"Carl's Deluxe Special" Review

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I finally received my Stiga Allround Evolution blade today.

This is a bat inspired by TTD member UpsideDownCarl, since he touts an Allround Evolution with Omega IV that is pretty bad-azz, so I just had to get me an Allround Evolution and see for myself how "Bad" it is. Bad for opponents that is.

It cost me with taxes and shipping just under $50 USD. That is one pretty inexpensive blade.

I recycled a newer sheet of Evolution FX-P for FH and a new sheet of Beijing Tuttle IV I got new for $10 USD.

If I bought everything new, I would be paying around $125 USD for everything. That is the going price for ONE new modern blade like TBS.

Here are the pics and descriptions.

Sum pics of the blade itself and the box.
AR5.jpg
AR3.jpg
AR4.jpg
AR2.jpg
AR9.jpg

the weight is... drum roll... 84 grams-ish
AR7.jpg

Had to make me a fresh Cappuccino before I continue...
AR10.jpg

The rubbers... FX-P was 46 grams and uncut Bjng Ttl IV was 60.
AR8.jpg
AR1.jpg
AR12.jpg

Weight with FX-P
AR7.jpg

Without grip or edge tape
AR6.jpg

All done 184 grams total
AR11.jpg

Won't be able to do much of anything at the camp rec center since no one there can topspin, but I'll try to see a little of how it works tomorrow.
 
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How come you wanted to try Carls secret weapon out? Try if you could get a pair of xiom omega IV which he uses :)

Well, if the entire forum hasn't figured it out yet, Der_Echte doesn't like paying full expensive price for anything. If Der_Echte can find a serviceable FH rubber and re-use it to save $50 USD, he will. On the other hand, I don't mind breaking out a NEW sheet of BH rubber that costs $10 or less, that doesn't add up a lot. Sure, things like a pack of grip tape and a roll of edge tape cost money, but a grip tape roll does 10 bats and a Tibhar roll does over 100. Unit cost is not even USD $1 for those things pro-rated per bat, so big deal there. Also, a $40 USD retail blade, if I want to pay that much, it might be worth it. My goal is to keep everything around $30 USD or less, but this case was an exception and I spent maybe $65 USD for everything.

Yeah, Carl's blade was Bad-azz certified Bad for sure with Omega IV, but two new sheets of that rubber could buy me enough rice to feed me for months... and Carl will tell you first hand, I am NOT a tiny dude and eat Ur champion under the table and drink Ur next best joker under there with 'em.

Easy enough to say, I am simply too much a miser in some respects to spend a full USD $130ish + just to see what this puppy will do when I can find out for almost 1/3 that cost.

Dan, I can't expect too much tomorrow as I have to really play Patty Cake with the rec crowd just to let them keep it on the table. At least I can see how it serves. My first impression is the frequency and feel when knocking my knuckles and paw on the bare blade it sounds and feels just like one of my modified 896, but I know the wood construction is a little different with that thinish layer of red stained Ayous wood. The red rubber, Beijing Tuutle IV, also looks a LOT like Yinhe SUN, which is a copy cat of T25, which really made me regret spending a whopping USD $15 on a sheet of it a year or two back. Oh well, if Beijing Tuttle IV sucks rocks, then I got a rubber to slap on a Walmart bought blade for the military rec crowd to give away. I can always fall back on XP 2008, this time I used Beijing Tuttle, because the reseller in USA put it on special for $9 a sheet and I took a huge risk by getting 4 sheets. :)
 
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How come you wanted to try Carls secret weapon out? Try if you could get a pair of xiom omega IV which he uses :)

When we hung out, William brought about 7 setups for me to try. They were all pretty nice. Most of them were 896 blades that he has altered in various ways by gluing nails in the hollow space inside the handle. They had various rubbers on them as well. He had the standard setup with Aurus on the FH and XP 2008 on the BH. He had one with H3 on it. I was impressed with how his modifications of the weight of the blade really made the 896 blade play great. They did play better with the weight added to the handle than the ones I have.

