Help: Need recommendation for new equipment

So I have been playing for a couple months now and I've been using Hurricane 3 Neo on my forehand (black) and Palio AK-47 Blue Sponge for my backhand (red) with a Yinhe 896 blade. I'm planning to keep Hurricane on my forehand and replace the Ak with a similar type. I definitely want to replace my blade since I sometimes get splinters and some of the wood is already chipping off. I'm mainly an all around player but I love spin and my serves, hence having Hurricane on my forehand. I'm mainly looking for a better blade and a better backhand rubber that is good for blocking, and have amazing feeling. Also, I am on a budget so the most I would spend would be around 50 for the blade and around 50 for rubber. Can anyone help out? Keep in mind that I'm in the US so I mainly go to amazon to get my equipment.
 

NDH

says Spin to win!
So I have been playing for a couple months now and I've been using Hurricane 3 Neo on my forehand (black) and Palio AK-47 Blue Sponge for my backhand (red) with a Yinhe 896 blade. I'm planning to keep Hurricane on my forehand and replace the Ak with a similar type. I definitely want to replace my blade since I sometimes get splinters and some of the wood is already chipping off. I'm mainly an all around player but I love spin and my serves, hence having Hurricane on my forehand. I'm mainly looking for a better blade and a better backhand rubber that is good for blocking, and have amazing feeling. Also, I am on a budget so the most I would spend would be around 50 for the blade and around 50 for rubber. Can anyone help out? Keep in mind that I'm in the US so I mainly go to amazon to get my equipment.
I’ll throw out the classic…. Do you have any video of you playing?

Generally speaking, someone playing for a few months should be using a very controlled “all around” blade with slow rubbers.

Hurricane 3, is a massively versatile rubber, but still probably a touch too quick for a beginner.

For the blade, you can’t go wrong with the Butterfly Primorac All Around.

I personally like to see beginners stick with the same rubber on both sides - Sriver is my go to, because it’s tried and tested!

 
I don't have any vids of my playing.

I started off with a pre made Timo Boll 3000 before covid and resumed late 2021. I just changed to my current equipment around March.

Took a look at the Primorac and looks expensive! Must be worth the value.

And for Sriver, what thickness do you recommend for my backhand?

Thanks for your help NDH!
 

NDH

says Spin to win!
I don't have any vids of my playing.

I started off with a pre made Timo Boll 3000 before covid and resumed late 2021. I just changed to my current equipment around March.

Took a look at the Primorac and looks expensive! Must be worth the value.

And for Sriver, what thickness do you recommend for my backhand?

Thanks for your help NDH!

I’ll state the obvious, but without seeing you play, it’s very hard to recommend anything accurately.

Is the Primorac worth the value? Probably not.

Butterfly are the Apple of table tennis. Their products are very good quality, but on the more expensive side.

I’m sure others can recommend similar blades from cheaper manufacturers (you can also search).

As for the thickness, I’d go 1.8/1.9 on both sides to start off with.

 
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Couple things:
1. Don't go to amazon, they don't have much selection and prices are meh at best. Paddle Palace and Megaspin are your friends, very reputable and reasonable pricing. Megaspin will assemble your paddle for free as well, and they do a pretty good job, can't speak to paddle palace but if they offer it, I'm sure it's fine.

2. For the equipment, I understand why NDH recommended what he did, but I also think that butterfly stuff is a bit behind the times/overpriced for what it is, especially sriver. Rubber has come a loooong way in the past few years, especially in terms of durability and price/performance.

Here's a couple things you can take a look at, and kinda make the decision for yourself what to try. I never like just giving someone one option and saying "Here, get this" because next time they won't know much about it and will once again be guessing what to move on to. So do some basic research, and make some mistakes, it's the only way to find out what you really like. Prices are listed from either megaspin (MS) or paddle palace (PP), check both, there is some overlap in what they offer, and they change prices kinda frequently.

Blades: I will recommend a few that are good quality from less overpriced brands, pick what you think you'll like, or just whichever you think looks the coolest, they are all great places to start that can work for a lot of playstyles. These are generally a little faster than your typical all/all- beginner blades, since I think it lets you grow with the blade a bit more, by starting with slower rubber and moving up to faster rubber when ready. I also find that really slow blades with really slow beginner rubbers feel like mush and aren't any fun to actually, you know, play with, which defeats the point. These are all reputable brands, you should not have quality issues.

Yasaka Sweden Extra $40 @MS - This and the XIOM are the fastest, but this still has great control and feeling, so I feel good about recommending it to a beginner.

Andro Gauzy BL5 All $40 @PP - I haven't used this personally, but it is well known for having great control, and other andro blades I have used were of good quality for the money.

Donic Waldner Exclusive AR+ $33 @PP - A basic allround blade at a good price.

Xiom Allround S $55 @MS - little pricier, but XIOM makes really high quality stuff for the price, they are like the anti-butterfly IMO.

