says
On a never ending EJ journey
says
On a never ending EJ journey
Member
Hi all, back here today with a review on the Nittaku Gyo-en since I haven't seen anyone review this blade yet. I’ve been using this blade for a bit and finally have a more definitive opinion on it.
Blade stats:
85 g, FL
FH: Loki Arthur China
BH: Loki Arthur Asia
(don’t judge me on the rubbers; wanted to test out the Loki rubbers because of the recent forum posts about Loki rubbers and equipment. Very quick side note: also bought a Loki Honor ALC – Amazing blade, may write a review on that later).
This blade is Nittaku’s take on an outer layer carbon blade and sibling to the NIttaku So-ten, an oversized innerfiber carbon blade. These two blades are part of their Irodori series – something to do with being colorful IIRC. Both blades use a material called KVC (Kevlar); feels more like ALC than ZLC to me.
The good:
This blade and its sibling are beautiful. The build quality of this blade is immaculate, as expected from NIttaku. Blade finish is perfect and there’s no stray carbon fibers / splintering issue. The blade is well-balanced and feels very comfortable in the hand.
Feels pretty controllable; balls weren’t flying everywhere and landed more-or-less on the table.
The bad:
To be blunt; I hate this blade. I first tried playing this thing with Nittaku Fastarc G1 Max and Yasaka Rakza Z and the entire setup just felt dead. I thought there was something wrong with the rubbers at first so I put the rubbers on the Loki Honor ALC and it played beautifully. That setup was lively and well controlled.
I then put on the LAC and LAA rubbers on this setup and it was slightly better; at least it was playable this time. LAC felt like a boosted very less tacky version of H3N – extremely low throw angle and very fast. LAA was just an average rubber – not too tacky and the feeling was just whatever.
The blade, however, just feels wrong. In short, IT RATTLES! I simply don’t know how to describe it besides saying that it rattles. It legit feels like there’s some metal screws or nuts in the wood and on low-medium power shots. On high power shots, the feeling somewhat goes away but is still there. I’ve never felt this sensation in any other blade. The So-ten also exhibits this feeling, but to a much less degree – probably dampened to the inner carbon layout. The problem with the rattling is that it was just very distracting. I could understand if the vibrations were meant for a better feeling and control to the blade, but this was not the case at all. It was just very distracting.
In short, would not recommend this blade. For a similar price, just get a Viscaria or a FZD ALC. This Irodori series from Nittaku was a dud for me.
Blade stats:
85 g, FL
FH: Loki Arthur China
BH: Loki Arthur Asia
(don’t judge me on the rubbers; wanted to test out the Loki rubbers because of the recent forum posts about Loki rubbers and equipment. Very quick side note: also bought a Loki Honor ALC – Amazing blade, may write a review on that later).
This blade is Nittaku’s take on an outer layer carbon blade and sibling to the NIttaku So-ten, an oversized innerfiber carbon blade. These two blades are part of their Irodori series – something to do with being colorful IIRC. Both blades use a material called KVC (Kevlar); feels more like ALC than ZLC to me.
The good:
This blade and its sibling are beautiful. The build quality of this blade is immaculate, as expected from NIttaku. Blade finish is perfect and there’s no stray carbon fibers / splintering issue. The blade is well-balanced and feels very comfortable in the hand.
Feels pretty controllable; balls weren’t flying everywhere and landed more-or-less on the table.
The bad:
To be blunt; I hate this blade. I first tried playing this thing with Nittaku Fastarc G1 Max and Yasaka Rakza Z and the entire setup just felt dead. I thought there was something wrong with the rubbers at first so I put the rubbers on the Loki Honor ALC and it played beautifully. That setup was lively and well controlled.
I then put on the LAC and LAA rubbers on this setup and it was slightly better; at least it was playable this time. LAC felt like a boosted very less tacky version of H3N – extremely low throw angle and very fast. LAA was just an average rubber – not too tacky and the feeling was just whatever.
The blade, however, just feels wrong. In short, IT RATTLES! I simply don’t know how to describe it besides saying that it rattles. It legit feels like there’s some metal screws or nuts in the wood and on low-medium power shots. On high power shots, the feeling somewhat goes away but is still there. I’ve never felt this sensation in any other blade. The So-ten also exhibits this feeling, but to a much less degree – probably dampened to the inner carbon layout. The problem with the rattling is that it was just very distracting. I could understand if the vibrations were meant for a better feeling and control to the blade, but this was not the case at all. It was just very distracting.
In short, would not recommend this blade. For a similar price, just get a Viscaria or a FZD ALC. This Irodori series from Nittaku was a dud for me.
