
![]() |
Donic Appelgren Allplay
|
||||||||
Review of Donic Appelgren AllplayI play Chinese pen style and I started out with a Hurricane Hao that was given to me pre-assembled with Hurricane 2 and Skyline 2. That was way too heavy (in absolute terms and in terms of weight distribution with the weight all on the head) and powerful for me but there aren't that many blades available in C Pen style that are light and all-wood and emphasize control over speed. This is one of them, and so far I haven't been disappointed. I use Yasaka New Era on forehand and Donic Vario Big Slam on backhand. This setup seems to have liberated me: I can hit pretty hard on the forehand without going off the table, and I can get heavy spin on the backhand with out too much speed, again helping me to keep the ball on the table. No doubt if I used something a bit less aggressive than New Era (which Yasaka have stopped making) I'd have even better control on the forehand.I'm just an advanced beginner, and don't know lots of different blades, so I don't suggest that anyone put too much weight on my opinion. But for what it's worth, I agree with gtlug that it's difficult to go wrong with this one. And if you're starting with C Pen style this ticks all the boxes: light, and enough control to help you master RPB. Note that the C Pen version is claimed to weigh 74g at Jasupo website. Oct 27, 2009 | |||||||||

![]() |
Xiom Fuga
|
||||||
Review of Xiom FugaI like this blade, which I own with a Chinese pen handle. It's one of the relatively few 5-ply Chinese pen blades that is light enough to play with comfortably even with 2 rubbers. I use Andro Plasma 380 and JUIC 999 Elite Nano. I chose the latter for its lightness, but I'm planning to switch it to XIOM Yanus DF.Update: I now use Yasaka New Era (FH) and Tibhar Legend Destroyer (BH). Feb 01, 2011 | |||||||
