Andro Carbo Aramid

[dauntless]

I am seriously thinking of adding this blade as a setup, it will be paired with Impuls Speed both sides Max.
(I usually like having similar property rubber on both sides-- but that is not a must). As far as rubber is concerned, I hear a softer choice is better with this blade. If it ends up working I will sell or trade the Xiom.

Rob has shared his experience with this blade, and it sounds like a solid choice for me. I am used to the Xiom Control 3 ALL+ blade now and love the stable performance and the feedback the blade gives. I have had people ask if I am gluing with this setup...because of the loud crack I get when I hit. I have improved as a result of using it. Now that I have slowed down my rubber choice from Joola EGP to Impuls Speed, it seems like a good enough reason to me to EJ on a new blade with similar properties and hopefully a much improved [read larger] handle and slight speed increase due to OFF rating and slight weight increase. My XIOM is only 82grams, the Andro blade will be in 85 range if I can get Rob to be selective on weight for me (hint hint). edit: I almost forgot to mention one of the things I love about the Xiom blade and I guess this is true for most Aramid composites is the energy absorbtion factor -- what i have found is that on some blocks if I angle just right I can almost send back a dead ball and this really confuses people, of course it has to be low, but the fact that I can make a topspin ball stop in its track without LPs is cool --> no wacky spin reversal though


So this post is about asking the ATT forum members who have had a hit with this blade what they think. Any and all comments or substitutions would be appreciated -- to be fair it should be said I am biased towards the C/Aramid blades over the C/Arylate ...although my experience has been limited to the Dawei Wavestone (Nice blocks with kick -- but too fast and hollow handle weird ...way more feeling than the Iolite) and the BTY Iolite (Dead but nice. solid and accurate)

[pingpongrob]

Well as all my know by now, I love my Andro CF Carbo Aramid, in fact I now have a spare thanks to Geko. In the past year or so I have had the pleasuer of trying an aweful amount of blades, varing from the expensive but well built Xiom Stradavarious to the cheap Dawei Genote R5 blades worth a mere Aus $12.50.

I used these blades for a week, just to get accustomed to them before being binned.

I have to say, that although I could hit a ball as fast with an all round blades, they certainly didn't give me the feedback that the Andro blade did. In fact just 2 weeks ago I made the fatal mistake to play with one of my all time favorites "Donic Applegren V1" which would possible be rated am all+ to Off-, I stuck with that blade for well over 3 weeks, taking down many opponents, ones that were well above me in the Section 2 division that I play. Just after my little head disaster, which caused me to play like a beginner, I decided to go back to my trusty setup, (Andro Blade), but to try some differant rubbers, Slower ones in fact, less bouncy as well, as the speed of the andro blade is faster than any of the other blades used in the past. The slower rubbers help a lot with this blade, infact I think its a must, unless you intend to train 3 times per week.

I have settled (for the Moment) with Donic JO Waldner 2.0mm on my backhand, And currently have CKhugo's JO silver on my forehand (Thanks Hugo). In the past I've used the Andro plasma 430 on the forehand and although its a very very good rubber, lifestyle & time management does not allow me to train every day, and as a 43 year old my reflexes and times aren't getting any better. So a slower choice of rubber had to be made.

One other matter that I must point out with this blade is that if definitely an OFF+ blade (closer to OFF). many people have stated on the forums around the place that this blade did feel slow, they are confusing its excellent feel, and good all round control with some other blades that are fast with no feeling at all.

The only thing that has confused me about this blade, is why haven't one of the Chinese companies cloned it as yet, they seem to clone everything else.

OH - sealing is also a must. Do as I do. 2 coat of VOC free varnish, will make your blade last much longer.

I know Silver hasn't tested this blade as yet - its a must - he need to give us a full review with some of his excellent photo's. He opinion is highly valued.

[Silver]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

actually the only thing stopping me is the 149mm length

[RebornTTEvnglist]

I hit a ball about 3 times with an Andro C/Aramid once before it was taken back off me  :D  Now who could be the owner of the Andro that I would have liked to get to know more intimately do you think?  

My Hurricane King is becoming more and more my favourite blade though, and feels like it has it all for me. I even played for the first time ever with it for every game tonight. Result? I won 2 singles with it and lost one singles and one doubles. I now have 979 on my BH on it and have found I can punch block/hit nice little sizzlers away down the FH side of my opponent. Something I haven't been able to do with any other LP. Spin reversal isn't as good, but still gives some whacky balls if I place them out of the danger zone.

[Silver]

you people should stop trying to tempt me into buying one

[priior]

ive only given the carbo CF a try and it felt amazing.. i can only imagine how much better the carbo-aramid must be.

the day i see it on a good special somewhere i will most probably be getting one.

[Darno]

This is currently my main set-up.  I'm using tuned Cermet on both side and its looping machine.  I was planning on trying some tensor rubbers, but I thought why change when I'm having good results.  One of the things I like most about the blade is its large flared handle.  The feel of the handle is much better than my SC and Sword king Ser-90.  The only draw back to the blade imo would be the size of the head.  Coming from using mainly bty blades/rubber, I could not swap my rubber because of the smaller head size.

