The blade off Wang Manyu ??

[jackywongtt]

I'm joining this forum just to enter the discussion since this is quite a new blade, a quality blade at pretty reasonable price! In Hong Kong, Inspira Hybrid (red) costs around €180, Inspira CCF (green) €160 and surprisingly Inspira Plus (wmy) only at €150.

Mine is a cpen at 86g. I weighted other blades in the store and they are all pretty consistent, with shakehand versions slightly heavier by a gram or two. One thing I discovered is that the cpen dimensions are not really different from the shakehand version, i.e. narrowing down towards the top instead of having a wider head for more hitting area. It's good to have more focused hitting power but I have to aim extra carefully in the beginning. Not sure if it is designed as such intentionally since the other two Inspiras do have "correct" cpen dimensions.

Another point is about the handle size. My hand is around medium size (trying to view in European perspective) and the handle is slightly small for my taste. The same size and shape for shakehand grip is perfect though, filling the palm round and comfortable. It makes sense though, after all Wang Manyu is a shakehand player and this is a blade designed for her.

In general I think rubbers with good grip/tackiness and sponge hardness of medium hard downwards is most suitable for this blade. Anything too hard or 'thick in feeling' makes the touch elusive since the outer carbon layer is always easily activated, under a super thin veneer (really thin!). My current pairing rubbers are Rakza Z Extra Hard for FH and Victas V>20 for BH. My friendship with Rakza Z came from Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offense. It significantly lacked power and punch so I moved on to a custom Ebenholz VII and it worked very well. Considering there was still room for slightly more power, I then moved here and upgraded to Extra Hard altogether. Bad move...to change blade and rubber at the same time. The sponge is too hard to get a thorough hit unless under full preparation, which seldom happen in matches. For my style of more spin/looping oriented than speed/flat hit, the regular Rakza Z works better on this fast and supportive blade. Initial thoughts: this is a perfect combo. A rather hard blade with not too hard rubber (it is supposed to be a hard rubber but the feeling is not as hard, which is another topic). Correspondingly, one can easily picture D05/D09c as an excellent FH rubber choice. I just want to use more affordable alternatives for now. For BH (rpb), I'm following online suggestions and gave V>20 a try. Good speed, no need to worry about control and the touch is comfortably soft. While not having the best spin, it excels in powerful flat hitting with felt support from the blade.

Back onto the blade itself, I think it is very controllably lively. The ball does shoot out quickly like all outer blades but the feeling tells me it is comfortably manageable. I won't say it has very good dwell time but certainly very good grip and ok bite on the ball. Continuous short game is very possible at caution and paired with the right rubbers, not too much catapult or too hard. Close game is ok but its full potential is unlocked from close to mid-distance from the table. Huge power at medium to medium-high throw, with good level of control. It is not the heaviest hitter for sure, but probably the most versatile light-weight heavy hitter...if it makes sense. It's like a race car that excels at higher rpm, performing best not on accelerating in straight course (still not bad at all) but effortlessly in difficult turns. Starting mid-distance, to my surprise I had to carefully play in multiple occasions not to overshoot. As for far distances, no problem in grip and support however far I went. Can't really comment on world cup arena distances but pretty sure it is ok haha

Guess that's all I can tell for now. Hope my experience is useful and thanks for reading

 

[jackywongtt]

Update after two weeks of playing like 10+ hours:

I inevitably changed both sides to D05, got a super good deal for almost new rubbers second hand (€50 for two!). The soft top sheet allows the ball to sink into the sponge and then bounce off the blade, The return carries all the spin created by the top sheet and speed from the blade, with the sponge as a mediator and small amplifier. Now I am not afraid to use larger force in attacks and adjust myself to utilize the equipment more. When it goes long I know it is my problem and not the setup. Staying in short game, I can brush the ball without engaging the sponge too much, then the carbon layer would only come half alive. Engage more and I can give out quality placement or create a deep long stroke with heavy backspin. Once there is an obvious chance, a full stroke and it's possibly an instant kill.

With some other common rubber "alternatives" that I tried, where one quality stands out another falls short, and the blade's power cannot be fully presented. My opinion would be, this blade is not worth it if you don't bring out its medium OFF+ capability. If you literally smash everything beast mode, there are still faster and stiffer blades out there but Inspira Plus will do the job no problem; but if you want to play a balanced offensive game (OFF/OFF-) where one is not super eager and seizing every chance to attack, slower rubbers is a necessity or there might be better blade choices.

 

[amitmnagarwal]

Update after two weeks of playing like 10+ hours:

I inevitably changed both sides to D05, got a super good deal for almost new rubbers second hand (€50 for two!). The soft top sheet allows the ball to sink into the sponge and then bounce off the blade, The return carries all the spin created by the rubber and high speed from the blade, with the sponge as a mediator and small amplifier. Now I am not afraid to use larger force in attacks and adjust myself to utilize the equipment more. When it goes long I know it is my problem and not the setup. Staying in short game, I can brush the ball without engaging the sponge too much, then the carbon layer would only come half alive. Engage more and I can give out quality placement or create a deep long stroke with heavy backspin. Once there is an obvious chance, a full stroke and it's possibly an instant kill.

