Post your latest EJ purchase

[Jslick89]

You are welcome about the video. I will delete the video later. I don't use YouTube in general but sometimes it is easier to communicate with people here via video.

Oh....I am afraid to suck you into EJ'ing. But the bottomline is, until you use a certain type of equipment, it really does not matter what people say or describe. You have to feel it yourself.

On the other thread about what equipment should Dan and Tom review next, I said that I watch their equipment videos for entertainment value only. I don't really take into stock on what they say.

Everyone's physique and natural motion are different. If you played with hurricane and you liked it, you should test it out.

When I loop with hurricane (especially when I did that demonstration video for you where I twiddled the paddle back and forth between the red side and the black side), I could feel that at the end of the stroke, my rubber is slinging the ball over to the other net (like carrying it over the net). But with T05 fx, I do not have such feeling.

I have trouble with Viscaria and Acoustic carbon. I am now going back and forth between 7-ply wood (Donic Persson Powerplay) and slow carbon (like Gambler series of carbon blades).

Do you have one set of blade only? Do you plan to acquire another set? If you do, I have some suggestion about a couple cheap set-up's that won't break your bank.

Ahh this slinging feeling thst you’re describing…that is what I felt too with the DHS…with my tenergy it kind of just pops off. I get a lot of spin on my shots (can see the magnus effect) but it definitely feels different.

I have two viscaria. Exact same set up for both. Been playing with this for almost a year and a half now. Not sure if I plan to to get anything else but my birthday is coming up….lol

 

[JJ Ng]

Ahh this slinging feeling thst you’re describing…that is what I felt too with the DHS…with my tenergy it kind of just pops off. I get a lot of spin on my shots (can see the magnus effect) but it definitely feels different.

I have two viscaria. Exact same set up for both. Been playing with this for almost a year and a half now. Not sure if I plan to to get anything else but my birthday is coming up….lol

So on this forum, some people said that be careful, once you go to Chinese tacky rubber on your forehand side, you may not go back! I don't see why that should be a problem.

I grew up playing with friendship 729, Globe 999 and Juic 999 so I am used to tacky rubber. That "slinging" feeling is addictive.

Are you good at assembling and disassembling rubber and regluing? I am just wondering if we should just mess with your back-up blade or not.

 

[lodro]

Maybe not faster but your ball might have "higher quality." In Chinese commentary of table tennis matches, they often talk about a player's "quality" of return. What they refer to is speed + spin. If the quality of the ball or return is high, then the opponent would have trouble keeping the ball on the table.

So perhaps you feel that with hurricane, your speed + spin combo is of higher quality than with Tenergy. Please see the video below. Same blade. Red is H3 neo, boosted. Black is T05 fx, lightly boosted. It took me a couple balls to warm up but once I got into it, the T05 fx (black side) gave me that distinct sound when I loop drove the ball. A lot of people like it. But it is too pitchy to my ear. I hate that sound. When I use the red H3 neo side, I feel that my loop has a higher quality to it and the stroke feels more "solid." It is not like I have not flipped my blade over and tried using T05 fx, EL-S, FX-P, G-1, etc. on the FH side. But over and over again, I am just like...blah.... Better with H3 on the forehand side.

Brilliant ! Tick tick tick --tock tock tock 😁 1 to zero for H3

 

[hclnnkhg]

Just put down an order on Aliexpress for 24 Double Fish WTT 2022 3* balls for £21.7, so about 90p a ball. Let's see if it's anywhere close to the Nittaku Premium 3*

 

[NextLevel]

Got some bits n bobs today. Codexx EF54, Nexxus Superselect 45, Hybrid K1 Euro. Tried the K1E first and was immediately disappointed, it felt mushy and vague, need more time with this one- it might go better on the backhand. Out of the pack the Nexxus hit me with that sharply sweet booster smell which gave me a good idea of how it'd play, visually it looks extremely similar to Hexer Grip (which also has that booster smell, comes in green, and has a large pored sponge), initial impressions are that it has a stronger bounce and a bit less spin/bite than Hexer Grip. I'm not a fan of strongly factory boosted rubbers like this, I feel like they lose their juice way too fast, but I splurged for the Nexxus because I tried it on a friends bat and it felt pretty decent even though it's been put through the wringer. I was most excited for the Codexx EF54 because I really like the EL52 version, it's just a bit too soft for my needs, and I've been trying out the Golden Tango but the topsheet is not as sticky and the sponge is a bit too hard and unforgiving as I'm only playing 1-2 times a week at the moment. The Codexx EF and Golden Tango are basically visually identical, and I'll need some more testing to see if they're actually any different- out of the pack the EF seems to have a slightly stickier softer topsheet as my topspin seemed to have a bit more arc, but this could just be since the EF is new and the GT is almost 2 months old.

