trying to pick a balanced setup

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As the title says, I am not so sure about the setup I am planning to buy.
I have only bought premade rackets up until now and just play competitively with my friends I am now transitioning to a custom made racket and am really confused.
I picked mainly parts from AliExpress (because they ship to my country) and 1 that ships freely from amazon, the list:
Blade: Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive FL
FH rubber: DHS NEO HURRICANE 3 41h
BH rubber: DHS hurricane 3-50 37h
no clue which glue and tape to pick
and I thought about boosting with baby oil because I can.

I'd say I am an intermediate player, I play aggressively and enjoy to loop, mostly a FH player.
recommendations?

edit: forgot to say that I am a student and don't have alot to spend on a racket, I think this is my upper budget but it could maybe stretch a little more.
 
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Do you have an idea of your USATT rating?

I would say I'm about 1500 with a FH loop oriented style, and I would find DHS H3 on Ma Lin Extra Offensive blade too slow for my style. Especially if you don't plan to boost your rubber, I would personally find the H3 rubber lacking in bounciness. Also, the blade is not too fast. If you are looking on Aliexpress, I think you can find a lot of better alternatives.

Hurricane on backhand is even worse, in my opinion. It's harder to accelerate through the ball on the BH, so I would want a bouncier rubber. H3 might feel dead.

Are you looking specifically for wood blade? Are you looking specifically for tacky rubber?
 
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I agree with MZ, hurricane, even 3-50 is not going to be great for backhand, (although I will say I like it for forehand, once boosted it has a bit more pop than commercial H3). I don't think there's anything wrong with going with a wood blade with hurricane, as long as you boost it. I switched back to a wood blade from carbon with H3, I found that I was shortening my strokes and relying on the speed of the blade too much. I am still a developing (usatt 1400-1500ish) player though. If you can, get the Yasaka Sweden Extra instead of the Ma Lin, it's close in speed, but more flexible and well suited for a looping style. I choose it after doing direct comparisons against a Tibhar Stratus Power and Xiom Offensive S, two other popular wood looping brades. YSE has a great combo of feeling from the hard oak outer ply and speed/spin potential from it's flexible inner plies. From what I remember, YMLEO is a good bit stiffer, nice hitting/blocking blade, but not as nice to loop with.
 
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If you're already on Aliexpress, I would highly recommend for blades:
DHS Fang Bo Inner ALC
Stuor Harimoto Inner ZLC clone

FH Rubbers:
Friendship Bloom Power/Speed
Yinhe Big Dipper or Jupiter 3

BH Rubbers:
Friendship Presto Speed Max
AK 47 Red
Yinhe Moon Speed
Loki T3
 
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If you're already on Aliexpress, I would highly recommend for blades:
DHS Fang Bo Inner ALC
Stuor Harimoto Inner ZLC clone

FH Rubbers:
Friendship Bloom Power/Speed
Yinhe Big Dipper or Jupiter 3

BH Rubbers:
Friendship Presto Speed Max
AK 47 Red
Yinhe Moon Speed
Loki T3

could you expand on it? I am not good with options XD

 
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Do you have an idea of your USATT rating?

I would say I'm about 1500 with a FH loop oriented style, and I would find DHS H3 on Ma Lin Extra Offensive blade too slow for my style. Especially if you don't plan to boost your rubber, I would personally find the H3 rubber lacking in bounciness. Also, the blade is not too fast. If you are looking on Aliexpress, I think you can find a lot of better alternatives.

Hurricane on backhand is even worse, in my opinion. It's harder to accelerate through the ball on the BH, so I would want a bouncier rubber. H3 might feel dead.

Are you looking specifically for wood blade? Are you looking specifically for tacky rubber?

no rating, competitions are scarce in my region so I don't bother.
As for a blade I know very little, I thought an all wood one would be best for my skill level but you probably know bettter.
tbh I just want something that is a good value for money, plays fast and is a good allrounder tacky rubbers are something I know very little about.
Thanks for your time!

 
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I agree with MZ, hurricane, even 3-50 is not going to be great for backhand, (although I will say I like it for forehand, once boosted it has a bit more pop than commercial H3). I don't think there's anything wrong with going with a wood blade with hurricane, as long as you boost it. I switched back to a wood blade from carbon with H3, I found that I was shortening my strokes and relying on the speed of the blade too much. I am still a developing (usatt 1400-1500ish) player though. If you can, get the Yasaka Sweden Extra instead of the Ma Lin, it's close in speed, but more flexible and well suited for a looping style. I choose it after doing direct comparisons against a Tibhar Stratus Power and Xiom Offensive S, two other popular wood looping brades. YSE has a great combo of feeling from the hard oak outer ply and speed/spin potential from it's flexible inner plies. From what I remember, YMLEO is a good bit stiffer, nice hitting/blocking blade, but not as nice to loop with.

in my region the yasaka sweden extra sells for 200nis (60$) including shipping which is a little more than I'd like to spend on a blade but not too out of my reach.
As for everything else you said, I understood very little lol. what combination would you recommend (If I do spend that money on the blade)?

