Nexy Oscar review

I have been wanting to get a Nexy blade for a long time now but recently a local distributor started bringing them in. Finally! I decided to get the Oscar since I have never owned an  ALC blade. I glued a Xiom Sigma 2 Pro for my fh from my Xiom Vega Pro blade and a new DHS H3-50 soft for my bh.






I have been playing it for a week and here are my impressions.

Quality/finish (10/10)
The blade is very high quality.The hinoki surface is smooth. The handle is well sanded. There were no ALC fibers sticking out. Personally, I do not really like the color and design of the handle but this is just my preference. I had to sand the part of the head where my hand rests because it is quite sharp. I do mind this because I like to sand it to my personal taste anyway. The handle is also quite chunky. I have a medium-small hand and the blade can feel a bit chunky for my hand but after playing it for a bit, I have gotten used to it already.

Feel (10/10) 
The blade is very well balanced. Even with the 2 rubbers, I don't find the whole setup to be head heavy. The hinoki top ply is thick and soft. With the same sheet of S2P on the Vega Pro, the rubber feels hard, I can barely feel any compression. Also, S2P gives a buzzy, electrocution type of vibration with VP. On the Oscar, the same sheet feels soft, kind of like a degree or two softer. Although the feel is soft, but it give a sharp feeling. It is very odd (but good). I can almost tell where the ball is hitting on the face of the blade. This is very good for control. On weak shots, it feels soft and subdued, but with more powerful shots, the blade feels crisp and direct. I thoroughly enjoy how it feels.

Speed (high end of OFF?)
The Oscar is a fast blade and the S2P makes it even faster. But it is still very possible to do slower more controlled shots. It is possible to push short, it is possible to serve short, it is possible to do a high arcing, slow, spinny loops off a chop, but all the while I can sense that there is a hungry wolf waiting to attack. Once I get past a certain power threshold, the blade turns into a different animal. The speed category goes up a notch. We all know Xiom Axelo is a fast blade and the top end of the Oscar is close behind. The thing that sets them apart is that the trajectory of the Axelo is very flat and the Oscar is arcing. Loop drives are piercing and smashes are direct.

Spin capability (very high)
I am not an TT equipment expert nor an expert in physics, all I am doing is recording my observation. I never bought in to the idea that the blade can have an effect on spin until now. I am comparing the exact same sheet of S2P on VG and Oscar. Serving backspin with the Oscar, I can stop the ball from going off the table more consistently vs VP. My coach, who never had problems with my serve was pushing the ball in to the net a number of times. In doing actual game scenario such as I would serve backspin, he would push long, I loop back, and he block; he would on a number of times block the ball high and long. I can't recall this has every happened before. He even commented that my spin is very strong. I don't understand how different a blade design would affect spin but my theory is that that top ply is soft therefore grabbing the ball for a micro-second longer thus imparting more spin. I really don't know. My theory could be wrong but the results are observable.

Block (very stable and accurate)
My previous benchmark for a good blocking blade is Xiom Axelo. With that blade I feel like I am blocking with a wall. But the speed off the block is faster or fastest. With the Oscar, I can get vary the speed a bit more and I can also control the direction better.

Conclusion
This is an excellent blade - very high quality and very good playing characteristics. If I am forced to find fault it would be the color of the handle and the design of the lens - I am just not liking it. This is a blade I would keep and play with until it breaks. If anybody plans to buy the Oscar, I would suggest go with slower rubbers. The S2P can be quite a handful.

Hope my review is helpful.

It lost about 20% of the stickiness. Yes it is considerably softer, you can feel the ball dig in to the sponge more.

OFF+ blades are usually a big mistake.

I have always liked the feel of the OSCAR. Only thing for me was this blade was designed to be FAST with a capital F, while still maintaining an ability to make heavy topspin.

AndySmith wrote: NextLevel wrote: OFF+ blades are usually a big mistake. Lots of fun though.

AndySmith wrote: Attacking backspin with heavy loops while screaming at the top of your lungs and landing 5% of your shots is a liberating experience.  I promise.

Hire Bernadette Szocs or Mori Sakura and you are in business... Complete horror show and thril ride...

AndySmith wrote: NextLevel wrote: OFF+ blades are usually a big mistake. Lots of fun though.

+1 to that.

Although this is a fast one, out of the composite blades I have tried the Oscar's speed is most controllable. It is easy to gauge how hard your are looping/hitting because you get a lot of feedback. It almost feels like an all wood blade.