With some other common rubber "alternatives" that I tried, where one quality stands out another falls short, and the blade's power cannot be fully presented. My opinion would be, this blade is not worth it if you don't bring out its medium OFF+ capability. If you literally smash everything beast mode, there are still faster and stiffer blades out there but Inspira Plus will do the job no problem, but if you want to play a balanced offensive game (OFF/OFF-) where one is not always super eager to seize every chance to attack, slower rubbers is a necessity or there might be better blade choices.

How will it go with T05

 

[jackywongtt]

Have not tried T05 on the blade, but one can easily picture it as a good shakehand FH rubber. A different touch comparing to D05. It would probably have a clearer response while having lower dwell overall, more difficult to control in short game, and feeling more direct/livelier than D05 in continuous rallies.

(Edit on Apr 11: Tried T05 finally and confirmed the above assumption. Huge springiness and the ball shoots out like rocket. Dwell is marginally acceptable to me but pretty short. It is especially a liability in serves, since spin is decreased without compensation in speed. In fact, speed also decreased since I cannot get hold of the ball efficiently and lost confidence for no reason. The only advantage for me is really high speed kill shots. Overall the feeling of being unnecessarily cautious is just detrimental to my performance. One thing to take away is learning to angle so precisely just to not lose a point lol, did learn something after all...)

I mainly play old school players who likes to play tricky placements and backspin game, so in my case D05 has better control and versatility as a penholder. However, there were a few instances where D05 felt a little stubborn when I was reaching for the blade's highest gears far from the table. I had a feeling that activating the blade is easier than the rubber and I had to exert additional effort to hit through the sponge.

(Edit on Mar 17: Found out the problem and it was the full coverage edge tape, took it off and there was no problem again. Having that said, more springiness is definitely welcomed in that situation.)
(Edit again on Apr 11: T05 works better in mid to far distances but much poorer close to the table. Probably due to difference in trajectory. D05 has a high throw and therefore limits its peak performance range to mid distance, while flatter trajectory of T05 makes it shine at mid distance+ but does not have enough space for performance in close distance, not to mention short game.)

Some additional input, from what I learnt from the blade, it encourages and rewards always wrapping around the ball and add topspin to create a nice arc in both attack and defense, just like how Wang Manyu and many other Chinese players do. Otherwise either the return is weaker or the ball shoots long easily. The way I assess rubber suitability is how easy they achieve this style of stroke.

PS A sudden thought about Cybershape, where flat hits and semi-passive blocking works so well. Completely different worlds. Looks like Stiga did some hard work to come up with these designs.

 

[rbtitco]

Ok, ready to check on upcoming Tuesday training 😀
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What do you think about it?

 

[sky500]

I have seen mostly butterfly rubber recommendations for the blade. Anyone tested it out with other less expensive rubbers like the Xiom Vega Pro or Xiom Vega X on the FH? I currently have a unboosted H3N on the forehand but I'm afraid it's too slow and I have to substitute it with a Tensor rubber again

 

[ben1229]

Xiom guang, good for bh and fh, if you like tacky and tensor combination rubber.

 

[sky500]

Xiom guang, good for bh and fh, if you like tacky and tensor combination rubber.

I think I have read somewhere that the effect of Guang wears off after around 1 and half month of play. Or is it wrong?

 

[jackywongtt]

(Hope there are no rules in bombarding posts in such a short period of time) Me again with an interesting update on blade quality. While changing rubbers, I scrutinized the surface to remove remainders of glue, and discovered an imbalance in wood quality left/right sides. On the back side, while the wood composition on right hand side (1st image) of the veneer has fish scales, the case is different on the left hand side (2nd image). In other words, the RH side is ever so slightly harder/firmer/heavier and LH side has looser composition/a bit more flex. On top of that, while sanding down the shoulders, I discover the front side to be way more difficult than the back side. I suspect the outer layers of wood/carbon on front side is harder than the back by quite some degrees. The front side has more equal composition overall.

Since owning the blade I always found something off in play but could not tell what it was. No matter the rubber choice, the flow of movement always feel a bit unbalanced. Now I use front label side as backhand and voila, what a difference! I was investigating in the direction of rubbers' weight when it is actually the blade's inherent compositional imbalance. I am just somehow hyper-sensitive to these micro things that constitutes a good feeling in general...really happy to know about it in time

PS It happened before that I had to reverse the sides, but it was about a tiny misalignment in the handle construction, just to share.

 

[ben1229]

I think I have read somewhere that the effect of Guang wears off after around 1 and half month of play. Or is it wrong?

That's kinda true, mine on bh last a bit longer 2 and half months. Fh similar to 1and half months.

 

[amitmnagarwal]

(Hope there are no rules in bombarding posts in such a short period of time) Me again with an interesting update on blade quality. While changing rubbers, I scrutinized the surface to remove remainders of glue, and discovered an imbalance in wood quality left/right sides. In forehand, while the wood composition on right hand side (1st image) of the veneer is top tier, having "fish scales", the case is different on the left hand side (2nd image). In other words, the RH side is ever so slightly harder/firmer/heavier and LH side has looser composition/a bit more flex. On top of that, while sanding down the shoulders, I discover the front side to be way more difficult than the back side. I suspect the outer layers of wood/carbon on front side is harder than the back by quite some degrees. The backhand side has more equal composition overall.

