MindTrip's Blade Ratings/Reviews
Back to mindtrip's ProfileHere are MindTrip's ratings and reviews. These ratings are useful because MindTrip has his/her own standard and will rate and review the ping pong equipment accordingly, giving you accurate and useful ratings and reviews to aid you in your next online purchase.
Adidas (2) 
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Adidas V1.1 ALL
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Review of Adidas V1.1 ALLI like this blade paired with medium-soft rubber. The blade doesn't flex much compared to other ALL blades I've tried (Grubba, AllPlay) It does provide a decent control/speed ratio. This blade is becoming difficult to find.Aug 04, 2015 | |||||||||||||||
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Adidas Avenger 5
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Review of Adidas Avenger 5I recently acquired the Avenger 5 in ST handle and will be comparing it with a popular blade that I am most familiar with, the Nittaku Violin. Upon first observing the Avenger, I noticed how well made it is. This is a high quality blade. Even the wings were beveled at the factory, not something you get from Nittaku or Butterfly blades. Let's carry on...Service and service return- Due to the stiffer top ply, I was expecting some issue popping the ball up on light contact near the net. Actually, it was not an issue at all. Touch shots and pushes were effortless, short and low. My flicks improved by having much more pace. During service, I felt no change from other 5-ply blades I have used in the past. (Violin, Grubba All+) Except my no spin serve deep down the line was more effective. Hitting- The Avenger is not as flexible as the aforementioned 5-ply blades. This was apparent while hitting and counter hitting. Contacting the ball gave a crisp feeling. No dwell/flex. The crispness gave good feedback, allowing me to place the ball exactly where I wanted on the table. Along with the crispness, there is also a higher arc and more pace. This blade is very linear. Looping- This is my primary shot. There was not as much dwell as the Violin or Grubba give, but my shots still loaded with spin and kicked off the table. The arc didn't dip down as hard as the other 5-ply, but like all the other shots so far, there was more pace on the ball and my opponents still had issue. Counterlooping was awesome. There was some flex in the blade on these high pace shots, but again, not as much dwell as I am used it. I'd compare the dwell to something like you'd get with the Viscaria. -Not a lot, but enough to get the job done. Smashing- I caught myself a few times moving in when my opponent went for an opening loop and smashing it away at it's highest point. The crispness gave me so much confidence in doing shots like this. It's such a good feeling to have. Dec 21, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
Andro (1)
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Andro Treiber Z
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Review of Andro Treiber ZThis a very affordable blade for those interested in trying ZLC, but turned off by the high price. The Treiber Z's playing characteristics are very similar to that of the Z. Jike ZLC. The Andro blade is one gear slower, which is a blessing for me. Pushes and serves are very controllable with this blade. Looping is nice, especially away from the table. Blocking took a little getting used to, as the hinoki top ply absorbs a lot of the speed. That and I am used to playing with a more flexible blade that needed a soft grip to keep a good block on the table. Treiber Z didn't warrant such a soft grip, but a soft grip when pushing can yield some double and triple bounces.Jan 20, 2018 | |||||||||||||||
Butterfly (5)
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Butterfly Andrzej Grubba (Classic Design)
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Review of Butterfly Andrzej Grubba (Classic Design)This is one of those funny blades. A diamond in the rough, if you will. I prefer it over my Timo Boll ZLF at 1/4 the price. I did some direct back to back comparisons with Grubba, TB ZLF and Viscaria (all with Tenergy 05) in the fields of touch(net play), hitting/counterhitting, service, looping, driving and smash. The Grubba led the way in all tests but counter hitting and driving. This is what makes it a funny little blade. In touch shots, I could easily get double, even triple bounce drops off of the opponents serve. Yet in counter hitting, the ball would rocket off the table somewhat uncontrollably, even faster than Viscaria. Looping, the Grubba had more spin, higher arc and more control than the other 2 blades and better feeling. I would use this blade 100% of the time if I could find a rubber to calm down the counter hitting and still yield good loop results. Otherwise, this blade fits my offensive loop oriented game perfectly.I rated the blade at a speed of 8 due to the lack of control on counter hitting using Tenergy 05. Gave control an 8 also, which would've been 9.2 had there been no hitting issue. Sep 05, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
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Butterfly Timo Boll ZLF
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Review of Butterfly Timo Boll ZLFI'd recommend this blade for a loop oriented player coming from an all wood blade who is looking for a larger sweet spot, but doesn't want a stiff carbon blade. This TB ZLF is great for at the net touch shots and close to mid distance controlled placement looping. It even counter hits pretty well. As with most blades, matching it to different rubber results in widely different experiences. This blade, maybe more so. I really struggled with softer rubbers glued to this blade. Tenergy 05fx and 64fx, Acuda S3 for example are nearly unplayable if you want to loop or loop drive. The flexibility of the ZLF blade and the softness of these rubbers made the ball dive into the net when looped. If I maintained more of a forward stroke when looping, I could loop with success, but the rubber was very very low throw. I have found Tenergy 05 or 80, Rakza 7, Rasant and Adidas P7 to compliment this blade well. Basically anything with a medium overall hardness. I rated this blade at 8.5 speed because it is slower than Viscaria, 9 control because it plays better at the net than Viscaria (Viscaria having more ratings as a base and I am very familiar with) and an overall rating of 8, because there are better playing blades available for much less cost.Sep 05, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
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Butterfly Zhang Jike ZLC
