Primorac Off- Club

ttennis1 wrote: Vladovich wrote: i rock wrote: as a beginner i am going to buy a primorac off- with 2 yasaka mark v rubbers...so is it suitable 4 beginners or not Primorac is too fast for the beginner unless you have a full time coach to teach you from the beginning. Also, Sriver L, EL, FX, Mark V, etc, are rubbers that feels dead without speed glue, and with speed glue, they are too fast for the beginner. Any ALL blade with LKT Pro XP will be better for someone without coach. I disagree with the notion that Primorac (OFF-) is too fast for a beginner!

Vladovich wrote: i rock wrote: as a beginner i am going to buy a primorac off- with 2 yasaka mark v rubbers...so is it suitable 4 beginners or not Primorac is too fast for the beginner unless you have a full time coach to teach you from the beginning. Also, Sriver L, EL, FX, Mark V, etc, are rubbers that feels dead without speed glue, and with speed glue, they are too fast for the beginner. Any ALL blade with LKT Pro XP will be better for someone without coach.

I disagree with the notion that Primorac (OFF-) is too fast for a beginner!

i rock wrote: as a beginner i am going to buy a primorac off- with 2 yasaka mark v rubbers...so is it suitable 4 beginners or not

I took one of the guys' primorac today at the local club. It had Sriver L both sides. I think the sriver is 1.9mm. Didn't look like 2.1 to me. I stand by my opinion of not needing anything slower than that to start. There's no way the speed of that setup is too fast for any beginner. At least with the 40mm. It's a very very very slow setup. I don't use horribly fast equipment either. Half the time I play with a defense II which is faster.   I haven't played with a primorac in a long time, but I don't remember it having THAT much vibration and clunkiness. The last one I played with was much older, and had a much more solid feel from what I remember. I think the quality of this blade has gone down over the years (not unusual for basically all blade models, so nothing against the primorac specifically) It took me a few balls to adjust, but I started looping with it. Definitely requires technique to get a good loop.  I understand why people like it, but overall performance I still think the Extra and The Appelgren Allplay are both better for that speed range in terms of most shots. I'd give it an edge hitting and blocking, and looping to the allplay/extra. At least with Sriver L, having a more firm sponge compared to FX and EL. I like vibration for ball feedback, but the clunky feel of the primorac is something I've defintely grown away from.

I have T05 max on FH, and the loops are just vicious. I tape my FH loop practice at home to make sure I swing with open arm like WLQ or ML, and I am quite stron physically, so when I have time to make a good swing with this setup my loops rarely come back, not even when I practice with the coach. This blade can squeeze every last drop of spin from T05 and is still fast enough. The 'bite' that you feel at contact is so strong (when you have at least a little bit of power on the stoke) that it gives you confidence and I try and sometimes loop short low chops to my forehand that are usually hard to lift because you can't swing upward enough.

Backhand with T05 was hard to tame for me though. It was flying everywhere. Baracuda or Vega europe work better for me there, and both bite super nice on the Primo too.

I also second Imago's opinion about the handle. It is so easy to adjust between shots to give a slight FH or BH favor.

Weight is a bit of a problem though. I am a strong guy, but swinging with open arm and full commitment makes recovery difficult. Good thing I usually score on those.
When people play only to my BH and I keep looping everything, my rear shoulder gets sore quickly. I try to strenghten my rear shoulder in the gym, but it doesn't seem to help, and I don't know how to get rid of that issue.

The normal setup for begginers to intermediate players used to be 1.5mm sponge on the 38mm ball. With the heavier balls it's 1.8mm-2.0mm. I go 1.8 for normal kids and 2.0 for talented kids and that works well

I agree with the above poster.

I always recommend ALL+ or OFF- all wood blades for beginners.  For rubbers, I always recommend classic rubbers, such as Sriver, MarkV or Mendo.  However, I recommend 2.0 (MarkV / Mendo) or 2.1 (Sriver) even for beginners.  I think 1.5 or 1.7 are too thin, and 2.0 is not that fast either.  I am sure that beginners can handle 2.0 or 2.1 rubbers on a slow allwood blade.

There's no reason to buy a 1.5mm sponge from such a slow rubber to match a slow blade if your goal is to be an all-around/offensive player. Under 1.9mm for such slow equipment is not necessary unless you have a different game plan in mind. There's enough control (PLENTY) as it is to develop strokes in a 2.1/1.9 or a 2.0 with markv/sriver on a primorac, using 1.5 in comparison compared to 1.9 is all loss and no gain, and you should get used to the feel of having a sponge under there to catapult the ball anyway. There are lots of premades that are faster than primorac with 1.5mm sriver or markv.. you want to upgrade from premade not downgrade. Even all the national coaches when recommending a first racket recommend primorac/sriver but in 1.9 or 2.1mm on butterflyonline.com. If you're someone who is getting coaching and playing a lot, you will groove out through practice what you need, and you'll need to step up your sponge soon anyway. If you're just a recreational player who just likes to play, then 1.9 or 2.1mm is okay anyway because you're still going to want some oomph from your racket compared to the premade you had. This particular set up is NOT fast enough to put a damper on anyone's development of offensive strokes no matter the sponge thickness. I understand the need for technical refinement- but 1.5mm over 1.9 in the case of slow rubber slow blade holds no extra benefit.

@irock,

Had been in your situation and due to the help of great people on this forum I have switched over to Primorac (OFF-) with a pair of flextra rubbers.

Your decision of going with Mark-V is absolutely correct & you can easily switch over to 2.0mm Mark-V. Infact don't go below a 2.0mm sponge for your Mark-V. This is a gem of a rubber which can do it all.

One more thing, Primorac has just an ideal speed & control for a player taking table tennis seriously.

If you can, hit a few balls with a primorac just to see the fit of the handle in your hand and the over all feel of the paddle.

Hope this helps.

Yes agree since you have been playing two year Mark V 2.0 is fine. This setup is fast allround and will allow you to develop further....good luck.

jt99sf wrote: i rock wrote: i have been playing like 1-2 years....im an indian and live in saudi arabia and there few indian national players who are now coaches over here but i dont go for coaching to them......as i hav seen their game,style and technique are completely different and wrong...so i watch videos of ma long ,zhang jike,etc and learn from them and still beat many players who go for coaching regularly Your setup sounds fine, good luck.

i have been playing like 1-2 years....im an indian and live in saudi arabia and there few indian national players who are now coaches over here but i dont go for coaching to them......as i hav seen their game,style and technique are completely different and wrong...so i watch videos of ma long ,zhang jike,etc and learn from them and still beat many players who go for coaching regularly

frogger wrote: Does anyone know if a dealer can order one in ST. or AN? Dealers in europe offer Primorac in all 3 grips, I guess USA is a smaller market for BTY Japan so options are limited for us. Makes me so mad I could eat fried chicken!

Here in Japan also FL only available.
BTY already stopped others handle production.

frogger wrote: Mark V 1.5mm is better for beginners. 2.0 is to fast for them on the Primorac. Just my humble opinion since I coach beginners all the time.

Since there isn't much info, that's my first recommendation. But he probably should not even use Mark V to start with.

thanks 4 the information