Joola Zhou Qihao Super AL-c 90 review

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I see it at 172€
1000013653.jpg

That's what I see on my mobile.

P.S.: Same after connecting via VPN to a gateway in France.
 
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swapped DHS H3 Neo3 Prov 37 OS to Nittaku FastArc C-1 to check how it behaves on this blade. I think we will not like each other with H3 Neo on BH :p but I have to admit that had to check :p
Not sure if C-1 will work for me but in the meantime (until Stiga Inspira Plus arrives...) nothing stops me testing :ROFLMAO:
 
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h3 neo and c-1 works very good on zhq90. Now I’m sure that hybrid or Chinese rubber is not for me. I prefer tensor one. Drive and loop from BH were perfect, spiny, low over the net and really fast and at the end of the table. My coach told me that I was playing really better with c-1 than h3 neo 37 deg on bh. The only thing I have to improve is soft touch in short game. Having both DHS it was very good. They feel dead, not much spin sensitive so the short game was very good, with c-1 on zhq90 is like walking on the razor 😀 I have to used to it as having different characteristics rubbers on both side I have to rubber that in push on FH side need to put more effort and on bh side it should be really soft touch. When practicing you can think about it because there is a time for it, during the match everything goes automatically and the result is different 😉
Time is required to master it. And for me as 2 wings offensive player I prefer tensor on BH where if there is a long service I can attack or when I serve, attack from the 3rd ball.
I don’t play push to push so tensor rubber is better for me.
When inspira come I know that on BH side will put D80 so not similar to C1, still thinking about the FH side as before yesterday I thought it will be T05 but h3 neo BS on zqh90 again caught my heart. It is really demanding rubber and this is still my inner fight whether to give up at all or give myself time to stick for a bit longer with DHS h3 neo bs on FH.
Don’t know yet.
 
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swapped DHS H3 Neo3 Prov 37 OS to Nittaku FastArc C-1 to check how it behaves on this blade. I think we will not like each other with H3 Neo on BH :p but I have to admit that had to check :p
Not sure if C-1 will work for me but in the meantime (until Stiga Inspira Plus arrives...) nothing stops me testing :ROFLMAO:
Which blade did you end up preferring?
 
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Which blade did you end up preferring?
Nothing has changed. I still own Stiga and Joola but I'm playing TB ZLF equipped in Tenergies and it seems that this boat will keep sailing.... I'm not looking at anything new, just focus on playing. I'm not tempted by anything.

Pardon, it will be only thing, if I find the older version of TB ZLF in FL handle in very good condition, I will buy it.
 
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Nothing has changed. I still own Stiga and Joola but I'm playing TB ZLF equipped in Tenergies and it seems that this boat will keep sailing.... I'm not looking at anything new, just focus on playing. I'm not tempted by anything.

Pardon, it will be only thing, if I find the older version of TB ZLF in FL handle in very good condition, I will buy it.
glad you found a set up you like. nothing wrong with testing the waters
 
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I am curious in this blade nowadays. I read that it comes from the same factory where they make the XIOM blades, and the handle shape of the Zhou Qihao 90 looks exactly like the Hugo HAL handle Flared. I have been using Hugo HAL for a long time, but my inner EJ wants me to try out a carbon blade.

I have my eyes on a Xiom ALX 36.5 (which is fairly cheap atm, around 90€) or the Zhou Qihao 90. My TTR is only ~1500, so I am kind of worried that the blade will be too fast in matchplay. Reason I want to try out the Zhou Qihao is, that I want some additional speed and I miss the crispness feeling. I have only read positive reviews about the Zhou Qihao90, so I am tempted to try. I just dont know how fast it will be :D

Any thoughts on this are appreciated! @Zwill
 
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I am curious in this blade nowadays. I read that it comes from the same factory where they make the XIOM blades, and the handle shape of the Zhou Qihao 90 looks exactly like the Hugo HAL handle Flared. I have been using Hugo HAL for a long time, but my inner EJ wants me to try out a carbon blade.

I have my eyes on a Xiom ALX 36.5 (which is fairly cheap atm, around 90€) or the Zhou Qihao 90. My TTR is only ~1500, so I am kind of worried that the blade will be too fast in matchplay. Reason I want to try out the Zhou Qihao is, that I want some additional speed and I miss the crispness feeling. I have only read positive reviews about the Zhou Qihao90, so I am tempted to try. I just dont know how fast it will be :D

Any thoughts on this are appreciated! @Zwill
I have played with both. HAL a couple of years ago and ZQH90 for about 3 months as my current blade.

ZQH90 is a lot faster and it feels stiffer than HAL and not having good technique/footwork will often result in mistakes.

