade makes the kid have more fun, he very well may play more.

It is okay if we don't agree. I am just explaining why I would recommend a slightly faster blade for the kid.
 
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It is okay if we don't agree. I am just explaining why I would recommend a slightly faster blade for the kid.

No worry 😃. It is OK to disagree on a particular topic in TT forum. There is no right or wrong here, as we don't know the playing level of the kid, given the limited information. I can understand your explanation regarding Korbel and Offensive S.

I read that many beginners use Clipper (or even Viscaria) in China and use Korbel in Korea. As long as the kid practices regularly or receive proper training from a TT coach, he/she can get used to using Korbel or Offensive S pretty quick. And he/she does not need to upgrade again as Korbel / Offensive S is still suitable for intermediate to advanced level of playing.

 
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