Have you tried the Tango powersponge? Though maybe the boosting there will turn you off even more...

 

[Fedex78]

10 days before the last official tournament of the season (last 10 june 2023) I had the great idea of buying:
-xiom vega pro to put on fh of my joola zqh90
-Donic Z2 to put on bh of zqh90
-joola nobilis

1) vega pro turned to be not a good rubber at all, very slippery, not powerful, quality level way below my until then V>22 DE
2) Donic Z2 on bh zqh90 was very good, better then my dna platinum m so i kept it
3) one week before the tournament I trained with nobilis plus V>22 fh / Donic Z2 bh. 2 days before the tournament I realized that I lacked control with nobilis, above all on backhand. So I switched to my blade, zqh90 with V>22 and Z2, which I played for one hour the day before the tournament.
4) on tournament I played like shit and lost all 3 matches
5) I measured nobilis frequency and is 1874 Hz !!!!! I should have done that before assembling the rubbers...

I hope to recover soon from this disease called EJ.

The best players of the tournament happen to have the same blade since years.

 

[hclnnkhg]

10 days before the last official tournament of the season (last 10 june 2023) I had the great idea of buying:
-xiom vega pro to put on fh of my joola zqh90
-Donic Z2 to put on bh of zqh90
-joola nobilis

1) vega pro turned to be not a good rubber at all, very slippery, not powerful, quality level way below my until then V>22 DE
2) Donic Z2 on bh zqh90 was very good, better then my dna platinum m so i kept it
3) one week before the tournament I trained with nobilis plus V>22 fh / Donic Z2 bh. 2 days before the tournament I realized that I lacked control with nobilis, above all on backhand. So I switched to my blade, zqh90 with V>22 and Z2, which I played for one hour the day before the tournament.
4) on tournament I played like shit and lost all 3 matches
5) I measured nobilis frequency and is 1874 Hz !!!!! I should have done that before assembling the rubbers...

I hope to recover soon from this disease called EJ.

The best players of the tournament happen to have the same blade since years.

Well Vega Pro is a pre-40+ mid-range rubber, it would be a big surprise if it outperforms the V22DE, a much more recent high-range rubber. I'm sure you can also play well with the nobilis, it just takes some time to get used to a new blade that is so different from your previous one.

 

[Fedex78]

The problem is that I tried the vega pro on my friend zjk zlc and it was totally different than on my zqh90 unfortunately...on zjk zlc vega pro didn't outperform V22 but it had great control, spin and high throw. On my zqh90 it was totally different...it lost control above all. I know, different blades give different outputs with same rubber. Anyway I should have done this test after the season...the nobilis is a great blade and for sure i would adapt to it by training

 

[JJ Ng]

The problem is that I tried the vega pro on my friend zjk zlc and it was totally different than on my zqh90 unfortunately...on zjk zlc vega pro didn't outperform V22 but it had great control, spin and high throw. On my zqh90 it was totally different...it lost control above all. I know, different blades give different outputs with same rubber. Anyway I should have done this test after the season...the nobilis is a great blade and for sure i would adapt to it by training

I think that is why EJ is so hard to cure. Literally there are endless combination of rubber plus blade. And they all feel very differently! I was set on Tibhar Stratus Power Wood with H3 neo on the FH and G-1 on the BH. I then experimented with Sanwei Target National on the FH, but went back to H3 neo. Then backhand, on various Gambler carbon blades and Donic Persson Powerply, I am now experimenting with T05fx, EL-S, FX-P, MX-S and Rakza 7 soft. I actually really really like Rakza 7 soft and EL-S!

I am totally surprised because on my 5-ply wood, G-1 is direct and the ball goes where I want to go. I used that for 4 years already. Now on 7-ply or carbon composite, like the softer, more catapult effects of EL-S and Rakza 7 soft. Who knew? So my EJ journey continues on.....

 

[Jslick89]

So on this forum, some people said that be careful, once you go to Chinese tacky rubber on your forehand side, you may not go back! I don't see why that should be a problem.

I grew up playing with friendship 729, Globe 999 and Juic 999 so I am used to tacky rubber. That "slinging" feeling is addictive.

Are you good at assembling and disassembling rubber and regluing? I am just wondering if we should just mess with your back-up blade or not.

Ok- i have a few more questions:

1) what are your low cost suggestions for experimental set ups? are you talking about something off Aliexpress? I don't mind messing around with a "clone" of something if need me
2) what was difficult about the viscaria for you?
3) to answer your question about dissembling...i'm pretty good at peeling off the rubber (no splinters yet) but i've never glued a rubber or cut a rubber. i'm sure i could become proficient at this if i needed to......
4) i see you mentioned a boosted FX tenergy. what do you use to boost? is it the same booster you use for tacky rubbers?

