Darker Speed 90

I have finally found the Holy Grail of all table tennis blades. From now on I will not be using anything else other than this. It is now my ONLY weapon of choice. This will also be my last purchase for as long as I have it. After buying and selling a whole gamut of Butterfly blades (ZJK ALC & SZLC, GARAYDIA ZLC & Vizcaria), Andro Treiber Z, Nittaku Septear & Noveliar, I have now arrived at the final frontier. Kiso Hinoki is legendary which is why you may notice that all of the blades I've used in the past have some sort of this wood being used in their construction. When I found out that this blade was discontinued by Darker in 2014, due to the severe shortage of premium quality Kiso Hinoki, I immediately purchased three (3x) from the OOAK Shop as they managed to secure one final shipment. Everything that's been said about this blade is 100% TRUE. No amount of R&D that Butterfly will ever spend on the latest greatest cutting edge carbon can ever replace the FEELING that you get from a Darker Speed 90 in your hand. This blade is highly dynamic, offering great touch and slow speed at low impact and huge power with high spin at high impact. The optimized thickness and shape provides a highly stable blade with the largest sweet-spot of any blade in existence covering the ENTIRE face of the blade and producing virtually ZERO vibrations. Because of that this blade is tremendously confidence inspiring when paired up with the right combination of rubbers. Impossible to place shots I weren't able to make before are now more powerful, more spinnier and more accurate. During open ups I am now the aggressor versus being stuck in an endless game of pushing and chopping - so annoying! My search is finally over and I am so glad I was able to secure a final shipment before these rare species finally gone extinct. Currently using Nittaku Fastarc C-1 on the FH and Nittaku Alhelg on the BH. I may experiment with Fastarc P-1s & Tenergys n d future but right now its perfect!

The construction of the blade and the quality of the wood are simply unsurpassed. In the game he has incredible speed, great control, a huge sweet spot, good in every way.

Found my blade. First of all, hinoki blades are other level of play. Among these, premium quality hinoki like Darker speed 90 are the best. I just ordered my second one these days, I'm going to use two different sets, only changing the rubbers. About the features, it's feeling is out of this world, excellent control and speed at the same time, with the right thickness for RPB. Truly amazing.

Darker never disappoints, but the overall quality may vary, I've met EXCELLENT blades, and I've met very good ones, but never bad blades Do not be deceived, this blade is fast, real fast, but It's fast for a pure wood blade, carbon blades usually are faster, but the main point between a pure wood (specially this one) and a carbon blade is how many gears it can add to your game up with the rubber, when you'll be required to play slow it will play slow and help to keep the spin, and when you need all the power you can get, it'll properly corresponds to the expectation. Everyone talks about the touch feeling, yeah it is true, this blade has a special feeling, but the more you play it more refined your sense with this feeling will get. And the Speed 90 has 9mm, this thickness comes with a cost, It's kinda hard to maneuver it from forehand to backhand on fast rallies, but the most you play, more you'll get used and less trouble it'll be. Everyone made a good review here, I tried to say things that people didn't covered a lot, and I hope this can helps those who are looking for the general characteristics of the blade. Now, if you got to read til here and decided to get one (or even a cheaper Hinoki blade), a BIG tip I can tell you, that no one talks about is, wel... you know that Hinoki has grains, everyone hears and talks about it, the big tip is try to get one mostly uniform grain pattern as you can get, if the grains are very compact this section of the blade will be faster, if they aren't it'll be slower, if you get an uniform pattern you'll get an uniform blade. Depending from where you buy it you can ask the seller to sellect a blade with those characteristics. Also the weight may vary a lot, I saw J-pens going to 75g (mine for exemple) to 110g, I prefer the lightest as possible, but there are those who like those heavyweights, so it's a good idea to ask for a more specific weight and try to get it based on your personal taste.

I have a Speed 90 for a long time. An excellent Kiso Hinoki blade. It is a precious blade. If you are budget conscious and looking for similar Kiso Hinoki blades, either for last effort collection or for everyday uses, then go for Taiwan PP Moby Kiso Hinoki. Taiwan PP used to be one of the major manufacturer for Butterfly blades before Butterfly moved its based to Mainland China. Thats how they "still" have some stocks for centuries-old Kiso Hinoki materials. It is genuine Kiso Hinoki, not fake products. They also carry American Cypress / Hinoki, Taiwan Hinoki , and have selection of Single Ply, Multi Plies, etc. I have tried the PP Apollo 3-Ply (Kiso Hinoki - American Hinoki Core - Kiso Hinoki). Excellent products. Good luck for Kiso Hinoki blade lovers.