You can compare the HAL to different blades in this review: https://ttgearlab.com/2023/08/07/xiom-hugo-hal-lab-test-report/comment-page-1/

The ZQH45 might be an option as the top layer is limba (ZQH90 is koto) and that gives a softer feel with more dwell time
 
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I am curious in this blade nowadays. I read that it comes from the same factory where they make the XIOM blades, and the handle shape of the Zhou Qihao 90 looks exactly like the Hugo HAL handle Flared. I have been using Hugo HAL for a long time, but my inner EJ wants me to try out a carbon blade.

I have my eyes on a Xiom ALX 36.5 (which is fairly cheap atm, around 90€) or the Zhou Qihao 90. My TTR is only ~1500, so I am kind of worried that the blade will be too fast in matchplay. Reason I want to try out the Zhou Qihao is, that I want some additional speed and I miss the crispness feeling. I have only read positive reviews about the Zhou Qihao90, so I am tempted to try. I just dont know how fast it will be :D

Any thoughts on this are appreciated! @Zwill
It sure has the crispness and the speed, mine is about 1505Hz which is on par with slower Mizutani SZLC.
My blade is on the light side with its 85-86g. I suppose if you get a heavier one it might be even faster.
I think the build is better than Butterfly as so far all the Joola/Xiom blades from SK I have have single piece core which I cannot say about Butterfly blades.

For me the ZQ90 is still my backup blade, but I think the Stiga Inspra Plus is a better blade. (cheaper and prettier too)
 
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I got a good deal on a used ZH90 blade, FL. Weight is 86g, frequency measures ~1570hz
I attached two used rubbers in great condition. FH: Hurricane 3 Neo 37 (boosted), BH Fastarc G1 in max

The blade weights 184g in total. Minimally headheavy but nothing in comparison to my AJH TMXi Pro. The blade feels nice and balanced in my hand. I prefer the handle of AJH TMXi Pro, but that is the chunkiest handle I have ever seen, so no surprise there. The handle of ZQ90 is still very comfortable. I cant test it yet because of holiday season, will share playing impressions later.

What rubber hardness is recommended for the ZQ90? I really liked H3 37 (FH) on my TMXi Pro, but I am not sure if its a good fit for this blade aswell. For me, H3 37 on FH was a bit weaker from middle distance, but still powerful enough and spinny close to the table + easier to activate. I prefer Blue Sponge 39 these days but dont have a spare one lying around
 
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NON-IMPORTANT STUFF, but Zwill likes to rant:
I actually kind of feel bad about writing this review. I have wrtitten a few and I kinda praise everything. I really feel bad for this because it makes me look like a shill. I am not a shill, I mostly buy stuff or receive them from teammates for testing. I have no connection to any manufacturer. I do review some weird stuff sometimes and I praise them a lot, and I stand by my opinion fully. Most of all I am looking for a setup where I can use a blade with affordable rubbers so I don't have to shill Dignics09c for being so freaking great. (yeah it is truly wonderful, but 100USD is a bit stupid)
I am a great fan of Chinese equipment, Yinhe, DHS are top class brands in my mind in the same category with Butterfly.
Now Joola... If someone would by chance sees my posts from several years back they would see I was not a fan of them. Actually for a long time I thought they are a braindead company. In the 2010s they eqiupment was pretty mediocore, and I am being kind. Their blades were meh, rubbers meh, clothes totally uninspiring etc etc.
With their logo change something happened, it was like a spark that ignited something great and I cannot see Joola the same way since. They must have hired someone who understands marketing and quality and they made smart choices. Like pairing up with the South Korean blade factory. That move was ingenous. I believe it's the same factory that Xiom has built and Xiom blades recently not only match Butterfly quality, they surpass in my opinion. Joola blades actually surpass Xiom quality so I find to struggle a big manufacturer that has higher quality than Joola "Premium" blades.

IMPORTANT STUFF:
So let's start objectively .It is a 7 ply Koto, Green Super-ALC, Ayous, Kiri, Ayous, Super-ALC, Koto composition blade at about 5.8mm thickness. It's pretty much a Viscaria Super ALC clone. My copy weights 85g, which is more on the light side, but I like light blades/setups so I welcome this.
On the frequency test I measured 1530Hz, to give prespective a Viscaria is about 1450Hz, Ice Cream AZX is around 1550Hz, Mizutani Super ZLC is around 1550Hz as well.
So one might think it's a fast blade but not that much faster than a Viscaria. Well I think the objective numbers don't tell the whole story. So let me try.