 

[Jslick89]

Study the layer composition of a more expensive (& pretentious) Butterfly or other high end) blade you interested in.
Then order a clone on Ali Express etc. If you do not like it, you did not lose much money. If you like it you can always order Butterfly etc . But most playess I know never bothered to order the real thing.

Yeah my buddy bought a Stour viscaria clone. Honestly pretty similar to my own viscaria but definitely different.

I want to try an innerforce ALC but it seems like the only innerforce ALC on Aliexpress butterfly clones are ZLC innerforce......

 

[Jslick89]

SWORD BLACK GOLD
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805054549020.html

Sanwei
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805274501781.html
Description is wrong it seems as the picture shows alc as inner layer next to core

do you have experience with either of these two paddles?

 

[SlowPower]

Where is the advantage of buying a clone for 70 if you can get a used original for 100 bucks?
If you dont like it you will hardly get 30 bucks back for the clone but you can sell a used butterfly for 100 again...
If you are talking about szlc blades its another story, but i would not recommend to buy alc clones...

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

Have you tried the Tango powersponge? Though maybe the boosting there will turn you off even more...

I have not tried the GTPS but I have tried out Sieger PK50 and used Codexx 52, both of which seem to belong to the same lineage as GTPS, but it's still on the list of things to try. GT felt borderline unusable on my SPW where the Codexx 54 feels more friendly, but I put the GT on an Ignito and it became surprisingly useable even for my weenie shots. Over the ~3 months I've had it I think the Codexx 52 has worn pretty fairly for me, its certainly less crisp than when newer but it hasn't fallen off as hard as the roided out factory boosted rubbers like Onega V Tour, Hexer Powergrip.

 

[SleepyMaster]

10 days before the last official tournament of the season (last 10 june 2023) I had the great idea of buying:
-xiom vega pro to put on fh of my joola zqh90
-Donic Z2 to put on bh of zqh90
-joola nobilis

1) vega pro turned to be not a good rubber at all, very slippery, not powerful, quality level way below my until then V>22 DE
2) Donic Z2 on bh zqh90 was very good, better then my dna platinum m so i kept it
3) one week before the tournament I trained with nobilis plus V>22 fh / Donic Z2 bh. 2 days before the tournament I realized that I lacked control with nobilis, above all on backhand. So I switched to my blade, zqh90 with V>22 and Z2, which I played for one hour the day before the tournament.
4) on tournament I played like shit and lost all 3 matches
5) I measured nobilis frequency and is 1874 Hz !!!!! I should have done that before assembling the rubbers...

I hope to recover soon from this disease called EJ.

The best players of the tournament happen to have the same blade since years.

Oh, I understand you. I have pretty similar story, by buying new FZDALC blade with two D09c, few days before tournament - but it goes other way and I was able to win some games. I expected it will leading me to losing more 😁 But D09c is probably slower rubbers, and definitely not so much frequency in the blade

 

[NextLevel]

I have not tried the GTPS but I have tried out Sieger PK50 and used Codexx 52, both of which seem to belong to the same lineage as GTPS, but it's still on the list of things to try. GT felt borderline unusable on my SPW where the Codexx 54 feels more friendly, but I put the GT on an Ignito and it became surprisingly useable even for my weenie shots. Over the ~3 months I've had it I think the Codexx 52 has worn pretty fairly for me, its certainly less crisp than when newer but it hasn't fallen off as hard as the roided out factory boosted rubbers like Onega V Tour, Hexer Powergrip.

Yeah, Golden Tango would be borderline unusable with anything that doesn't have Carbon IMHO - it is what it does when carbon kicks in that makes it really special, even if it is good at the other shots. I think the same for Dignics 09c, but of course people may differ on that. IMHO, the SPW is a bit overrated as a blade, and I say that as someone who used it extensively and even bought multiple - it is the only blade I broke multiple times because the neck design is weak.

GT makes a fast carbon blade very easy to control on power shots, which is where it shines like 09c, and is also good at other shots. But the SW thing clearly explains your issues. Thanks for responding.

 

[Jslick89]

Where is the advantage of buying a clone for 70 if you can get a used original for 100 bucks?
If you dont like it you will hardly get 30 bucks back for the clone but you can sell a used butterfly for 100 again...
If you are talking about szlc blades its another story, but i would not recommend to buy alc clones...

good point. All of the used innferforce ALC butterfly here get snatched up quick!

 

[hclnnkhg]

Where is the advantage of buying a clone for 70 if you can get a used original for 100 bucks?
If you dont like it you will hardly get 30 bucks back for the clone but you can sell a used butterfly for 100 again...
If you are talking about szlc blades its another story, but i would not recommend to buy alc clones...

