Racket recommendations

[Fshtt]

Hi all, I am looking for a new racket but I am unsure of what to get. I would assume that I am an allrounder control player.

Thanks, would appreciate any guidance.

 

[TensorBackhand]

Hi all, I am looking for a new racket but I am unsure of what to get. I would assume that I am an allrounder control player.

Thanks, would appreciate any guidance.

what's wrong with your current racket

 

[FrenchFrog33]

Hi all, I am looking for a new racket but I am unsure of what to get. I would assume that I am an allrounder control player.

Thanks, would appreciate any guidance.

It looks like your current set-up is pretty fast.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

tibhar's stratus powerwood with donic baracuda rubber on both side.

 

[Fshtt]

what's wrong with your current racket

Its getting quite old

 

[JJ Ng]

tibhar's stratus powerwood with donic baracuda rubber on both side.

When did you get on the Tibhar Stratus Power Wood bandwagon?

Yes I own like 8 of them. I highly recommend that. Tibhar Stratus Power Wood is 5-ply all wood. Solid OFF-. It does not have a lot of vibration (I don't like vibration). The handle is very comfortable. Of note, the face is bigger than other rackets so the rackets (with two rubbers stuck on it) will be heavier. But it is well balanced. During the four years I used it, I never though my set-up wa heavy.

If you want vibration, then get DHS Power G7 or G8. I have a G8. Neither G7 or G8 is OFF+. That is marketing. I think either is about OFF-. There is vibration to the all wood paddles. Some people like vibration because it helps guide them to a better shot (i.e. better feedback). Again, I personally don't care for vibration.

Rubber: if non-tensor. Neottec Katana on both sides. If you want to try tensor, either Xiom Vega Intro or Xiom Vega Europe on both sides.

I have Katana. It is a well built Japanese non-tensor rubber. I would NOT pay up for Sriver or Mark V. Katana is very good.

I have Xiom Vega Europe. No doubt it is tensor and gives you the catapult effect., But very soft sponge so easy to control.

 

[Fshtt]

At the moment, I am thinking about this combo
Blade: innerforce layer alc
Forhand rubber: rakza 7
Backhand rubber: nittaku fastarc g1

 

[JJ Ng]

At the moment, I am thinking about this combo
Blade: innerforce layer alc
Forhand rubber: rakza 7
Backhand rubber: nittaku fastarc g1

If you are all around player, I would not argue against innerforce layer alc. I would recommend Rakza 7 soft and Fastarc C1 instead.

 

[WingTT]

I would argue against Rakza 7 soft. It is way too soft and slow when I tried it. An allround player needs to attack sometimes and Rakza 7 soft simply does not support it very well especially in the age of plastic balls. I would use Rakza 7 and/or Fastarc C1 instead. You would generally want to use the harder rubber on the forehand as forehand strokes tends to be harder hitting in most cases.

Maybe it's my particular Tibhar Stratus Power Wood but I find it too fast for how flexible it is. It is as fast as my 7 ply Samsonov Force Pro Blue handle. When I hit hard the ball tends to fly away uncontrollably due to the flex. If you never hit hard, the issue might not show up but I would not recommend the TSPW based on my personal experience.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

At the moment, I am thinking about this combo
Blade: innerforce layer alc
Forhand rubber: rakza 7
Backhand rubber: nittaku fastarc g1

The conventional wisdom is to use G1 on FH ( or your strong side ) and R7 on BH ( weak side ) unless you have an inverted style, i.e., BH is stronger than FH.

R7 is a more control / all-round oriented rubber whereas G1 ( relatively speaking ) is more offensive.

 

[JJ Ng]

I would argue against Rakza 7 soft. It is way too soft and slow when I tried it. An allround player needs to attack sometimes and Rakza 7 soft simply does not support it very well especially in the age of plastic balls. I would use Rakza 7 and/or Fastarc C1 instead. You would generally want to use the harder rubber on the forehand as forehand strokes tends to be harder hitting in most cases.

Maybe it's my particular Tibhar Stratus Power Wood but I find it too fast for how flexible it is. It is as fast as my 7 ply Samsonov Force Pro Blue handle. When I hit hard the ball tends to fly away uncontrollably due to the flex. If you never hit hard, the issue might not show up but I would not recommend the TSPW based on my personal experience.

I used Tibhar Stratus Power Wood for four years, with H3 neo on the FH and G-1 on the BH. Once I switched to carbon, I still use H3 neo on the FH but the BH side I had to switch to Rakza 7 soft.

If the OP is really all around player who now wants to experiment with carbon (even though it is inner carbon ALC), I would recommend softer rubbers like C-1 and Rakza 7 soft.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

When did you get on the Tibhar Stratus Power Wood bandwagon?

