Nittaku Latika Review

Forgot to mention  - Thanks, Peter79!!!!

I had two sessions with Latika so far and I can tell that it is such a great blade for its price.  IMO, it should be rated OFF instead of OFF-.  Blocking and looping from mid distance are great.  Feel really nice for punching as well.  Matched well with H3P Neo on FH.

Is this blade good for looping?
I'm looking for an all wood blade good at looping, but in same time I want to be decent in the short game and solid enough for blocks and finishing the point.

I saw a few Latika in the For Sale section and I wonder if anyone is still using it.

Latika has the dimensions of 152mm x 158mm whereas Kasumic Basic is 156mm x 152mm.  This 2mm on Latika makes a huge difference after gluing the rubbers on; at least for me.  It is not head heavy but slightly on the heavy side.  I'd prefer the setup ~ 175grs total and my Latika combo is ~ 185grs.  So I sanded 2mm off the tip of the blade and now my Latika combo is ~ 173grs.  I don't feel anything difference when playing this lighter setup.  In fact, it helps me to recover my strokes faster.  Short games and looping are great with Latika.  However, the best feature of Latika is blocking.  You certainly feel the ball on the blade when looping or blocking.  It's a great feedback to have from this blade.

Kasumic Basic, on the other hand, does not have anything special about it.  Just a very basic control blade and slow.  Tons of control and that's pretty much it, IMO.

Hope this helps.



Edited by ThaiLe - 12/14/2010 at 7:26pm

Hey ThaiLe - I didn't know you are back to play with the Latika again :).  Anyway, I agree with you on the Latika, it's very good on short game.  Push and block are very good.  Looping is good too, but I feel it is a little stiff compare to the YEO, so I like the YEO more on looping, but this does not mean that it is worse then YEO on looping, it's just different, a little stiffer, but a lot less vibration, so other people may like it more than YEO on looping.


Edited by mhnh007 - 12/15/2010 at 9:55am

This blade looks interesting to me for a while, but is the Latika ST handle any bigger than the regular Nittaku ST handles (i.e. Acoustic, Rutis, Filmea, etc.)? I like the L-size handles, and I've heard the Tenor has a larger than average ST handle, but I generally don't like the Nittaku handles.

(BTW, I don't like the size of the BTY Innerforce ZLC, ZLF ST handles compared to the Timo Boll series or Photino, etc, which are great.)

ThaiLe wrote: Latika has the dimensions of 152mm x 158mm whereas Kasumic Basic is 156mm x 152mm.  This 2mm on Latika makes a huge difference after gluing the rubbers on; at least for me.  It is not head heavy but slightly on the heavy side.  I'd prefer the setup ~ 175grs total and my Latika combo is ~ 185grs.  So I sanded 2mm off the tip of the blade and now my Latika combo is ~ 173grs.  (...) Kasumic Basic, on the other hand, does not have anything special about it.   Just a very basic control blade and slow.  Tons of control and that's pretty much it,.

how comes there is so much difference? once you've sanded 2mm off from latika, isn't it supppsed to be the same as kasumi basic?

Sorry, didn't get it: if you sand 2mm off Latika, as far as I can tell from the numbers posted above, the head will have the same size as Kasumi Basic. So why should weight of the rubbers make a difference?

peter79 wrote: Total weight is 181 gr. Just, really just a bit head heavy which I like for better looping.

Hey peter79,
btw, thanks for the review.

How much more head heavy would you consider Latika wrt Violin?
Also, what is the reason that you still like Violin more?

I am looking at Latika, or Kasumi Basic, as a more affordable replacement for Violin (for a spare blade and for testing rubbers), but I don't like blades to be head heavy. For me, Violin has just the right balance and grip size.

I agree that concerning looks: Violin > Latika > Kasumi Basic.

Actually, I just realised that the handle of both Latika and Kasumi Basic is 102mm. Subtracting that from the total length, the head of Latika is 158mm, while Kasumi Basic is 156mm (same as Violin). Moreover they are both wider than Violin (152mm vs. 149mm). This is why I thought that especially Latika was more head-heavy. But maybe the densitiy of woods is different and the 2mm longer grip was made purposely to balance the extra size of the head.

As to the size of the handle, I would be happy if the ST handle were the same cross section as Violin. According to Nittaku's web site, they are both 23mm high and, looking at the picture of ST that you posted earlier, they seem the same shape to me.

Latika is not as stiff as Violin, stiffer than Acoustic.
Latika head size is bigger than Violin. You must buy new rubber.
Sure you will like Latika if you like Violin.
Btw I buy 93 gr Latika, not sure if you buy lighter one.

Anybody played with Latika Light? or RATIKARAITO, as it's machine translated on nittaku.com?
W.r.t. Latika, it has a more compact head, 154 x 148 mm instead of 158 x 152 mm, and weighs 10g less on average, 78g instead of 88g. Same thickness, 5.8 mm.

That's likely the most subjective question I've read on this forum. :)

arg0 wrote: Anybody played with Latika Light? or RATIKARAITO, as it's machine translated on nittaku.com? W.r.t. Latika, it has a more compact head, 154 x 148 mm instead of 158 x 152 mm, and weighs 10g less on average, 78g instead of 88g. Same thickness, 5.8 mm.

If you want to play allwood blade, pick the heavy one, it's more powerful.
I use H3 National blue sponge and Outlaw, it's a very nice combo and it's as powerful as my current setup.

Latika Light probably design for teenagers or ladies since it's lighter. Or it's suitable for using heavy rubbers on both sides.

if latika and kasumi basic are basically the same blade just different head sizes, how come kasumi is getting reviewed as a slow, nothing special blade, whereas latika is getting reviewed as powerful and good feel?

if they are really same wood plies, I like the smaller head size of kasumi better - compatible with my current blade head size.