Stiga blades comparison.

[Jan_]

Long story short I used to play with the Clipper Wood and even though I loved how it played, it had horible feel. Almost no vibration.

Switched to Intensity NCT and loved the feel. Even though it was slower, it has a much higher throw angle that I hate and can't get used to.

Blocking and countering is a big part of my game and I want blocking to be as stable as the Clipper's. Opening up from backspin is also essensial.

I'm looking to get a Rosewood NCT V, not the 7-ply because I don't care about speed as much as I care for feel.

I got used to the Clipper throw because it was pretty much the same with my Viscaria, which I used before, but much slower, and it was perfect, but bad feel.

I've tried the Infinity VPS, felt too flimsy to me.

My rubbers are the Tenergy 05 and Bluestorm Z3. I've tried them on all of my blades (Viscaria, Hurricane Long V, Intensity, Clipper), and they feel very good on all of them, except the Clipper, and maybe the Long V, but that's to be expected.

Will the Rosewood NCT V have a lower throw than the intensity with good feel?

Thanks in advance!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Hello. I will share my strategy for running ANY comparison between the blades are rubbers which is finding a simple wooden (non-rubber-d, smooth plywood) return board and test that way.

From my humble experience, this is the only way to get a consistent return from the board, on the basis of tester's input (a FH top spin/BH top spin) and whatever other testable elements you wish to test your blade/rubber combo. Testing by just bouncing the ball or against another player may not be representative of the output of the tested rubber/blade combo. I'd always recommend finding a shop with a table and a return board to test.

I have erecently tested my rubbers that way, which was tenergy 19 and Dignix 09C and settled for tenergy both for FH and BH because there was a totally striking difference between the arches the rubbers have produced and the feeling it gave both shooting the ball and receiving it from the board and a subsequent shoot! Enjoy!

Can you explain what you are talking about a little more coherently?

Also, are you using the equipment listed on your profile or are you using something else?

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Hi! There are many questions and as many answers as to what to buy, what not to buy, and it goes as far as listing the best and worst of blades/rubbers. To me personally, without proper physical testing, this makes no or litle difference as to the choice.

I will explain again: before any judgement is being made regarding the performance of any rubber/blade/or a combo of both, the final product has to be tried against a wooden return/bounce board at the end of the table, because a wooden return board produces a consistent like-for-like return each time depending on players' input. This will allow to assess the necessary/projected/assumed quailites of a blade/rubber combination to suit one's current technique-ability combo. I'd consider this a gold standard, rather than hearing something, this'n'that, here'n'there and then committing to a purchase.

How to implement this in practice: 1. find a shop that has assembled tester blades/rubbers combos 2. ..and a woodent return board in store. Is it too much to ask? Don't think so. Shops doing business properly this way will increase their sales for sure.



And yes, I use what I use as per profile, not impressed with 09C but loving the Ten19 and would absolutely not believe a single word as to the reference/review for this or that blade/rubber until I have it in my hand and test it myself.

Where do you live that you have access to multiple shops that let people try setups that are there ready for testing?

How many table tennis stores like this have you been to?

What don't you like about D09c and what did you use before it?

 

[hclnnkhg]

Standardized testing of equipments is a good idea but:

- it benefits player the most, but doing it properly and personally is very costly so zero, if not very few amateur player will have the resource to do it. Pro players get sponsored, if they are big enough they get customized rubbers and blades, so no incentive to find the best rubber out of Two dozen brands.
- shops have little motivation to do it, as they sell all kinds of equipments. If people like to paid for Tenergies, they just stock more Tenergies. If people like Hurricanes, just stock more Hurricanes. Doesn't really matter if one rubber is better than the other.
- manufacturers may do it to an extent but will not publish it. First of all legal issues. Second of all, most brands sell entry, intermediate, premium level products at the same time. If all precise measurements are out, it will be very hard to control/predict customer behavior. What if people think Rozena is good enough and stop buying Tenergies? And if you are not the brand with the best rubber, showing customers the real measurements may kill your business instantly. Way easier for manufacturers to make up numbers (I am sure they don't make it up, just transform the numbers before publishing).

 

[Jan_]

Where do you live that you have access to multiple shops that let people try setups that are there ready for testing?

How many table tennis stores like this have you been to?

What don't you like about D09c and what did you use before it?

