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[gordonluvsu]

So how is the Stuor ALC? Is it similar to the real thing? Is it stiffer than HL5?

Its difficult to say.
For this racket/blade especially, I couldnt come to a good conclusion yet.
Cant tell anything about speed, stiffness, vibration and feeling for certain.
All I can say is that:
It plays and feels differently compared to the blades I have tried so far.
Its a little head heavy, 194g in total but feels heavier and makes me feel it in my wrist.
Not sure if it is oversized.
Not as good at looping as the Pro 05, but still good, just doesnt give me the same confidence.
I can get a good feeling for where the ball is gonna land with my loops.


Mantra Pro feels really good, even on forehand.
Although I can usually barely play with normal ESN/tensor rubbers on FH, this one definitely feels better.
Really good spin and good power and penetration.
It is XH ( 53° ), so I probably couldnt get it all out on my backhand yet, maybe H would be better for that.
It play like a premium ESN rubber, but not quite the same as normal ESN rubbers.

Japan knows something about rubbers, thats for sure.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Its difficult to say.
For this racket/blade especially, I couldnt come to a good conclusion yet.
Cant tell anything about speed, stiffness, vibration and feeling for certain.
All I can say is that:
It plays and feels differently compared to the blades I have tried so far.
Its a little head heavy, 194g in total but feels heavier and makes me feel it in my wrist.
Not sure if it is oversized.
Not as good at looping as the Pro 05, but still good, just doesnt give me the same confidence.
I can get a good feeling for where the ball is gonna land with my loops.


Mantra Pro feels really good, even on forehand.
Although I can usually barely play with normal ESN/tensor rubbers on FH, this one definitely feels better.
Really good spin and good power and penetration.
It is XH ( 53° ), so I probably couldnt get it all out on my backhand yet, maybe H would be better for that.
It play like a premium ESN rubber, but not quite the same as normal ESN rubbers.

Japan knows something about rubbers, thats for sure.

Is it stiffer or flexier than the pro 05?

 

[Learning]

I was tempted to buy some rubbers recommended, but I have been playing mainly dignics for a while. Not sure whether it is good to upgrade down. But dignics are too hard to me sometimes.

If you are an advanced player, I think you’ll probably be not too impressed with budget chinese options. One reason I am using cheap chinese rubber is because it is less powerful than the super expensive rubbers. (If you are a beginner or intermediate, I’ve heard super expensive rubbers aren’t actually good for your development because they are too fast. However, if you have a slow blade then ignore my earlier point XD.)

Take this with many grains of salt because I am merely a beginner who is learning his strokes. My only credentials are diligently lurking threads and watching reviews like those by tabletennisdaily and tt11.

Edit: I just saw that you said dignics is too hard sometimes. I recommend you look up existing reviews and comparisons to other non-chinese rubbers in addition to the cheap chinese ones. There’s plenty of reviews since Dignics is famous.

Edit 2: If you want to try a much slower rubber that is softer (and likely easier to generate spin on serves), I have used Rakza 7 in the past. It was good on my BH to learn how to BH block, drive, and loop with an informal coach teaching me. I can’t recommend AK47 red because I haven’t used it enough yet.

 

[mattlamperouge]

If you are an advanced player, I think you’ll probably be not too impressed with budget chinese options. One reason I am using cheap chinese rubber is because it is less powerful than the super expensive rubbers. (If you are a beginner or intermediate, I’ve heard super expensive rubbers aren’t actually good for your development because they are too fast. However, if you have a slow blade then ignore my earlier point XD.)

Take this with many grains of salt because I am merely a beginner who is learning his strokes. My only credentials are diligently lurking threads and watching reviews like those by tabletennisdaily and tt11.

There are a Lot of options for different levels and decisions are usually based on budget, availability, durability & the individual needs of each player. A Lot of amateurs ofc expend money on pro equipment even if it isnt necessarily the best option for them. This open a debate on performance of cheaper options, since for example in some economies like my country amateurs cant change expensive rubbers that often, then you face someone with heavily used Tenergy 05 and their balls slip or dont have enough kick etc, one cant deny that its a great rubber but in those cases a cheaper option but with More grip makes More Sense AND usually gives better results. Also Some rubbers are More forgiving that others etc

 

[Grumms]

What shoes available on AliExpress would you recommend ?

 

[kindof99]

Most table tennis shoes there are decent

 

[TensorBackhand]

Its difficult to say.
For this racket/blade especially, I couldnt come to a good conclusion yet.
Cant tell anything about speed, stiffness, vibration and feeling for certain.
All I can say is that:
It plays and feels differently compared to the blades I have tried so far.
Its a little head heavy, 194g in total but feels heavier and makes me feel it in my wrist.
Not sure if it is oversized.
Not as good at looping as the Pro 05, but still good, just doesnt give me the same confidence.
I can get a good feeling for where the ball is gonna land with my loops.


Mantra Pro feels really good, even on forehand.
Although I can usually barely play with normal ESN/tensor rubbers on FH, this one definitely feels better.
Really good spin and good power and penetration.
It is XH ( 53° ), so I probably couldnt get it all out on my backhand yet, maybe H would be better for that.
It play like a premium ESN rubber, but not quite the same as normal ESN rubbers.

Japan knows something about rubbers, thats for sure.

