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As a beginner, I've purchased and used a Nittaku Acoustic, Yasaka Sweden Extra, and Sanwei Fextra. I've also used a Donic Appelgren for a couple of weeks before I gifted it to my newphew.

All / All+ blades are indeed great for control but are so slow that you have to use bouncy Euro and Japanese rubber to get good levels of speed and spin. They will be too slow with cheaper rubbers (Chinese rubbers and hybrids).

I think it makes a lot more sense to get a faster blade (Off- minimum) and use cheaper training rubbers that are slower and more direct. Yes, you can probably play YSE with Rakza 7 for years and be fine. But Rakza 7 is $35+ everytime you want to change. And when you do want an upgrade, you're looking at rubbers costing $45 or $50+ (more than the cost of the blade itself).

To make it makes more get a faster blade and use cheaper rubbers to slow the blade down for a controllable setup. The Chinese seem to do this with 7-ply OFF- blades being the choice for beginners (DHS PG7, Yinhe U-2, Sanwei Fextra).

I prefer my 7 ply with Chinese rubber over the YSE with bouncy rubber (in my case Fastarc C-1). It may be slightly more difficult to generate spin with the harder rubber but, at my level, I'm guessing it's extremely minor compared to learning proper technique. Blocking is way more stable with the 7 ply and this means more club players are willing to practice with me. For me, I find it easier to get the ball on the table without the bouncy catapult effect.

It's also a lot, lot cheaper to go this route.
 
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Sergey the Real Tsos will agree that there are SO Many Scrooge types in USA playing table tennis.

TT is not a very inecpensive sport, just facts.

If anyone wants to save that kind of money money money on TT, they ought to get a $5 USD cheepo no sponge pips out bat and play at their local community or senior center for free... and make lunch bets and get free meals.
Heck, it might be more fun that way instead of trying to keep up with the Jones in all those modern National H3s and Pro Tenergiez.
 
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As a beginner, I've purchased and used a Nittaku Acoustic, Yasaka Sweden Extra, and Sanwei Fextra. I've also used a Donic Appelgren for a couple of weeks before I gifted it to my newphew.

All / All+ blades are indeed great for control but are so slow that you have to use bouncy Euro and Japanese rubber to get good levels of speed and spin. They will be too slow with cheaper rubbers (Chinese rubbers and hybrids).

I think it makes a lot more sense to get a faster blade (Off- minimum) and use cheaper training rubbers that are slower and more direct. Yes, you can probably play YSE with Rakza 7 for years and be fine. But Rakza 7 is $35+ everytime you want to change. And when you do want an upgrade, you're looking at rubbers costing $45 or $50+ (more than the cost of the blade itself).

To make it makes more get a faster blade and use cheaper rubbers to slow the blade down for a controllable setup. The Chinese seem to do this with 7-ply OFF- blades being the choice for beginners (DHS PG7, Yinhe U-2, Sanwei Fextra).

I prefer my 7 ply with Chinese rubber over the YSE with bouncy rubber (in my case Fastarc C-1). It may be slightly more difficult to generate spin with the harder rubber but, at my level, I'm guessing it's extremely minor compared to learning proper technique. Blocking is way more stable with the 7 ply and this means more club players are willing to practice with me. For me, I find it easier to get the ball on the table without the bouncy catapult effect.

It's also a lot, lot cheaper to go this route.
I've definitely thought about that and was tempted to get the Timo Boil ALC for that reason. Over time just replace the rubbers since I have a great blade. What blades & rubbers would you recommend then?

Any idea if the Sweden Extra + Rakza 7 combo is faster than the Stiga Pro Carbon Performance?
 
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I've definitely thought about that and was tempted to get the Timo Boil ALC for that reason. Over time just replace the rubbers since I have a great blade. What blades & rubbers would you recommend then?
If you're going for a BTY outer ALC, I'd consider going with the OG Viscaria or another model similar like the FZD ALC. The Timo Boll ALC tends to be faster and stiffer even though the composition is similar to Viscaria. I personally find it more difficult to play with than a Viscaria.

You should also check out the DHS Hurricane Long 5 if you get a chance. It's can be something quite special if you happen to get a really good one and great even for a normal specimen as at the low end it plays like a 5 ply all wood and the high end it has the advantages or a carbon blade but is also controllable.
 
