says
I would recommend all wood.
Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
Active Member
Wow what a blade. I played with mine for the first time today.
The picture is with the plastic wrap still on. Without the plastic wrap it's a bare grey surface, as the writing and logo are only on the plastic wrap.
Blade itself weighs 84, the assembled racket.. Well, I didn't weigh it.
It is very light with these rubbers, obviously, but the balance of the blade is also excellent, making it very lively in the hand. My Palio King Yue weighs 3 grams less, but feels noticeably less lively beause of weight distribution. Liu Shiwen ZLF weighs 86, but feels livelier because of superior balance. This one is a bit more head heavy but not too much.
First thing I noticed is that my softer shots are going short, and was like "wtf" cuz this blade is rated Off++ while my other blade is All+. Hit with a bit more confidence, fine.
Then I hit a bit faster and the ball goes ZOOOOM. And I'm again "wtf", I never got this kind of speed from such a simple forward drive, and also "wtf" because a second ago this was slower than an ALL+ blade.
GEARS. It has gears far exceeding any of my other blades. And very easy and intuitive to use.
Then I practiced topspin and topspin on backspin. In topspin it was great, but not as good as my LSW which creates much more lethal topspin. But in topspin against backspin it was so nice. The blade is fast enough and solid enough that the ball will consistently shoot fast, full of spin, and shallow over the net. Very hard to return. It is fast, has a long trajectory for the ball. A good compromise between spin and speed. To generate more spin than speed you have to be gentle and precise.
All in all, this blade has the best range of 'gears' of those I've tried, and it's something very noticable. Also very stable and easy to control. Blocking is excellent and it fits my choice of rubbers perfectly. For me it's a 10 out of 10 in every category except for topspin, where it's, I guess, an 8.5 in comparison to the King Yue's 10.
All in all, the best blade I've had the fortune of using. Responsive and accurate. It doesn't "do" anything to the ball. It just makes it go exactly as you want it to. Insane gears, fast, crisp.
Side with rubbers
Compared to BTY Liu Shiwen, it is about the same speed when spinning, but much easier to drive and smash. Next to the table, they are comparable for spin, with the LSW having more spin and pace more easily, whereas with the 301 you might be in danger of putting the ball in the net if you don't execute a more complete motion.
Compared to Viscaria, it is a lot more linear. The lower gears are a lot easier to access than with the viscaria, meaning your balls won't pop long as much for slight mistakes and it is more comfortable in much of the game, and high gear full power strokes are nearly the same, with the viscaria being just a bit faster and more consistently fast. Backhand spin and loop is a touch easier with the Viscaria I felt, and I ascribe this to the higher speed on low power shots.
Compared to a frying pan, it is a lot easier to topspin, but less good against backspin balls.
Compared to a cold dead fish, it blocks better and is overall better in every area.
The picture is with the plastic wrap still on. Without the plastic wrap it's a bare grey surface, as the writing and logo are only on the plastic wrap.
Blade itself weighs 84, the assembled racket.. Well, I didn't weigh it.
It is very light with these rubbers, obviously, but the balance of the blade is also excellent, making it very lively in the hand. My Palio King Yue weighs 3 grams less, but feels noticeably less lively beause of weight distribution. Liu Shiwen ZLF weighs 86, but feels livelier because of superior balance. This one is a bit more head heavy but not too much.
First thing I noticed is that my softer shots are going short, and was like "wtf" cuz this blade is rated Off++ while my other blade is All+. Hit with a bit more confidence, fine.
Then I hit a bit faster and the ball goes ZOOOOM. And I'm again "wtf", I never got this kind of speed from such a simple forward drive, and also "wtf" because a second ago this was slower than an ALL+ blade.
GEARS. It has gears far exceeding any of my other blades. And very easy and intuitive to use.
Then I practiced topspin and topspin on backspin. In topspin it was great, but not as good as my LSW which creates much more lethal topspin. But in topspin against backspin it was so nice. The blade is fast enough and solid enough that the ball will consistently shoot fast, full of spin, and shallow over the net. Very hard to return. It is fast, has a long trajectory for the ball. A good compromise between spin and speed. To generate more spin than speed you have to be gentle and precise.
All in all, this blade has the best range of 'gears' of those I've tried, and it's something very noticable. Also very stable and easy to control. Blocking is excellent and it fits my choice of rubbers perfectly. For me it's a 10 out of 10 in every category except for topspin, where it's, I guess, an 8.5 in comparison to the King Yue's 10.
All in all, the best blade I've had the fortune of using. Responsive and accurate. It doesn't "do" anything to the ball. It just makes it go exactly as you want it to. Insane gears, fast, crisp.
Side with rubbers
Compared to BTY Liu Shiwen, it is about the same speed when spinning, but much easier to drive and smash. Next to the table, they are comparable for spin, with the LSW having more spin and pace more easily, whereas with the 301 you might be in danger of putting the ball in the net if you don't execute a more complete motion.
Compared to Viscaria, it is a lot more linear. The lower gears are a lot easier to access than with the viscaria, meaning your balls won't pop long as much for slight mistakes and it is more comfortable in much of the game, and high gear full power strokes are nearly the same, with the viscaria being just a bit faster and more consistently fast. Backhand spin and loop is a touch easier with the Viscaria I felt, and I ascribe this to the higher speed on low power shots.
Compared to a frying pan, it is a lot easier to topspin, but less good against backspin balls.
Compared to a cold dead fish, it blocks better and is overall better in every area.
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