Vodak 4APC King

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VODAK 4APC King

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VODAK 4APC King

Available at: www.vodak-dreva.cz (The website is in Czech but if you open it using Google Chrome it will automatically translate the site for you.)

Blade composition: Limba – APC – Limba – APC – Kiri – APC – Limba – APC – Limba

Blade construction: I’ve said this for all the Vodak blades I’ve reviewed, and I’ll say it again: the quality is up there with the very best you can get. Any of you who’ve used blades made by top blade-makers (of which there are several in the TTD community) will know what I mean: their blades are a cut above commercially produced products. The well-respected reviewer Yogi Bear said of another Vodak blade (I think it was the Rebel Carbon Off) that it is the best ‘bang for the buck’ blade available at the moment – he’s 100% right and that applies equally to the 4APC King: at a similar price I don’t know of any mainstream blades that compete on quality.

Blade dimensions: 157mm x 152mm x 6.0mm. Note that Vodak make their blades to order and will make any of the following sizes for no additional charge:
  • 157mm x 150mm
  • 157mm x 152mm
  • 157mm x 156mm
  • 162mm x 156mm
Blade weight: 87.5g

Handle: ‘Anatomical’ style at 105mm by request (Standard length is 100mm).

Tested with: Nittaku Fastarc G-1 (max.) FH & Stiga DNA Pro M (max.) BH

First impressions: Superior control and precision; surprisingly soft feeling for an outer-fibre blade. The 4APC King (I’m just going to call it King from now on) offers incredible control for a stiff 9-layer (5 wood + 4 APC) blade, enabling very precise ball placement. An analogy might help (but only if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan!): The King feels like the kind of weapon that Legolas would choose (ie. nimble, precise, sharp, deadly-accurate) rather than the battle-axe kind of weapon Gimli would use. I know that won’t make any sense to some of you but, to others, that’s pretty much all I need to say!

Speed: The base speed is quite low – I would say around ALL. But … as you apply more force, so you discover more and more ‘gears’ and the top-end speed is more than sufficient. The interesting thing is that it feels very different at the top end to, for example, the Vodak M. Horejsi ALC (see reviews on TTD and RevSpin). Whereas the Horejsi is an ‘innerfibre’ construction with some flex that imparts power through a ‘whip’ action, the King is very stiff with no flex at all and when you really bang on the power the 4 layers of APC seem to come alive!

Feel: A gentle, soft touch on low-impact shots. A stiff, sharp connection on high-impact shots. I don’t know the technical details of how Vodak achieved this, but the King seems to have an incredible range of gears. I also don’t know the technical details of what APC is compared to ALC, ZLC and other synthetic fibres but, to me, it feels softer than others I’ve used. Another reviewer said that the APC feels to him very similar to Super ZLC. When you play gently with it, it feels soft and easy. I know folks will debate whether ‘dwell time’ is a real thing or not, but we all know the difference between a blade that ‘feels’ like it gives good dwell time compared to one that feels like it doesn’t. Well, the King gives the feeling of good dwell time on all shots. Even so , when you connect with force it feels sharp, stiff and quick. It also has the largest sweet-spot of any blade I’ve used. Basically, it doesn’t have a sweet ‘spot’ – the whole thing is just sweet!

Arc / trajectory: I found it produced a slightly lower arc than the Horejsi ALC on most shots, but that the trajectory was more constant. The Horejsi probably gave me a marginally higher arc in the low-to-mid range, but was more direct on high-powered shots. The King was ‘medium’ throughout on the FH side, but more direct on the BH.

Loops: This is a blade for those who want to win points on precision placement rather than brute power. Again, think Legolas rather than Gimli! The soft touch allows easier forehand opening loops than with other stiff blades, and very precise and controlled follow-ups with high-spin and a direct trajectory. It won’t give you the same level of outright, top-end power as, for example, the Vodak Horejsi ALC Entech (or something similar like a DHS Long 5), but it’s still a quick blade when you go for it. On the backhand it’s amazing! Whereas the Horejsi ALC Entech is my favourite blade for FH loops, the King is far and away the best BH attack blade I’ve used. So much so that I’ve seriously considered adopting the King as my main blade.

Flicks: Excellent! The soft touch combined with stiff response when you apply force means it’s the perfect blade for quick flick attacks.

Block: Very good on active blocks, as you’d expect of a stiff blade. It’s probably not the best blade for passive blockers though.

Chop: Easy. I found it easy to chop from both near and far, and to switch from chops to loops and back again with no problems at all. The stiffness of the blade means it’s super-predictable and therefore easy to adjust the force of your own impact to control the trajectory of your chops very well.

Serve: The soft feel of the King (on low impact shots) makes it easy to impart lots of spin on serves and to vary placement, angle and speed of delivery.

Control: Very high! The King behaves absolutely predictably and enables very precise, accurate play across the full range of shots.

Overall: The King is a special blade in that it enables easier spin generation than most outer-fibre blades and in that, whereas most outer-fibre blades are purely offensive blades, the King would support an allround player just as well. If you are an all-out power attacker (think Hugo Calderano, FZD, Ma Long, Dimitri Ovtcharov) then there are probably other blades better suited to you. That said, the King would suit a player like Lin Yun-Ju perfectly – still an awesome attacking player, but who relies more on precision and timing than on physical power. It would equally suit players like Simon Gauzy (who plays with superb ‘touch’ and can switch from weird, tricky shots to acutely-angled bullets in the blink of an eye) or Mima Ito (close to the table, super-quick reflexes, and sharp, precise shots). All in all, the King is something special and deserves to be thought of in the very top echelon of blades at the moment. Given the exchange rates and prices at the time of this review, the King is around one-third of the price of the top Butterfly Super ZLC blades – and it’s at least their equal for quality. That’s some serious value for money!

Those of you who’ve read my reviews of other Vodak blades will know that, by now, I’m completely sold on them: Vodak blades are (in my opinion, for my playing style, and compared to everything else I’ve tried) simply the best available at the moment. 👍

See some other reviews of the King on this site here:
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?25249-Review-Vodak-M-Horejsi-EnTech-ALC-OFF&p=352839&viewfull=1#post352839
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?25249-Review-Vodak-M-Horejsi-EnTech-ALC-OFF&p=351270&viewfull=1#post351270
 
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