Need a purchase advice

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It's been few years since I last played and I want to get back. My children are now at age it's relevant so I'm on the search for an equipment. The variety is overwhelming.
As for myself - I'm an offensive player, I play close to the table at beginner - intermediate level (After these years probably more beginner than intermediate).
I have used a Yasaka Jean-Philippe-Gatien Extra 3D wood with Mark 5 for FH, and some Donic rubber I can't recall for BH. Before that I used to play Butterfly woods (Which were on the heavy side with a bit of a short handle that I didn't really like).
Now let's cut to the chase:
  1. For myself - I look for a descent offensive wood. FL shape handle with good rubber (I don't want a very unforgiving blade). My budget is around 150-200 USD and if there are descent choices for less money I'll be glad to hear.
  2. For the children - As far as I understand it's better to avoid ready to use premade blades but I don't want something expensive as well. My budget here is like 80 USD for a blade. A total of 160 USD. I want something that will give them some space to develop but not too expensive.
My overall budget is 300-350 USD for 3 blades. I'm open to the idea of Chinese rubbers if you think it's relevant. I'm sorry if I missed important information but I'll answer any question that will pop up.
I will highly appreciate your advice...
 
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What do you think about your current set up? Yasaka Extra 3D with Mark V. It is very forgiving. If you think it is too slow and you don't want it so much forgiving, then you can try Stiga CL. Less forgiving but if paired with Mark V, it is definitely not very unforgiving.

How old is your kids? Would they be able to use a racket the same with an adult?
 
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The current set was pretty ok but the wood is old, at least 12 years old (Are woods getting dry? The physical condition of the wood is good it's not broken or something).
My children are 8 years old boy and 11 years old girl.
 
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Hi,

For yourself - I would suggest that you start-off with an all-wood OFF- type of blade like
  • Tibhar Stratus Powerwood (5-ply Option)
  • Butterfly Petr Korbel (5-ply Option)
  • Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive (5-ply Option)
  • Stiga Clipper or Clipper CR (7-Ply Option)
  • TSP Swat / Swat Speed
  • Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro
As for rubbers for yourself
  • Yasaka Rakza 7 or Rakza Soft - You could use these on FH & BH
  • Xiom Vega Pro
  • Nitaku Fastarc G-1
  • DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 40° - 42°(If you feel inclined towards Chinese Style rubbers)
These are, by no means the most offensive type of blades and rubbers, but, I feel, they'd be a good place to start-off to mount your come-back

Okay, now for the kiddos ..
  • Stiga Allround Classic with Mark V rubbers - Tried-n-Tested through the ages .. Pretty Inexpensive..
  • Sanwei M8 + Sanwei T88-III rubbers ... Super-cheap, but don;'t be fooled by the cheap-price .. This blade & rubber combo, offers exceptional control and feel.. I've bought one my kid, as well as one for myself too
 
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Hi,

For yourself - I would suggest that you start-off with an all-wood OFF- type of blade like
  • Tibhar Stratus Powerwood (5-ply Option)
  • Butterfly Petr Korbel (5-ply Option)
  • Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive (5-ply Option)
  • Stiga Clipper or Clipper CR (7-Ply Option)
  • TSP Swat / Swat Speed
  • Tibhar Samsonov Force Pro
As for rubbers for yourself
  • Yasaka Rakza 7 or Rakza Soft - You could use these on FH & BH
  • Xiom Vega Pro
  • Nitaku Fastarc G-1
  • DHS Hurricane 3 Neo 40° - 42°(If you feel inclined towards Chinese Style rubbers)
These are, by no means the most offensive type of blades and rubbers, but, I feel, they'd be a good place to start-off to mount your come-back

Okay, now for the kiddos ..
  • Stiga Allround Classic with Mark V rubbers - Tried-n-Tested through the ages .. Pretty Inexpensive..
  • Sanwei M8 + Sanwei T88-III rubbers ... Super-cheap, but don;'t be fooled by the cheap-price .. This blade & rubber combo, offers exceptional control and feel.. I've bought one my kid, as well as one for myself too
Thanks!!!!
Where can I purchase with confidence the Sanwei brand?
I PMd you with my local buy options...