Since owning the blade I always found something off in play but could not tell what it was. No matter the rubber choice, the flow of movement always feel a bit unbalanced. Now I use front label side as backhand and voila, what a difference! I was investigating in the direction of rubbers' weight when it is actually the blade's inherent compositional imbalance. I am just somehow hyper-sensitive to these micro things that constitutes a good feeling in general...really happy to know about it in time

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PS It happened before that I had to reverse the sides, but it was about a tiny misalignment in the handle construction, just to share.

This is strange . is it quality control issue ?

having variation on same FH or BH side , is very unsettling.

Does this behaviour common to others as well?

 

[dingyibvs]

This is strange . is it quality control issue ?

having variation on same FH or BH side , is very unsettling.

Does this behaviour common to others as well?

For the veneer it's very, very common for the koto veneer to have variable degrees of fish scaling.

For the FH/BH side, there are blades with purposefully made different FH/BH sides (e.g. Koto/ALC/ayous on one side, Limba/ayous/ALC on the other). Those are made to intentionally give different characteristics to the two sides, for example more like Viscaria on the BH side and more like the W968 on the FH side. The general assessment of it is that it doesn't work, as the blade functions as a whole. As such, either the poster is super sensitive to small changes or its just placebo effect.

 

[jackywongtt]

For the veneer it's very, very common for the koto veneer to have variable degrees of fish scaling.

For the FH/BH side, there are blades with purposefully made different FH/BH sides (e.g. Koto/ALC/ayous on one side, Limba/ayous/ALC on the other). Those are made to intentionally give different characteristics to the two sides, for example more like Viscaria on the BH side and more like the W968 on the FH side. The general assessment of it is that it doesn't work, as the blade functions as a whole. As such, either the poster is super sensitive to small changes or its just placebo effect.

Yes you're right I am super sensitive and being it just for the sake of investigating everything. To me testing blades is analogous to trying out musical instruments. A joyful process no matter encountering a good or bad one.

And thanks for your info about koto veneer. From seeing my friends' Butterfly SZLCs either the whole veneer has fish scaling or it's totally devoid of it. The wood pattern are also much more neat and symmetrical. That's somehow the standard I expected in mind.

 

[jackywongtt]

This is strange . is it quality control issue ?

having variation on same FH or BH side , is very unsettling.

Does this behaviour common to others as well?

The variation is there but very minor, FH/BH feeling is like 90%-95% similar. I knocked and bounced a ball on every segment of it to listen closely, and discovered the harder/softer variaitons, between both sides and within the same side.

 

[amitmnagarwal]

Then it looks like that bad, i am sure playing character as mentioned by many other users in this thread is very good

Main thing they all mentioned were good grip while opening and control

 

[disaster3]

I am really impressed by your sensitivity to such details. I probably wouldn't have caught it at all. For me, something either works or it doesn't, and I don't focus on such details. So my reviews/feelings are rather more general than focused on every single detail.
But in my case, as it happens in music, the elephant stepped on my ear

 

[ben1229]

Seems so many ppl had this blades now. After likely 3 months since I only use it as a training blade, use it play 3 bo5 last weekend, end up won all 3 of them. I find out when you inside the table, quick flick really good and as a pointer techniques. Hope everyone enjoy the blade and keep find out more potential of it.

 

[jackywongtt]

Probably final update here. In the end I settled with D09c both sides for maximum blade/rubber/playing style synergy. I won way more points flat hitting/pressure blocking with V>20, but to advance further, developing topspin rpb (with D09c) appears more fruitful in long term. With V>20 I cannot lift backspin properly due to high percentage slippage, I believe it is a weakness of the rubber itself.

D05 actually has the best performance but on average requires higher speed/power level to work (continuous topspin speed drives). My average strength/endurance is unfortunately not good enough to support that style. One game and I would already be on low power, and to conserve power the overall performance is compensated.

I also tried D09c and D05 both 1.9mm and conclude that thinner rubbers are not recommended. Would rather get a slower blade and use bouncier rubbers max. for similar performance.

Rakza Z and Rakza Z Extra Hard are my good friends but they do not entirely perform up to expectation. RZ sponge is too soft and RZEH sponge is too hard (thick in feeling). Both creates a weird discrepancy in touch and control becomes difficult. If anything, RZEH could be suitable for players with sufficient power.

An additional note on the blade's capacity: Testing more on very far distances (did not measure but think 4m+) reveals that the blade does have a limit in support. Not that it cannot perform at such distance but the vibration is getting wild and I had to hold extra tight to not loose the blade. Control is like 75% remaining and obviously getting difficult. (Edit: a reminder that this cpen blade bought at 86g, measured now accurately at 83.7g after sanding down, is obviously leaning towards the lightest side. I reckon normal/heavier ones may have much stabler support. And I seriously suspect the scale provided by the store is rigged since the difference should be below 0.5g before and after sanding...)