[Peter C]

What are the dimensions of the blade?

[RebornTTEvnglist]

This is currently my main set-up.  I'm using tuned Cermet on both side and its looping machine.  I was planning on trying some tensor rubbers, but I thought why change when I'm having good results.  One of the things I like most about the blade is its large flared handle.  The feel of the handle is much better than my SC and Sword king Ser-90.  The only draw back to the blade imo would be the size of the head.  Coming from using mainly bty blades/rubber, I could not swap my rubber because of the smaller head size.

Darno you could swap it...you just couldn't swap back LOL!

And Silver...go on... you know you want to!!!

[Silver]

What are the dimensions of the blade?

149x147 or 152x149.

something along those lines. I suspect the latter.

[pingpongrob]

I've posted the true dimensions online.

http://http://www.affordablett.com.au/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1_16_18&products_id=57

I've also included some pictures of the various blades, ie Flared, Straight & Anatomic.

To View larger images just right click the photo and select View.

Silver, do you know of many blades that are around the 5.5mm thick range.

[Peter C]

Thanks Rob

That sounds close to the dimensions of the Tibhar Samasonov Alpha, if memory serves me correctly;  i.e 104mm handle, with a  153 x 149 blade face. Weight 83 grams

Isn't the Appegren Allplay blade face around 153x 149 as well?

[Silver]

I think the applegren is a 158x152 or 159x152

If you're not fussy about brand and you're looking for similar composition (5w2ac where ac is arylate or aramid - whatever)

TBS
Maze
Mizutani
K4
K6
Stradivarius
this andro ac blade
Juic Hybrid (all+ rating!)

these are all 5.5, 5.6, 5.7mm

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I have a feeling one of the Mizuno blades and a few of the new friendships are similar too.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Hurricane King is 5.5mm, so is W6, and my K3 as well is around this.

[Silver]

Joola Fever too

[Silver]

mmm
schoeler micke say the KCA (AKCA? ) is slightly slower than the Maze and TBS...

[pingpongrob]

mmm
schoeler micke say the KCA (AKCA? :shock: But the way I read it, its 10 points Faster.

Look for yourself.

http://http://schoeler-micke.tabletennis-shop.de/_layout/pdf/holztabelle.pdf?sid=0a82c388a41d072a34598b5676cdd267

[Silver]

I misread. Should be 95.

Also, the version I saw is different

http://english.tabletennis-shop.de/_lay ... 2da12b9476

[dauntless]

I am a little worried that the blade may be too fast...considering I am playing with an ALL+ at 82grams.
Having said that, I must say that I am hitting balls into the net too, and certainly blocking more into the net than I used to with a faster setup. I know this is just an angle thing -- in conjunction with the slower blade and rubber...Not feeling that the Xiom blade is entirely fast enough.

My blade progression is something like this:
Primorac ST, Primorac FL, Wavestone (hollow handle) ST, Darker 7P2A FL, Yinhe 893 FL, Xiom ALL+ C/A ST
So medium, medium, fast, fast, slow, medium ( I think anyway)  I still have the Primorac ST and the beat up Wavestone, (anyone want the abused Wavestone PM me for pictures, you pay for shipping and it is yours)

The only reason I still may consider the Andro KCA  is that I will use it with the Impuls Speed...hoping that will tame the speed but allow me to grow in the future. Anyone concur?

Also, there is a bit of a size different, the face of the blade is shorter than the Xiom blade 159x150 which concerns me-- because I am not sure if that would adversely affect anything. You gurus could comment on the above, and I must say that I will probably NOT get another Dawei or Yinhe blade just because aestetically I seem to prefer "brand names" --> I know I know -- vanity, its a silly thing. And the Andro blade is cool looking.

The guys at my club think I am an EJ and they are right. They say spend your money on lessons, not equipment...and to a great degree I know they are right. But having that special "it" setup seems almost within my reach. I am impressed by impuls speed, seems to deliver as promised. So if I can just dial in a blade for a year or two I think significant progress will follow.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.
PS I used to play with Sriver EL and have distantly fond memories of the rubber...by any chance can anyone compare the EL to Impuls Speed? TIA

[Silver]

I've had a very brief hit with someone else's impuls speed - and i'm using sriver EL at the moment.

Topsheet is a bit harder, sponge is softer. great cork sound. It's slower than EL glued up, but easier to play with. Bottoms out a bit on hard loops/smashes. Pretty spinny.

I wouldn't worry about the blade face size difference. The main difference that you'll notice is that the KCA is more manoeuvrable around the table and isn't head heavy at all. Meaning it's easier to control and doesn't get away from you when you go all out on a FH.

[dauntless]

Thanks for that Silver.

I think the andro blade is the prime candidate.

Just for fun I was looking at the specs for the mizutani and noticed that BTY uses hard/medium/soft to describe feeling.
I hit with an Iolite several weeks ago and I didn't notice a huge difference as far as harder feeling, it was just way more dead than the XIOM blade I have now. Not really sure what that means -- it did feel a little less forgiving, maybe that is what it means.

