What happened to the Aramid Carbons?

[Skippy]

What happened to the Andro Aramid Carbons that used to be fairly popular?  Does Andro still make those?  If so do you still have those from time to time?  What's the better blades that Andro is making these days?  I love my Stradivarius, but some guy at the club is really wanting to buy mine, and I have always wanted a little larger handle than what the Stradivarius offers.  Does Andro have a blade that feels like the Strad in contact, possibly one knotch faster, and a nice thick straight handle?

[Silver]

The ACA is faster and harder than the Strad.

[Skippy]

I don't see the ACA anymore.

[Silver]

must be discontinued.

[supachop]

Yes. Discontinued.

[pingpongrob]

Andro has discontinued the Kinetic CF series, and now been replaced by the Kinetic Supreme. The Flagship blade in the range is the Kinetic Supreme Zylon/Kiso Hinoki. Its rated as an OFF-, but feels more like a low end OFF blade.

Andro has decided to go away from the small head shape, and now offers the Kinetic Supreme range in Butterfly Style size. Great when changing as many rubbers as I do, no more smallish rubbers.

I personally fell in love with this blade, as have many others. Andro has run out of stock a few times, and I've had to wait for new stocks to arrive. Its a very well balanced blade, with an attractive well shaped handle. Andro rates this blade as:
Speed: 91
Control: 97
Ridigity: 99

Its much stiffer than my old CF Kinetic Carbo Aramid, which will stop the blade from cracking at the throat (of course this takes a bit of abuse).

So far I have tried it with Andro Hexer Rubbers (My First blade got Stolen), Which I must admit to not liking very much, they just dont suit my style. Yet other players were very impressed with them.

I then tried it with Andro Roxon 330's and wow, I couldnt hit a ball of the table, great blocking, fantastic loops, I could even smash correctly, but alas after using it for a complete season, I have decieded that Roxon 330's are just to slow for my style of game, they suit players that are developing their stroke's and require a little help from the Butter Soft Roxon 330 sponge. For most players this combo would more than suffice, but for those that want a little more speed then the Roxon 450 is the way to go. I have to admit, that I have fallen in love with my new blade, and think that the new head shape is a step in the right direction. Well Done Andro.

[Skippy]

That is a nice looking blade.  Rob you still play the ACA?

[pingpongrob]

That is a nice looking blade.  Rob you still play the ACA?

No, it retired when the new one came in. I stopped using it before my Knee Reco, and started using the New one 3 weeks after the Surgery.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Gotta hand it to Andro, they know their marketing and how to make a blade look appeaing. Love the look of that handle Rob. I love my Gergely, but the sound of your blade has EJ's stirring. Lucky it costs more than I can afford LOL.

[Skippy]

You do cut down service if I remember correctly right?  I would guess with rubbers that setup could get kinda heavy. I kinda like the smaller heads that Andro, Donic, and Xiom have for some if not all of their blades.

Oh, also what would the speed difference be in comparison to the Strad?

[pingpongrob]

You do cut down service if I remember correctly right?  I would guess with rubbers that setup could get kinda heavy. I kinda like the smaller heads that Andro, Donic, and Xiom have for some if not all of their blades.

Oh, also what would the speed difference be in comparison to the Strad?

Skippy you have a good Memory. As I said before this blade is more like a slow offensive blade, certainly not an OFF-.

It has more feeling than a Strad, not sure why, Maybe the Zylon has something to do with the extra feeling. The blade in itself does not feel any heavier than my Old carbo/aramid.

[RebornTTEvnglist]

Being so stiff, sounds like it would be a good pips blade Rob. What do you think?


Has Supachop tried pips on it?

[Jox]

Hey Rob,
 
i was playing the andro Carbo Aramid also for a long time.
But i changed the blade when i switched to Tenergy rubbers cause the Tenergy
didnt harm with my ACA. I was playin now over a year a BTY KSL.
 
But now i tried my old ACA again and i felt in love again 
Just need to switch the Tenergy with a softer and lighter rubber, maybe Sriver EL max or so. Plasma 430 or Sinus @ 2.0 worked also fine on the ACA.
 
So now my final question, can u compare the ACA with the Zylon/Kiso Hinoki?
 
I liked the great feeback/feel from the ACA in combination with soft rubbers.
Is it similar to the ACA. Speed is a bit slower i guess. Has it alot more bounce then the ACA (hope not)
 
I asked at schoeler & micke (im from germany) which blade they can advise me as a near similar blade to the ACA. They told me the andro kinetic cf light off is similar to my old ACA.
 
Hope u can give me some advise so i can finally order a new blade after reading so much threads about several woods 

 

[Skippy]

I wouldn't think the kinetic cf light off would feel the closest to the ACA.  It might have comparable speed, and weight, but I definitely would think that it would feel very much different.  However it says it has fairly thick outter plies, which I think really helps out carbon blades alot.  What do I know though?