 
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no rating, competitions are scarce in my region so I don't bother.
As for a blade I know very little, I thought an all wood one would be best for my skill level but you probably know bettter.
tbh I just want something that is a good value for money, plays fast and is a good allrounder tacky rubbers are something I know very little about.
Thanks for your time!

Wood blade is fine of course, but if you want something fast and good value, then I would recommend a Chinese ALC or ZLC blade. Stuor has really impressed me, and probably the best bang for the buck in my opinion.

Tacky rubber is good, but the H3 you listed is very very slow. So I think you probably won't like it. So I recommended a few that are probably faster and easier to use for you.

 
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Wood blade is fine of course, but if you want something fast and good value, then I would recommend a Chinese ALC or ZLC blade. Stuor has really impressed me, and probably the best bang for the buck in my opinion.

Tacky rubber is good, but the H3 you listed is very very slow. So I think you probably won't like it. So I recommended a few that are probably faster and easier to use for you.

wow, its really nice that different people came to the same conclusion :D
I will check it out!

 
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I don't really know what you mean by "expand on it".

But, you could get a very nice offensive setup of Stuor ZLC, Arthur China (which was recommended by another member), and Friendship Presto for cheaper than your initial setup.

Stuor Blade
Arthur China
Friendship Presto Speed
wow! TYSM, lastly, do you think glue and tape matter and if so are there any ones in specific you would recommend?
and should I boost this racket combination?
 
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You can boost it if you want to make it even faster, but it's not necessary. These equipment are naturally already quite fast. These rubbers are faster than the boosted H3 probably.

Tape doesn't really matter. I just use the free tape that some sellers sent me when I bought blades and rubbers in the past. Not all sellers send free tape, but sometimes they do.

For glue, I personally just use Elmers Rubber Cement from Target for $2. It works perfectly for my purposes.
 
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Do not buy a new setup following peoples advise unless they got some status as a coach.......well, this is my advise 😁
The best way otherwise to proceed will be to ask friends to try their blades or visit a club and gather info there.

If you follow above mentioned, admittedly friendly advise, I can envisage 2 scenarios: 1 you are incredibly lucky and get a perfectly matched setup that will see you right for life.
2 More likely you will end up as an EJ , forever looking and buying different blades and rubbers etc. etc. etc.
 
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Do not buy a new setup following peoples advise unless they got some status as a coach.......well, this is my advise 😁
The best way otherwise to proceed will be to ask friends to try their blades or visit a club and gather info there.

If you follow above mentioned, admittedly friendly advise, I can envisage 2 scenarios: 1 you are incredibly lucky and get a perfectly matched setup that will see you right for life.
2 More likely you will end up as an EJ , forever looking and buying different blades and rubbers etc. etc. etc.

/\
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Give that man a cookie deluxe.

 
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Well I disagree with Lodro on this. On picking a wife, yes you only got one shot and if you pick wrongly you will mess up your life very badly.

On picking a table tennis racket, its pretty hard to get something that is not playable and not enjoyable. Even OP's original racket idea would be totally fine. But I just made a suggestion that would be a little livelier, and probably cheaper.
 
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Well I disagree with Lodro on this. On picking a wife, yes you only got one shot and if you pick wrongly you will mess up your life very badly.

On picking a table tennis racket, its pretty hard to get something that is not playable and not enjoyable. Even OP's original racket idea would be totally fine. But I just made a suggestion that would be a little livelier, and probably cheaper.

I agree with Lodro. Coach seen me play, played with me, gave me blade and rubber. I kept it ever since and I did improve mahussively ever since.

 
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I agree with Lodro. Coach seen me play, played with me, gave me blade and rubber. I kept it ever since and I did improve mahussively ever since.

Well obviously OP is asking on TTD because he doesn't have another coach or voice to give a better opinion. So i don't see how saying "get a coach" is helpful to him.

 
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You can boost it if you want to make it even faster, but it's not necessary. These equipment are naturally already quite fast. These rubbers are faster than the boosted H3 probably.

Tape doesn't really matter. I just use the free tape that some sellers sent me when I bought blades and rubbers in the past. Not all sellers send free tape, but sometimes they do.

For glue, I personally just use Elmers Rubber Cement from Target for $2. It works perfectly for my purposes.

Dude, you need to get yourself some tear mender. It's behaviour is identical to table tennis specific glue, peels off like nothing, and costs $15 for half a liter. I can't imagine rubber cement is good for the lifespan of rubber or blade.

 
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I agree with Lodro. Coach seen me play, played with me, gave me blade and rubber. I kept it ever since and I did improve mahussively ever since.

Plus one to this too, but not everyone has access to a coach. I just give what advice I can, and recommend commonly used parts so people can find info on what to change if they don't like them.

 
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