Review: Killerspin Kido 7P ST

I was a bit over eager when I got the blade and put on the rubbers before I had a chance to weigh it and take pictures without the rubbers on it. I will update it once I have the rubbers removed.

I have it in the following set-up:
FH: Air Scirocco SF max
BH: Stiga Optimum MP 2.1

The workmanship on the blade is very nice. No rough edges or other quality issues that I noticed. The blade had a light coat of varnish on it (Thanks JimT), so I went right ahead and put the rubbers on. First feel with the rubbers, it is a bit head heavy, maybe also due to the straight handle. I like flared handles better, but the handle shape was quite comfortable.

I spent the night doing drills and going back and forth to my main set-up (see my sig).

Counter hitting / blocking:
On flat hits, the blade has a nice feel, the feedback is not as pronounced as on the Timo Boll Off-, but still clearly noticeable. The blade feels stiffer and a bit faster than my other blade, but the sweet spot is noticeable bigger. The sound is still woody, but the pitch is quite high and not so loud. The control is very good and I could hit with lots of confidence.
Blocking was easy on straight hits, a bit more lively than my comparison. The speed difference was biggest on slow hits and very hard hits. In the intermediate range the speed felt almost the same.

When I compared the backhand, I felt more comfortable with the Kido than my main set-up, mostly due to the larger sweet spot. I was able to return the ball more often. The ball was going closer over the net with the Kido, grazing the top of the net quite often, but almost never going into the net.
The feel on the backhand was as described above, faster in the slow and very fast range.

Looping:
I was able to load up on spin on my FH with lots of control and nice feedback. I could vary the spin and switch from loop drive to slow-spinny loops without major issues. For looping I actually prefer the Kido/Air combination to my current set-up.
BH looping was not as easy and controlled as with my other set-up. The ball went long more often and the arc was a bit lower.
Overall, I had more problems lifting back-spin as with my main set up.

Pushing / Serving:
The speed difference between the two set-ups was most noticeable in the short game and on serves. Fast serves came with more spin, but I had a harder time making short-spinny serves. I was unable to produce a decent 'ghost serve' with this set-up, where is worked reasonably well with my main set-up.

Game:
During rally points, I was able to stay in the point a little longer, but I made more mistakes attacking. My serves were not as effective as I was not able to vary the speed as much as I am used to. I did not play many points, so this observation might change.

I will play mostly games on Thursday, so I will update my observations after that.

nice review ima try to make my review just like this.

OK, who is on the list after Loopmeister? He can't do a review right now?
JimT, do you have anyone else?

Yep, I sent a PM to Looopmeister, he is too busy at work. I will contact Metallikviper.

I'll review it if no one wants it. PM'ed you my address.

I've a pretty strong feeling that I wouldn't be able to review the Diamond CQ from austin. Even if he does find it I don't think I want the blade for review as I have a sneaky suspicion that it I might not receive it after he ships it out.

I usually play with Long pips on my BH, but for the review of the Kido I'll do a two side inverted setup. My rating is not that high playing an offensive setup however (~1650).

The finish is really nice as said earlier. The print is not so high quality, but I wouldn't care, since it's covered by the rubber anyway.




The back side is kinda plain...




The lens on the end is fitted nicely (and the picture is slightly blurry)




Nice 7 layer construction....unfortunately, I am too green when it comes to determining wood species. I can send the full size picture if you PM me with your email and you want to take a shot at identifying the layers.




Tonight I had my final practice with the blade and I can't get used to the low throw I get on my fh. Too many of my loops ended up just at the top edge of the net and even when I thought that I was pulling my loop almost straight up, it still didn't make it over the net all the time. I might get there with enough experimenting with rubbers and adjusting my technique a bit more. The current set up for me is more suited to more of a hitting topspin game, rather than a looping game.

I adapted to the testing set-up enough to mess up my loop strokes for my main set-up. I guess it will take another session or two to get my percentage on higher risk shots back. I really appreciated the larger sweet spot and if the handle was flared I might have considered it as a permanent blade, but it never felt like it was my HEART blade.

So good luck for the next testers with the blade.

I just received the blade from mmerkel and it was shipped in great shape and good packaging. I'm a little busy traveling this week so I might not have a review early. I usually play with LPs on BH, but since its an offensive blade I was going to put H3 Neo on FH and T64 1.9mm on BH. I'll try and get some pics and weight initially.