Victas Dyna Five Hard + Nittaku Factive for beginner/intermediate?

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Hi there!
I'm new both to this forum and table tennis in general. I started to play about half a year ago, using a fairly cheap Loki E9 pre made blade with RXTON 5 rubber on both sides, courtesy of Aliexpress. The racket has been ok, but my inner EJ came to life: I "needed" a custom made racket.

I opted for the Victas Dyna Five Hard, despite I could not find lots of reviews or even general user testimonials. Doesn't seem that popular here in Europe. It is made in Japan and by a reputable brand, so it can't be that bad after all. At first, I thought of buying the Victas Dyna Five Soft, but after reading some comments on this forum, that even beginners should or could stay away from slowish ALL rackets, I went for the Hard variant, labelled OFF(-). Rubber on both sides are Nittaku Factive 1,8 mm.

Was it a good choice?
Anyone here familiar with this model?
In what ways will it be different or better compared to my pre made Loki?
 
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In general any 5ply allwood is a solid choice. To me the dyna hard would be to expensive for what it is.l, but I haven't played it. I'd opt for something cheaper.

Butterfly Korbel
Tibhar stratus powerwood
Donic Persson Powerplay

These differ in handle size the most, so if you can try them anywhere, pick the one that's most comfortable to you.

Are all tried and proven very effective.
Nittaku factive is a fine rubber. I'd just pick them thicker at 2mm both sides, so you get used to thick rubbers early.
 
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In general any 5ply allwood is a solid choice. To me the dyna hard would be to expensive for what it is.l, but I haven't played it. I'd opt for something cheaper.

Butterfly Korbel
Tibhar stratus powerwood
Donic Persson Powerplay

These differ in handle size the most, so if you can try them anywhere, pick the one that's most comfortable to you.

Are all tried and proven very effective.
Nittaku factive is a fine rubber. I'd just pick them thicker at 2mm both sides, so you get used to thick rubbers early.
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of a local brick and mortar table tennis shop where I live, so to read and watch online reviews and from there decide what to buy or not (also online) is pretty much my only choice. I recently joined a club, so I could always ask around for advise from more experienced members.

As I wrote earlier, Victas is not a big brand where I live. They might be a household name back in Japan, but around here it's mostly Stiga and Donic who totally dominates the table tennis community (except for the Butterfly fan boys, they thrive everywhere :D). And that's also partly why I chose Victas, to be a little contrarian and not go down the familiar route; to have a quality racket that no one in my club also owns.

I know that some rackets and rubbers I think would suite me, in the end won't fit me. It will cost me some money right down the drain, but hey, it's fun to try different equipment, right?

About the rubber: I chose 1,8 mm because I was taken aback a little when Nittaku themselves describes 2,0 mm as "super thick" and some comments here on this forum that it could be better to start with thinner rubber and then progress to thicker later. Did I make a mistake choosing the thinner rubber? :(
 
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Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of a local brick and mortar table tennis shop where I live, so to read and watch online reviews and from there decide what to buy or not (also online) is pretty much my only choice. I recently joined a club, so I could always ask around for advise from more experienced members.

As I wrote earlier, Victas is not a big brand where I live. They might be a household name back in Japan, but around here it's mostly Stiga and Donic who totally dominates the table tennis community (except for the Butterfly fan boys, they thrive everywhere :D). And that's also partly why I chose Victas, to be a little contrarian and not go down the familiar route; to have a quality racket that no one in my club also owns.

I know that some rackets and rubbers I think would suite me, in the end won't fit me. It will cost me some money right down the drain, but hey, it's fun to try different equipment, right?

About the rubber: I chose 1,8 mm because I was taken aback a little when Nittaku themselves describes 2,0 mm as "super thick" and some comments here on this forum that it could be better to start with thinner rubber and then progress to thicker later. Did I make a mistake choosing the thinner rubber? :(
Definitely not, in the beginning a little thinner rubber is great. As ”visitor” said you can go up at next change. On faster blades I opt for thinner rubbers. They are both less spinny/spin sensitive and slower…

Cheers
L-zr
 
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Victas was TSP before beeing bought,
To answer your question no i haven´t played your Blade,but plenty of 5 ply blades.
But sounds like your composition has a harder outer Ply.
The Factive would be the rubber i would reccomend beginners or intermediate.
 