[pingpongrob]

Hey Rob,
 
i was playing the andro Carbo Aramid also for a long time.
But i changed the blade when i switched to Tenergy rubbers cause the Tenergy
didnt harm with my ACA. I was playin now over a year a BTY KSL.
 
But now i tried my old ACA again and i felt in love again 
Just need to switch the Tenergy with a softer and lighter rubber, maybe Sriver EL max or so. Plasma 430 or Sinus @ 2.0 worked also fine on the ACA.
 
So now my final question, can u compare the ACA with the Zylon/Kiso Hinoki?
 
I liked the great feeback/feel from the ACA in combination with soft rubbers.
Is it similar to the ACA. Speed is a bit slower i guess. Has it alot more bounce then the ACA (hope not)
 
I asked at schoeler & micke (im from germany) which blade they can advise me as a near similar blade to the ACA. They told me the andro kinetic cf light off is similar to my old ACA.
 
Hope u can give me some advise so i can finally order a new blade after reading so much threads about several woods 

I'm with Skippy on this one. The Kinetic CF Light Off is not similar at all to the ACA. Infact the ACA was a very thin blade measuring at just 5.7mm, on the other hand the CF Light Off is a wopping 6.8mm thick.

I'm afraid that so far I have not found another Andro blade that resemble's the Old ACA. 

[Skippy]

I think these major jumps from one very popular material to another moreso untested material without any bridging of a gap is very short sighted. 

[speedplay]

Rob, I'm curious, do you still play with the  Kinetic Supreme OFF- ZYLON/Kiso Hinoki? Just happened to browse your shop and once again feel in love with the look and description of this blade. How ever, the price turned me off, but it sure looks like a great blade!

[pingpongrob]

Rob, I'm curious, do you still play with the  Kinetic Supreme OFF- ZYLON/Kiso Hinoki? Just happened to browse your shop and once again feel in love with the look and description of this blade. How ever, the price turned me off, but it sure looks like a great blade!

I went to a slower rubber (Andro Roxon 330) so required a faster blade - Donic Personn Carbon. Alas this is not the right combo for me. I still win 90% of my matches, but its just to Slow.

I'm waiting for the Hexer + to arrive, I will stick it on the Zylon/Kiso blade and give it another go.

[speedplay]

You know what you can do with the blade if you don't like, it right? Stick it in a place where the sun don't shine... That is, in an envelop addressed to Sweden

Not fast enough you say? How would it compare to the Wavestone? Cause I thought that it was plenty fast since you judged it to be around Off rating rather then the Off- rating that it is given by Andro.

[pokerpete]

has there been any feedback you have gotten rob that would suggest what blade is the most popular in the new andro lines, whether it's the super core or the kinetic lines... is there a blade that seem everyone is liking

like butterfly has the timo boll spirit, M.Maze blades that do really well...... what blades would that be for andro??

[pingpongrob]

has there been any feedback you have gotten rob that would suggest what blade is the most popular in the new andro lines, whether it's the super core or the kinetic lines... is there a blade that seem everyone is liking

like butterfly has the timo boll spirit, M.Maze blades that do really well...... what blades would that be for andro??

The best seller so far has been the Andro Kinetic Supreme All. Got me beat.

[pokerpete]

i would like to know rob.... of the 3 newest lines (CF light, supreme,and supercore).....  which blades in the OFF category, are of small head design, and which are the bigger average size(like TBS size) ??

and lets just say i said i wanted an andro OFF- to OFF+ rated blade, 7 ply, wood or carbon doesn't matter... but NOT small head design...... what blade(s) would you recommend trying

i like my TBS..... but i would like something with just-a-touch more feeling!!

[pingpongrob]

i would like to know rob.... of the 3 newest lines (CF light, supreme,and supercore).....  which blades in the OFF category, are of small head design, and which are the bigger average size(like TBS size) ??

and lets just say i said i wanted an andro OFF- to OFF+ rated blade, 7 ply, wood or carbon doesn't matter... but NOT small head design...... what blade(s) would you recommend trying

i like my TBS..... but i would like something with just-a-touch more feeling!!

Only the New Kinetic Supreme series has the larger head size. The Super Core Cell & Kinetic CF Light are still with the old size.
Now here lies the Problem, Andro does not statethe plies in the OFF- & OFF versions, so its hard to tell if its 5ply or 7ply.  I have hit with the Carbon version and its an extremely nice blade - not superfast.
If you lived in Australia, you could have a hit with some of my Test blades, some have hexer, some have roxon.

[Peter C]

Here in the UK, one of the shops that stocks and sells Andro blades and rubbers; describes the Andro Supreme Offensive- and Offensive as 5 ply blades.