Contrary to popular belief, Gozo never jumped into a uber-fast set-up like what he is using now.

Before I had proper coaching and was still an EJ slave, I tried many set-ups and one of them that made a positive impression on me was TSPW + two side Donic Baracuda. It was a looper's delight. Hence my recommendation is based on what I have actually used before and not based on hear-say or what I read from internet forum.

I only started to use my current Mach 2.5 F-15 uber-fast set-up around the same time when I began my coaching lessons coz' my coach uses Butterfly Kim Taek Soo 10.5mm one-ply hinoki with T05 ( one side as his was J-Pen with no rubber on the BH side ). Being inspired by him as well Ryu Seung Min & Kim Taek Soo, I wanted one as well ( monkey see; monkey do ).

Unfortunately there was no commercially available 10.5mm one ply hinoki shake-hand blade in the market, I had it custom made by a Taiwanese OEM blade manufacturer.

Yes! You are right, my blade is one of a kind. No one I know uses similar set-up as I do. Gozo is one of a kind special breed. BTW, I chose the heaviest blade available in the manufacturer's inventory at that time: 107g without rubber.

And no, my coach never once complained that I use an overly fast set-up. On the other hand he did complain once when I switched to a slower set-up. Once when I went back to Darker S90 9mm, he told me, he misses my 500 lbs/sq-inch FH loop.

 

[Fshtt]

So what rubbers and blade should I get?

 

[JJ Ng]

So what rubbers and blade should I get?

You just updated your profile.

So you are using Tibhar Samsonov Force Black edition? Yes, that is a solid OFF blade. It is faster than Tibhar Stratus Power wood.

Why don't you keep the blade?

If you are curently using MX-P which is pretty fast, and you are set on an inner force layer alc, why don't you get either EL-S or FX-D?

Sometimes it is not good to change you set-up too drastically. Your perfomance may go down and you get very frustrated.

 

[Lazer]

So what rubbers and blade should I get?

Your own suggestion is fine, but I (like WingTT) would stay away from Rakza 7 soft on FH. It’s waaay soft. I use Rakza 7 soft to tame super fast blades but even though the speed is fine I don’t like the feel much. It feels that sometimes I hit through the rubber. On BH it’s a different story.
Rakza 7 soft is very light so if the the blade is heavy (then it’s usually fast too) it can offset for a heavier rubber on FH side.
To me the weight is important, it messes with the timing and when you play with several blades that is annoying.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[JJ Ng]

Your own suggestion is fine, but I (like WingTT) would stay away from Rakza 7 soft on FH. It’s waaay soft. I use Rakza 7 soft to tame super fast blades but even though the speed is fine I don’t like the feel much. It feels that sometimes I hit through the rubber. On BH it’s a different story.
Rakza 7 soft is very light so if the the blade is heavy (then it’s usually fast too) it can offset for a heavier rubber on FH side.
To me the weight is important, it messes with the timing and when you play with several blades that is annoying.

Cheers
L-zr

Lol, maybe that is why I like Rakza 7 soft on the BH side of my carbon? I use H3 neo on the forehand side so the blade can be a bit heavy.

I have four blades (same blade): FH is H3. BH's are Razka 7 soft, Razka X soft, Xiom Vega X and C-1.

I really really like Rakza 7 soft. I think Razka X soft is pretty similar; yes a bit more speed and a bit less spin than Rakza 7 soft.

Next week I will be trying the blades with Vega X and C-1. After that it will conclude this round of EJ and I will move to other testing. I have actually used Xiom Vega Europe (and of course H3 neo) to tame my Nittaku Acoustic carbon which is very fast. I need to test that combo again later in the week.

 

[Lazer]

Never played with X soft, I think X normal is a bit hardish and fast. I like 7 normal a lot more. I used to use the same on both sides but lately I started to specialize FH and BH sides.

One thing I found is that soft ESN rubbers tend to have a lot of catapult at a low engagement level. (The same goes for Tenergy05 FX. It’s the worsts). On BH I need a little catapult but soft ESN rubbers give too much, and feels too mushy.

On FH today I like to stay above ~45 shore O. On BH I like to stay below ~47 shore O.

That said I have yet to try X soft.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Fshtt]

So how does this sound
Blade: butterfly innerforce layer alc
Forehand: rakza 7
Backhand: nittaku fastarc c1

If you have any other recommendations or suggestions for different rubbers or blade please notify me so i can put it into consideration. Any help will be very appreciated

 

[IB66]

Hi,
Any video footage of you playing? Helps for getting good advice !!

 

[Fshtt]

Would the nittaku acoustic be a good choice of blade aswell? Or maybe a comparison between the innerforce layer alc and the nittaku acoustic.