Today, Let's Talk About Domestic Gear
1
This summer, my kid started learning. I glued a bat: Sanwei Nordic 5, Gaobo Power on both sides. The Nordic 5 is a five-ply all-wood, with a fairly transparent feel. For the Gaobo Power, what I valued is the built-in energy — brushing inorganic glue is enough, no boosting, convenient. Though the Gaobo Power’s bottom power is relatively mediocre, a learning child does not need to value that. For beginners’ blade choice, different people have different views. Some think all-wood better cultivates feel and understanding of spin. Others think thin-carbon blades are lighter and springier, making up for insufficient power. Personally I think all-wood or thin-carbon both work. A relatively clear feel and good control will do.
Reaching for imported blades like the Stiga CL or Butterfly mid-range (Maze Advance, Korbel) as beginner blades, I find a touch extravagant. Kids love banging blades. Not to mention, some are not even that good, like the Butterfly FaXima. Besides better workmanship, the ball quality really is inferior to many hundred-yuan domestic blades. The Sanwei Nordic 5, Yinhe U2s and DHS Power G7 are all quite good for training. There are also imported brands with domestically made blades, like the seven-ply all-wood Swat that Ni Xialian used, or the Zhongshan-made Banda Offensive — the feel is transparent and comfortable, with very clear feedback.
2
We have to admit Butterfly’s level in high-end blades. But in the low-to-mid range, the blades now have less and less value. The FaXima cannot kill anyone; the Maze all-wood just got thicker to make up ball quality. The Attack Courage and Cupar at four or five hundred yuan just bear the name of carbon blades. They actually play a bit thin, with ball quality and oppression inferior to same-priced domestic blades — not as good as Sanwei’s 75 Par (with some of the iron-label Vis’s toughness), Saviga’s Weisheng, and so on. My Moyu and Yaonie are also used by quite a few amateur experts. Not to mention the cheaper ones — like Yinhe’s Pro-01, U2, Saviga’s Vsea; though some love them and some hate them, their real threat is no worse than Butterfly’s 300-500-yuan blades. We sometimes just buy out of Butterfly’s number-one reputation.
3
In an earlier article, I discussed a phenomenon: going forward, 200-to-500-yuan blades may all be about the same. Indeed, very many foreign brands now make blades in China. OEM shows China has this strength. For example Stiga’s previously domestic Banda series, and this year’s new Power Carbon — the reputation is quite good. Victas, Joola and Gewo also have many domestic blades. So do Xiom and Tibhar, including some high-end star models. When I visited the Aster factory in early March last year, I wrote an article too. Now all kinds of fiber and nine-ply kiri can be bought directly. A one-or-two-hundred-yuan blade can already be made thriving. For example, the Harimoto SALC structure Miao I later chose — many players rate it no worse than the earlier Moyu. This indirectly shows that makers’ level in the mid-range is now extremely close.
4
High-end blades: DHS’s 968 series, in many people’s minds, is Top 1. “Many people” here means not just national players or domestic amateurs — many Japanese and Korean players, and some European and American players, use the 968 custom. And over these years, the Yinhe blades used by many national players shine ever brighter. From Yu Ziyang, Xu Yingbin and Liu Dingshuo’s Yinhe outer blades, to the North Korean team’s 520X and Chen Yi’s Pro-05x Max, the level really is no worse than world-class high-end blades. I admit the Butterfly customs I have played do have something special in fiber treatment (whether cured, and the curing degree) and bonding. But on the retail side, I see nothing where Butterfly’s flagship blades surpass. Many players also rate the Heima-tuned ALC’s energy-storage feel and bottom power as exceeding the Lin Gaoyuan ALC and Fan Zhendong ALC, becoming their favorite. In workmanship detail, Butterfly is still a touch better. But judging by performance and ball quality, setting customs aside, retail blades show nothing surpassing DHS inner and Yinhe outer blades now. On fiber, DHS’s ultra-dense fiber (like the Hurricane Long 5H custom), and Yinhe’s new PLC (I recently made some samples to test) — with the DHS Research Institute’s and Yinhe Blue-Gold Workshop’s material selection and bonding craft, the level that bursts forth is no worse than Butterfly ZLC blades.
5
On rubber, boosted Hurricane I regard as the most perfect rubber. Although it has quality-control variation and weight issues, its performance level is beyond doubt. When people see the Vega Platinum as a poor man’s D09c substitute, I say: better to thinly brush one coat of oil on the Hurricane 8 — the power threat is about the same. It just depends on what effect you want on the forehand: faster, or spinnier? Of course, in rubber quality-control stability and workmanship, there is still a fair gap from ESN and Butterfly. Sometimes we do not lack imagination, just the perseverance to keep doing something until it is done well. For example, Palio made a 2.6mm-sponge rubber back in 2003. But this year, Butterfly released the Z03 with 2.5 and 2.7mm sponge, and registered it as a patent.