Custom blade review

[yamagata]

I have now been playing table tennis for 7 hours at my local club. The last hour I used a custom bat with Joola Rhyzen Ice on the backhand.

The blade is a Haitian Y-1. The Stiga premade is nicer to play with - weigh less, smoother ball hit, better balance. Still, serves are way spinnier with Rhyzen Ice, and there is a huge difference in how many backhand shots I successfully return in favor of Rhyzen Ice.

The Rhyzen Ice is a tiny amount bouncier compared to Stiga 5-star rubber, but has much better control.

I am happy I finally tried a custom bat. I will continue using it and get used to it. However, I am now certain that a beginner like me that play once a week confidently may use a good premade like Stiga 5-star for several years.

 

[Tyce]

You're addressing, and missing, the entire point of "custom" blades: the ability to spin, combined with retaining control.
Sure, you can keep using your premade, but it won't teach you how to make or receive spin. So whether you switch now or in 5 years, you're going to have to learn a lot of things that are essential to the sport.

Conversely, the longer you play with a bat that limits your capabilities, the more "bad habits" you'll end up with that you will need to change, or completely unlearn, once you switch to purpose-made materials.

Premades are introductory rackets only. Don't hurt yourself by sticking to it.
A similar blade to the haitian with something like Mercury 2 on both sides, will cost less than a premade.

 

[yamagata]

Let us think about beginner friendly custom blades. Let us say there are 30 backhand and 30 forehand rubbers that are suitable. And 30 blades. Now the beginner can put together 27000 different combos. Most of them will not have the suitable characteristics for this beginner. We now nothing about how they will develop.

And this setup will be so basic that there will still be a need to change equipment within a year or two if they develop good.

I would argue that a rubber like Joola Rhyzen Ice is more harmful compared to Stiga 5 star, since the rubber help me overcome bad technique. This is my personal experience - with Stiga I knew I need to improve, with Joola I believe I am already good!

And the FUN part. It is great fun to play with a good premade. There is thought and knowledge put into these setups, and we should not be afraid of them.

 

[Tyce]

Not at all. You can pick a blade that's somewhere in the medium speed range and tons of control, and stick with it for 10+ years. In return you get heaps more feeling and feedback than any premade.
As for rubber, basically the same thing. You can get a control focused rubber and use it for a long time, and still get better performance out of it than a new premade.

To illustrate, I played against a guy who uses a Butterfly premade. Quality, you'd say right? But he just didn't produce any danger with his shots. Sure, placement was good, but you can place well without even using a rubber at all. No backspin on his heavy slices and chops, no topspin on his loops, no sidespin on the tricky looking serves...
He won a lot last season, because people overestimate his spin and he pops a ball past them if they do. I beat him 3-0 playing a very standard game.

Premades are no good beyond recreational use.

 

[Sims]

@yamagata
This is not a custom blade review.
It is a custom racket (as in separately chosen blade and rubbers) NOT a custom blade which is a bespoke blade manufactured upon commission by a specialist builder.
The Haitian is an affordable 5 ply ~€17 factory blade.
And yes, as you only play once a week v other beginners your Stiga premade will be absolutely fine for you.
In fact a player in my league was beating me with a Stiga premade racket just last season - technique is everything!!

 

[yamagata]

They even sell this Hai tian blade for 5€ on alibaba or their own OEM web-page. I also awn a Palio 3-star that cost me 15€ from aliexpress. I have not dared to play with the Palio though - because I am afraid it will outclass both my Stiga 5-start (that I am happy with) and my custom set up (that I am also happy with although it does feel a bit unbalanced, propably because the two rubbers does have a big difference in weight). Compare that with Stiga cost of 50€.

 

[Pe-ter]

One advice I'd give to you is: Get a blade and glue some beginner rubbers on it. Pre-made bats are for recreational use only. After some time, the rubbers will become dead (and it they are almost deadish from the very beginning). On pre-made bats it's not always possible to change the rubbers, one some it's not possible at all and you'd need to buy a new blade. New one does not automatically mean "same as the one before when it was new". You already got used to the blade and the new one, despite being the same type, will act differently. Having just one blade and changing rubbers only will be a less of an difference.
Also, those pre-made rubbers are not producing much spin, they are hindering your technique and you'll most likely acquire some bad habits. For 50€ you can have a custom setup that you can stick to for much longer than what the pre-made can offer.

 

[yamagata]

It seems fair that I update my review after having played a few more hours with the setup. The blade, such great feeling when hitting the sweet spot. When that happens it feels like this blade can do just about anything. It certainly produces shots that advanced beginners and hobby players have trouble with. The Rhyzen Ice and Yinhe moon green are similar in the way they improved my basic backhand drive tremendously. They both give the confidence of the shots landing on the table. Forehand drives though demands very different angles to hit well, and I miss many with the green rubber sailing far but mid distance hit the table very well, whereas the ICE rubber though bouncier land more forehands close to the table. Opponents complain about heavy topspin. I am playing on beginner level.