We don't have any stores we can go and test equipment, I'm pretty limited when it comes to that. They can only assemble the parts that you buy, but that's it. I live in Greece and table tennis here is very small, so stores are very small, we have only 5 or so stores that sell tt equipment, and the equipment that they sell is very limited. Only Butterfly, Stiga, Donic and some Tibhar. Andro, Cornillau and XIOM are pretty hard to find. So to test something I have to find if a friend has it so I can test it.

At least a friend wants to buy my old Clipper, so I can replace it. Tis time I will order straight from Stiga and get a proper Clipper, correct weight, etc, to use as a 2nd racket. My problem was that even though I liked how the Clipper played, it was very light and had bad feel because of that. From what I've read, it's a common issue, Clippers have good feel over 93-94 gramms, and mine is 85, probably just defective. Anyway, once I try out the rosewood from my coach and see that I like it, I'll get one, or buy it from him. Right after I get the rosewood, I'll get rid of the Intensity too, I have no interest to keep it.

From what I've read, the Rosewood plays like a slighly softer Clipper with better feel and curve. It should be good. I'll update once all the back and forth is done.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

We don't have any stores we can go and test equipment, I'm pretty limited when it comes to that. They can only assemble the parts that you buy, but that's it. I live in Greece and table tennis here is very small, so stores are very small, we have only 5 or so stores that sell tt equipment, and the equipment that they sell is very limited. Only Butterfly, Stiga, Donic and some Tibhar. Andro, Cornillau and XIOM are pretty hard to find. So to test something I have to find if a friend has it so I can test it.

At least a friend wants to buy my old Clipper, so I can replace it. Tis time I will order straight from Stiga and get a proper Clipper, correct weight, etc, to use as a 2nd racket. My problem was that even though I liked how the Clipper played, it was very light and had bad feel because of that. From what I've read, it's a common issue, Clippers have good feel over 93-94 gramms, and mine is 85, probably just defective. Anyway, once I try out the rosewood from my coach and see that I like it, I'll get one, or buy it from him. Right after I get the rosewood, I'll get rid of the Intensity too, I have no interest to keep it.

From what I've read, the Rosewood plays like a slighly softer Clipper with better feel and curve. It should be good. I'll update once all the back and forth is done.

Yes. Reality is, nobody I know of has access to the stuff tabletennisbuddy was recommending. My questions were for tabletennisbuddy since his recommendations were not actually realistic.

I also am trying to figure out if tabletennisbuddy is a human or a robot since most of his comments sound like ChatGPT or other AI programs rather than how a human would usually respond.

Maybe one of tabletennisbuddy's posts sounds like it is from a human and not from a bot. But I still am not sure because most of the posts sound the way a bot responds where it seems like it is answering your questions but actually isn't.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

We don't have any stores we can go and test equipment, I'm pretty limited when it comes to that. They can only assemble the parts that you buy, but that's it. I live in Greece and table tennis here is very small, so stores are very small, we have only 5 or so stores that sell tt equipment, and the equipment that they sell is very limited. Only Butterfly, Stiga, Donic and some Tibhar. Andro, Cornillau and XIOM are pretty hard to find. So to test something I have to find if a friend has it so I can test it.

At least a friend wants to buy my old Clipper, so I can replace it. Tis time I will order straight from Stiga and get a proper Clipper, correct weight, etc, to use as a 2nd racket. My problem was that even though I liked how the Clipper played, it was very light and had bad feel because of that. From what I've read, it's a common issue, Clippers have good feel over 93-94 gramms, and mine is 85, probably just defective. Anyway, once I try out the rosewood from my coach and see that I like it, I'll get one, or buy it from him. Right after I get the rosewood, I'll get rid of the Intensity too, I have no interest to keep it.

From what I've read, the Rosewood plays like a slighly softer Clipper with better feel and curve. It should be good. I'll update once all the back and forth is done.

As for answering your questions John S: I have tried many different Stiga Rosewood blades. I have tried the R V (several versions), R VII (just one), Rosewood XO. The 7 ply one I did not like. All the 5 ply Rosewood blades from Stiga that I have tried felt really really really nice. The feel is not that different from the best Clippers I have tried (also have tried many).

I have a feeling you will like that blade and I am also confident the rubbers you are choosing will go well with the blade.

As for throw angle, I am not so sure "throw angle" is all that important, particularly for blades. After you get used to the blade, your strokes will adjust to the equipment you are using. It honestly should not take much more than 10 min if you are using the same rubbers you are used to.

