❓What Is Your Setup, and WHY?

[sebi]

Blade Donic Ovtcharov Senso No.1 switched to it from butterfly dima alc. It fits a lot better in my hand. I notice it a lot when I want to counter spin winners over the table. With Butterfly dima alc most go out because the blade is in weird angle and adjusting it feels uncomfortable. With the Donic on I am a lot safer and it just fits like a glove. It's a bit slower but that's a non issue I just try to hit harder when I have to.

Rubber Rozena BH/FH i had personal training and the coach recommended slower rubbers but I am not sure if they are better then D09c and D05. Slower for sure more controlled I don't know. The thing I noticed the most is my opponents don't block out any longer when I open up. I think about upgrading my forehand to either D09c D80 or D05.
So I have one deadly side at least and my weak side is my backhand where I would keep rozena for more controll

 

[chandyrandy]

Blade: Cybershape Carbon, present from the missus! Also happens to be a really fun blade to use!

FH: Glayzer
BH: Glayzer
Why?
Dignic too expensive

 

[docbroke]

Blade: Sanwei F3 pro

FH: Nittaku Hammond Z2
BH: Nittaku Fastarc G1

Previously I had Rakza7 on FH and Donic Baracuda on BH. It took me sometime to adjust with this faster setup but it feels much better, particularly Z2 is amazing. I am very happy with Z2 on FH, but G1 feels little dull in comparison. I think in future I will get Z2 special or Mantra Pro H on BH with Z2 or Mantra Pro XH on FH.

 

[enoxzr]

My current setup:

Sauer & Troger Banana ST
FH: Stiga DNA Platinum M Max
BH: Yinhe 955 Green 0.7

Am on a LP BH for about 9 months now, trying to be aggressive and attack with em, close to the table.
Tried several different blades and rubbers, but I have now settled for all-wood and a tensor FH. As for the LP's, I've tried OX, thin sponge and thick sponge, and the 0.5~0.8 thickness is the range I'd like to be in. Also I keep coming back to the Yinhe 955 Green/Blue 0.7, which ever other LP I try, very good balance between control, disruption and attacking possibilities.

After this season I might play around with medium pips, to see if that might suit my style. And perhaps try a Dignics 05 as FH rubber, but only if I can free the budget to do so.

Interesting to see this old post and seeing how it evolved last 1.5 years.

Current setup:
Victas Yuto Muramatsu ST
FH: DHS GoldArc 8 50
BH: Dawei 388D-2 OX

Transitioned from LP with thin sponge to OX in early this year and this was a game changer. Faster game, more attacking potential with the pips, exactly what I was looking for.

Did try the Dignics 05 on FH and liked it a lot. However it is very expensive so I searched for an alternative and found it in the DHS GoldArc 8 50 version. Honestly, it plays very similar to the D05 and for the price its a no brainer. If ur looking for a cheaper D05 alternative, give it a try!

Last summer I bought the Victas blade second hand locally. Its slower and bigger than the S&T Banana, but still has a hard touch. Needed a bit quicker LP so switched to the Dawei 388D-2 which is the absolute best LP for the price if you want to play aggressive and close/mid table distance in my opinion.

Over the year I tried a Butterfly Diode V blade too, which felt good, but is too head heavy for me. I noticed that a slightly slower blade also favours me, so I intend to buy a Butterfly Diode Pro to test over the winter.

All in all eager to get playing again, been out last 2 months after illness and a surgery to follow. Sold my S&T Banana blades with D05's on it to make budget room for the Diode Pro (and maybe more 😂) blades to test.

 

[J-fed]

Interesting to see this old post and seeing how it evolved last 1.5 years.

Current setup:
Victas Yuto Muramatsu ST
FH: DHS GoldArc 8 50
BH: Dawei 388D-2 OX

Transitioned from LP with thin sponge to OX in early this year and this was a game changer. Faster game, more attacking potential with the pips, exactly what I was looking for.

Did try the Dignics 05 on FH and liked it a lot. However it is very expensive so I searched for an alternative and found it in the DHS GoldArc 8 50 version. Honestly, it plays very similar to the D05 and for the price its a no brainer. If ur looking for a cheaper D05 alternative, give it a try!

