Rubbers:Donic Coppa Jo Platin Soft Max and Andro Hexer 2.1

 

(Not Important)

I still have yet to play with this set up on a competitive level, but I feel that if I don't do a review soon, I will lose interest in posting one. The Set up on this blade isn't my preferred because I have six shooter pretuned on the way and H3 Neo on the way to test b/t the two for my forehand. I just borrowed the Coppa Jo from my girlfriends blade in the meantime. I am switching back and forth b/t the Coppa Jo and Hexer on my backhand during most practice sessions because I just can't decide. The Hexer is to me...pretty hard to handle on my forehand especially counterlooping. The Coppa Jo has excellent control on both forehand and backhand however the low throw plus the speed of hexer combined with this thick blade make it deadly to slam and loop from the backhand.

 

Initial thoughts on the blade.

When I first recieved the blade, I realized that it is definitely a work of art. The wood grain is very light colored but very perfect as well. I was almost scared to drop a ball on it due to the soft wood, but doing so quickly let me know that I had something deadly fast in my hand. In the ball drop test, its easy to see that Iolite is the fastest of any of my blades thus far(comparing to) viscaria light, an arylate carbon blade, and the hunter inferno, a fast hinoki carbon blade. The blade is really for the next level player. Using the next generation rubbers, its really difficult for me to be consistent with such a fast blade. It is excellent for looping because the wood is so soft. But it is also great for blocking, slamming, and flat hitting because the inners are so fast and the blade is quite thick. It is a light blade so it might be usable with tenergy without any weight problems, but practice will be due to keep loops controlled. It is a great pair with hexer because the control really shows in the short push game and service return. The soft wood cooperates well with the control of hexer making ball placement the easy part. However, the soft wood paired with soft bouncy rubber like coppa makes most service returns high and smashable. The dwell time of this blade is longer than viscaria light, the inferno, and my killerspin all wood kido. There really are just so many weapons with this blade. But I think finding the rubber to pair it with might be a problem.

Speed dept I give it a 9.3/10 with the viscaria being a 7.5/10 and Hunter Inferno beeing a 8.5/10. I give it a 9.3 because I'm sure there are faster such as schlager and amultart, But my friend that hit with it did say that he believes its faster than his photino. The control is great, the weight is great and the price is right. Favorite blade so far. By the way...buy the flared handle

I think the Timo Boll Spirit may be a bit heavy for me if I need to practice my short flicks.

Also, does it have that spring effect that the TBS has, like the ball will spring pretty high after it contacts the paddle.