Alright, here's my past year of EJ history.
Some items have been omitted for various reasons - but mostly for not being relevant or distinctively different from other, more often used items.
My old stuff from 2010:
Appelgren Allplay Senso V1 - Donic Quattro A'Conda BH / Donic Quattro Formula FH (discontinued)
The whole setup lacks power, as a result I often make large, fast swings with bad control.
The FH rubber in particular was too soft (bottomed out easily in 2.1/2.2), very bouncy without being actually dangerous.
The BH rubber was OK but not particularly good at anything.
Blades:
Appelgren Allplay Senso V1 (82g) - maybe 10 years of experience
+ easy to impart spin
+ slow to opening up is very controlled
+ tons and tons of feeling
- top end speed is not there
- sweet spot small
- head size small
Stiga Clipper Wood (91g) -
sold
+ top end speed
+ good sweet spot
+ decent, familiar feeling
- for me, this blade promotes flat hitting over spin
- found it very hard to get a well timed FH topspin right.
I think this blade is too stiff and just doesn't work for my game.
Stiga Offensive Classic WRB (84g) - short test 1-2 sessions,
sold
+ easier to create spin than Clipper
- top end speed was bad, almost on par with the Appelgren
- I did not like its feedback, the blade was basically always loud, rather than the sound being an indication of your stroke
Yinhe Pro 01 (90g Koto, outer ALC) - used in several league matches
+ timing was actually pretty good with this blade
+ excellent sweet spot
+ spin capabilities are good, feels kind of flexible
+ its speed output is pretty linear, so predictable/intuitive
- hard to tame, pretty fast
- makes softer rubbers feel weird/hard (looking at you, Rakza 7!)
- short crisp contact promotes aggressive play which is not my forté (even if it feels good)
Korbel EU (78g so LIGHT) - used in several league matches
+ timing takes getting used to but still works
+ good sweet spot for 5p wood
+ spins well, feels flexible similar to Pro 01
- that awkwardly small handle just doesn't instill confidence
- lacks some serious punch likely due to its weight
Yinhe Pro 05 (91g, inner KLC) - used 2-3 sessions
+ Limba feels familiar
+ sweet spot is fine
- misses feeling all over
- power output is very hard to control on anything faster than touch play (and even touch play, short serves)
- it doesn't actually spin very easily, it's thicker than Korbel and impossible to rely on flex for spin.
Actually this one wasn't that bad when practicing with it, but as soon as I put a *little* more effort into it, balls went flying *everywhere* or not even making the net.
I've come to the conclusion that carbon blades just aren't my thing. Outer fibre may be more predictable but this one's still too quick for me and my big (jerky) swings. As for which blade I would play with going forward, despite its handle, still Korbel is the blade I feel most comfortable with and trust with the versatility of my game.
I have done quick test drives with Primorac (lacks oomph, similar to Stiga OC even if the feeling is better) and a bunch of other non-memorable blades.
FH Rubbers:
Donic Quattro Formula (2010 equipment!)
+ good for brushy spin
+ lightweight
- very high throw so perhaps a little *too* brushy
- too soft. (and coming from someone that played Joola Samba before, that's saying something)
- very bouncy in the short game
- not that good on smashes either due to bottoming and subsequent weird bouncy catapult action
Yasaka Rakza 7 (2.0)
+ works *pretty well* on all active strokes
+ good introductory choice to relatively modern tensors
+ flat hits decently
- heavyyy
- mutes the blade's feeling a lot, honestly to me it feels like playing with mittens on sometimes
- passive touch play (hold out my blade and catch a ball) is pretty hard with it because it reacts to incoming spin.
- feeling changes a lot between different blades
Hurricane 3 Neo (used commercial versions, 39/37d, without and with Seamoon)
+ when you hit it right, it's *extremely* good at generating spin
+ passive strokes are a breeze, so holding out a bat and "fencing" a ball somewhere is easy
+ when tack drops off it's still pretty familiar to use in backspin and neutral strokes
+ boost can significantly change its character to a more bouncy rubber while retaining insane spin properties
- requires a very different stroke for a
powerful top spin ball
- my jerky brushy technique can lead to skids and doesn't seem fit for this rubber
- I find it hard to access the potential of this rubber (yes, this is a skill issue but not one I will be able to fix quickly)
Palio AK47 (Red/Yellow sponge so Hard and Medium variants)
+ control is good
+ not very sensitive to incoming spin
+ passive strokes still work
+ lightweight
+ cheap
- lacks both power and spin capability so produces no real danger
- wears pretty quickly
BH Rubbers
Donic Quattro A'Conda (2010 equipment)
<honestly not quite memorable>
Yasaka Rakza 7
(see also FH notes)
+ opening up on BH works well
+ good for the occasional punch
+ feels better on BH than FH
- feels soft but is hard(er), combining the negative points of both categories for me (muted feeling, yet spin sensitive and slightly unpredictable)
Palio AK47 (Red/Yellow again, blue was wayy too soft)
(see also FH notes)
+ retained (neutral) character across different blades
- did have to switch to softer Yellow on the harder Pro 01 blade to keep some dwell time
Options from here on out
Plan A: keep my current Korbel and BH AK47, and get a better suited FH rubber. I'm thinking something along the lines of Glayzer, or an easy to use hybrid.
(option with the least work/money involved)
Plan B: get myself a Korbel Japan with a little more weight. And then still follow Plan A
(option with a little more EJ satisfaction)
Plan C: slap something slower on the Pro 01. Might still be AK47.
(option that has potential to help me bring more fluency to my shots in the long term)
But still, what so I even want to consider for FH...