Last summer I bought the Victas blade second hand locally. Its slower and bigger than the S&T Banana, but still has a hard touch. Needed a bit quicker LP so switched to the Dawei 388D-2 which is the absolute best LP for the price if you want to play aggressive and close/mid table distance in my opinion.

Over the year I tried a Butterfly Diode V blade too, which felt good, but is too head heavy for me. I noticed that a slightly slower blade also favours me, so I intend to buy a Butterfly Diode Pro to test over the winter.

All in all eager to get playing again, been out last 2 months after illness and a surgery to follow. Sold my S&T Banana blades with D05's on it to make budget room for the Diode Pro (and maybe more 😂) blades to test.

Thank you for this post!
I currently have two set ups. The Sanwei echo with rakza 7 on FH and 955 on BH is the main bat. I'm quite sold on this blade but the rubbers are not instinctive to me (I do get good results though).
Just glued up the old Swat fleece carbon with a Saturn S-1 and P3V too. Again, I like the handle but the Saturn is too dead. Great in practice but not in a match so far.
The 955 is tough to sweep with and a bit too fast for gnarly blocks. P3v is bad for chopping but incredible for sweep blocks.
I wanna try your Dawei rubber. Sounds great.
FH I can adapt.

 

[ToH]

My current setup is Tibhar AC Incide with Stiga Helix Hybrid Hard on forehand and Medium on backhand. This setup is good in the shortgame, give a very good level of spin when i am going for it. The power is more than fast enough and it got a nice safe arc.

On the negative i find the the rubbers doesnt got a very good durability. Specially for the price-point.
I have used them for around 2 months and they are quite worn. I play around 3-4 times a week.

 

[passifid]

I recently started toying with
Matsushima ZC def
Rakza Z EH fh
Curl P1V 1mm bh

i recently had a second child and cannot commit to playing enough or competitive league games to keep improving so fancied a different challenge and will give myself a year to see if I can play as a defensive player for fun

 

[Archosaurus]

I've settled on a DHS inner blade (Long 5 if I can nab one for a nice price on 11.11, but B2 for now) with H3 on forehand and H8/H3 on backhand mostly because it's similar to what I played the first few thousand hours with and because DHS equipment just works for me. They rarely do unexpected things or feel confusing, and the handle shape is good for me. That wasn't the case with a bunch of other alternatives I've tried.

I started with a VERY unusually rigid Stiga Allround Evolution and 729 Super FX, so it was a really baseline slow and catapulty in high power setup good for 3rd ball and controlling the pace with dead blocks. That was with the cell ball, so the speed close to table was actually probably superior sometimes despite the carbon and H3 I use now.

I didn't find any control downsides from using the inner blade except if using tensor on the backhand, so I've switched to Hurricane rubbers there too. I think the inners actually control better than very rigid 5ply or 7ply in things like serves and pushes, but they will be faster in blocks and rallying strokes, so tensor didn't really work for me in matches because of just how much baseline faster they are.

I get to train 15~ hours a week if I want to (although I do more like 10) so I can somewhat support this relatively demanding equipment, but if I played less than 5 hours I'm not so sure. Tensor forehand or really soft sponges hasn't really worked for me so I'd probably just soften the sponge a little, boost it minimally and switch to VIS/FZD if I was forced to play in matches without training enough.

I think if I switched to something like Long 3 or maybe Clipper, I would have more success vs people around my level, but I'm aiming for a higher level and at those levels you just need more speed nowadays. I might try it sometime anyway.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

I've settled on a DHS inner blade (Long 5 if I can nab one for a nice price on 11.11, but B2 for now) with H3 on forehand and H8/H3 on backhand mostly because it's similar to what I played the first few thousand hours with and because DHS equipment just works for me. They rarely do unexpected things or feel confusing, and the handle shape is good for me. That wasn't the case with a bunch of other alternatives I've tried.

I started with a VERY unusually rigid Stiga Allround Evolution and 729 Super FX, so it was a really baseline slow and catapulty in high power setup good for 3rd ball and controlling the pace with dead blocks. That was with the cell ball, so the speed close to table was actually probably superior sometimes despite the carbon and H3 I use now.

