Donic Whipper Outer Carbon - Initial thoughts

[steve888]

Hi,
Just got the new Donic Whiper Outer Carbon - 88g (5.85 mm) , its under 1/2 the price of a butterfly equivalent. Put a D09c on FH and Battle 2 soft (37) backhand, had a brief hit with it (about 15 minutes). A colleague tried it to and is considering in getting oneheeague

My initial thoughts

Faster than the FZD ALC and Freitas ALC with a higher pitch and more spinny. I think due to the limba outer ply - it has more kick when you hit hard too. I tested it mid table and it had plenty of punch with both rubbers. The throw is mid and generally not to long. Probably similar levels of control to FZD. Feeling is a touch less than FZD. I am impressed for the price and the quality of the blade is good too. If you didn't want to pay butterfly prices this would be a great blade - perhaps a hidden gem. A colleague tried it too and is considering in getting one.

I will need to play with it more to see how it goes in the short game etc.
Steve

 

[Poi]

Hello,

Have your opinion of this blade changed anything now that you've had it for a week?
I'm interested to try an outer carbon blade and are seriosly considering the Whiper Outer Carbon...

 

[piligrim]

How is handle?

 

[steve888]

Hello,

Have your opinion of this blade changed anything now that you've had it for a week?
I'm interested to try an outer carbon blade and are seriosly considering the Whiper Outer Carbon...

Sorry for the delay - I had chance to try it on proper competition table last saturday.
Summary:
Positive:
Its a good blade, great price, its faster most blades I have tried except for probably Timo boll alc but probably similar speeds. Fast even with D09c and even when not activating the carbon. Its controllable and has quite a bit of control for close up and far away from the table. Easy to land ball on the table, easy for serving has reasonable spin. Has nice punch when you hit it hard - powerful. Its great from a distance from the table. I think you can use various rubbers with it but probably feel better with softer rubbers?? Excellent value for money.

Negative:
On the firmer and harder side - my preference is more crisp with more feeling and dwell (expected more with limba outer). Less feeling and dwell than FZD alc. Not much feeling with D09c on the forehand (2.1 - which is a hard rubber) , better feeling with battle 2 37 soft on backhand . I have read its does better with softer rubbers (which I will try), maybe it will make it less stiff, more spinny and more dwell. Also I have found it does take time for blades to break in a little.

So a good alc blade overall up there with blades 2x (or 2.5) the price. So I think it comes down to preference. I am use to butterfly and Nittaku blades with heaps of dwell like acoustic inner, innerforce, korbel, FZD alc.

I will update with softer rubbers.

 

[steve888]

How is handle?

Similar handle to butterfly FZD- good for medium size hands, slightly on the thicker side , fairly smooth and comfortable to hold.

 

[Poi]

Sorry for the delay - I had chance to try it on proper competition table last saturday.
Summary:
Positive:
Its a good blade, great price, its faster most blades I have tried except for probably Timo boll alc but probably similar speeds. Fast even with D09c and even when not activating the carbon. Its controllable and has quite a bit of control for close up and far away from the table. Easy to land ball on the table, easy for serving has reasonable spin. Has nice punch when you hit it hard - powerful. Its great from a distance from the table. I think you can use various rubbers with it but probably feel better with softer rubbers?? Excellent value for money.

Negative:
On the firmer and harder side - my preference is more crisp with more feeling and dwell (expected more with limba outer). Less feeling and dwell than FZD alc. Not much feeling with D09c on the forehand (2.1 - which is a hard rubber) , better feeling with battle 2 37 soft on backhand . I have read its does better with softer rubbers (which I will try), maybe it will make it less stiff, more spinny and more dwell. Also I have found it does take time for blades to break in a little.

So a good alc blade overall up there with blades 2x (or 2.5) the price. So I think it comes down to preference. I am use to butterfly and Nittaku blades with heaps of dwell like acoustic inner, innerforce, korbel, FZD alc.

I will update with softer rubbers.

Thanks a lot for the update!

It does sound like it may be a bit too fast for me I'm afraid...
But for that price it may be worth a try anyway!

 

[steve888]

So an update, I tried dignics 05 (1.9) on the forehand and feeling is now there but it's now even faster and less control and less dwell than dignics 09c . It was great for attacking , driving the ball and smashing but the touch shots was not controllable enough. I think they need 2.1 rubbers as it engages the carbon to quickly on thinner rubbers.

I think they will suit softer rubbers like battle 2 soft (37) as they worked well .I read they work well with hurricane 8/80 or might try 2.1 glazer so will try those on the forehand.

If you want a good cheap carbon blade the yinhe 01 pro definitely has more control and dwell than the donic. The other slower more controllable blade is the butterfly outer force alc.

I give an update once I try the slower softer rubbers, which maybe in a weeks time.

 

[steve888]

I put a glayzer rubber on the forehand and it felt nice bouncing the ball on the blade - not to bouncy and good feel. Will test it in the next 24 hours.

 

[steve888]

An update, the softer rubber Glayzer 05 (2.1) works well for the forehand on this blade.
This review helped me decide that the Glayzer might be a good fit for this blade https://racketinsight.com/table-tennis/butterfly-glayzer-review/

With the Glayzer it still had plenty of speed (still fast), was good in the touch shots close to the net and also when driving the ball. Plenty of power away from the court with not to much catapult. The blade had more feel and the control was better and it was less head heavy (approx 182g all up) .

The conclusion is this blade works well with softer rubbers. I think it helps create more feel, slightly softer feel and spin, dwell and control. The battle 2 soft (37) on the backhand works well, slightly slower but more spin than the Glayzer rubber and the throw is shorter.

Overall, I say its a fast outer carbon blade, with good control, and probably average spin and it needs to be matched with the right rubbers. Probably still a touch stiff but I think its a good blade for intermediate up, and an excellent for the price.

If I had to choose between FZD Alc and this I probably would still choose the FZD because of the slightly softer feel, more dwell slightly more controlled but its 2.5 x the price. The Donic is a bit faster and close to the performance of the FZD.

 

[steve888]

To me I do feel this Donic blade is more controllable and has more feel than the Timo boll alc blade.