I brought two blades along. One was my current setup: TB ZLF with Tenergy 05 FH and Tenergy 05FX on BH and the other was my last setup: Stiga Allround Evolution with Xiom Omega IV Pro FH and Omega IV Europe BH. When I handed him the Evolution blade to try William said: "I am not going to like this one. I don't like Stiga blades. They have too much vibration." Then he tried it and obviously liked it. :) I think he liked the ZLF setup as well. But there is not the same art to making a good setup when you are using a blade that costs $180.00 and rubbers that cost $65.00 each. When the blade's shelf value is $35.95 and it plays really well, I think William decided he might as well make a setup with one to have in his arsenal.

Now I think he may be trying the wrong rubbers on that blade. I think he should do his standard Aurus and XP 2008. I have a feeling those will work really nicely on that blade. I am not as sure that the Beijing rubber will. But William seems to know what he is doing so he may be right after all. :)

Too bad I did not come with one of my Clippers setup with rubbers that work for it. William would have liked that as well. He may have fallen in love. :) But I don't have rubbers I like on either of my Clippers. Also, the Clipper 2 years ago was selling at $55.00. Now it is $70.00. It is only $15.00 more than it was, but the blade has not changed and $70.00 seems to me to put it in a different price category.
 
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Carl, trust me, FX-P will play better on it. That rubber is like a "juicy" softer version of Aurus. Now the BH rubber is an unknown. I never tried Tuttle IV before. It loks like the same pimple geometry of Yinhe Sun and T25, which would be one of the worst rubber to put on that blade. It's OK, I still have some XP 2008 Super Power to fall back upon. Heck, like you said, I get 10 sheets of that bad boy for the price of ONE Tenergy.

Gunna roll out to the rec center now, but I am not expecting to be able to do much.
 
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The 30 minute knock around with the best rec player who plays like tennis light to zero topspin yields a result that is incomplete. I was really looking to get this bat going vs heavy topspin, but I will not see that for a few more weeks. Otherwise, this bat performed very similar, if not a little slower than my 896 modified setups. I will not really know the power of this thing until I get in a match where I face topspin. I expect this bat to be very controllable overall and in topspin to topspin rallies a monkey rally beast, but I won't know for a few more weeks yet.
 
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Thanks TT Hopeful, we might be cool, and yeah, we sure enjoy ourselves around the TT scene, but I am sure there are forum members here who can take it to an entirely whole new level of cool.

Thats ok. I am sure there is :cool:

What about an open event for all us members here somehow!
 
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Thats ok. I am sure there is :cool:

What about an open event for all us members here somehow!

Are you offering to fly Der_Echte and me to the UK? hahahaha. An open event for all members sounds like it would be a lot of fun. But, getting people from the Philipines, Egypt, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal, etc, etc, all together in the same place would be quite an accomplishment. But you could get some players from your area who are forum members to meet up. That still would be cool.

It took about a year of planning for William to get to NYC and for us to hang out. And he did the hard work getting things together and driving here.
 
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Well, if the entire forum hasn't figured it out yet, Der_Echte doesn't like paying full expensive price for anything. If Der_Echte can find a serviceable FH rubber and re-use it to save $50 USD, he will. On the other hand, I don't mind breaking out a NEW sheet of BH rubber that costs $10 or less, that doesn't add up a lot. Sure, things like a pack of grip tape and a roll of edge tape cost money, but a grip tape roll does 10 bats and a Tibhar roll does over 100. Unit cost is not even USD $1 for those things pro-rated per bat, so big deal there. Also, a $40 USD retail blade, if I want to pay that much, it might be worth it. My goal is to keep everything around $30 USD or less, but this case was an exception and I spent maybe $65 USD for everything.

Yeah, Carl's blade was Bad-azz certified Bad for sure with Omega IV, but two new sheets of that rubber could buy me enough rice to feed me for months... and Carl will tell you first hand, I am NOT a tiny dude and eat Ur champion under the table and drink Ur next best joker under there with 'em.

Easy enough to say, I am simply too much a miser in some respects to spend a full USD $130ish + just to see what this puppy will do when I can find out for almost 1/3 that cost.