 

[Jan_]

Yes. Reality is, nobody I know of has access to the stuff tabletennisbuddy was recommending. My questions were for tabletennisbuddy since his recommendations were not actually realistic.

I also am trying to figure out if tabletennisbuddy is a human or a robot since most of his comments sound like ChatGPT or other AI programs rather than how a human would usually respond.

Maybe one of tabletennisbuddy's posts sounds like it is from a human and not from a bot. But I still am not sure because most of the posts sound the way a bot responds where it seems like it is answering your questions but actually isn't.

Yeah, idk. By the way just found out that stiga discontinued the 60€ clipper and replaced it with the 200€ clipper 40 year anniversary, so that sucks. And the rosewood is also discontinued...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Yeah, idk. By the way just found out that stiga discontinued the 60€ clipper and replaced it with the 200€ clipper 40 year anniversary, so that sucks. And the rosewood is also discontinued...

Interesting. Those are both good blades. Maybe you can find one of them for sale used.

You could even post a "Looking For" (usually abbreviated to "LF") thread in the equipment section of the forum.

You could also look through the FS threads.

I like how those Stiga blades feel. But I also know, I have broken a lot of Stiga blades. So, I don't love everything about Stiga.

You could think about looking at some of these blades if you can't find a Rosewood NCT V or a Clipper that is good for you:

1) OSP Virtuoso Plus
2) Nittaku Accustic
3) Nittaku Tenor
4) Butterfly Petr Korbel
5) Tibhar Stratus Power Wood

That last one is easier to break than any of the others....so, the thing I said I didn't love about Stiga blades you can say about the Power Wood as well. But it is less expensive than the others and has good feeling.

 

[Jan_]

Interesting. Those are both good blades. Maybe you can find one of them for sale used.

You could even post a "Looking For" (usually abbreviated to "LF") thread in the equipment section of the forum.

You could also look through the FS threads.

I like how those Stiga blades feel. But I also know, I have broken a lot of Stiga blades. So, I don't love everything about Stiga.

You could think about looking at some of these blades if you can't find a Rosewood NCT V or a Clipper that is good for you:

1) OSP Virtuoso Plus
2) Nittaku Accustic
3) Nittaku Tenor
4) Butterfly Petr Korbel
5) Tibhar Stratus Power Wood

That last one is easier to break than any of the others....so, the thing I said I didn't love about Stiga blades you can say about the Power Wood as well. But it is less expensive than the others and has good feeling.

My coach may sell me his old rosewood v, he'll give it to me to test it and then I'll decide.

Thanks a lot for the other recommendations, I may look in the korbel and acoustic. The korbel a friend of mine owns actually.

I've also found the ma lin extra offensive for about 40€ here, do you have any experience or have heard anything about it? I can't find any info. I mainly care for the feel and throw angle of the blade, the speed I can adapt to.

 

[NextLevel]

Low throw blade with feeling is a tough one, you probably need a harder outer ply on a blade that is relatively thin or has fewer plies, which is what the rosewood would have given you, or conversely, something like the clipper with more plies, in which case, the softness of the outer ply doesn't matter as much but gives a slightly better feeling. Good luck, let us know where you end up.

Most of the blades that UDC/Carl is recommending are too soft on the outer ply or not thick enough so you won't like them.

A good Ma Lin Extra Offensive should fit what you want as well. UDC/Carl's taste is a bit different from yours, so I wouldn't use his list. I used to like blades on Carl's list, but I have never liked blades on your list - I have gone more composite, either Innerforce Koto/Limba like my current blade or an Innerforce T5000, or Outerforce Limba (Trinity, Mizutani SZLC). But I am trying to get more and more into fast and aggressive topspin.

 

[Jan_]

Low throw blade with feeling is a tough one, you probably need a harder outer ply on a blade that is relatively thin or has fewer plies, which is what the rosewood would have given you, or conversely, something like the clipper with more plies, in which case, the softness of the outer ply doesn't matter as much but gives a slightly better feeling. Good luck, let us know where you end up.

Most of the blades that UDC/Carl is recommending are too soft on the outer ply or not thick enough so you won't like them.

A good Ma Lin Extra Offensive should fit what you want as well. UDC/Carl's taste is a bit different from yours, so I wouldn't use his list. I used to like blades on Carl's list, but I have never liked blades on your list - I have gone more composite, either Innerforce Koto/Limba like my current blade or an Innerforce T5000, or Outerforce Limba (Trinity, Mizutani SZLC). But I am trying to get more and more into fast and aggressive topspin.