I didn't find any control downsides from using the inner blade except if using tensor on the backhand, so I've switched to Hurricane rubbers there too. I think the inners actually control better than very rigid 5ply or 7ply in things like serves and pushes, but they will be faster in blocks and rallying strokes, so tensor didn't really work for me in matches because of just how much baseline faster they are.

I get to train 15~ hours a week if I want to (although I do more like 10) so I can somewhat support this relatively demanding equipment, but if I played less than 5 hours I'm not so sure. Tensor forehand or really soft sponges hasn't really worked for me so I'd probably just soften the sponge a little, boost it minimally and switch to VIS/FZD if I was forced to play in matches without training enough.

I think if I switched to something like Long 3 or maybe Clipper, I would have more success vs people around my level, but I'm aiming for a higher level and at those levels you just need more speed nowadays. I might try it sometime anyway.

They have different versions of HL5 for good price on PROTT (from what I've seen, they're much higher than those depending on the model you are looking at). I've bought the Hurricane Long 5x and Hurricane Long 5 Golden from them before, but not too sure if there's cheaper prices out there without being suspicious if it's authentic or not.

DHS Hurricane Blade Series

 

[Archosaurus]

They have different versions of HL5 for good price on PROTT (from what I've seen, they're much higher than those depending on the model you are looking at). I've bought the Hurricane Long 5x and Hurricane Long 5 Golden from them before, but not too sure if there's cheaper prices out there without being suspicious if it's authentic or not.

DHS Hurricane Blade Series

To be honest I trust Global Sports Store a lot more than Prott. I've only ever gotten good products from that Aliexpress store. Heard sketchy stuff about Prott.

Besides, it'd cost more after tax and delivery, at best cost the same amount, and take longer to arrive.

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

To be honest I trust Global Sports Store a lot more than Prott. I've only ever gotten good products from that Aliexpress store. Heard sketchy stuff about Prott.

Besides, it'd cost more after tax and delivery, at best cost the same amount, and take longer to arrive.

The only thing you need to pay for is the items and the shipping, but I never had to worry about the tarrifs and other stuff since it seems like they deal with those things). I agree a lot of people say it's sketchy because the prices are better than other places, but also people try to buy the exact blade or rubbers the pro uses and then are surprised isn't not what DHS or Butterfly is sending the player themself.

If you ever want to try buying from them, the link is there for you. I've had good experiences except 1 time they sent me the from Hurricane 8 rubber, and we immediately resolved the issue so I wasn't upset about it since I had ordered the 1st pair a few weeks prior (but it got stuck in transit and I usually get their stuff within 2-3 weeks depending on the item since I'm patient and don't need to have my equipment sent to me instantly).

 

[Archosaurus]

The only thing you need to pay for is the items and the shipping, but I never had to worry about the tarrifs and other stuff since it seems like they deal with those things). I agree a lot of people say it's sketchy because the prices are better than other places, but also people try to buy the exact blade or rubbers the pro uses and then are surprised isn't not what DHS or Butterfly is sending the player themself.

If you ever want to try buying from them, the link is there for you. I've had good experiences except 1 time they sent me the from Hurricane 8 rubber, and we immediately resolved the issue so I wasn't upset about it since I had ordered the 1st pair a few weeks prior (but it got stuck in transit and I usually get their stuff within 2-3 weeks depending on the item since I'm patient and don't need to have my equipment sent to me instantly).

Shipping will be immense, and I will pay GST ontop. With Aliexpress coupons, the price is much lower. 🤷‍♂️

 

[HerveMasson]

I'm playing with diode V and two rakza 7 2.0mm. I play an allround style with lots of traps with chops and push between no spin and cut and try to attack on weak ball with my forehand.

I used to play with and old Kokutaku takashima (3ply hinoki) but unfortunately the outer ply went with the rubber on first ungluing, I decided to be raisonnable and use a blade I can find easy !

 

[RPB Enthusiast]

Shipping will be immense, and I will pay GST ontop. With Aliexpress coupons, the price is much lower. 🤷‍♂️

Hmmm, I might have to give it a try since I'm going back to DHS on forehand and possibly backhand (depending on how the JOOLA Hugo Calderano Trinity Charged feels) 🤔