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Definitely not, in the beginning a little thinner rubber is great. As ”visitor” said you can go up at next change. On faster blades I opt for thinner rubbers. They are both less spinny/spin sensitive and slower…

Cheers
L-zr
Thank you for the reply!

I have grown really fond of Victas and would like to continue within the brand so to speak. And to me, the following natural step would be another 5-ply all wood blade. Unfortunately, the most attractive model is labelled DEF, the Victas Koji Matsushita.


Is it advisable for me, as a beginner/intermediate ALL/OFF player (and thus not a BH copping, short pip/long pip DEF player) to use this racket with normal inverted rubber on both BH and FH?

I read somewhere that the wood fibres in some DEF rackets are aligned differentely. DEF rackets are sometimes really heavy, but this weighs about 85-90g, perfectly typical.

Couldn't find comparative speed and control values for my Victas Dyna Five Hard but this site https://bribartt.co.uk/product/victas-dyna-five-table-tennis-blade/ puts the "standard" Dyna Five at 65 and 78 respectively. For the Victas Koji Matsushita, the same values are 50 and 94. Those number suggests to me it would feel as a pretty slow blade. On the other hand, a customer states that:

"Called modern defenders blade. I play attacking forehand game and speed of the blade is great (I reckon OFF-) but control is even better (DEF+?). If you play an attacking game with fast rubbers but want really control this is perfect."

Any other pitfalls in using a DEF blade as a non-chopping beginner?
 
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I wouldn’t, I would select at least an all+ blade. I’m pretty sure you can find a victas blade like that. Unfortunately that brand is a big blank for me…

Cheers
L-zr
I'm really interested in Xiom Hugo Calderano HAL! Beautiful, high quality racket, syntetic fiber but not overly stiff carbon, that according to reviewers, also works for low level players, like me!
 
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I'm thinking of either Victas SWAT or Andro Gauzy BL 7 OFF. Or why not both! :D
The victas swat is easier to play if you are a beginner, due to softer top plys.

Though I still think the blades I mentioned earlier are top tier for beginner offensive players with high ease-of-play/control to speed ratio.
 
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tsp/victas swat is one of the best new player blades, it has been one of the bestselling blades in japan for years. really comfortable handle and nicely finished wings so no sanding necessary
Exactly what I have read too and that's what initially got me really interested in the racket!
 
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The victas swat is easier to play if you are a beginner, due to softer top plys.

Though I still think the blades I mentioned earlier are top tier for beginner offensive players with high ease-of-play/control to speed ratio.
I didn't mention it, but together with the Victas racket, I also ordered a Tibhar E Lebesson with Andro GTT 45 rubber (2,0 mm).

Would that be a good beginners racket?
How does it compare to Victas Dyna Five Hard and Tibhar Stratus Power Wood?
 
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It's a fine beginner setup.
It's gonna be very similar. I guess it's a little more linear than the powerwood.

Here's a very comprehensive review:

This site is great in general if you want to learn more about characteristics of blades and their compositions
 
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Hi there!
I'm new both to this forum and table tennis in general. I started to play about half a year ago, using a fairly cheap Loki E9 pre made blade with RXTON 5 rubber on both sides, courtesy of Aliexpress. The racket has been ok, but my inner EJ came to life: I "needed" a custom made racket.

I opted for the Victas Dyna Five Hard, despite I could not find lots of reviews or even general user testimonials. Doesn't seem that popular here in Europe. It is made in Japan and by a reputable brand, so it can't be that bad after all. At first, I thought of buying the Victas Dyna Five Soft, but after reading some comments on this forum, that even beginners should or could stay away from slowish ALL rackets, I went for the Hard variant, labelled OFF(-). Rubber on both sides are Nittaku Factive 1,8 mm.

Was it a good choice?
Anyone here familiar with this model?
In what ways will it be different or better compared to my pre made Loki?
Have you played with the Dyna yet? I’m also interested in it but can’t find any reviews!
 
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