We have completely different styles, I have a lot of power on my own so I don't need a particularly fast blade, I search for control and feel. Especially with the 05, and now the goldarc, I don't need any more power.

Regarding the Yasaka, what weight should I ask for for maximum feel? For example the clipper plays well above 93 grams or so, have you heard anything for the shakehand yasaka? If not then I'll probably just ask for 87 to 90 grams grams, I think for that composition it should be close to the ideal.

 

[iajo]

Long story short I used to play with the Clipper Wood and even though I loved how it played, it had horible feel. Almost no vibration.

Switched to Intensity NCT and loved the feel. Even though it was slower, it has a much higher throw angle that I hate and can't get used to.

Blocking and countering is a big part of my game and I want blocking to be as stable as the Clipper's. Opening up from backspin is also essensial.

I'm looking to get a Rosewood NCT V, not the 7-ply because I don't care about speed as much as I care for feel.

I got used to the Clipper throw because it was pretty much the same with my Viscaria, which I used before, but much slower, and it was perfect, but bad feel.

I've tried the Infinity VPS, felt too flimsy to me.

My rubbers are the Tenergy 05 and Bluestorm Z3. I've tried them on all of my blades (Viscaria, Hurricane Long V, Intensity, Clipper), and they feel very good on all of them, except the Clipper, and maybe the Long V, but that's to be expected.

Will the Rosewood NCT V have a lower throw than the intensity with good feel?

Thanks in advance!

I use a Stiga nostalgic offensive. It is five ply with a thin hardwood outer ply (wenge) and stiga classic offensive inner ply. It is fast and low throw but has good feel and creating spin is easy. It is significantly lower throw than the Viscaria it replaced and doesn't lack speed. I use tenergy 05 both sides, can be a bit bouncy in the short game, even more so than viscaria. I think they are discontinued but I found one for sale on discount so you may have some luck.

 

[NextLevel]

We have completely different styles, I have a lot of power on my own so I don't need a particularly fast blade, I search for control and feel. Especially with the 05, and now the goldarc, I don't need any more power.

Regarding the Yasaka, what weight should I ask for for maximum feel? For example the clipper plays well above 93 grams or so, have you heard anything for the shakehand yasaka? If not then I'll probably just ask for 87 to 90 grams grams, I think for that composition it should be close to the ideal.

While I haven't seen you play, I suspect none of us have more power than Liang Jingkun or Fan Zhendong who don't use all wood blades either. It's not just about power.

I am not sure what the YEO balance is, but I would assume the heaviest you can get and feel comfortable playing with is best.

 

[Jan_]

While I haven't seen you play, I suspect none of us have more power than Liang Jingkun or Fan Zhendong who don't use all wood blades either. It's not just about power.

I am not sure what the YEO balance is, but I would assume the heaviest you can get and feel comfortable playing with is best.

Alright, I'll see what weights they have and will choose something on the heavier side.

 

[Jan_]

I use a Stiga nostalgic offensive. It is five ply with a thin hardwood outer ply (wenge) and stiga classic offensive inner ply. It is fast and low throw but has good feel and creating spin is easy. It is significantly lower throw than the Viscaria it replaced and doesn't lack speed. I use tenergy 05 both sides, can be a bit bouncy in the short game, even more so than viscaria. I think they are discontinued but I found one for sale on discount so you may have some luck.

I've heard about them but haven't heard the best of things, they say they have a lot of quality control issues...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I live in the UK, and I have access to my mates' and coaches' blades. I am yet to see a set up in any shop I have visited that has a return board and I firmly believe the one that will have a decent choice of the ready popular rubbers/blades [to test] and a board may succeed more than others in selling the gear! RE: 09C - it is my personal humble opinion, it is not as forgiving as TEN19 but paying upwards $100 for a rubber may appear a bit off-putting for some quite understandibly.

So, you made a recommendation that was not actually possible in the real world?

 

[Jan_]

So, you made a recommendation that was not actually possible in the real world?

Pretty much...

The only realistic choice we have is seeing what other players in our clubs use. And if they want they can let us use it for a bit.

 

[Jan_]

Final update.

I bought a ma lin extra offensive because of the similarities it has to the intensity. Long story short, the ma lin is a much worse version of the intensity, faster with much less dwell and more vibrations.

The rosewood is a heavier and faster version of the intensity, not many differences playing wise