Speed:
Crazy fast. On my forehand I have been using a Hurrcane 8-80 38 degree rubber, and it is faster than Dignics09c on any blade I have tried it. This includes Ice Cream AZX. Hurrcane 8-80 has a bigger arc than D09c, and with this blade it is faster. This blade makes D09c kinda obsolete since H8-80 is more consistent on blocking, flat hitting, higher arc, possibly higher spin potential and more durable. Only downside to H8-80 that it's about 5% heavier than D09c.
On backhand I have a bit of a trouble with this blade. First I tried a 38deg Yinhe Big Dipper. It was pretty good actually, just I would need a lot of adjustment to it. It was safe, fast as hell, spinny. It had a relatively flat arc which I did not fancy too much but I'm pretty sure I could adjust.
Then I put on a Tibhar Aurus Select. I quite like this rubber, it's great on Ice Cream AZX on BH side and many other blades too. But on the Zhou Qihao Super AL-c 90 it was total garbage. It felt way too soft. Like on ball contact it hit down on the blade immediately and the ball bounced from the blade and the rubber and sponge didn't have time to give any quality to the ball. I fliped the H8-80 to backhand and it felt pretty nice. It was not so flat as Aurus, it had big curve, more contact time. So I think H8-80 38 for FH and 8-80 37deg on BH is a pretty sweet setup.
Actually H8-80 on FH felt super fast, like the ball wants to fly of the the distance, so I might need to update this info. If I can't get used to this speed I might need to step down to plain H8 or H3Neo. I don't have any doubt that this blade is pleny fast enough for H3Neo.

Hardness/kick/amplification:
These characteristics are also in releation to speed. The blade is very hard and crispy, it's very similar to a Viscaria in this regard.
On weak hits the blade wants to repel the ball very much, so good feeling and skill is needed for touch play. However when you start hitting with power the blade starts to hold the ball and the contact time increases. So the blade is begging for you to hit hard. I like it when my blade requests me to play harder and stronger. When you hit the ball hard the blade holds the ball and then releases it with higher speed. H8-80 gives a further amplification it's really in sync with this blade. It gives the needed trampoline effect in the right moment, so the setup feel super fast.
The Aurus Select felt too soft. It hit down on the blade way too fast and the rubber and sponge doesn't have time to absorb and return any energy since the blade repels the ball before. I did not like this at all. It felt like I was playing with sandpaper on backhand. No control, no contact time, no spin.
I feel that these Super-ALC blades need Dignics09c style rubbers. Sticky, slow, hard and high arch types. I am probalby not wrong as several players that use the Super Viscaria are using Dignics and most also use D09c.

Spin:
I will be totally honest, I don't know. With sticky Chinese rubbers I can't feel the spin generation much. I said it before that I can't feel it with H3 BS, I can't feel it with H8-80, either. All I can see is that the ball has high arch and once it land in the barrier I can hear it spinning a lot. Chinese rubbers have not that great feeling, but if you hit hard they give tremendous amounts of spin. D09c you can feel the spin generation more, it is a more user firendly rubber, but I can't confirm it makes more than H8-80. I really don't know but I would not worry about it too much.

Control:
It's pretty linear actually. Fast but linear. I don't know what to say about this. It more depends on the user. You should have pretty good touch for short play.

Sweet spot:
Well now this is a topic that should be exploited. I never felt a blade with larger sweet spot than this. If you bounce the ball on the edge of the racket head the ball bounces almost the same amount than in the middle. This is a very good thing in general and should be praised. I do have an issue with this and it's not the ZQ90 blades fault. I am used to other blades being much less bouncy if I hit tha ball on the edge of the racket. I am used to this feature and I need to adjust to it since it's a problem at the moment. Also the blade give very clear and strong vibrations on strong contacts. (sweet spot is better than on a Primorac Carbon)

Handle:
I really love Joola blades recently. Their handles are fantastic. Trinity FL is probably one of the most comfortable FL ever made but the ZQ90 is a bit thicker and it feels even better. I have zero complaints only high praise for the handle. If you think this is a not so interesting point you are wrong. The handle is more important than anything else I've been talking about so if it doesn't suit you then it's not the blade for you. For me the ZQ90 is like a glove.

Value:
210EUR? Ouch? It's in the Butterfly Super Viscaria territory. But I think Joola is clearly the quality winner here. Jointless wood, better handle, spotless constuction, The Viscaria Super ALC has thinner handle than a normal Viscaria, it is really bad in my opinion. I could argue in some case that a "plain" Viscaria is better than the super Viscaria. But ZQ 90 is a step up compared to Super Viscaria.

Even more less importent stuff:
I have tied the ZQ 90 and 45. They were the blades of Karakasevic with Joola AGR rubbers. He was also testing blades and he let me test his test blades. The 45 is pretty forgettable, I would not spend a cent on it, if you want limba top ply blade get the Trinity, it's much better. But the ZQ 90, damn it has "everything". If you love Chinese rubbers that blade will cater to your need. With Chinese rubbers it's a no brainer and you might skip Dignics... I will.

Pics:






Why do you not like the zhou qihao 45 version? Im considering between that and the Vyzaryz freeze, both have Limba top layer, but one has alc and the other super alc. Just wondering if it has that big of a difference.
 
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