Sanwei Fextra 7 too soft for chinese rubber?

[Windkanal]

I am still trying to work out my initial ''real setup'' to stick with for a while. right now i have 2 Fextra 7 (brought both ST and FL to experiment) and everyone online seems to love the fextra.

Fextra 1.
FH Mercury 2 Medium | BH Yinhe Moon 12 m+

Fextra 2.
FH 729 Bloom Power 47 | BH 729 Focus 3 Snipe 44

and comparing those 2, i start to notice something, that i dislike, that is shared between both of them and i think i am coming to the conclusion, that i simply dont fully enjoy the fextra. its too ''slow'' with chinese rubber, or lets say... its too soft. hard to explain but, let me try. The rubbers are for the most part quite hard, but while playing, they feel hard...but also soft at the same time. its like the initial hit when the ball touches the rubber feels quite hard and linear but then there is a very soft (kind of mushy) undertone after the initial hit. it feels like the soft Limba wood of the fextra is kind of... absorbing the energy instead of kicking it back. when i was trying various tacky rubbers on other blades, i had none of that feel at all. they felt really hard and crisp. The fextra doesnt feel crisp.

makes me wonder if that little ''something'' i am missing is actually the blade itself and i might do better with some Koto outer ply carbon blade instead as an example. i keep hearing, that for example Viscaria is hightly rated in combination with tacky rubbers for the same matter. Something similar could be.. i dont know. Yinhe pro 01 ALC for example, wich i heard should be really similar to it.

 

[yamagata]

My Moon 12 M- felt really dead and boring on my 5 ply Wood blade. When replaced the rubber with Hexer Grip SFX the blade came to life. My favorite blade.

But the Moon 12 is just wonderful on my inner carbon blade, a joy to play. My favorite rubber.

My experience is based on a beginners technique, using arm and maybe wrist instead of the entire body. When I learn my basics properly, I believe the experience will be different.

 

[mocker88]

Yes you should look at something a bit faster I guess. Yinhe - PRO-01 is really nice and fast. I use it now with a 729 - Battle Taichi 37/40 (FH) and Battle Taichi 37/39 (BH) and it works so good

If you're still into wood, check out Sanwei - V5 PRO. It's a really fast 7-ply blade with a hard layer of ash on the outside. Fast wooden feeling.

 

[WingTT]

What you feel is what you feel. If you like it crispy and the Fextra does not have that then it does not matter others like their Fextra. Get what works for you, not what others might like. You've tried other blades that are crispy feeling, get those instead. If someone in your table tennis club has a koto outer ALC ,ask to try it and see for yourself if it is what you like.

 

[Tyce]

It's hard to judge without seeing you play, but you say this is your first "real" bat so I'm going to assume you are pretty much a beginner.

It could very well be that what you experience is the harder topsheet of these rubbers giving a hard feeling on slow to medium contact, and when you hit harder you feel the sponge.
For a beginner to be bothered by the softness of a blade.. That would mean you have a spectacular sense of feeling. You should go to a club and get yourself some proper guidance with that talent.

If you are not a beginner, I'm curious what you are comparing these two setups to. If it's anything Euro, softer bouncy topsheet, my guess is still that you're experiencing the character of the Chinese rubber. There's a certain linearity in the response, where European style rubber will shoot the ball out harder on lower force, Chinese style rubbers will not do that exponentially. They will give you speed equivalent to the power you put in. That makes them predictable and controlled, but it also means that for extreme output, you need to bring extreme input.

Third option, if you are already used to Chinese rubber for a while, and you are experienced in general, then yes, you might be experiencing the limitations of the Fextra. It might still not be the softness, but rather the flexibility that's giving you problems. Think about swinging a wobbly hand saw or a solid board of wood. The wood is softer, but the saw will bend more so it's more flexible.
The flex of a blade can take some getting used to.

Whichever is the case, the answer is boring: stick with it and it will get better.

 

[Windkanal]

It's hard to judge without seeing you play, but you say this is your first "real" bat so I'm going to assume you are pretty much a beginner.

It could very well be that what you experience is the harder topsheet of these rubbers giving a hard feeling on slow to medium contact, and when you hit harder you feel the sponge.
For a beginner to be bothered by the softness of a blade.. That would mean you have a spectacular sense of feeling. You should go to a club and get yourself some proper guidance with that talent.

If you are not a beginner, I'm curious what you are comparing these two setups to. If it's anything Euro, softer bouncy topsheet, my guess is still that you're experiencing the character of the Chinese rubber. There's a certain linearity in the response, where European style rubber will shoot the ball out harder on lower force, Chinese style rubbers will not do that exponentially. They will give you speed equivalent to the power you put in. That makes them predictable and controlled, but it also means that for extreme output, you need to bring extreme input.

Third option, if you are already used to Chinese rubber for a while, and you are experienced in general, then yes, you might be experiencing the limitations of the Fextra. It might still not be the softness, but rather the flexibility that's giving you problems. Think about swinging a wobbly hand saw or a solid board of wood. The wood is softer, but the saw will bend more so it's more flexible.
The flex of a blade can take some getting used to.

Whichever is the case, the answer is boring: stick with it and it will get better.

tbh i m currently just selling both fextras again. Friend gave me some used rubbers of him to try out. slapped a Tenergy05 on a leftover 5ply i had from a premadesetup (Spinlord) and... its just crazy just how easy it was to play. enjoying it way more and meanwhile also just playing better.

yeah i guess it was a fun experiment with china gear.

 

[TimoGnoll]

I like my Fextra 7, it works best with Tenergy19 to me. Very crispy. With Ten05 and FX feeling was 2 soft. + I feel like Ten19 has 1 more extra gear when it truly engages the sponge. Ten05 feels more linear and spongy. 19 on the other hand it doesnt matter on which blade I put it on. It always makes the blade have more crispy and "cracky" feeling when you hit the ball. There is this threshold when you hit the ball and it flies like a rocket, arc is flatter than Ten05. Should be enough power aswell for mid-long distance from table, far away I think you need faster blade maybe. Blocking is great with that combination and lobbing very easy. Topspin both wings aswell, Ten19 grabs the ball well. I am not PRO though, rather a beginner so take my advice with grain of salt, but tested many blades and rubbers.
I tested many wood blades and Fextra 7 is just better IMO than any other I've used, most of them I don't remember names, but the ones I owned were: STIGA Allround Classic, Tibhar IV-L, Yasaka Sweden Extra. I would also add that 7 ply has much bigger sweet spot than 5 plies.