 
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Go with Tibhar Stratus Wood and put two Rakza 7 on it. You'll be a happy ponger!

As for your kids, if they are under tutelage of coach, let the coach advise.

What is the rubber thickness I need?

 
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What is the rubber thickness I need?

If FH use the max thickness no question about it but for BH it depends on your play style. If you are a blocker type, then 1.8mm for better control; if you are a looper / attacking BH, then 2.0mm for the vroom power. As for me, I'll max out both side coz I wanna go berserk and attack without a care in the world on both wings.

 
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Yasaka Extra 3D is a flexible blade. They are OK with 38mm ball. With 40+ mm plastic ball, they might be too elastic. It is a looping machine but for blocking and smashing, it is not that suitable (it can be done, but it is easier to do so with stiffer blade). Since you already have it, you can try it with cheap standard rubbers, to see if you like it.

If you want one blade that you can use for your whole life and good for allround offensive play, I would suggest Butterfly Korbel (5-ply). As a matter of fact, lots of blades from other manufacturers are made based on BTY Korbel. Even Tibhar Stratus Power Wood (listed above) is essentially a thicker, stiffer Korbel. The bad thing about Korbel is the handle is thin. Choose Korbel made in Japan, but if you can only buy Korbel made in Hungary, then it's still OK. Choose one around 90 grams.

For your kids, you can select either of these:
1. Donic Appelgren Allplay or Donic Persson Powerallround
2. Stiga Allround Classic or Stiga Allround Evolution
3. Tibhar Samsonov Premium Contact or Tibhar Samsonov Alpha
4. Yasaka Sweden Extra (basically a Yasaka Extra without the 3D techonology). Basically a similar but a bit stiffer blade compared to your Extra 3D.
 
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I came back to playing five years ago, after a 30 years absense. I've tried out many Chinese variations and here are some proposals.

The Chinese setup :) But it's impossible to know how it'll work for you. For me it's great, playing a loop and spin oriented offensive game.
DHS Power G9, 7-ply quite fast wooden blade, DHS Hurricane 3 NEO 39-41deg (FH), Yinhe Big Dipper 38-39deg (BH). You can find this for around $70

Another one. This setup is more bouncy, and you get super spin
Yinhe V-14 PRO (as mentioned), Xiom TAU II (FH) and something softer like Andro Hexer Grip SFX (BH). You can find this for around $120

For your kids. A nice allround 5-ply wooden blade could be great the first years. Something like the Stiga Allround Classic, Sanwei M-8 (as mentioned), Yinhe N10s.

Rubbers that would work fine are 729 Focus III Snipe 44deg, Palio AK47 Blue. These are cheaper, light weight controllable rubbers with enough grip and medium speed. Both quite linear to make it easy to learn the basic technique.

The kids setup would be around $40-60 depending on the blade.

 
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Yasaka Rakza 7 or Rakza Soft - You could use these on FH & BH
Agree with that, very nice product!

 
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The Xiom Tau II is amazing... I like that with the V14 pro. Imho you don't want to go too soft on (BH) rubbers with the plastic ball we use now. Rubbers like Rakza 7 soft and Hexer Grip SFX would be too unpredictable for me personally. The regular Rakza 7 or Xiom Vega pro would be nice as a BH rubber I think though.
 
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Regarding Yinhe V14-Pro, it is a good blade similar to Viscaria. However, despite the similar composition, V14-Pro is ~0.2 mm thicker than Viscaria, thus felt stiffer and faster compared to a Viscaria.

The closer equivalent to a Viscaria is Yinhe Pro-01. It is actually the exact copy of Viscaria (similar composition with similar thickness). Price of Pro-01 is similar to V14-Pro.

I can say this because I have compared Viscaria, V14 Pro and Pro 01 using the same rubbers.
 
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Thanks everyone. I ended with buying locally, Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive blade (I had very hard time to decide between it and Donic Persson Powerallround) and Rakza 7 Max FH, Rakza 7 Soft Max BH.
For the children I ordered online Sanwei M8 + Sanwei T88-III rubbers but it will take it some time to arrive.

It was also very interesting to hear about Chinese equipment as I'm sure there are plenty of quality great value for the money options. Maybe I'll try more of them later on.
 
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