Cheers

[Silver]

hmm

The Iolite I had was really bouncy, very stiff and had a soft feel.

In all honesty, I think Butterfly Online's (Butterfly USA, AKA martin kilpatrick) ratings are the biggest crock of shit I've ever seen. Their ratings are completely different to Butterfly Japan's ratings in both speed and feel.

[priior]

dauntless: if you're not gonna glue, then rubbers from the markV or sriver family can't even be compared to tensor rubbers. the feel is completely different, the sound is completely different, the speed is completely different, the bounce is completely different.

(tensors feel better, make *SCHLAK* sound, are faster and tend to bounce higher)

especially if you got used to playing with tensors, going to an unglued traditional style rubber is very difficult.

now with a layer or 2 (or 6) of speedglue... it's a whole different beast!

(my main rubber is Impulse speed on both sides, but i borrow sometimes a clubmates speedglued Sriver EL on C-Suss kinetic all+) (i started playing with markv, markV gps, sriver fx, on a yasaka extra)

[ckhugo]

ok guys,

 {Darno: Hows the Sword king Ser-90? I wanted that blade}

I suppose I can make a comment about this blade since I'd used Rob's one for abt 2 weeks before I gave it back to him.  :PP)  

5. What I hate abt it, as from "4", I had problem keeping my blocks in as they went too long, but suppose its due to lack of playing time with that blade since Rob can block with that blade while using the tensors so this can be adjust to.

6. The blade size,,, well, I dont like my blade face big anyway, I even go through the trouble of cutting down my blades to 155... and as a matter of pointer, Waldner's old wood blade was 153*149.5.

And if you guys gonna ask,, does it matter 158 compares to 153? well, there is difference, longer the head, the more weight its gonna be at the top, so likely to create a bit more head heaviness, while longer blade face should allow the blade to flex more, which in terms a lit bit better for looping...

H

[priior]

those head size numbers dont mean anything to me.. is this blade different sized than any other andro blade?

[ckhugo]

Hi Prior,

I think its abt the same size as your super core cell OFF, since I was swapping rubbers btw the 2 blades back then.

But Andro and many other manufacturers do have blade size differences btw blades.

[Darno]

ckhugo

The Ser-90 is an excellent blade.  At first I had Sriver on, I wasn't too happy.  I actually had this blade on sell on mytt, but I tried Solcion on it and turned out great so I ended up keeping it.  It weighs at 94 grams, the speed is somewhere close to a SC, faster than KC.  It has a big flared handle, similar to H.S. Cryzer and SC, but not as Squarish.  I also have another Sword combination blade (Extraordinary Prince) that my son plays with.

[Silver]

Back on topic (make your own thread about other blades )

Just got my KCA.
94.6g. Heavy.

Nice case.

Nice handle.

Bounce sounds like a Tube Alu (deeper than the TBS, Strad, etc)
Bounce speed feels a wee bit slower than the TBS, definitely slower than the strad.
Not as stiff as the TBS/Strad/etc. In fact, not as stiff as my septear.
-> Feel <- check back later because they're so close I'm having trouble telling the difference.
-> Dwell <- TBA.

Ok: Sound is deeper because the AC is the 3rd ply down, rather than 2nd like all of the others.
Structure is:
Black Fineline <- Dyed?
Limba <- I think. It's the same as the TBS/Mizutani/Strad anyway, which looks like Limba.
Aramid/Carbon
Ayous? Abachi? <- one of the two, dyed red.

I can use it as maracas.

[Silver]

Ok, had a 20-30 minute hit with it, dressed in Rocket Soft max both sides.

I wouldn't normally do this with a rubber I haven't used before, but the Rocket Soft is close enough to COR emotion that I felt it didn't matter.

The feel is softer overall and it's slower than the TBS (which was the slowest composite i had previously). The top end is around the same though, which was nice. Control feels a tad higher.

It flexes a wee bit more than the others, but seems ok. Playing SH with it feels more balanced and faster the move around the table. The throw seems lower than the other composites. I'll have to confirm this though.

With regards to the handle, I'll take back what I said earlier. Some people might like the flare, but I find it horrible when playing shakehand. The butt end of the flare is very large (stiga legend sized) and gets in the way of the heel of my palm when I hit a backhand. As I said, others might find it fine.  

If I was playing shakehand, I'd buy a straight handled version. Because I'm not, the flare is fine

[pingpongrob]

The feel is softer overall and it's slower than the TBS (which was the slowest composite i had previously). The top end is around the same though, which was nice. Control feels a tad higher.

It flexes a wee bit more than the others, but seems ok. Playing SH with it feels more balanced and faster the move around the table. The throw seems lower than the other composites. I'll have to confirm this though.

Both mine are way faster than the TBS that I tried -> I'm very surprised.
A couple of friends have stated that they can feel the vibrations, but I Cant. Must be my old Age.