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If you're going for a BTY outer ALC, I'd consider going with the OG Viscaria or another model similar like the FZD ALC. The Timo Boll ALC tends to be faster and stiffer even though the composition is similar to Viscaria. I personally find it more difficult to play with than a Viscaria.

You should also check out the DHS Hurricane Long 5 if you get a chance. It's can be something quite special if you happen to get a really good one and great even for a normal specimen as at the low end it plays like a 5 ply all wood and the high end it has the advantages or a carbon blade but is also controllable.
It's tempting! I really want to get a nice blade that I can use for a long time, but I've been tempted to keep it on the cheaper side while I adjust to it which is why I was looking at the Yasaka Sweden Extra / Rakza 7 2mm combo.

I'm close to pulling the trigger and getting a really nice blade though lol. I wonder how the
Butterfly Petr Korbel would do...
 
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It's tempting! I really want to get a nice blade that I can use for a long time, but I've been tempted to keep it on the cheaper side while I adjust to it which is why I was looking at the Yasaka Sweden Extra / Rakza 7 2mm combo.

I'm close to pulling the trigger and getting a really nice blade though lol. I wonder how the
Butterfly Petr Korbel would do...
I think you should go with a fast blade with slow rubbers then upgrade your rubbers over time. A good setup is DHS Power G7 Fastarc C-1 max and Fastarc S-1 2.0 or go with a Petr Korbel with Rozena 2.1 on both sides
 
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I don't think it will be to slow, if you just have the technique and the weight transfer it can be very fast.
Nice on the Christmas Present! What did you upgrade to?

Ok, awesome. I had been tempted to get the Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC or the Tim Boll ALC (which might be too fast for me), but if the sweden extra can generate the power as well... nice!
 
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Nice on the Christmas Present! What did you upgrade to?

Ok, awesome. I had been tempted to get the Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC or the Tim Boll ALC (which might be too fast for me), but if the sweden extra can generate the power as well... nice!
My dad got me ma long seven, a seven ply wood blade, I love it it's a great blade but it was very hard to adapt to at first.
 
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Nice on the Christmas Present! What did you upgrade to?

Ok, awesome. I had been tempted to get the Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC or the Tim Boll ALC (which might be too fast for me), but if the sweden extra can generate the power as well... nice!
As you said harimoto alc and timo boll might be too fast, but if you want to get a composite blade that isn't too fast get the loki rxton 1, it's a great blade, just enough speed and the control is great. And it's not that expensive, I got mine for 10 bucks.
 
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Now I of course don't know how you play and what your technique is like but I would personally go for rakza 7 soft for technique developing players, it's the same price as rakza 7 and same spin, the only difference is the sponge hardness and dwell time. I used rakza 7 soft for years aswell.
 
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How would something like the Butterfly Harimoto Innerforce ALC be a good blade?
As others have mentioned Yasaka Sweden Extra with Rakza 7 is a great first bat for someone coming from a premade. It will be a big difference and a lot to adapt to. You could play with this setup for at least 2-3 years before thinking of any upgrade. No need to go for anything faster right now.

Harimoto ALC is the blade that Harimoto plays with now, it’s not the blade he first learned to play table tennis with.
 
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As others have mentioned Yasaka Sweden Extra with Rakza 7 is a great first bat for someone coming from a premade. It will be a big difference and a lot to adapt to. You could play with this setup for at least 2-3 years before thinking of any upgrade. No need to go for anything faster right now.

Harimoto ALC is the blade that Harimoto plays with now, it’s not the blade he first learned to play table tennis with.
Very true. I already feel that my stiga pro carbon performance is too slow. That's why I'm kind of nervous about it being slower than what I've got now. So that's been my hesitance.

It could be that it still could be the same speed or faster, I just don't want to spend the money and then find out it's slower than what I have now
 
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Very true. I already feel that my stiga pro carbon performance is too slow. That's why I'm kind of nervous about it being slower than what I've got now. So that's been my hesitance.

It could be that it still could be the same speed or faster, I just don't want to spend the money and then find out it's slower than what I have now
The YSE will be slower than your blade. Even if it is a premade, your blade is 5 layers of wood + 2 layers of carbon. I can't think of carbon blade that is slower than a YSE except for specially designed carbon defender blades. Yours is intended for offense.

Consider an OFF- rated blade. There are plenty of them that are better than the YSE (my opinion) and at half the cost. I've already listed a few.
 
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