Did you get any more findings about the alc blade? How is the flex and speed?

 

[TensorBackhand]

I noticed GTX Pro on sale for $11, so I just went ahead and got another one. Since it is going out of stock soon, might as well get it before its gone.

 

[gordonluvsu]

Did you get any more findings about the alc blade? How is the flex and speed?

Didnt get to play with the racket much in decent times, so it took a while to Come to a Conclusion.
Played some matches against some oder guys today.
1 "old" old guy - with his Unique playstyle.
1 defender old guy.
And 1 normal, actually good guy.
TSP Ventus Speed on FH.
The same LAC on BH.

I couldnt get comfortable with the LAC on FH, its just not the right fit with the blade.
On BH it was better, good control on normal shots and Loops.

The Ventus Speed, despite the Name, is Great at Creating Spin with brush Loops and pushes.
I used to play with it some time ago, when I used to be a push, Block, Service receive only guy.

For the blade:
It isnt made for Power Loops, but it has good control when Looping, on FH And BH.
Meaning that the ball Lands on the table more often that not, but it doesnt have super high quality.
Blocks were good on Both sides.
On FH, it needs a boosted Chinese rubber or a bouncy Medium to Medium hard ESN type rubber.
It has a strange, ( to me) uncomfortable and unclear feeling.
On BH, I cant tell for sure, but with LAC it went better than the other 2 ( Mantra Pro XH and Ventus Speed).

Not very flexible, but not stiff Either.
Rather soft that hard, but not much dwell time.
Some kick effect, but not much Support for Looping.
Not that much speed compared to Other composite fiber blades And even faster allwood Looping blades.
Its not slow and also not that fast.
A little head heavy.

Overall, not very impressed but not disappointed Either - probably because my Yinhe Pro 05 is the best blade I could imagine.

Whenever I see it lying on my table, I get happy and it puts a smile on my face.

If I could choose 1 blade out of every blade in the World, Id choose the Pro 05.
( Assuming I couldnt sell it )

 

[TensorBackhand]

Didnt get to play with the racket much in decent times, so it took a while to Come to a Conclusion.
Played some matches against some oder guys today.
1 "old" old guy - with his Unique playstyle.
1 defender old guy.
And 1 normal, actually good guy.
TSP Ventus Speed on FH.
The same LAC on BH.

I couldnt get comfortable with the LAC on FH, its just not the right fit with the blade.
On BH it was better, good control on normal shots and Loops.

The Ventus Speed, despite the Name, is Great at Creating Spin with brush Loops and pushes.
I used to play with it some time ago, when I used to be a push, Block, Service receive only guy.

For the blade:
It isnt made for Power Loops, but it has good control when Looping, on FH And BH.
Meaning that the ball Lands on the table more often that not, but it doesnt have super high quality.
Blocks were good on Both sides.
On FH, it needs a boosted Chinese rubber or a bouncy Medium to Medium hard ESN type rubber.
It has a strange, ( to me) uncomfortable and unclear feeling.
On BH, I cant tell for sure, but with LAC it went better than the other 2 ( Mantra Pro XH and Ventus Speed).

Not very flexible, but not stiff Either.
Rather soft that hard, but not much dwell time.
Some kick effect, but not much Support for Looping.
Not that much speed compared to Other composite fiber blades And even faster allwood Looping blades.
Its not slow and also not that fast.
A little head heavy.

Overall, not very impressed but not disappointed Either - probably because my Yinhe Pro 05 is the best blade I could imagine.

Whenever I see it lying on my table, I get happy and it puts a smile on my face.

If I could choose 1 blade out of every blade in the World, Id choose the Pro 05.
( Assuming I couldnt sell it )

Darn, I was thinking of getting the Stuor 19. I was hoping for another blade similar to my Stuor Harimoto: Fast, responsive, with good catch

 

[gordonluvsu]

Which other ZLC blades from Stuor have you tried, apart from the harimoto one?
Inner or Outer.

I really liked the LYJ clone and ended up selling it to a clubmate.
Id definitely buy another one if I didnt already have 6 or 7 other blades laying around and not being used.

Im curious about the inner ZLC blades.

Also, didnt you try the Stuor FZD clone before?
How did that go.

Did anyone come across a Koto-ALC type blade with a softer feeling closer to BTY FZD ALC?
Most of these kind of clones are supposedly harder/stiffer, but none was actually softer with more feeling.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Which other ZLC blades from Stuor have you tried, apart from the harimoto one?
Inner or Outer.

I really liked the LYJ clone and ended up selling it to a clubmate.
Id definitely buy another one if I didnt already have 6 or 7 other blades laying around and not being used.

Im curious about the inner ZLC blades.

Also, didnt you try the Stuor FZD clone before?
How did that go.

Did anyone come across a Koto-ALC type blade with a softer feeling closer to BTY FZD ALC?
Most of these kind of clones are supposedly harder/stiffer, but none was actually softer with more feeling.

I tried Stuor FZD alc
2 different Harimoto ZLC clones,
Lemuria ZJK ZLC
Stuor Long 5
Lemuria LYJ ZLC

FZD alc felt a bit hard to me, so I think really inner carbon blades are for me.

 

[gordonluvsu]

I think really inner carbon blades are for me.

I got to the same conclusion for me.