Bishop, don't get me wrong, I like my (relatively) expensive gear too. heck, I use relatively expensive gear when I play. I call $100 to $200 to be relatively expensive for a blade, even if that is a "Normal" price for just a blade.
My FH rubber of choice (Aurus) is relatively expensive at $30-$35 a sheet if you look well around enough and my preferred sheet, Tibhar Evolution is only a little less expensive than Tenergy itself.
When I was in Korea, I was sponsored by a distributor, so I could get some stuff free for me, my foreign team if we got together for a national tourney, or for occasional members if I took them to the shop. Otherwise, I would just get a very good discount on an already low price if I showed up to the shop. That was my deal for pimping their shop on the internet.
I also know how to get by on next to little money. The very inexpensive setups I recommend building are true, they work without too much of a drop-off (for me) (actually an improvement for some) but they are nothing like the relatively expensive units I use. I can still play competitively with that 896 blade with a modern FH rubber (right now I got a sheet of Sigma Euro II I won in a tourney in Korea) and usually XP 2008 (right now I have a 2 yr old sheet of H3 on it).
With that setup I modified the blade. Why not, it only costs $10-$20 anyway!!!??? I pried off one side of the blade handle, inserted 5 heavy nails into the hollowed out space, and glued the handle back on. That mod added 15 grams or more and made the weight, balance and feel much closer to what I like. It also made the bat feel more like low OFF than ALL+ range. I am much more comfy with bats in the low OFF to mid OFF range.
Besides, a LOT of us like trying out new gear just for the heck of it and if you tryout very inexpensive equipment and you do not like it, well then you hook up a poor, young player and he has something to hit with until he makes more money to buy something he tried out and likes.
My club members would see me ALL the time, like at LEAST twice a week gluing on a new rubber or assembling a new bat to tryout. I tested Nexy's gear a lot and often, I simply bought or borrowed other blades to tryout to learn as much as I could and have some fun. Club members would see me do this all the time. They knew I was loyal to the main setup of TBS FH Modern Rubber and BH XP 2008 rubber. When they saw me still win matches with the inexpensive stuff, especially when they heard the entire bat (if I slapped on a used Fh rubber I had in my bag) they were amazed it cost less than just ONE FH rubber, so some tried it out and liked it.
I had players asking me to build these bats when I got the blades or sometimes coach would ask me to build 5 or 6 of them for walk-in customors. Korean clubs have a box of old-azz bats for walk-in recreational players, but sometimes it is good to have a bat that plays like a pro bat, so she asked me to build 6 of them for $100. I put XP 2008 on BH side and coach gave me some used Yasaka Extend HS or other modern rubber to put on FH side.
My English teacher friend also got one of these bats (a NICE 91 gram blade I can't find or get anymoar !!) and he played just as well or better with it using Aurus on FH, a used sheet he got from me!
He went back to his old Jun Mizitani bat, 'cause it felt better/faster to him, even if he won the same matches with that inexpensive bat I hooked him up with. I think I gave him that bat and asked him to buy me 2-3 beers and a Korean Egg omelet after a match one day...