Rubber: I think combined with one of the above All+ blades, you should be perfectly fine choosing a good beginner rubber. Even though I say beginner rubber, these are all sheets that have enough spin and speed to win you points, and will generally be fun to play with. I think rubbers are much more subjective than blades, so instead of reading reviews till your head spins, just get something and try it for a good amount of time. I agree with NDH that same on forehand and backhand is a good idea.

Don't get your head set that you need hurricane to have spinny serves. The best server in my club uses non-tacky European rubber. It's just about form, and what you are used to. When you change your paddle, rubber or blade, it's going to feel like your serves get much worse. Because it is such a precise motion, the change in weight, even if slight, will completely throw you off. The only thing you can do is practice a bunch and get used to the new feeling. I will recommend against continuing with hurricane for now, because it is just plain hard to use if you don't have correct form, and will make it harder to learn that correct form if you don't want to spend all day practicing. Ask other players in your club, I doubt many, if any, of them play with plain commercial hurricane (especially without boosting it, which is a whole other thing). Basic hurricane gets sold like crazy because of its sibling's (higher quality rubber with the same name) popularity with the pros, but it is not a good beginner rubber. If you have a bit more money to spend, I think you should try Yasaka Rakza Z, it is tacky on top in a similar way to hurricane, but has a european/japanese style tensor sponge that makes it much easier to use.

Xiom vega intro $28 @MS - this is what I would personally go with, it's a modern (tensor) beginner rubber, and will make it easier to transition to modern intermediate rubbers, compared to something like Sriver or Yasaka Mark V that is not particularly similar to modern rubbers. Good for forehand and backhand. IMO, this is better quality than similar new style intro rubbers like Andro Plaxon or Joola Axxess.

Hurricane 3-50 $30 @MS - I will not recommend this, unless you are dead set on becoming a Chinese-style looper. It is slow and hard to use if you are not willing to put in the effort to learn the proper techniques for looping, and will also make other shots harder to execute and much less consistent as you learn. If you are still dead set on Chinese tacky rubber, this is much better for a beginner than regular hurricane 3 neo. Don't put this on your backhand, get one of the others.

Joola Rhyzen CMD $40 @MS - A little higher end than the XIOM, a bit more spin/speed potential if you use it right, but still very controllable. Good option if you feel like stretching your budget a bit. Might be a little too fast for a purely beginner rubber, but I'll leave that to you to decide, since I don't have any reference for how good your form is.

Andro Plaxon 400 $30 @PP - A fine intro tensor rubber, to me it feels like a slightly more modern Mark V, with more catapult and better feeling. Not as good as the Xiom Vega Intro, but if for some reason you need to order from PP, get this. PP just doesn't have much budget selection for rubbers for some reason.
 

Brs

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Tabletennis11.com is way better value for Americans than our domestic websites. This week you could get a Donic Waldner senso v1 blade and a sheet of xiom vega Europe for $52 combined. That leaves the other $50 in your budget for shoes, clothes, balls, or glue, whatever else you need. Spend over €90 and you get free DHL delivery in 3-4 days, faster than padllepalace to the east coast.

If you don't fancy the Waldner and Vega Europe (which is a very good choice for your bh imo), just wait until Monday and tt11 will have a whole new set of weekly specials.
 
Thanks for all the recommendations! I shopped on amazon because I wasn't too sure about the other websites and if they're legit but if you guys are recommending them then I guess they're legit. Might leap towards that deal on tt 11 for the xion vega euro and the donic waldner blade. I got 19 hours to make up my mind lol feeding two birds with one scone with this one. Also, I got a question about glue. I got a bottle of huieson glue and it smells. Any other recommendation on different glue options?
 
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Yasaka extra offensive is another great option.

I have to disagree. YEO I think is terrible for beginners. I think's it's a little too fast, and the outerwood is a little too hard. I personally started with yeo and I struggled to control it until 5-7 months later.

However it could be that I improved and that's why I could control it.

 
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Yes, I've placed several orders with TT11 over the last year without any issues. I recommend TT11 to everyone because they have significantly better prices than Megaspin/Paddle Palace with volume discounts (and you don't pay sales tax), their shipping is super quick (3-5 business days to the US from Estonia) and their customer service is responsive as well. I also like PingPongDepot out of Canada for Butterfly equipment as TT11 doesn't sell Butterfly in the US.
 
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Normally, I would see a thread like this when after a few pints would say something like purchase a club membership and coaching pack special.

However, you have the 896 blade (which I am famous for using as a very inexpensive and effective backup bat...) AND in USA, in the great majority of places, you are no where near a club (unless you are lucky to be around a city with many immigrants.

You do not want to spend much, so you would be constricted to buying from Colestt.com and that is not much of a restriction at all, he sells a wide range of gear suitable for a wide range of level and style.

I would need to see how you play... but without seeing you play and assuming you want to be a topspin based player, I would say get stuff suited to make topspin easier and safer... That means an Off- kinda wood blade and some soft control oriented rubbers.

W6 with a softer sponged rubber like Venus III Soft

That may not sound very sexy, but it is very inexpensive and very appropriate for someone wanting to develop a topspin based game.
 
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