Stiga Defensive Classic

Very good quality wood at an acceptable price. The dimensions are 165x156 and weighs 74 g with a flat handle. The cross section of the handles is rectangular with elipsed corners, so the feeling of holding is comfortable. The handle is full and the focus is shifted to the handle so there is no feeling of heavy head. The feeling is soft and is very convenient for thin rubbers and thin sponges on backside. I use ox long pips on forehand and backside is with 1.3 mm sponge and this racket is great balance. It is quite easy to run defensive chop strikes at the table and at the distance from the table. They have enough power and speed to the counterattacks hit the target and made no effort to make it clear after long range of blows. Over the past two years I have tried many defensive woods, but this is best in the general impression of the defensively allruond game. Very recommended.My set up :Spinlord Blitzschlag ox,Tibhar Superdefence soft 1.3 on Stiga Defensive Classic.

I tryed a second-hand Def Classic, for fun. I bought a brand new one less than one week later! This is an excellent defensive blade for modern defense, since it has all the qualities required to me. Weight : 80g, size : 165x155. The handle (straight) is awesome because it is full-wood inside, meaning that the whole racket is very well balanced (not head-heavy). The size of the handle is perefect beacause just a little bit bigger than average. This is a soft feeling balde, which I appreciate a lot since I don't like hard blades like Joo, Diode etc. Soft but not too flexible : I think the blade, although the feeling is soft not hard, is pretty stiff. That allows a pretty good speed and I never feel that the balde is too slow ; to me, the balde is very stable but pretty fast in offensive actions. For comparison with Stiga Defensive Wood NCT, Def Classic is significantly faster but with a similar soft touch. I tried it, I adopted it right away! (BH : Vertical 20 0,5mm / FH : DNA Pro 2,1mm) EDIT 06.2023 Comparison between Stiga Def Pro (test) and Def Classic (my regular racket), same rubbers on both. Speed : Pro < Classic / Tense trajectories : Pro < Classic / Absorbing strong topspins : Pro > Classic / Chops with inverted : Pro > Classic / Percussion : Pro < Classic. Pro is awesome to face powerfull players since it is super stable and absorbs powertopspins like a dream. Chopping with inverted is super satisfaying. But trajectories tend to be more bended, less flat and tense than the Classic version especially with the pimple side... Pro has less percussion in attack too. The typical soft touch is similar between Pro and Classic, maybe more extreme on Pro. They both give you many informations while contacting the ball wich is super pleasant. Stability is awesome on both, with a bonus for the Pro version. Hard choice, hard choice...

This is the best blade for ox lp chopping,it is the softest feel I have seen in a blade,there is a strong vibrations near the handle,more than I like really(my Black Balsa 3 has much cleaner vibrations),might be the weight which was 70g which is light for this blade.With a to5 1. 9 the attacks are a little too slow and surprisingly lower throw than I'd expect,a max rubber can improve this though.This is a very good blade for classic defence imo there are better for a modern defender,Miuchi switched to Stiga Def Pro after using this and I can understand why.....Phil Roberts