Dan, I can't expect too much tomorrow as I have to really play Patty Cake with the rec crowd just to let them keep it on the table. At least I can see how it serves. My first impression is the frequency and feel when knocking my knuckles and paw on the bare blade it sounds and feels just like one of my modified 896, but I know the wood construction is a little different with that thinish layer of red stained Ayous wood. The red rubber, Beijing Tuutle IV, also looks a LOT like Yinhe SUN, which is a copy cat of T25, which really made me regret spending a whopping USD $15 on a sheet of it a year or two back. Oh well, if Beijing Tuttle IV sucks rocks, then I got a rubber to slap on a Walmart bought blade for the military rec crowd to give away. I can always fall back on XP 2008, this time I used Beijing Tuttle, because the reseller in USA put it on special for $9 a sheet and I took a huge risk by getting 4 sheets. :)
Yeah u are right, but u must admit that u like being the guinea pig ;) and eat like one ;) haha. I am looking forward to you bringing out the beast when you find some other players :)
 
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When we hung out, William brought about 7 setups for me to try. They were all pretty nice. Most of them were 896 blades that he has altered in various ways by gluing nails in the hollow space inside the handle. They had various rubbers on them as well. He had the standard setup with Aurus on the FH and XP 2008 on the BH. He had one with H3 on it. I was impressed with how his modifications of the weight of the blade really made the 896 blade play great. They did play better with the weight added to the handle than the ones I have.

I brought two blades along. One was my current setup: TB ZLF with Tenergy 05 FH and Tenergy 05FX on BH and the other was my last setup: Stiga Allround Evolution with Xiom Omega IV Pro FH and Omega IV Europe BH. When I handed him the Evolution blade to try William said: "I am not going to like this one. I don't like Stiga blades. They have too much vibration." Then he tried it and obviously liked it. :) I think he liked the ZLF setup as well. But there is not the same art to making a good setup when you are using a blade that costs $180.00 and rubbers that cost $65.00 each. When the blade's shelf value is $35.95 and it plays really well, I think William decided he might as well make a setup with one to have in his arsenal.

Now I think he may be trying the wrong rubbers on that blade. I think he should do his standard Aurus and XP 2008. I have a feeling those will work really nicely on that blade. I am not as sure that the Beijing rubber will. But William seems to know what he is doing so he may be right after all. :)

Too bad I did not come with one of my Clippers setup with rubbers that work for it. William would have liked that as well. He may have fallen in love. :) But I don't have rubbers I like on either of my Clippers. Also, the Clipper 2 years ago was selling at $55.00. Now it is $70.00. It is only $15.00 more than it was, but the blade has not changed and $70.00 seems to me to put it in a different price category.
Sound like you guys had an awesome great day at The table :)
After Wills review of the 896 I decided to try it out just for fun, but it won't be like one of his mods. The TB ZLF is sure a great composite blade if you are a spin oriented player as for the clipper that blade is just a pure classics blade that has it all.
 
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guinea pig ??? Haha, if there are hot coals remaining, toss that joker over the fire and I'll eat him too after he cooks all the way well done.

I don't know if it took a full year of planning, but a lot of us TTD members have been WANTING to visit around since a LOT more than a year ago.

I tried to setup a visit to NYC a few months ago, but it didn't work out. This time, since I was going there anyway because to the Korean TT Assn in Boston put me on their team for the huge East Coast Korean TTA teams tourney. I had to go. I managed to slip in there a day earlier than the rest of my team and it waz worth it.

I am constantly trying to go to different clubs and tourneys where I can. I did that a LOT in Korea, but it is 10X more difficult for me to do in USA, because I live in a remote area near the Canadian border and it takes me 6 hrs driving just to get to Boston hehe.

When I DO manage to get to a club, I try to advertise the fact early to try to get forum members to show up for fun and pics. You will see a lot of that from our KFTTC FB page from 2013 when I was active there, and you see it also on MyTT and finally here on TTD.

Internet forums are a great way to talk and meetup for chances like this. A few decades ago, even a international spy ringleader would have big trouble discovering, planning and executing what we modern TT players do to get together for fun and matches with the help of forums and social media.
 
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Well, looking back on this thread the "Carl's Delux" cheeseburger is still very greasy and fattening and the Carl's Delux Allround Evolution has mutated into what Carl calls an OFFENSIVE Evolution.

Isn't that what we want, an offensive weapon we can also use to bludgeon a house intruder in a time of need? I really wouldn't want to get whacked by that thing... it is a little heavier now.
 
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