Getting a clone/blade with similar construction makes more sense in China/Asia. For example, viscaria is around 1000 rmb whereas Yinhe Pro 01, Sanwei 75 are around 200-250 rmb. Outside China/Asia, the price ratio drops to 2 to 3.

 

[Fedex78]

Oh, I understand you. I have pretty similar story, by buying new FZDALC blade with two D09c, few days before tournament - but it goes other way and I was able to win some games. I expected it will leading me to losing more 😁 But D09c is probably slower rubbers, and definitely not so much frequency in the blade

This is the nice part of writing here, I dont feel alone
Well at least you bought something new and used it on the tournament, I just messed my brain by changing setup two/three times in one week...great move
By the way, fzd alc is already a masterpiece, Dignics 09C is a great rubber, you can counter just moving your arm forward without caring for the angle of the bat, it is an autopilot rubber

 

[JJ Ng]

Ok- i have a few more questions:

1) what are your low cost suggestions for experimental set ups? are you talking about something off Aliexpress? I don't mind messing around with a "clone" of something if need me
2) what was difficult about the viscaria for you?
3) to answer your question about dissembling...i'm pretty good at peeling off the rubber (no splinters yet) but i've never glued a rubber or cut a rubber. i'm sure i could become proficient at this if i needed to......
4) i see you mentioned a boosted FX tenergy. what do you use to boost? is it the same booster you use for tacky rubbers?

To answer your questions:

1) No, I am not thinking about Aliexpress Butterfly "clones," but not because I don't think it is a good idea (people would EJ with what they want and whatever budget they have), it is just I have not bought those clones before. I only recommend items I have tried personally myself. For items I have not tried, I keep my mouth shut.

For blade I would recommend Gambler Fire Dragon Fast (personally I like the touch of Gambler Vector Hinoki the best but I have to look at it from your perspective. You are coming from Viscaria so Gambler Vector Hinoki will feel too slow for you). That's $40 plus $5 shipping. Gambler's carbon blades are not that fast. And don't get their rubber.

For the rest, from TT11,

DHS Hurricane 3 Neo, 2.2 black for $27.16,

Tibhar Evolution EL-S 2.1 red for $45.32 or Yasaka Rakza 7 Soft max red for $44.42

and Falco Tempo Long Booster 150ml for $28.97.

Evolution series is the closest to Tenergy series that people can find. People in general would agree on that. However, if durability is a concern, Yasaka Rakza 7 soft is more durable than Evoluation EL-S.

If you want to buy a blade from TT11 (not Gambler), then I would recommend Donic Persson Powerplay for $32.61. Donic Persson Powerplay is a 7-play that is solid OFF in terms of speed. Again you coming from Viscaria, anything all wood at less than OFF, you will not like it at all.

In general, for DHS, black rubber is stickier than red rubber. Don't ask me why. It just is. So better to get black.

Boosting H3 Neo is simple. One layer. Let it sit for 24 hours. Add another layer, let it sit for 24 hours. Then depending on how much it domes, you may or may not want to put on a third layer.

It is important that you put a couple layers of glue on both the rubber (H3 neo) and the blade, because when the rubber curls up, it is harder to stick it properly to the blade.

If you get a bunch of people together to order from TT11 in bulk, then they give 30% discount so $27 becomes $20, $44 becomes $30. The booster does not allow bulk discount. The blade of Donic Persson Powerplay also becomes $23.

There is a reason why TT11 is so popular. TT11 is not allowed to distribute Butterfly products to North America. And that's also why I am EJ'ing all the different brands but not Butterfly products.

First rule of EJ, do not break your bank at first and see if you like it, before you buy more.

2) Viscaria. Too fast. I did not feel the touch I like. I have slapped H3 neo, boosted, on the forehand of a Viscaria. It does not feel right to me.

3) It is easy. The key to gluing and regluing, disassembling and reassembling is, do not be a perfectionist. If you are a perfectionist, then it will drive you nuts. The rubber once you take it off of one blade and put it on another blade, it will NOT fit perfectly. But that's ok. That's also why I boost any old rubber I have because it also expands the sponge so I can fit it onto the new blade better.

4) Falco Tempo Long Booster. I also have Haifu both regular and national yellow (those two are not opened yet; stil in their original boxes). I tend to go with what I am comfortable. I will use the Haifu at some point but not now. Please see below for the channel that ThePongProfessor has. He tried out all the boosters!

In general, booster does help Butterfly and ESN rubber a bit. But it does not dome up as much as hurricane for sure. And you probably do not want to make Butterfly and ESN rubber too soft either. But Hurricane neo, yeah, you want to make that sponge soft and be more responsive.