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Review of Butterfly Zhang Jike ZLCZJ ZLC is very stiff! I would recommend this blade for hitters. Not enough dwell for looping type of game, though it does favor a spinny drive stroke.Feb 16, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
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Butterfly Viscaria
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Review of Butterfly ViscariaThis has to be one of the most highly sought after blades ever. And it doesn't disappoint. Not with the right rubber anyway. I am a loop oriented player, preferring to return the service short and controlling the placement of loops thereafter till I can loop drive one down the line or cross court. Naturally,I started out using the highly recommended Tenergy 05 both sides, as I am very familiar with it. It played well with counter hitting and looping. The close to the net play left a lot to be desired. Against attack style players, I found my self popping up their short low spin serves, taking 2 steps back and attempting to counter attack or taking a ball to the gut. After a couple of practice sessions of that, I went back to using my old blade. Yet, I missed the feeling on hits and loops and the speed of smashes. I began doing some research on rubber that pairs well with Viscaria and decided to give DHS Skyline 3 Neo a try. After a couple of weeks, wearing down the extreme grip of the rubber, my problem was solved. No more issues with play at the net. I also gained spin and consistency on my serves. FH: Skyline 3 Neo BH: Tenergy 05 is perfect for me on this blade.Sep 05, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
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Butterfly Marcos Freitas ALC
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Review of Butterfly Marcos Freitas ALCI am an 1800 rated player who loops/drives both sides and have been using the MF ALC for a little over 3 months. The blade is made of high quality, yet the design is a little understated. The blade feels "woody" on contact compared to other ALC blades, it reminded me of the TB ZLF in that respect. Light contact shots are very controllable (pushes, blocks). Away from the table, harder contact shots (loops/loop drives) the flex of the blade is apparent, which reminded me of some of the 5 ply blades I’ve used before, but with more power. The blade plays best with medium hardness rubbers.Aug 23, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
Donic (1)
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Donic Appelgren Allplay
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Review of Donic Appelgren AllplayI'd have to place this blade on the ALL--- side. I found this blade to flex well, creating great spin and dwell, but it was just a little too slow for me. Loop drives became a high percentage shot for me while using this blade, but just required too much effort to achieve and rarely past my better opponents. I'm going to donate this blade to my 9 year old son and play with the Grubba for now.Aug 04, 2015 | |||||||||||||||
Nittaku (1)
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Nittaku Violin
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Review of Nittaku ViolinThis has to be the best 5 ply all wood blade out there for the player who looks to loop first. Paired with Tenergy 05, this setup spins the ball at your mercy. Blocking loops gives the feeling that you are in control. Step back to counter loop and watch the ball throw high over the net and dip near the baseline. Drive the ball down the sideline to end the point. My swings are big and my game relies on heavy spin and placement, I feel like I can place the ball anywhere with this blade and get my opponent's attacks back onto the table. This blade is still a viable option in the new 40+ ball Era.Oct 07, 2017 | |||||||||||||||
Xiom (1)
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Xiom Zetro Quad
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Review of Xiom Zetro QuadThis blade is quite unique, in that its like 3 different blades built into one. First, it can play like an allround blade. Kiso-hinoki is a very soft wood that Xiom has incorporated into their top ply. The softness allows for a very controlled over the table game. At the same time, Zetro Quad can be quite offensive. Xiom has placed two layers of carbon near the center of the blade which are best known for added speed and stiffness. The carbon is only noticeable during fast rallies and smashing due to its deep placement within the plies. Then comes the Zylon, which gives the blade an Off- feeling when spinning the ball.Over the table, the Xiom Zetro some how keeps my serves a little tighter to the net. It might have something to do with the added weight (Zetro weighed 90gr). I also noticed that my service returns stayed nice and short, causing problems for my opponent to loop the third ball effectively. Hitting rallies during warm-up felt exceptionally good. When the ball contacts the rubber, it gives off this pleasant sound and feeling to the hand. The racket was very easy to control. In looping situations 1-3 feet from the table, I had to come over top of the ball more than normal to get the ball on the table. This created a very spinny ball with low arc. Then I realized if I'd swing with 60% of my strength, instead of the 80% I'd become accustomed to with other blades, the ball would hit the table with much higher accuracy. I'm not exactly sure how the Zylon aids in spinning the ball, but my usual practice partner was having a difficult time returning my loops. Looping 5-8 feet or so from the table is where you start to feel the carbon come into play. Other blades, TB ZLF, TB Spirit, Keyshot, they find their limits around this distance. Zetro keeps shining. I was able to loop balls down below my knees from 10+ feet out and have them land in the center of the opponents side using 80% strength. Amazing. Smashing was fun. The ping sound from the carbon cries out with each smash. Interesting to me, I suppose cause I haven't used carbon in years. I did some spinless lobbing to set up for the distant loop drives/counter attacks and it was remarkably easy with the Z Quad. And trust me, I suck at being defensive. Overall, this is my favorite blade, as it does so many things well. True, TB ZLF, controls the short game and looping, but it runs out of steam away from the table. And the ZLC I have, lacks control over the table. On top of that, the Quad costs half as much and does it all. Mar 09, 2013 | |||||||||||||||
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