Advice on my next blade & rubbers. Primorac off- with cj8000 biotech??

[turbozed]

He can still go for Korbel, which is not so slow given it's 5-ply all wood blade. 7-ply construction doesn't automatically translate into more power, and it means more stiffness, too. Korbel is also a blade that he can stick to even if he becomes an advanced player. Old cheap Fextras are discontinued, while still available, bur they suffer from inadequate quality control, which means one Fextra can differ significantly from another

What makes you think Sanwei quality control is that much worse than expensive brands? I have 3 Sanwei Fextras and they are all within 20 hz of each other in terms of hardness. They play all consistently well. I just tested out a $100 Nittaku Ludeack this week and I still prefer all 3 of the Fextras to the Ludeack. I also prefer them to my Nittaku Acoustic and the Yasaka Sweden Extra which I have also owned. My Nittaku Acoustic is only 78g, which is nearly 10g variance from its intended weight, which is much worse QC than I've experienced with Sanwei.

Also, why does it matter that the original Fextra is discontinued? There's no warranty or parts to order for these blades, so being discontinued is pretty meaningless. If you mean that sometime in the future he will want to buy another identical blade, well there are 10s of thousands still on the market and they are cheap enough where you can buy 10 of them for the price of one premium Butterfly blade and have a fresh one until the day you die.

Do you actually have evidence of low-cost high-volume blademakers like Sanwei "suffering from inadequate quality control' or are you just making assumptions based on your biases of how much a company should charge for shaped plywood?

 

[mightymouse]

I don't think Fextra is discontinued. It is just remodeled / renamed as Fextra One. Mr. Andrea from Sanwei can comment on this.

Quality wise, of course you can't really compare it to much more expensive blades out there. But for the price you pay, I would consider the quality is good. Compared to Swedish products (that particular brand), I actually think that Fextra has better quality. I only own 1, so I can't say about the consistency (quality wise).

More important thing is: it is actually a good blade that you can use as the middle ground of 5-ply and 7-ply.

Regarding Korbel: Yes, it is a blade that you can use your whole life. But Fextra is better for blocking while still sufficient for looping. Korbel is better for looping but not as good for blocking (compared to Fextra).

Composition wise is very similar.
Korbel --> limba - limba - ayous - limba - limba (thickness 5.9 mm)
Fextra --> limba - limba - (3x ayous) - limba - limba (thickness 6.0 mm)

Basically Fextra is Korbel with three layers of ayous core.

 

[darkmoor1]

I don't think Fextra is discontinued. It is just remodeled / renamed as Fextra One. Mr. Andrea from Sanwei can comment on this.

Quality wise, of course you can't really compare it to much more expensive blades out there. But for the price you pay, I would consider the quality is good. Compared to Swedish products (that particular brand), I actually think that Fextra has better quality. I only own 1, so I can't say about the consistency (quality wise).

More important thing is: it is actually a good blade that you can use as the middle ground of 5-ply and 7-ply.

Regarding Korbel: Yes, it is a blade that you can use your whole life. But Fextra is better for blocking while still sufficient for looping. Korbel is better for looping but not as good for blocking (compared to Fextra).

Composition wise is very similar.
Korbel --> limba - limba - ayous - limba - limba (thickness 5.9 mm)
Fextra --> limba - limba - (3x ayous) - limba - limba (thickness 6.0 mm)

Basically Fextra is Korbel with three layers of ayous core.

It's not that simple. Individual plies have different thickness in comparisons, and they are also assembled (glued together) in a different way. As I was mentioning the possible quality control issue, it means that there can be a difference between two Fextras bought for the same price, where thickness od layers can be different and even the total thickness may vary. These two blades won't play the same. I'm not familiar with any of Flextras, bur I can mention Tibhar Samsonov Premium Contact I once used, which is thicker than Korbel and while it has 5-ply Limba and ayous composition like Korbel, it is harder, bouncier and slower by a lot

Korbel is apparently more flexible as a 5-ply blade, as more plies, as far as I know, may contribute somewhat to blade stiffness. However, it is not really difficult to block well with it, while blocking isn't the main aspect of gameplay OP should focus on anyway.

 

[S-Pin]

I would love for Nittaku to release a more beefed up version of the Acoustic that's slightly thicker and more stable for the new ball.

Nittaku Tenor is exactly that