New Petr Korbel Blade

If I want to buy Korbel, I prefer Custom/Special order one hehe

dunno whether it's just me...I'd luv its FL handle to be a bit thicker just like Viscaria's or ZJK ALC's but not like TBS's FL & MMaze's FL...

Actually, the reason I browsed BTY Korbel on the net is because lately I have been using BTY Korbel.   I inspected my collection and I found my black butterfly tag Korbel.   I put my test rubbers (Mark V 2.0 mm) so that I can more accurately judge the blade's performance.

Since I have used it for a long time (in the past), it took me only one session to fully adjusted to it.  I think BTY Korbel is still suitable for competitive play.   It can do everything and the only negative aspect of Korbel is that the handle is very thin. 

However, if you don't put your mind to it, and play with it for many sessions, it actually still OK (your hand get used to it).   If it has thicker handle, it might change the feel and performance of the blade (my guess only).

As a matter of fact, because of the thin handle, in the past few years I have tried many blades with same exact compositions to replace it:   Joola K5 (too slow),  Tibhar SPW (stiffer and faster), Xiom Off S (a bit stiffer and faster), Donic Waldner V1 (a bit stiffer and more head heavy) and Adidas Challenge Force (80% similar, but feels softer and less flexy).

I think I agree with a member here who said (in the past) that there is nothing that really plays the same as BTY Korbel.


Edited by doraemon - 06/28/2016 at 11:22pm

I agree with you.  Once I was offered ST handle (in bad condition) so I did not buy it.  Then I found an old stock with AN handle (good condition) but somehow it is quiet thin also, and I did not buy it.

So I guess, the most decent BTY Korbel is the one with ST handle.   And BTY does not produce it anymore.  What a pity.

There are no more special orderered blades, Butterfly has discontinued doing them.

The shop is from Korea. Korbel with ST handle has always been available there, it's extremly popular.

By the way, I can recommend tabletennisin.com - Johnny is a really nice and helpful guy .

They are not selling Butterfly products outside of Czech Rep. though.

Yeah, but somehow Butterfly feels there is no need for japanese Korbel with straight handle in most countries  . I bet there would be a lot of people who would fall for a straight Viscaria aswell - but hey, there must be a logical reason why they don't produce/offer them ... or not

that's strange.... i found more than half a dozen new Korbel, and all of the handles is bigger than my old one back in 2008? i used to gripe about the small handle years ago and finally sold it.

Edited by rokphish - 09/01/2016 at 10:44pm

Did you get the FL handle?

Thicker handle is a big plus indeed. The thin handle kept me away from this blade in the past.
Local Butterfly website/store is still showing the old looks. I will give them a call tomorrow to check if they're already selling the new blade.

I recently bought new Korbel from TT11 and was surprised by the new look. Surprised because I wasn't aware of the changes. TT11 had also old pictures of the blade on the website, so

that's definitely NOT a "Made in Japan" model.

Rainer87 wrote: I recently bought new Korbel from TT11 and was surprised by the new look. Surprised because I wasn't aware of the changes. TT11 had also old pictures of the blade on the website, so Quality wise only thing what I would like to complain is that first 3 times handle gave color and left my hand quite dirty after the game. Playing wise I was surprised by the speed of the blade. I have been playing for a long time with YEO and by the tabletennisdb info Korbel was supposed to be little bi slower and softer than YEO, but to me it feels like Korbel is a lot faster and stiffer. Maybe others can share their thoughts about it as well.

JacekGM wrote: Rainer87 wrote: I recently bought new Korbel from TT11 and was surprised by the new look. Surprised because I wasn't aware of the changes. TT11 had also old pictures of the blade on the website, so Quality wise only thing what I would like to complain is that first 3 times handle gave color and left my hand quite dirty after the game. Playing wise I was surprised by the speed of the blade. I have been playing for a long time with YEO and by the tabletennisdb info Korbel was supposed to be little bi slower and softer than YEO, but to me it feels like Korbel is a lot faster and stiffer. Maybe others can share their thoughts about it as well.  YEOs differ quite a bit in speed depending on the weight of the particular blade.